Extinctions - Iowa Rocks! Program Series

Whiterock Conservancy FREE Iowa Rocks! Program Series

Join us in welcoming Dr. Kata McCarville to Whiterock Conservancy this summer for an incredible 3-part series at the Bur Oak Visitor Center 10 am - Noon! If you have a treasured rock or fossil you are curious about, Dr. Kata can do identifications before or after the talk. Pack and transport items carefully as many are fragile. Next up: Extinctions!!

July 21st - Extinctions

September 14th - Soils

Iowa’s geological past is reflected in its phenomenal fossil record, which includes many extinct (but interesting!) organisms, from trilobites to giant ground sloths. With a focus on the “Ice Age” Pleistocene megafauna—mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed cats, bison, and others—we will learn about how animals influence plant communities and landscapes, and where some of the impacts of extinction on Iowa’s ecosystems can still be seen today.

Join us to learn about Iowa’s extinct ecosystems and what has been left behind for us to learn from. Bring your own fossils for Kata to identify. Please ensure your fossils are transported carefully.

Katherine McCarville (Kata) got started with Iowa geology in 2005 when she joined the faculty at Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa. Born at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, she is a river rat. She’s spent time on and along many Iowa rivers, as well as the Colorado, Green, Platte, Snake, and Mississippi.

Kata has roots in the Midwest but grew up in California. She studied geology at UCLA as an undergraduate and worked as a uranium miner in Wyoming after graduation. She took a masters degree in geology Colorado School of Mines, working on uranium deposits in the Red Desert basin of Wyoming, and then worked for a number of years in computing and networking at universities and for engineering consulting firms. As a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow, she did her doctoral work in avian paleontology of Fossil Lake, Oregon, at the South Dakota School of Mines. Her work resulted in an innovative interpretation for the locality, as a volcanic maar.

Kata’s interests span the earth and environmental sciences and often cross disciplinary boundaries. Her current research centers on the origins of the Iowan Erosion Surface, soil health and soil organisms, and the role of disturbance in prairie ecosystems.

These programs are FREE and open to the public. Please call the Whiterock Conservancy office at 712-790-8221 x2 or email us at guestinfo@whiterockconservancy.org for questions or more information.