Dinosaur State Park - Speed of Dinosaur Hands-on Program

SWEP-CT is excited to offer a hands-on program at the Dinosaur State Park trackway.  

Rocky Hill Connecticut boasts the finest collection of early Jurassic dinosaur footprints in the world.   The footprints were discovered 60 years ago by a sharp-eyed construction worker.  The footprints were made in the mud from an ancient freshwater lakeshore - in the early Jurassic - 200 million years ago -  a time when the Supercontinent Pangea was breaking apart.  That breakup ultimately created the Atlantic Ocean.  

The Speed of Dinosaur program: While dinosaur bones can tell us about what dinosaurs looked like and how they died, dinosaur tracks can tell us what they did while they were alive.  In this activity, we will get down into the trackway (no shoes allowed, just socks), and take dino track measurements.  Then, using these measurements, calculate the estimated speed of the individual dinosaurs as they walked across the trackway.  The program is about an hour long. Participants will spend around ~35 minutes learning a little bit about the background of the park and then taking some measurements on the trackway. The remainder of the program will be spent discussing the results of those measurements and what we can learn about the animals that were here based on those results.

By special arrangement, Park staff will keep the exhibit center open until 5:30.  Afterwards, we'll have the option for a short hike to view a wetland collection of ancient plants and a volcanic basalt "traprock ridge" a key indicator of Pangea's breakup.   

We suggest the group assemble at 3:15 and the program will start at 3:30.  We will be indoors under the Trackway Dome, so this will be a rain or shine event.  Cost is $15 for members, $30 for non-members.  Class size is limited to 20 explorers.  Pre-registration and payment is required by September 4, and there will be a waiting list.  Science background is not a prerequisite to attending this program. 

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