Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI

ESCONI Events May 2022

Welcome back!  Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings!

Sat, May 7th	ESCONI Field Trip to the Vulcan DeKalb Quarry for Ordovician Fossils See details here.
Fri, May 13th	ESCONI General Meeting 8:00 PM Zoom - Topic: “Dinosaurs of Appalachia” by Chase Brownstein, Research Associate at the Stamford (CT) Museum and Nature Center. This meeting will be hybrid with both Zoom and in person available at the College of DuPage Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map).  Zoom link
Sat, May 14th	ESCONI Junior Meeting - 7:00 PM at College of DuPage - Topic: "Rock, Minerals and Fossil Show" Specifics of this meeting are available from Scott Galloway, 630-670-2591, gallowayscottf@gmail.com. The meeting will be in person at the College of DuPage Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038A (Map).
Sat, May 14th	ESCONI Field Trip to Braceville, IL for Mazon Creek Fossils See details here.
Sun, May 15th	ESCONI Field Trip to Braceville, IL for Mazon Creek Fossils See details here.
Sat, May 21st	ESCONI Field Trip to a Belvidere, IL Quarry See details here.
Sat, May 21st	ESCONI Paleontology Meeting 7:30 PM - Topic: "North American Upper Ordovician Crinoids" by ESCONI member Tom Williams. This meeting will be hybrid with both Zoom and in person available at the College of DuPage Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map).  Zoom Link
Fri, May 27th	ESCONI Field Trip to St. Paul, IN for Silurian Fossils See details here.
Sat, May 28th	CGMA Show at the Kane County Fairgrounds
Sun, May 29th	CGMA Show at the Kane County Fairgrounds

 

The first Australians ate giant eggs of huge flightless birds, ancient proteins confirm #fossil #Australia #paleontology #birds #eggs

Detail from an illustration of Genyornis being chased from its nest by a Megalania lizard in prehistoric Australia. Credit: Peter Trusler

Phys.org has a story about the extinction of the large flightless birds in Australia.  An international team of scientists have found evidence that the earliest humans to arrive on Australia ate the eggs of the large flightless birds that lived in Australia 47,000 years ago.  That evidence suggests humans had direct influence on the extinction.  The research was published in a paper in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Proteins extracted from fragments of prehistoric eggshell found in the Australian sands confirm that the continent's earliest humans consumed the eggs of a two-meter tall bird that disappeared into extinction over 47,000 years ago.

Burn marks discovered on scraps of ancient shell several years ago suggested the first Australians cooked and ate large eggs from a long-extinct bird—leading to fierce debate over the species that laid them.

Now, an international team led by scientists from the universities of Cambridge and Turin have placed the animal on the evolutionary tree by comparing the protein sequences from powdered egg fossils to those encoded in the genomes of living avian species.

"Time, temperature and the chemistry of a fossil all dictate how much information we can glean," said senior co-author Prof Matthew Collins from the University of Cambridge's Department of Archaeology.

"Eggshells are made of mineral crystals that can tightly trap some proteins, preserving this biological data in the harshest of environments—potentially for millions of years."

Fossil Friday #110: Sea Cucumber from Mazon Creek #fossil #paleontology #FossilFriday #seacucumber #MazonCreek

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #110.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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For this Fossil Friday, we have a very sweet sea cucumber (Achistrum sp.) from Mazon Creek.  For more information, we looked at these echinoderms back in Mazon Monday #29.  Holothurians appeared in Andy Hay's Creature Corner in May 1986.

Holothurians (sea cucumber)

As has been noted previously in these articles, the not uncommon fossil finds of Pit 11 are a great rarity in the fossil record of the rest of the world. So it is with the "sea cucumbers", more accurately the members of the class Holothuroidea which are found at this location.

In a recent journal it is stated "complete fossil Holothurians are rare". During the last 100 years only a few such specimens have been found. Following a page describing the complete specimens known, a paragraph much further on makes note of Dr. Eugene S. Richardson, Jr.'s study of "entire specimens of apodus holothurians" from Pit 11.

Holothurians possess leathery to gelatinous body walls, which are strengthened by Ossicles and spicules -tiny bone-like structures of various shapes. The body is more or less cylindrical, mouth at one end, anus at the other. Feeding tentacles surround the mouth. These tentacles are usually retractable. Some holothurians are burrowing creatures, ingesting the bottom sediment and filtering it for food.Others feed on tiny animals swimming by ensnaring them in the fan like tentacles. A calcareous ring of calcite plates joined together (often called radula by fossil collectors) is a support for the esophagus and body muscles. This ring plus the tiny "fish-hooks" (ossicles) are the field marks of Pit 11 sea cucumbers. During preservation, the sac-like body dries and cracks. Spaces being filled by calcite give the fossil body a septarian or mud-crack appearance. The various genera and species, one dozen plus or minus, are under study and will be described by S. Sroka (personal communication). Gelatinous body with few skeletal elements that could be preserved make the study of fossil holothurians difficult. Pit 11 holothurian specimens may change this condition.

This particular specimen was found by ESCONI member Sue Diblee.  She sent along this story to describe her discovery.

Here is the Achistrum sp. that you confirmed for me last Sunday.  I found the nodule on March 1, 2022.  The nodule opened by itself while it waited in line for some freezer time!  I initially thought it was a coprolite but it matched quite closely with Jack Wittry's description and photo in his Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna book.  The desiccation cracks and the circular mouth are essential features.  Dr. WIttry reminds us to avoid vinegar when cleaning a sea cucumber fossil because acid can dissolve the calcite in the cracks.

Thanks for the contribution, Sue!  That's a very nice fossil!  The mouth can be seen on the upper right of the bottom half shown below.

Throwback Thursday #112: April 1990 Field Trip to St. Paul and Brookville, IN #fossil #paleontology #silurian #ordovician #indiana #stpaul #brookville #TBT #history #ThrowbackThursday

This is Throwback Thursday #112.  In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general.  If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Thanks!

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ESCONI has been visiting St. Paul, IN for Silurian fossils for a long time.  In 1990, there was a rather large field trip to St. Paul.  While down there, they decided to visit Brookville, IN and Ohio for some Ordovician fossils.

Earl Elliott announced the trip in the April issue of the newsletter... it was a three day affair - April 6th, 7th, and 8th. 

FIELD TRIP

ESCONI FIELD TRIP S-E INDIANA & S-W OHIO -

April 6-7-8

MEET: 8:00 A.M. sharp on Saturday April 7 (Eastern Time) PLACE: Super 8 Motel I74 and Route 9 Shelbyville, Indiana

Be ready for a full day of collecting. We have permission to collect in the Waldron Shale at a quarry in this area. This is a Silurian age quarry, where on our last trip we found some trilobites, crinoid heads and stems and numerous other fossils and micros, some of which are replaced by pyrite. Also, come calcite and other minerals are available. The quarry will close around noon and we will head further east to collect in areas around Brookville, Indiana for Ordovician age fossils and who knows what??? It should be fun.

Sunday morning we will collect Ordovician fossils in an area around Oxford, Ohio. I would suggest that Motel people try to stay at the lodge at Hueston Woods State Park. which is 7 miles north of Oxford. Plan to drive back home Sunday afternoon or Monday A.M. if you have an extra day off.

Reservations: Super 8 Motels 1-800-843-1991 (10% VIP Discount) Hueston Woods State Park Lodge 1-800-282-7275 (call A.S.A.P.) Hueston Woods Campground 1-513-523-1060 (call A.S.A.P.)

TO sign-up call Earl Elliott (Field Trip Chairman) 708-698-6246 For camping information call Don Auler (Second VP) 708-832-0479

Adult and junior members of ESCONI in good standing are welcome. Everyone must have a hard hat.

Earl Elliott Field Trip Chairman

April 6th was a travel day, with hotel accommodations at the Super 8 Motel in Shelbyville, IN, which is still there.

They met at 8:00 AM sharp for a full day of collecting.  The morning was spent in the St. Paul Quarry. 

For the afternoon, Brookville, IN was visited for Ordovician fossils.

On Sunday, they visited Hueston Woods in Ohio.  The site of a fossil park in Ohio.  Better maps are available online.

From the field trip report in the May 1990 edition of the newsletter, it sounds like everyone had a great time!

FIELD TRIP REPORT

We had a nice turn out for our Arpil field trip to Indiana and Ohio. 42 members of ESCONI were along on the trip.

