Guest Talk (Students: no credit points!): At the Edge of the Ice: Unlocking the Lives of Patagonia’s Cretaceous Ichthyosaurs

Dr. Judith Pardo-Pérez, Associate Professor, Head of the Macropaleontology Unit, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas Chile, Associate Researcher, International Research Center (CHIC), Puerto Williams, Chile

Abstract

At the edge of the Tyndall Glacier in southernmost Patagonia, an extraordinary Early Cretaceous fossil assemblage is providing a unique window into the lives of ichthyosaurs more than 130 million years ago. This talk will explore over two decades of fieldwork and research at this remote locality, from exceptional skeletons and pregnant females to questions about reproduction, ontogeny, paleoecology and life in high-latitude seas.