Big Muddy Speaker Series presents:
Life in Kansas City...300 Million Years Ago
2.6 million summers ago, Kansas City was beachfront property: oceans, rain forests, palm trees and giant ferns. Not to mention a strange array of giant creatures — mastodons, mammoths, grizzly-sized sloths — stomping through town. Cruise even further back in time - oh, say 300 million more years, and the area was a shallow sea teeming with aquatic life. Now, fast forward to the start of summer of 2015, when the geology of Kansas City is hidden by a forest of buildings and rivers of concrete and asphalt.
Dr. Richard Gentile will join us for a peek beneath the surface and back in time at the forces that shaped the geology of the Kansas City area, and what effect that geology has on our lives today.
June 22 through Sept. 12, 2015, an exhibit curated by Dr. Gentile called "Paleo Kansas City -Geology and Paleontology of the Great Plains Region" will be on view at Linda Hall Library (West Exhibition Gallery); 5109 Cherry Street, Kansas City, Mo. 64110. The exhibit features fossils from the Pennsylvanian Period and the Pliestocene Epoch.
This drawing was done for the presentation by George Martin
Meet Your Presenter
Richard J. Gentile
, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus
Dr. Gentile, Professor Emeritus of Geosciences at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, has published over 50 books and five geologic maps. He has done extensive fossil collecting and is an expert on the geology of the Greater Kansas City area. His research specialty is the cyclical stratiagraphy and paleontology of the Pennsylvanian-age rocks of western and northwestern Missouri, especially the Greater Kansas City area. He is currently the Curator of the Richard L. Sutton Geosciences Museum at UMKC.
Related Presentations
Resources & Links
Resources and Links
Dig deeper for more info on this topic -
- The Nature Conservancy's Great Rivers Partnership - Mississippi River Basin
- PAPER - "Flow and Form in rehabilitation of Large River Ecosystems: An Example from the Missouri River" - by Robert Jacobson, PhD; and David Galat, PhD.
- PAPER - "Hydrologic and geomorphic considerations in restoration of river-floodplain connectivity in a highly altered river system, Lower Missouri River, USA" by Robert Jacobson, Tyler Janke and Jason Skold.
- PAPER - "Missouri River Postflood Evaluation Synthesis" by David Galat and Michael Headrick
- PAPER - "Restoring Ecological Integrity of Great Rivers: Historical Hydrographs Aid in Defining Reference Conditions for the Missouri River" - by David Galat and Robin Lipkin
- PAPER - "Design of a Naturalized Flow Regime" - by David Galat and Robert Jacobson
- PAPER - "River Floodplain Connectivity and Lateral Fish Passage:A Literature Review" by Brian S. Ickes, Jon Vallazza, John Kalas, and Brent Knights
The Big Muddy Speakers Series in St. Charles
is hosted by these wonderful partners:
- Greenway Network
- Missouri River Relief
- Friends of Big Muddy
- Big Muddy Adventures
- Big Muddy National Fish & Wildlife Refuge
- Big A’s Restaurant
All speakers are presenting for free and Big A’s is sharing the space for free! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with all of us!
The Big Muddy Speaker Series also takes place monthly in Rocheport and Kansas City.
A special thank you to Greg Poleski of Greenway Network and Mike Clark of Big Muddy Adventures for making this happen!
Upcoming Presentations
Leave No Trace Training on the Barge
October 14, 2026St. Louis, MO
Join us for a special Big Muddy Speaker Series on the Living Lands & Waters Barge where Perry Whitaker will lead us in a Leave No Trace Training.
See Event
Missouri River Relief: 25 Years on the Big Muddy
November 10, 2026Columbia, MO
Join us for a journey through time celebrating 25 years of Missouri River Relief's work on the Big Muddy.
See Event
Plastic Pollution, Gulf Hypoxia, and Water Quality
November 11, 2026St Charles, MO
Jennifer Wendt from MidAmerica Clean Future guides us through understanding regional water quality challenges.
See Event