During our two days of collecting we visited areas around Waldron Indiana, Brookville Indiana and Oxford Ohio. Some nice Silurian and Ordovician fossils were found along with some interesting mineral and micro specimens. The weather was good, a little cool but sunny. Everyone was having such a good time that nobody minded the cool weather. We also were very fortunate to have Dr. Gerrald Haddock along with us to help identify many of our fossil finds. I hope that our many new members that were along on this trip found it interesting and will join us again on our next trip. Field trips are an important part of our study of the Earth sciences and are open to all adult and junior members of ESCONI.

Earl Elliott Field Trip Chairman

Silurian fossils of St. Paul, IN

Ordovician fossils of Brookville, IN and Hueston Woods in Ohio

2022 Tate Geological Museum Lecture Series - 6:30 MDT on Mat 26th, 2022 #fossil #ammonites #paleontology #jurassic

The next installment of the 2022 Tate Museum Lecture Series will take place  Thursday evening, May 26th. Continuing with the ammonites theme, Kathleen Ritterbush of the University of Utah will present: “Adventures in the Jurassic Jet Propulsion Laboratory”. 

The Zoom will open at about 6:30PM Mountain Savings Time and the talk will start at 7PM. And here is the link:

https://caspercollege.zoom.us/j/84334489484?pwd=OFNuVVpmZWtLQ01yVkVNWTRIM2pXdz09

I am sending one email to all groups. Please pass this on to your members.

Recordings of the last two talks (David Peterman and Josh Slattery) can be found on the Tate Geological Museum’s YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCedShZzSLZPCa018d8T_3Jg

We failed to record the first talk (Russell Hawley) as we were still new at this.  With Kathleen’s permission, her talk should be out on the Tate’s YouTube channel a few days after the talk.  Rather than send out another mass email to announce that, I will leave it up to folks to look it up.  

BBC: Mary Anning: Lyme Regis fossil hunter's statue unveiled #fossil #paleontology #history #womeninscience #fossils #lymeregis #uk #england

Hundreds of people turned out to see the unveiling

The BBC has a story about the unveiling of a statue of Mary Anning in her home town of Lyme Regis, Dorset, England.  The unveiling was done on May 21st, which was her 223rd birthday.  She lived her whole life in Lyme Regis and supported her family by collecting and selling fossils from what is now known as the Jurassic coast.  She was the first one to discover a complete plesiosaur in 1823.  The poem "She sells sea shells by the sea shore" is widely attributed to her.

During the ceremony, crowds cheered as Prof Roberts said: "Mary Anning - welcome back to Lyme Regis."

She added: "It makes Mary Anning visible as a role model for any woman wanting to get into science. This is her place, where she was from and where she made all her discoveries.

"But she also represents the change we need in our society - we need to push further and bring more people into science," she said.

Anning, whose life inspired the feature film Ammonite, was never fully credited for her discoveries due to the fact she was woman and because of her social status.

Mazon Monday #113: Spring 2022 Braceville Field Trip Report #fossil #paleontology #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #coalmine #coal #mine

This is Mazon Monday post #113.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com.

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Braceville Field Trip (Mazon Creek) May 14th and 15th

by Keith Robitschek

This spring’s field trip to the Braceville spoil pile started on Saturday with a warm cloudy day with a chance of rain. We had about five minutes of a cool light drizzle. To be honest, it was well timed and felt good. Near the end of the field trip, it got uncomfortably hot, reaching 88 degrees and humid.  We had 39 members show up which left 11 no-shows. Kids young and old alike enjoyed the fossil dump performed just before lunch. Sunday’s weather was a direct opposite from that of Saturday. Mostly cloudy for most of the day, with cooler temperatures.  There was about a minute of light mist midday.  Unfortunately, only 34 members turned out on Sunday.  For the weekend, nearly a third of members that signed up were no-shows. This did allow the guides to be much more personal by sharing knowledge with the participants that were there.

This spring’s fossil donations were provided by Andrew Young, Marie Angkuw, Rich Holm, Jeremy Zimmerman, Rob Coleman and myself... Thanks!  Everyone got to pick through them, ask questions, and take home a few handfuls of fossils.  The fossils giveaways came from all over the world, including England, Morocco, Indiana, Wyoming, and Iowa. Many of the donations can be seen at the feet of our young hunters in the picture below.

Here a video of the fossil dump on Sunday.

There was much success digging into the ridges, where concretions were being discovered in both eroded areas and in situ. Remember, when you find one concretion in situ, they usually come in small clusters relatively close to each other. The image below looks like we have plots subdivided under leases for excavation.

The top of the hill is the coolest place to be, along with a nice breeze.

Check the ESCONI website!  It has a wealth of information about Mazon Creek fossils. We have the weekly Mazon Monday series.  Mazon Monday #66 applies well to the Braceville spoil pile. 

 

Ancient Tooth From Young Girl Discovered in Cave Unlocks Mystery of Denisovans, a Sister Species of Modern Humans #fossil #paleontology #humans #denosovans #evolution

 

What links a finger bone and some fossil teeth found in a cave in the remote Altai Mountains of Siberia to a single tooth found in a cave in the limestone landscapes of tropical Laos? The answer to this question has been established by an international team of researchers from Laos, Europe, the US, and Australia. Credit: Flinders University

SciTechDaily has a story about the Denisovans.  The Denisovans are a closely related species of humans who lived in southeastern Asia around 150,000 years ago.  Their DNA had only known from the Denisova cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia (Russia).  Now, the discovery of Denisovan DNA in a tooth from Cobra Cave in northern Laos links the modern occurrence of DNA with the ancient fossil DNA.  See the detail in a paper in the journal Nature Communications.

Lead Author and Assistant Professor of Palaeoanthropology at the University of Copenhagen, Fabrice Demeter, says the cave sediments contained teeth of giant herbivores, ancient elephants, and rhinos that were known to live in woodland environments.

“After all this work following the many clues written on fossils from very different geographic areas our findings are significant,” Professor Demeter says.

“This fossil represents the first discovery of Denisovans in Southeast Asia and shows that Denisovans were in the south at least as far as Laos. This is in agreement with the genetic evidence found in modern-day Southeast Asian populations.”

PBS Eons: The Curious Case of the Cave Lion #paleontology #archaeology #artifacts #cats #fossil #fossils

 

PBS Eons has a new episode.  This one is about large cats from ancient Eurasia.

A mysterious, large feline roamed Eurasia during the last ice age. Its fossils have been found across the continent, and it’s been the subject of ancient artwork. So what exactly were these big cats?

Fossil Friday #109: Tully Monster! #FossilFriday #fossil #tullymonster #paleontology #MazonCreek #vertebrate #pit11

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #109.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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Today, we have a Tully Monster that got a second chance.  It was found by ESCONI member Jeremy Zimmernan a while back deep in the wilds of Pit 11.  Someone had hammered it many years ago, thought it was a blank and left it to the elements.  Jeremy picked it up, made it part of his freeze/thaw process, and it rewarded him for his patience.  It's not the best Tully, but it's a Tully!   It needed some repair as can be seen on the back side.  For that, Elmer's Glue works wonderfully and gives you multiple chances if you make a mistake.

When you're out in the field collecting, don't overlook the discards from long ago.  Back then, the collectors had more concretions than you can believe.  They hammered them and then kept the better specimens with the least damage.  Use the freeze/thaw method, yes, it's slow, but gives the best chance for a nice opening... especially with the markedly reduced count of concretions available today!

Thanks for sharing, Jeremy!  And, thanks for passing on this valuable lesson in Mazon Creek fossil collecting!

Throwback Thursday #111: In Quest of Galena #rocks #fossil #TBT #ThrowbackThursday #history #galena #mineral

This is Throwback Thursday #111.  In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general.  If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Thanks!

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This week, we are posting the story of a field trip from the March 1952 edition of the newsletter.  The story is by Alan D. Kattele, who was a member of ESCONI during the 1950's.  He writes of a trip to find galena in 1950 with his wife and three year old daughter in their 1936 Pontiac.  They have mixed luck, which includes a run in with a bunch of wasps.

