The McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture will host a lecture and book signing on the geologic history of Tennessee on Sunday, November 16.
Don Byerly, professor emeritus in UT’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, will deliver the 2:00 p.m. illustrated talk “The Last Billion Years: A Geologic History of Tennessee.” After the lecture, he will sign copies of his new book of the same title, which will be available for sale in the museum store. The event will be held in the museum’s auditorium.
The talk will address how Tennessee has evolved since the formation of its earliest rock record over a billion years ago. Once part of the supercontinent Rodinia, and then later part of another supercontinent, Pangea, Tennessee was ultimately shoved into its present place on the North American supercontinent between 250 million and 300 million years ago by plate tectonics. Since then the landscape has slowly evolved to its present form. Byerly’s book is the first general overview in more than thirty years to interpret the state’s geological record.
The McClung Museum is located at 1327 Circle Park Drive. Admission is free, and the museum’s hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Sundays. Free parking is available in front of the museum on Circle Park Drive on a first-come, first-served basis. Free public transportation to the museum is also available via the Knoxville Trolley Vol Line.
Additional parking information is available online.
For more information about the McClung Museum and its collections and exhibits, visit the website.
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CONTACTS:
Catherine Shteynberg (865-974-6921, cshteynb@utk.edu)
Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lalapo@utk.edu)