Tyler Lyson at NHMU DinoFest 2020

The last one million years of the reign of dinosaurs was marked by changes in sea level, the eruption of giant volcanic igneous provinces in India, and abruptly ended 66 million years ago when a 6-mile wide asteroid slammed into Earth. The tempo (gradual vs. catastrophic) and cause(s) of Earth's last mass extinction event has been fiercely debated. Dr. Lyson will integrate micro vertebrates, dinosaur skeletons, plants, and pollen data from the last one million years of the Age of Reptiles into a high resolution geologic framework to look at biotic patterns leading up to Earth's darkest hour.