In Quest of Galena

When a family of avid rock hounds are transplanted from their native rock strewn hillsides of New England to the barren prairies of Illinois, tensions are found to be built up, tensions that can only be relieved by the sight of masses of honest-to-goodness rock, rock that gleams with more than the pale shine of dolomite, with these thoughts in mind, and after due consideration of the endurance limits of a three year old daughter and a 1936 Pontiac, my wife, the aforementioned daughter and myself embarked one July night in 1950 from the pleasant suburb of LaGrange for the north-west corner of Illinois, and the famed deposits of galena in the Tri-State region.

The night ride west on Route 64 was uneventful, the daughter slept as we had hoped, and we eventually found lodgings in the wee hours of the morning in a hotel in Savanna, Illinois, Up reasonably early the next morning, our first sight of the Mississippi was a great thrill to us all. What boy weaned on Mark Twain wouldn't feel a sense of completeness when he stands on the banks of that great river? If he squints the least bit, he can soon make out a raft over by the far bank, and if he listens carefully, he can hear the paddles splashing as the packet from Cairo cuts up the channel below the bend.

It was a beautiful morning, and the road map showed the Mississippi Palisades Park to be nearby, so we headed for that. It turned out to be well worthwhile. There is a lovely trail that winds up to the Twin Sisters, an interesting formation of weathered limestone. Part of the trail is paved with limestone slabs, and one of these slabs stopped us in our ascent. Embedded in its surface were at least a dozen museum-quality fossils which I will have the temerity to call cephalopods. But cephalopods or brachiopods, only the utmost efforts of my wife and a few shreds of conscience restrained me from carrying the entire slab back to the car.

The swift passage of the morning recalled us to our original destination, and we pressed on to Galena. Once in town, we had the familiar experience of asking a number of people before we found one who could direct us to any mining operations in the vicinity. Our informant's directions led us to the Eagle-Pitcher mine, as I recall, not far out on the cutskirts of town. This mine and mill proved to be a very business-like and distressingly tidy place. No casual piles of ore, or even tailings. I finally screwed up courage to venture into the mine office, where to my surprise, no one pounced on me, in fact no one paid me the slightest attention! Eventually I sidled up to a busy clerk and asked him if he knew where I might find a specimen of lead or zinc ore. He said smilingly that he didn't know just what I wanted, but there was a chunk of ore down there on the floor holding the door open that I was welcome to if I wanted it. I thanked him, and eagerly carried off my loot. It proved to be an excellent specimen of both galena and sphalerite, or blende, arranged in concentric layers to form a nodular mass as big as a grapefruit. Meanwhile my wife and daughter had discovered a small pile of waste rock, and there we found some beautiful specimens of mixed crystalline calcite, pyrite, and sphalerite. We still didn't have any really pleasing specimens of nice shiny galena, so we decided to look for a new site.

Back in Galena, we secured directions to the Tri-State Mine, which proved to be way back in the hills at the end of five miles of very bumpy dirt road. This mine consisted simply of a steeply sloping road leading into a dark tunnel which disappeared into the hillside. In the hot July afternoon, a pleasantly. cool mist nrose gently from the mine entrance. As I busied myself on a pile of waste rock, my wife found a patch of wild mustard, which she proceeded to harvest. A couple of empty dynamite boxes seemed to make ideal containers for our specimens and our mess of greens, but for a few minutes both rocks and mustard were forgotten when it was discovered that a family of wasps had laid prior claims to the dynamite boxes. A few good specimens of galena were found. here, and soon the setting sun and the increasing irritability of the three year old urged us to make tracks for food and rest.

Starting home the next morning, we decided to cross over into Iowa, just so we could say we had been there. There are several quarries near Dubuque, but we failed to find anything of interest there. Turning east again, we drove through the pleasantly rolling countryside of southern Wisconsin. Both active and abandoned lead and zinc mines abound in this area, and while we did not find any specimens of truly museum quality, it is easy to obtain interesting samples of the typical ore minerals of this region.

-- Alan D. Kattelle --

Fossils of a Prehistoric Rainforest Hide in Australia’s Rusted Rocks #fossil #paleontology #rainforest #australia #spider #insect

An ancient spider, which Dr. Frese likens to “squishy bags of liquid.”Credit...Michael Frese

The New York Times Trilobites column has a story about the discovery of a fossil rain forest in the outback of Australia.  The deposit is located hundreds of miles northwest of Sydney in a place called McGraths Flat.  The fossils date to the Miocene Epoch when Australia was much wetter.  There's flowers, insects, spiders, and even a feather.  The discovery is documented in a paper called "A Lagerstätte from Australia provides insight into the nature of Miocene mesic ecosystems" published in the journal Science Advances.

Fifteen million years ago, a river carved through the jungle, leaving an oxbow lake (known as a billabong in Australia) in its wake at McGraths Flat. Nearly devoid of oxygen, this stagnant pool kept scavengers at bay, allowing plant material and animal carcasses to accumulate. As iron-rich runoff from nearby basalt mountains seeped into the billabong, the pool’s low pH caused the iron to precipitate and encase the organic material. As a result, the fossils at McGraths Flat are preserved in a dense, iron-rich mineral known as goethite.

This method of fossilization is uncommon, Dr. Hocknull said. Because quality fossils are rarely found in iron deposits, paleontologists often overlook them. However, the fossils from McGraths Flat illustrate that goethite, which is common in Australia, can yield remarkable fossils.

“There’s no shortage of goethite,” Dr. Hocknull said. “We’re essentially a rusting country.”

New armless abelisaur dinosaur species discovered in Argentina #dinosaur #paleontology #fossil #argentina

Guemesia ochoai could have looked similar to relatives such as Carnotaurus sastrei (pictured). Credit: Fred Wierum, licensed under  CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Phys.org has a story about an armless therapod dinosaur.  Many of the large predatory dinosaurs had reduced arms and hands with Tyrannosaurs and South American Giganotosaurus and Carnotaurus as prime examples.  Now, a new species of abelisaur, Guemesia ochoai, has taken it a step farther.  G. ochoai lived about 70 million years ago in what is modern day Argentina.  All the details can be found in a paper by Frederico Agnolin et al in the Journal of Vertebate Paleontology.

A new dinosaur which formed part of an array of 'unusual' creatures has been discovered in Argentina.

The new species, Guemesia ochoai, could be the close relative of the ancestors of an armless group of dinosaurs, which roamed the southern hemisphere over 70 million years ago.

A partially complete skull uncovered in Argentina provides new evidence of a unique ecosystem during the Late Cretaceous.

Guemesia ochoai was a species of abelisaurid, a clade of carnivores which roamed what is now Africa, South America and India. Dating back around 70 million years, the dinosaur may have been a close relative of the entire group's ancestors.

The discovery of Guemesia ochoai's skull offers a valuable insight into an area which has very few abelisaurid fossils, and may go some way to explain why the area gave rise to such unusual animals.

Professor Anjali Goswami, Research Leader at the Museum and co-author, says, "This new dinosaur is quite unusual for its kind. It has several key characteristics that suggest that is a new species, providing important new information about an area of the world which we don't know a lot about.

"It shows that the dinosaurs that live in this region were quite different from those in other parts of Argentina, supporting the idea of distinct provinces in the Cretaceous of South America. It also shows us that there is lot more to be discovered in these areas that get less attention than some of the more famous fossil sites."

Mazon Monday #112: Concretion Shape from 1952 #fossil #paleontology #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #concretions

This is Mazon Monday post #112.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com.

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Lately, we've been getting a bunch of questions about concretion shape, probably due to the Braceville field trip this past weekend.  It's an age old question that repeats again and again.  Back in March 1952, Stevens T. Norvell, a founding member of ESCONI and its first treasurer, wrote "Our Fossil Ferns - Why They Occur in Form-Fitting Pebbles" for the newsletter.   The information is still mostly relevant today. 

Our Fossil Ferns - Why They Occur in Form-Fitting "Pebbles" by Stevens T. Norvell

Why you may very well ask is it that the fossil ferns which we collect in the ' nearby strip mines are always inside of pebbles, and why is it that the size of the enclosing pebble is proportional to the size of the enclosed leaf, that is big fronds are inside of big pebbles, little leaves are inside of little pebbles and medium size leaves are in medium size pebbles. Likewise, long leaves are in long pebbles and round leaves are in round pebbles. This situation is indeed peculiar to say the least. It almost looks like the leaf itself had some thing to do with the size and shape of the pebble. Well, that is exactly right, the leaves did have a lot to do with the formation of the enclosing pebbles.

