Drexel's Lacovara to discuss Dreadnoughtus schrani discovery in southern Patagonia

1:08 p.m., March 12, 2015--Drexel University’s Ken Lacovara will deliver an invited lecture on Dreadnoughtus schrani, an exceptionally complete titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur skeleton, at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, April 9, in 209 Penny Hall on the University of Delaware’s Newark campus.

The lecture is free and open to the public. It is hosted by the Department of Geological Sciences, which is housed in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment.

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Lacovara, who earned his doctoral degree in geology at UD in 1997, is credited with discovering the 77-million-year-old dinosaur in southern Patagonia, Argentina. It is the most complete skeleton of a supermassive dinosaur ever found, and includes 145 bones.

In life, the massive dinosaur would have measured 85 feet long and weighed 65 tons, as much as 13 African elephants or more than seven Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Lacovara and his team excavated the 16-ton skeleton from approximately150-200 tons of rock during fieldwork from 2005 to 2009. The team and collaborators curated, preserved and digitized the fossils with a 3D laser scanner before returning them to Argentina earlier this year.

About Kenneth Lacovara

Kenneth Lacovara is a professor in the Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science at Drexel University. 

A paleontologist with a background in geology and sedimentology, his research focuses on reconstructing Mesozoic Era environments that contain the remains of dinosaurs and other vertebrate animals. He is among the first paleontologists to adopt the use of modern 3-D scanning and 3-D printing methods in research.

For more information, contact UD’s Department of Geological Sciences at 302-831-2841.

Article by Cori Ilardi

Photo courtesy of Kenneth Lacovara