This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

"Dinosaur Tracks and other Clues to Dinosaur Extinction" at Livingston Library

“Dinosaur Tracks and other Clues to Dinosaur Extinction”

will be presented at the Livingston Public Library on Thursday, September 12,
2013 at 7:30 p.m.


Come and listen to Dr. Paul E. Olsen, a renowned
paleontologist and former Livingston resident, describe his 1968 discovery of
dinosaur fossils in Riker Hill Park. 

When Olsen was 14, he and a friend heard
that dinosaur footprints had been discovered in a stone quarry on the
Livingston-Roseland border. In the years that followed, Olsen and his friend
found thousands of fossils and dinosaur footprints. They wanted to prevent the
site from being developed and began lobbying to make the quarry a protected
park.  He even started a letter-writing
campaign to President Richard Nixon and sent Nixon a dinosaur footprint cast
from the site. 

Find out what's happening in Caldwellswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The quarry was divided and the most fossil-rich portion was
preserved and donated to Essex County Park Commission. Olsen succeeded in
getting the Riker Hill Fossil Site being named a National Natural Landmark in June

1971. The rest of the quarry was later developed into the Nob Hill apartment

complex.


He appeared in Life magazine in 1970 went on to become a
leading paleontologist, publishing papers on the Riker Hill discoveries as an

undergraduate at Yale, where he received a doctorate in biology in 1984.

Find out what's happening in Caldwellswith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Dr. Olsen is an expert in the dinosaur fossils of New
Jersey and the region's geology back to 200 million years ago.  He is now a Professor of Earth and

Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, and also works at the

University’s Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory. 
In addition, he is a Research Associate at the Carnegie Museum of
Natural History, Pittsburgh, the American Museum of Natural History and the
Virginia Natural History Museum.


This program is free and recommended for ages 10 and over.

It is sponsored by the Friends of the Livingston Public Library.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?