In the first place let us dispose of that word "pebble". These are not pebbles at all. Pebbles are pieces of rock broken from a large rock mass and then rolled along a stream-bed until they are nicely rounded. What we are dealing with here are not pebbles because they never were part of a large rock mass, and they did not become rounded by rolling along a stream-bed. So in stead of calling them pebbles we shall call them "concretions", meaning that they are masses of natural concrete. This is not a figure of speech. The rock crypts in which the fossils have reposed for millions of years are actually produced by silt or clay being cemented.

Now let us study this phenomenon by following in our minds eye, a leaf or a frond from the time it falls or is blown from the parent plant until we have it, in fossil form safely in our specimen cabinet. The falling leaf lands en or is blown onto the water of the nearby swamp. Here it floats for a day or so until it becomes "waterlogged" and then it sinks to the bottom. At that particular time the bottom of our swamp was clay or silt and more clay or silt was constantly settling from the roilly water. Soon our leaf was covered, buried in a layer of mud which was quite homogeneous. Probably there. was no definite mark to show where the surface of the mud happened to be when our leaf came to rest upon it. Now, in strictly fresh water the leaf would soon have decayed. But this was swamp water which is as you know quite another matter. Being deficient in oxygen as all swamp water is, this water was a pretty good bactericide, especially for bacteria that require much free oxygen, and the bacteria of decay are just such aerobic organisms. So decay did not take place. However certain anaerobic bacteria, bacteria that could get along without free oxygen, did have some effect on the leaf but not very much, just enough to cause the production of a comparatively small amount of organic acid. This acid gradually dispersed outward from its source, and as it did so it came into contact with the clay and with the iron-disulfide, FeS₂ (one atom of iron, F, to 2 atoms of sulfur, S) dissolved in the water. Between them they form a cement, and of course, the more acid there was the larger was the ball of cement that resulted. In other words a large frond produced more acid than a small one could produce and therefore, a larger ball of cement formed around a large frond than formed around a small leaf. This accounts for not only the size of the concretion but also for its shape which as we have already noted, pretty well follows the outline of the leaf. In fact, the margin around a leaf as it is exposed when the concretion is opened is a sort of a dispersion diagram. By studying it closely you can easily visualize and can mark with a pencil the various paths followed by the acid as it dispersed outward from the leaf.

Another question: Why is it that most of the concretions split just right to expose the fern to the best advantage? Well, since the leaf formed a sort of a partition between the cement above the leaf and that below, it created a plane of weakness. When you tap the concretion on the side (edge), the break occurs along this natural cleavage plane.

At the time the shovels bring the fossils up from the pit and dumps them on the tailing piles they are bluish-gray in color, same as all the rest of the debris. After being exposed to the elements for a few months the concretions begin to turn red. The reason for this is that the iron which was locked up at the time the concretions were formed is now turning to that well known form, the mineral hematite, Fe₂0₃. The concretions are readily seen now because their color makes them stand out against the blue-gray background. At the time the concretions formed at least 250,000,000 years ago there was just as much iron in the mud between the concretions as there was in the concretions, but that in the concretions was "locked up", chemically speaking, while that in the rest of the mud was not. As a result, down through the millions of years since then most of the free iron-disulfide has been leached out, carried away by percolating ground waters. That in the concretions could not be leached as it was bound up too firmly in the chemical compounds of the concretion.

For a more modern view try Gordon Baird, Steven Sroka, Charles Shabica, and Gerald Kuecher "Taphonomy of Middle Pennsylvanian Mazon Creek Are Fossil Localities, Northeast Illinois: Significance of Exceptional Fossil Preservation in Syngenetic Concretions" in Palaios in 1986.

Abstract

Mazon Creek area fossil localities (Pennsylvanian: Westphalian D) in northeast Illinois provide an extraordinary preservational "window" for the study of Late Paleozoic terrestrial, fresh-water, and estuarine marine organisms. Marine animals were killed by episodic pulses of turbid fresh water associated with flooding from distributaries, and terrestrial organisms were introduced into coastal waters from upstream sources. Rapid burial entombed remains, commonly before significant decomposition had occurred, and very early diagenesis ensured fossil preservation as molds and composite impressions within sideritic concretions. The taphonomy of these deltaic, fossil-bearing beds is complex. Episodic engulfment of organisms is indicated by animal escape activity and by the presence of upended plant fragments. Numerous, distinctive, cyclic repetitions of siltstone-claystone laminae, each recording a single tidal (flood-ebb) event, are observed in areas yielding marine organisms; these indicate that rapid but extremely regular deposition was also important. Concretion formation was probably influenced, but not necessarily triggered, by decay processes. Siderite precipitation reflects three key conditions: the availability of iron, rapid burial of organic material, and a low to nonexistent supply of sea-water sulfate to centers of interstitial microbial activity. A regional (seaward) decrease in the quality of fossil preservation is observed away from the coastal depocenter, and an interval of sparsely fossiliferous facies (a taphonomic discontinuity) occurs between the delta complex and shell-rich, normal marine deposits. The preservational significance of early diagenetic siderite is discussed; we argue that paleoenvironmental interpretations of analogous or similar nearshore deposits lacking fossiliferous concretions must be made cautiously. The potential value of Mazon Creek-type facies in the study of other Pennsylvanian nearshore deposits, including many superficially "barren" shales, is stressed. The association of the fossil-bearing concretions with inferred estuarine-deltaic fades points to the need for future actualistic studies of comparable modern coastal environments.

Or, Thomas Clements, Mark Purnell, and Sarah Gabbott in "The Mazon Creek Lagerstatte: a diverse late Paleozoic ecosystem entombed within siderite concretions" in 2018.

Abstract

One of the best records of late Paleozoic ecosystems, the Mazon Creek Lagerstätte is world famous for its striking flora and fauna preserved within siderite concretions. Distinct from other late Carboniferous concretionary Lagerstätten because of the remarkable fidelity of soft tissues and pigments that are frequently preserved, the Mazon Creek has seen a revival in investigations during the last 10 years using modern palaeontological techniques. However, many of these modern investigations build upon a literature that incorrectly interprets the palaeoenvironment of the Mazon Creek and the separate biotas: there is a lack of evidence to support a distinct freshwater fauna. Here, we present a detailed overview of the Mazon Creek Lagerstätte, including the palaeoenvironmental conditions, organisms present and the complex taphonomic processes involved in fossil formation. Investigation into the formation of siderite concretions and the complex taphonomic processes controlling soft-bodied preservation are still continuing but are reviewed in detail.

Or, S. Cotroneo, J. D. Schiffbauer, V. E. McCoy, U. G. Wortmann, S. A. F. Darroch, Y. Peng, and M. Laflamme in "A new model of the formation of Pennsylvanian iron carbonate concretions hosting exceptional soft-bodied fossils in Mazon Creek, Illinois"  in GeoBiology from 2016.

Abstract

Preservation of Pennsylvanian-aged (307 Ma) soft-bodied fossils from Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA, is attributed to the formation of siderite concretions, which encapsulate the remains of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine flora and fauna. The narrow range of positive δ34S values from pyrite in individual concretions suggests microenvironmentally limited ambient sulfate, which may have been rapidly exhausted by sulfate-reducing bacteria. Tissue of the decaying carcass was rapidly encased by early diagenetic pyrite and siderite produced within the sulfate reduction and methanogenic zones of the sediment, with continuation of the latter resulting in concretion cementation. Cross-sectional isotopic analyses (δ13C and δ18O) and mineralogical characterization of the concretions point to initiation of preservation in high porosity proto-concretions during the early phases of microbially induced decay. The proto-concretion was cemented prior to compaction of the sediments by siderite as a result of methanogenic production of 13C-rich bicarbonate—which varies both between Essex and Braidwood concretions and between fossiliferous and unfossiliferous concretions. This work provides the first detailed geochemical study of the Mazon Creek siderite concretions and identifies the range of conditions allowing for exceptional soft-tissue fossil formation as seen at Mazon Creek.

