DinoFest 2019 Speaker: William Parker
DinoBite — Sunday, January 27, 1:30 p.m.
Triassic Park: The Paleontology of Petrified Forest National Park: Recent Finds of Early Dinosaurs and their Contemporaries by William Parker, Chief of Science & Resource Management, Petrified Forest National Park
Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona preserves a 20 million year record of life during the Late Triassic Period, the “Dawn of the Dinosaurs”. Recent work has greatly expanded our understanding of life in the tropics during this time. Ongoing research in the park is looking closely not only at the ancient Triassic forests themselves, but also the animal life found therein. A recent focus on the smallest fossils has revealed a previously unknown diversity of fish, amphibians, and reptiles from this important period.