Upcoming in Kansas City, Mo.
The Badlands of South Dakota – Beautiful but Forbidding
Presentation by Dr. Richard Gentile, University of Missouri – Kansas City, Geosciences
Just west of the Missouri River in South Dakota is the Badlands, a semi-arid region of spires, buttes and inaccessible cliffs in southwestern South Dakota adjacent to the Pine Ridge Reservation. The region is also the final resting place for the skeletal remains of a vast array of mammals that lived in the Late Eocene Epoch about 30 million years ago. At that time, the climate was sub-tropical, with lush vegetation and sluggish meandering streams.
Dr. Richard Gentile, professor of Geosciences at UMKC will give us a window into this unique world of mud and bone that lies upstream from us and share a glimpse into the past of our ancient watershed.

Vintage Postcard of the South Dakota Badlands. Courtesy of the National Park Service. See more public domain photos at https://www.flickr.com/photos/badlandsnationalpark
Presentation by geologist Richard J. Gentile, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Geosciences, University of Missouri- Kansas City
Tuesday, October 25, 7:00 p.m.
Where – Westport Coffeehouse Theater – 4010 Pennsylvania Ave. Kansas City, MO
6 p.m. – Social Hour
7 p.m. – Presentation. Presentation will be filmed – After 7 PM, Please enter through Green Room Burgers
PLUS – This presentation audio will be streaming live on KCDV.tv!
(See past videos here)
Presentation is FREE and open to the public!

Geological layers represented in the South Dakota badlands. Courtesy of “Earth Science in our National Parks”.
Just west of the Missouri River in South Dakota is the Badlands, a semi-arid region of spires, buttes and inaccessible cliffs in southwestern South Dakota adjacent to the Pine Ridge Reservation. Drained by the White, Bad and Cheyenne Rivers, the region is also the final resting place for the skeletal remains of a vast array of mammals that lived in the Late Eocene Epoch about 30 million years ago. At that time, the climate was sub-tropical, with lush vegetation and sluggish meandering streams.
Classes of budding paleontologists from the Dept. of Geosciences, UMKC have for many years collected specimens from the Badlands near Scenic, S.D. under Special Use permits issued by the U.S. Forest Service. The finds include the skeletal remains of tiny mouse-sized creatures to massive rhino-sized beasts and numerous tortoises.
Dr. Richard Gentile, professor of Geosciences at UMKC will give us a window into this unique world of mud and bone that lies upstream from us and share a glimpse into the past of our ancient watershed.
The specimens from the Badlands are on display at the Richard L. Sutton, Geoscience Museum, Rm 271, Flarsheim Hall, Volker Campus, UMKC. The Museum is open to the public at no charge from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on days when classes are in session.
Directions
Westport CoffeeHouse – 4010 Pennsylvania Kansas City, Mo – www.westportcoffeehouse.com
The Westport CoffeeHouse is in the Westport entertainment area, midtown KC, south of downtown and north of the Plaza. The main intersection is Westport Rd and Broadway. From this intersection, go west on Westport Rd one block to Pennsylvania. Turn north (right).
OR you can get there from the intersection of Southwest Trafficway and Westport Rd. Go east on Westport Rd to Pennsylvania. Turn north (left).
Westport Coffee House is approximately one block down on the west side of Pennsylvania. Parking can be had either south of the coffee house in the large parking lot or just north of the coffee house alongside the building. Enter through Green Room Burgers or Westport CoffeeHouse.
Resources & Links
Did deeper for more info on this topic –
- “The Fossils of the White River Badlands” – an incredible blog resource on this topic.
- Badlands National Park website
- Badlands history – National Park Service
- PHOTOS – Incredible public domain photo collection from the National Park Service on Flickr
- Info and teacher resources on the Badlands from South Dakota Public Broadcasting
The Big Muddy Speakers Series in Kansas City
is hosted by these wonderful partners!
- Little Blue River Watershed Coalition
- Friends of Lakeside Nature Center
- Missouri River Relief
- Healthy Rivers Partnership
- Kansas City Digital Video
Thanks to all of our venue hosts for making this possible! Click here for a list of upcoming presentations» The Big Muddy Speaker Series is also held monthly in Rocheport and St. Charles.
Recordings of Presentations
Kansas City Digital Video has been recording Big Muddy Speaker Series presentations. These are available on their website at this link. Some contain synchronized powerpoint presentations. We will be posting these to the archived presentation pages on bigmuddyspeakers.org. Thanks Micheal Morgan and crew for putting this important archive online!