Construction Workers Uncover Massive 800-Year-Old Aztec Dwelling in Mexico City #history #archaeology #aztec #mexicocity

An electrical works project led archaeologists to uncover this Aztec-era dwelling.  Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH)

Smithsonian Magazine has a story about an accidental archaeological find in Mexico City.  Construction workers unearthed the remains of a large house while renovating an electrical substation.  The structure, which measures about 4300 square feet, dates to the late Postclassic period maybe 800 years ago.  It is fairly common to uncover Aztec ruins in Mexico City,  In 2017, renovations on a historic pawnshop led to the discovery of a palace built by Henan Cortes.

The house’s location itself is unique, as it borders two neighborhoods not far from Tenochtitlan, which became the Aztec capital around 1325 C.E. Based on modern-day standards, the residence is vast: The remains stretch over more than 4,300 square feet, archaeologists say.

The findings show that the area was not only an important place to live but to work using the chinampas farming technique typical of the time. The Aztec agricultural system relied on “floating gardens”—patches of seemingly self-sustaining land that appear to float along shallow bodies of water. A pier with wooden beams that stretch up to 130 feet and connected channels found at the site demonstrate how the location would have functioned as part of a larger whole.

Even today, some Mexico City residents still use this farming method, reported Conde Nast Traveler's Megan Zhang in 2021. The tactic, which allowed the Aztecs to claim fertile land from the area’s wetlands, is now used by organic farmers.

PBS Eons: When Ants Domesticated Fungi #fossil #ants #paleontology #insects #fungi #evolution

There's a new episode of PBS Eons.  This one is about one of Earth's first farmers... ants!

While we’ve been farming for around 10,000 to 12,000 years, the ancestors of ants have been doing it for around 60 million years. So when, and how, and why did ants start … farming?

TRIP FULL! - ESCONI Field Trip to a Belvidere Quarry Saturday, May 21st, 2022, 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM #ordovician #quarry #fossil #fieldtrip #illinois #belvidere #limestone

THE TRIP IS FULL!  It filled up in less than an hour!  We are still accepting requests, which will place you on the waiting list.  Please let us know if you can't make it, as it makes room for those on the waiting list.  Thanks!

There will be a field trip to a quarry near Belvidere, Illinois on Saturday, May 21, 2022, from 9 AM to 12 noon.

The rock is Ordovician, Galena Group. This is a "hard-rock" quarry (dolomite). If you like Hormotoma or Receptaculites, this is the place for you! The quarry has been active so there is new rock exposed.

If you are sick, have symptoms of Covid 19 or have tested positive recently, DON'T COME!

Rules

1. Everyone in your group MUST be an ESCONI member when you register for this trip.
2. Everyone in your group MUST be at least 18 years of age.
3. Everyone MUST have and wear a hard hat, safety vest, and sturdy boots while in the quarry. No sandals, tennis shoes, and the like. No claw hammers or roofing hammers - use only rock hammers. If you plan on hammering then bring eye protection and wear it.
4. Sign up by sending me (Dave) an email with the number of members attending and their names. My email is fossil54@att.net No phone calls please.
5. I will acknowledge by return email. If you don't get a reply in 24 hours, send it again!
6. Maximum attendance by ESCONI members is 18. This is a shared trip with the Rock River Valley Gem and Mineral Society.
7. Please review the Code of Ethics and Conduct on the ESCONI website. You will be expected to check-in at the quarry. By doing so you agree to follow the Code of Ethics and the conditions on the ESCONI Liability and Waiver form (sent by email to those that sign up). You do not need to print out the ESCONI waiver form, just know what you’re agreeing to. There may be an additional waiver from the quarry.

The address of the quarry will be sent to those that sign up.

I will distribute the waiver forms by email to those signed up just before the trip.

Questions? Send me an email...

 

Fossil Friday #108: Mazopherusa prinosi from Braceville #FossilFriday #fossil #fanworm #worm #paleontology #MazonCreek

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #108.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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To help lead into the Braceville field trip this weekend, we have one of the iconic species from "Worm Hill".  The Braceville spoil pile is known for jellies, clams, the occasional shrimp, partial plants, and worms... lots of worms.  ESCONI member Maarten Vonhof sent us photos of what may be the best specimen of Mazopherusa prinosi many of us have ever seen!  M. prinosi is comonly called the Fan Worm.  We highlighted them back in Mazon Monday #31.  Maarten's fossil has much more detail than what is usually seen.  The segmentation of the body is fairly common, but many times the worm winds around the concretion in multiple dimensions, which can make the fossil cleave in many planes.  There are more than a few stored as 3-D puzzles to allow seeing multiple sections of the animal.  This specimen also has the rarely preserved plume-like appendages, which were attached to the end of the worm to allow it to filter feed.

Maarten, thanks for sending in these photos of a stunning fossil!

Throwback Thursday #110: A Jurassic Twilight in Colorado from 1952 #history #TBT #ThrowbackThursday #puzzle #paleontology #naturalhistory

This is Throwback Thursday #110.  In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general.  If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Thanks!

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Image from the History Detective in Positively Naperville, December 12, 2018

This week, we are posting a puzzle of sorts from the April 1952 edition of the newsletter.  The puzzle is in the form of a story describing a scene in the Jurassic Period.  The story was credited to Joe Stoos.  Positively Naperville had an article by the History Detective about him.  He lived in Naperville and was honored with a plaque in the Naperville Nichols Library when he died in April 1977.   He is listed as a "renaissance man"... an electrical engineer and inventor who had articles published in electric lighting and geological journals.

Joseph Stoos was born in Naperville and lived on his family farm west of Mill and south of I-88. Stoos’ first wife, Juanita Engstrand was a librarian in Pekin and DeKalb before her marriage to Joseph. Her brother, Stuart David Engstrand “tried vegetable growing on a ten acre tract that is part of the Joseph Stoos eighty acre farm” where he wrote the first chapter of his 1937 farming novel, The Invaders. Juanita died in 1942. Then Joseph married Gunvor Johannesen. Stoos was a renaissance man. He was an electrical engineer and inventor with the Delta-Star Electric Company in Chicago. He published articles in electric lighting and geological journals. Stoos was a member and one-time president of the Naperville Drama Club where he often painted scenery for productions. His hand-drawn Christmas cards are an example of his engineering and artistic talents.

Although the trees and plaque are gone, the spirit of these men and their service to Nichols Library and the community of Naperville will long be remembered.

The 1952 membership list was printed in the same April 1952 newsletter as his story.  Here is a snippet that shows he was a member of ESCONI at the time.

Use your knowledge of natural history and paleontology to find the "errors" in the story.  You can send us an email (esconi.info@gmail.com) with your answers or comment on this post.  Look for answers in the next couple weeks.

A Jurassic Twilight in Colorado

A monkey climbed out on a branch of Lepidodendron tree and picked and tossed a nut at a passing Tyrannosaurus. On a nearby oak an Archaeopteryx dug the remnants of a  squirrel's carcass from his teeth before flying to his roost for the night.

Far to the west, silhouetted against the setting sun, a Pteranodon slowly wheeled over the Rockies. With a whirring swoop, the enormous bird came down on a young horse grazing in the grasslands in the foothills. The horse galloped into the safety of a nearby coniferous forest where the Pteranodon could not fly.

In the swamp, below the grasslands, a Brontosaurus cavorted among the cattails, stirring faint protest from the redwings as the sun sank low. Far across, on the other side of the swamp, a coyote howled night was here!   - Joe Stoos

What is wrong with this picture? Send your answers to the Editor and watch for next month's issue.

ESCONI May 2022 General Meeting - May 13th, 2022 at 8:00 PM In-person/Zoom - "Dinosaurs of Appalachia” #fossil #paleontology #dinosaur

The May 2022 General Meeting will be held on May 13th at 8:00 PM.  The presentation will be given by Chase Brownstein, Research Associate of the Stamford (CT) Museum and Nature Center.  Chase is a student at Yale.  He has 21 peer-reviewed publications to his name, 41 publications on his ResearchGate page, and he’s an undergraduate in his junior year! Here’s a link to his ResearchGate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chase-Brownstein

 

This ESCONI General Meeting will be hybrid; both via Zoom and in-person at the College of DuPage, Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map). 

 

Please find the Zoom link below.

Date & Time: Friday, May 13, 2022 - 8:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Topic: Dinosaurs of Appalachia

Presented by: Chase Brownstein, Research Associate at the Stamford (CT) Museum and Nature Center; Yale Student

 

Join Zoom Meeting

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Meeting ID: 849 8591 9139

Passcode: 763818

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Meeting ID: 849 8591 9139

Passcode: 763818

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbA8jImbtO

 

(If you have missed a meeting or wish to revisit one, please see our website, www.esconi.org, under "Videos" for those meetings that have been recorded.)

