WESTFIELD — Tom Hegna, associate professor of geology at SUNY Fredonia, will present “The Geological History of Western New York” at 6 p.m. Thursday at Patterson Library. The program, part of the Fireside Lecture Series, is free and open to the public.

The Fireside Lecture Series, a collaboration between the Chautauqua County Historical Society and the Patterson Library, provides programs on local and general history.

“The history of western New York reaches far beyond human occupation,”

notes Hegna. “Much of the bedrock exposed at the surface is more than 360 million years old and the land surface bears the hallmarks of glacial sculpting. Understanding this deep history demonstrates its connection to us today: from our land use patterns, natural resource distribution, and water quality.”

Hegna is an associate professor and chair at SUNY Fredonia. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geoscience at the University of Iowa and completed his doctorate at Yale University. His primary research focuses on the fossil record and evolution of arthropods.

To learn more about the Fireside Lecture Series, visit cchsmcclurg.org or pattersonlib.org.