Trilobite Tuesday #39: Before There Were Birds or Bees, This Is How Trilobites Made Babies #fossil #paleontology #cambrian #trilobite #reproduction

An adult male Olenoides serratus trilobite with its claspers, left, and its counterpart.Credit...Sarah Losso

The New York Times Trilobites column has a story about trilobite reproduction.  Trilobites first show up in the fossil record back in the Cambrian Period, some 500 million years ago.  Their closest living relative is most likely the horseshoe crab.  Now, a team of paleontologists from Harvard have published a paper in the journal Geology that looks into the sex lives of trilobites.  They found that they used methods similar to their modern relatives.

A recently re-examined fossil from the Burgess Shale is pulling back the shroud of mystery over the ancient arthropods’ sex lives, and revealing that some trilobites most likely sported a loving grip. In a study published Friday in Geology, paleontologists at Harvard University identified a pair of modified appendages that probably helped males of one trilobite species grasp females during copulation in a similar manner to that of modern horseshoe crabs.

The team examined several spiny Olenoides serratus trilobites collected from the Cambrian site. Most were just under four inches long. While the Burgess Shale is known for its detailed preservation of even delicate tissue, one of the Olenoides specimens the team examined at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto looked more like a badly broken lobster tail than an intact trilobite.

“It’s a sad looking specimen — it’s missing most of the head and half of the body,” said Sarah Losso, a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard and an author of the study.

The fragmented nature of the specimen was a lucky break because it revealed the anatomy often hidden under a trilobite’s shell. Importantly, nine of the arthropod’s rarely fossilized appendages were preserved in detail. “There are millions of broken trilobites and you don’t see limbs in many of them,” said Javier Ortega-Hernández, a co-author on the new study and Ms. Losso’s Ph.D. adviser. “Having this specimen that is broken in just the right way that you can see these limbs is a one in a million sort of situation.”

Mazon Monday #111: Leaves and Stems with a George Langford Inscription #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #GeorgeLangford

This is Mazon Monday post #111.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com.

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Back in Mazon Monday #51, we looked at the book "Leaves and Stems" by Raymond E. Janssen.  From the time it was published in 1939 by the Illinois State Museum until George Langford's first book was published by Esconi Associates in 1958, the book was one of the main references used to identify Mazon Creek plants.  Its many printings speaks to the popularity.  The book was volume 1 of a Popular Science Series published by the museum and can still be purchased from the Illinois State Museum.

The Preface of "Leaves and Stems" is by Thorne Deuel, who is described as the Chief of the the Illinois Museum.  He speaks to why it was published and it shouldn't be surprising that George Langford Sr, and George Jr. are mentioned as providing "the finest collection ever assembled from the Mazon Creek region of Illinois".  He also provides some background information on the author. 

The immediate stimulus that produced this book was derived from the Langford collection of fossils, probably the finest ever assembled from the Mazon Creek region of Illinois. The  vast amount of labor entailed in gathering, selecting, opening and “developing” the specimens can be sensed in a measure from an excerpt of a letter from Mr. George Langford, Sr.

“George, Jr., and I spent 140 days (morning and afternoon) in the field . . . and much more time in washing, mending, sorting, marking and developing the material. Altogether I devoted . . . 3400 hours to all this, and George, Jr., 2000 . . .” Nearly 250,000 nodules were split open, only ten percent of which were taken away from the strip mine heaps.  Of these 25,000, four hundred fifty-nine (of which sixteen are animals) were selected for the museum."

The excellent quality of the collection, both individually and as a unit, bespeaks scientific acumen, courage, and integrity, a special aptitude, and a tirelessness of purpose, that can be fully appreciated only by those who have engaged in similar labors. The Illinois State Museum is deeply indebted to the Langfords for the opportunity to exhibit, study and publish on this unique collection.

The author, Raymond E. Janssen, is especially fitted to describe and interpret these fragmentary leaves of the ancient records of Illinois plant life.  For a number of years he has
paleobotany, particularly of the geology been a student of and coal fields of Illinois. He has prepared paleobotanical exhibits and models for the Texas Centennial, for the Field Museum of Natural History and the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. He has the faculty of embodying scientific information in simple, direct language and in an entertaining manner for the non-specialist.

From time to time, science teachers, students and laymen have enquired for handbooks describing and explaining the collections of the Illinois State Museum. Leaves and stems from fossil forests is the first of a series of modest guidebooks formulated to answer this need. A subsequent volume now in preparation deals with the Indian inhabitants of Illinois since Columbus' voyage of discovery. Other handbooks will be issued at more or less regular intervals covering other collections and exhibits in the Museum.

May 1st, 1939.

THORNE DEUEL,
Chief, Illinois State Museum.

Recently, we received photos of a special copy of the book from James Alann.  You might remember Jim and his stunning Fossil Friday contributions of a spider in Fossil Friday #71 and his eurypterid in Fossil Friday #75.  This book has a very special inscription... by George Langford in 1940.  George gave the book to his sister in law Ethel Greenough Holmes.  Ethel was the wife of Sydney's (George's wife) brother and was said to be her favorite in law.  Janssen took photographs of George's personal collection and the fossils he had donated to the Illinois State Museum in the 1930's.

Thanks for the contribution, Jim!  Here is how Jim describes the acquisition of this priceless book.

A while back, I mentioned that I had purchased a “hard copy” of Leaves & Stems for my personal library several years ago from bookfinder.com.  When the book arrived in the mail, I was pleasantly surprised to see an inscription on the front flyleaf from George Langford to his sister-in-law from back in 1940.  Janssen had used Langford’s fossil collection photos for the book and must have given copies to George for his contribution.  I thought it was interesting to see such an early inscription from GL (dated Jan. 15, 1940) when he was younger and had a “steady hand”.

 

Amateur Archaeologist Stumbles Onto Trove of Coins Dated to Constantine the Great’s Reign #archaeology #coins #switzerland #constantine #rome #romancoin

The clay pot contained 1,290 Roman coins. Archäologie Baselland

The Smithsonian Magazine website has an interesting story about the discovery of some Roman coins in Switzerland.  Dating to the time of Emperor Constantine (306 to 337 CE), the coins were found with a metal detector by amateur archaeologist Daniel Ludin.  He made his discovery in September 2021 in forest near Bubendorf, Switzerland, close to Wildenstein Castle.  The 1,290 coins  were just beneath the surface in in a clay pot.

In accordance with proper archaeological protocol, Lüdin reburied the pot and contacted local experts, who dated the cache of coins to the fourth century C.E., during the reign of Roman emperor Constantine the Great (306 to 337 C.E.). At the time, Switzerland was part of the Roman Empire.

Based on the coins’ composition—copper alloy and traces of silver—the treasure wouldn’t have gone far at the time of its burial. Instead, it was simply a large stack of “small change,” equal to about two months of earnings for a soldier, per the statement. Collectively, the coins amounted to as much as a single gold solidus, “a pure gold coin introduced by Emperor Constantine during the late Roman Empire that weighed about 0.15 ounces,” writes Live Science’s Laura Geggel.

Finding hidden coins from the late Roman period, which scholars define as roughly 250 to 450 C.E., is not unusual. Earlier this year, a badger in northwest Spain made headlines after digging up a hoard of more than 90 ancient coins, as Jack Guy reported for CNN in January. What’s different about the newly unearthed coins in Switzerland is their specific timeframe. The most recent specimens date to between 332 and 335 C.E.—a period of relative prosperity from which few Roman coin hoards survive.

“In troubled times, triggered by civil wars, incursions by neighboring ethnic groups or economic crises, many people buried their valuables in the ground to protect them from unauthorized access,” notes the statement, per Google Translate. “During the time when the pot from Bubendorf was hidden, there are hardly any comparable hoards in the entire Roman Empire. These years are characterized more by their political stability and some economic recovery.”

ESCONI Juniors Rock, Mineral, and Fossil Exhibition - May 14, 2022 at 7:00 PM

Announcing the ESCONI Juniors Rock, Mineral, and Fossil Exhibition

All Are Welcome!

This is an exhibition show to be held during the regularly scheduled time for the Juniors meeting on Saturday, May 14 from 7:00 to 8:00pm. Setup for the Junior exhibitors is from 6:30 to 7:00pm. Breakdown of exhibits is from 8:00 to 8:30pm.

Mark your calendar as a reminder of this event.

Anyone can attend whether they are an ESCONI member or not.  The Juniors spent the last meeting preparing for this show and will be evaluated on their presentation by a parent who works in education for an opportunity to earn an achievement badge. The Juniors who attended the last meeting range in age from 6 to 15 years old.

This is an open house type of meeting. If you are not a Juniors family, it is okay if you do not arrive exactly at 7:00pm. That way we can avoid a crowd at the door because everyone must sign in before entering the room. Keep in mind, the exhibits will start being removed at 8:00pm. Please stop by if you can and show support for our Juniors. They are the future of our club!

The location is at the College of DuPage, Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Rooms 1038A and 1038B.  (Map)

Fossil Friday #107: Annularia from Vigo County, IN #fossils #MazonCreek #paleontology #indiana #carboniferous #FossilFriday

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #107.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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This week's Fossil Friday is again Annularia.  The difference is this one is from Vigo County, Indiana.  The Carboniferous fossils from Indiana are thought to be a few million years younger than Mazon Creek, which dates to about 307 million years ago.  The species in Indiana may be different than Mazon Creek, but this looks quite similar to Annularia inflata.  We covered in back in Mazon Monday #60.

 

Throwback Thursday #109: Looking Back at ESCONI May 2022 #history #TBT #ThrowbackThursday

This is Throwback Thursday #109.  In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general.  If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Thanks!

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1997 USPS Stamps "Mighty Dinosaurs"

25 Years Ago - May 1997

• The topic of the General Meeting was "Interpreting Topographic Maps" given by Ray Brod, Staff Cartographer , Anthropology, and Geography Program at the University of Illinois - Chicago.
• The Juniors had a field trip about fossils at the Goose Lake Prairie State Park, Visitors Center.
• The March Paleontology Meeting was canceled due to a brown out, so they had a rescheduled program on the Devonian Period.
• The CGMA show was held on May 24th, 25, and 26th at the DuPage County Fairgrounds.
• The USPS issued the "Mighty Dinosaurs" stamp series.
• The Lapidary Study Group was working with opals.
• New members included Roger Sesterhenn and Barbara Roder - still members today!

50 Years Ago - May 1972

• The American Federation "Code of Ethics" appeared in the newsletter.
• "Jewelry Design" was the topic of the General Meeting.  It was presented by William Smith.
• The Juniors had a field trip to the Dresden Lake Recreation Area on May 13th... can I come along?!?
• The Paleontology Study Group was collecting Ordovician fossils in Grant County, Wisconsin.
• The book "Gem Trails of Texas" was reported as missing from the library.  If you still have it, we will go light on the fines...
• The micro-mount of the month was an "Alligator" for the micro-mounter.
• The Colorado Petrified Forest was renamed to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.

70 Years Ago - May 1952

• The Brentlingers, Mary and Clell, visited ESCONI on May 9th.  Apparently, they were famous in lapidary back in the 1950's.
• Stevens T. Norvell wrote about Desert Glass in the newsletter.
• There was a field trip to visit the Aurora Mastodons on May 18th.
• Chairman Bill Allaway was lamenting the bad winter and hoped that "Dame Nature" would compensate with a nice summer.
• Chairman Bill spoke of "Trilobite Mines" and "swinging a heavy hammer" to build up muscle for the upcoming field trip season.  Are you in fossil shape yet?

How the dinosaur extinction changed plant evolution #dinosaur #paleontology #extinction #evolution

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Phys.org has a story about plant evolution after the K-Pg mass extinction.  Mass extinction always have irreversible effects on the evolution of life on Earth.  The end Cretaceous extinction took out about 75% of species, including non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, ammonites, and other countless others.  The Plant Kingdom isn't always discussed, but it suffered heavy losses, too.  New research in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B looks not at the extinction of plants, but at the effects of the missing megaherbavores on the evolution of plants.

With the extinction of large, non-flying dinosaurs 66 million years ago, large herbivores were missing on Earth for the subsequent 25 million years. Since plants and herbivorous animals influence each other, the question arises whether, and how this very long absence and the later return of the so-called "megaherbivores" affected the evolution of the plant world.

To answer this question, a research team led by iDiv and Leipzig University analyzed fossil and living palms today. Genetic analyses enabled the researchers to trace the evolutionary developments of plants during and after the absence of megaherbivores. Thus, they first confirmed the common scientific assumption that many palm species at the time of the dinosaurs bore large fruits and were covered with spines and thorns on their trunks and leaves.

However, the research team found that the "evolutionary speed" with which new palm species with small fruits arose during the megaherbivore gap decreased, whereas the evolutionary speed of those with large fruits remained almost constant. The size of the fruits themselves, however, also increased. So, there were palms with large fruits even after the extinction of the dinosaurs. Apparently, much smaller animals could also eat large fruits and spread the seeds with their excretions. "We were thus able to refute the previous scientific assumption that the presence of large palm fruits depended exclusively on megaherbivores," says the study's first author Dr. Renske Onstein from iDiv and Leipzig University. "We therefore assume that the lack of influence of large herbivores led to denser vegetations in which plants with larger seeds and fruits had an evolutionary advantage."

TRIP FULL! - ESCONI Field Trip to the St. Paul Quarry in St. Paul, IN - Friday, May 27th, 2022, 8:30 AM - 3:00ish PM #silurian #fossil #quarry #fossil #fieldtrip #indiana #paleontology

Trip full!  A waiting list will be kept.  Please let us know if you can't make it.

On Friday, May 27, there will be a ESCONI Field Trip to the St. Paul quarry , St. Paul, Indiana. We have been instructed to meet at the quarry office just south of the town of St. Paul at 8:30 a.m. EASTERN time to sign waiver forms. The ending time for the trip has been variable over the years but 3:00-4:00 p.m. is reasonable. You will need to sign out at the quarry office when you leave. This quarry exposes the fossiliferous shales of the Silurian Waldron Formation.

Register by e-mailing (no phone calls) John Catalani at fossilnautiloid@aol.com.

Trip rules:

1. There is an attendance limit of 20 participants--a wait list will be recorded.
2. All participants must be ESCONI members by end of day May 22.
3. All participants must be at least 18 years of age.
4. All participants need a hard hat and safety vest to be worn at all times.
5. Acceptable field trip attire includes sturdy construction/hiking boots and long pants--no shorts. No other footwear is acceptable such as, but not limited to, sandals, open-toed shoes, dress shoes, canvas/tennis shoes, sneakers.

Burgess Shale Fossil Hunting in Walcott Quarry, Yoho National Park #fossil #cambrian #trilobite @cambrianexplostion #canada #britishcolumbia #paleontology

500 million years old fossil, incredible views – the Burgess Shale hike is mindblowing in a number of ways

Off Track Travel has a piece about the Burgess Shale.  Located in Yoho National Park in British Columbia, Canada, the Burgess Shale is one of the most important fossil localities ever discovered.  The post is a guide to taking a tour of the famous site.

I was in Walcott Quarry, considered to be a paleontologist’s treasure trove. The Burgess Shale rock formation here contains some of the rarest and most exceptionally well preserved fossils in the world.

Accessible by guided hike only, we recently had the opportunity to visit the Burgess Shale with Parks Canada. We were joined by our good friends Leigh and John, both of whom have a geology background. Leigh is also the blogger and outdoor adventurer behind HikeBikeTravel.

...

Parks Canada runs Walcott Quarry guided hikes from mid June to early September each year. The 2021 operating season is 12th June to 6th September.

Reservations are required. Reservations usually open in January each year.

In 2021, however, Walcott Quarry reservations will open on 13th April at 8am MDT. Reservations can be made by phone (1-877-737-3783) or online. The reservation fee is $13.50/party by phone and $11.50/party online.

Guided hike prices for 2021 are:

• Adult $70.00
• Senior (64+) $59.50
• Youth (8-16) $35.00

Children under 8 are not allowed to join this guided hike.

All hike participants must have a valid National Parks pass (day use or Discovery Pass). This must be obtained at least one day before the tour since there is nowhere to buy one in person before the 7am start time!

Mazon Monday #110: Trip Report: Danville Shale Pile April 23rd, 2022 #fossil #paleontology #fieldtrip #Carboniferous #MazonMonday #MazonCreek #Pennsylvanian #fern

This is Mazon Monday post #110.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com.

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The hill.  (photo from Ralph Jewell)

Back on April 23rd, 2022, ESCONI held our 4th field trip to a shale pile just outside of Danville, IL.  The trip was a huge success, although a little hot at nearly 87 degrees.   We were honored by the presence of four researchers of Carboniferous flora and fauna - ESCONI's own Jack Wittry of the Field Museum, Dr. Arjan Mann from the Smithsonian, Dr. Jason Pardo from the Field Museum, and Dr. Victoria Mccoy from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.

The following field trip report was submitted by ESCONI Vice President and Assistant Field Trip Chairman Dave Carlson.  For more information, please check Ralph Jewell's excellent account on the Fossil Forum.  (Have you signed up for your free account yet?!?)  Some of these photos were taken by Ralph Jewell.

I must start out by saying that in the years I have been organizing trips for ESCONI, I have never seen a trip fill up as fast as this one did. It took a mere 8 hours to fill all 25 spots available, and unlike most trips, nobody cancelled.

The weather was….great, more or less. I saw a temperature displayed on a bank in Oakwood, IL of 87 degrees, quite a difference from the freezing temps and snow that fell just a few days before in the suburbs. But, the wind was REALLY strong the whole day making climbing on the loose shale treacherous. The wind also had rumors flying. At one point I was asked to confirm that there were 97 people on the wait list. The real number was 20, which is still high.

We were joined on this trip by special guests Dr. Arjan Mann from the Smithsonian, Dr. Jason Pardo from the Field Museum and Dr. Victoria Mccoy from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.

To give the recently worked areas of the hill some time to weather, we’ll wait until September to make another visit.

Andrew Young giving introductory comments, with Dr. Mccoy visible just to his left.  (photo from Ralph Jewell)

L to R, Phil Anderson, Dr. Maarten VonHof, Dr. Pardo, Dr. Mann, George Witaszek. (photo from Ralph Jewell)

(photo from Ralph Jewell)

I had the impression that hunting was more difficult on this trip. Below are some of the specimens that were found.

Macroneuropteris scheuchzerii, from Sue Diblee.

Alethopteris sp., from Sue Diblee.

Mariopteris nervosa found by Rhonda Gates. Photo by Andrew Young.

Alethopteris zeilleri found by Roseann Szalkowski. Photo by Andrew Young.

Annularia inflata found by Katie Mitsui. Photo by Andrew Young.

Calamites schutzeiformis found by Mike Litt. Photo by Andrew Young.

Sphenophyllum emarginatum from Dave Carlson.

Macrostachya cone from Mike Litt.

Lycopsid branch scar found by Katie Mitsui. Photo by Andrew Young.

Lepidodendron bellii found by Valerie Anderson. Photo by Andrew Young.

Several colors and types of lycopsid bark, from Ralph Jewell.

 

Giant ichthyosaur’s huge tooth points to sea creatures with robust bite #marinereptile #paleotology #fossil #triassic

Reconstruction of a giant ichthyosaur from the late Triassic period, bulk-feeding on small squid. Photograph: Marcello Perillo/University of Bonn

The Guardian has a story about giant ichthyosaurs.  A couple ichthyosaurs found in the Swiss Alps are shedding light on the feeding processes of these giant animals.  The specimens, which lived during the Triassic Period, have enormous teeth.  Large enough to help capture giant squid.  A team of researchers have described their research about the two specimens of Shastasaurus sikkanniensis, which were discovered between 1976 and 1990, in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

The remains of a huge sea creature with enormous teeth that could have helped it capture giant squid have been found in the Swiss Alps.

Ichthyosaurs were large marine reptiles with an elongated, snakey shape. They first emerged after the end of the Permian extinction, an event also known as the “great dying”, which occurred about 250m years ago and which wiped out more than two-thirds of species on land and 96% of marine species.

The toothy beast is one of three giant ichthyosaurs discovered in the Swiss Alps and is thought to have lived during the late Triassic period, about 205m years ago – potentially making them some of the last such behemoths.

The team said the findings helped resolve the conundrum of whether giant ichthyosaurs, like some smaller species of the creatures, had teeth.

Prof Martin Sander, of the University of Bonn, a co-author of the study, said: “It’s all very, very scanty evidence. We have these ghosts swimming in the late Triassic oceans for tens of millions of years, and we don’t know what they look like. It’s an embarrassment for palaeontology.

“For a while we thought they had teeth. Then we thought, well, we never find any teeth. Now we have the tooth of a giant and a giant tooth. So some of them have teeth.”

PBS Eons: The Ancient Human Species With A Missing Body #fossil #human #palentology #devisovan

There's a new episode of PBS Eons.  This one is about the Denisovans, a group of ancient humans from Asia during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic.

Only a handful of Denisovan fossils have been identified. In the absence of actual body fossils, it’s impossible for us to reconstruct their morphology, right?

Listen to Eons: Mysteries of Deep Time: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

 

Fossil Friday #106: Palaeoxyris prendeli from Central Illinois #fossil #paleontology #FossilFriday #Carboniferous #MazonCreek

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #106.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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This week's Fossil Friday is a twofer... two very beautiful shark egg cases from central Illinois.  These are not from Mazon Creek, but are from central Illinois, near a famous Little Vermillion Carboniferous locality.  This contribution comes from long time ESCONI member Rich Kerrill.  The species name is Palaeoxyris prendeli.  Jack Wittry of the Field Museum has a useful pdf for identification on the museum's website.

Thanks for sharing... these are great specimens!

Throwback Thursday #108: Field Trips Poem #TBT #history #throwbackthursday

This is Throwback Thursday #108.  In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general.  If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Thanks!

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We are currently deep into field trip season, so to celebrate, for our throwback this week, we have a poem that appeared twice in the ESCONI newsletter. Gene Falada, a long time ESCONI member, was looking through some old newsletters back around 2004, when he came across his poem titled "Field Trips" in the October 1965 edition.  Back then, he lived in Berwyn, IL.  He decided to resubmit the poem.   It was accepted for publication and was published for the second time in the October 2004 edition.  This time the newsletter included a photo of his house in Colorado.  Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much more about Gene... hopefully, he will see this post as his poem has now been "published" by ESCONI for a third time.

FIELD TRIPS by Gene Falada

We've all climbed over mine dumps
And searched the coal strip heaps.
Snaked through mountain passes
With station wagons and jeeps.

We've stared at endless quarry walls
And sifted through the dust,
And peeked in nooks and crannys
From ledges we shouldn't trust.

We've chopped out many fossils
With chisels and with pick,
And fingered through gravel piles
To give each agate a lick.

We've started out on mornings
When there was rain in every cloud,
When the wind was bending trees
And the sky was like a shroud.

And yet on other days.
When the wind was fresh with Spring,
We'd venture up the back roads
With all the gear that we could bring.

We've been up to Bancroft
And stopped off at the iron range.
Went to the New England pegmatites
And gathered everything strange.

Down to Florida for black coral
And to Carolina's ruby fields,
Stopped off at Llano County
To see what Texas has to yield.

Headed west into the Black Hills
For a Fairburn or two,
And concretions filled with barite
Of brilliant golden hue.

From here out to the Rockies
Are the richest treasures of all,
There's wood and agate and crystals
We'd better heed their call.

We've circled through Wyoming
Arizona and New Mexico,
And broughtback loads of minerals,
Some with fluorescent glow.

We've searched for gold in the Sierras
And other precious stones.
Scratch through dried up lake beds
For ancient petrified bones.

Then back again toward Canada
But stop this side of the line,
And 'midst the Oregon ponderosa
Are thundereggs and plumes so fine.

You can cross our country over
And use toll roads all the way,
But you'11 pass up all the good spots
'Til on the dirt roads you do stray.

Load your trunk up to capacity
'Til your springs are way down low,
But leave some for those behind you
Better yet!! Show them where to go.

We've met rockhounds at the campsites
And in the mountain peaks so cold,
And they all have shared a story
These friends with hearts of gold.

 

West side of our home - with my totem pole peeking from behind Colorado Spruce - Gene Falada