Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI

ESCONI Event for October, 2012

Sat. 10/20	ESCONI Paleontology Meeting 7:30 p.m. College of Dupage,  - Tech Ed Building (TEC), Room 1038A (Map)Topic: In celebration ofNational Fossil Day Dave Carlson will be giving a presentation on "Soft Tissue Preservation in Fossils". Members will be bringing fossils for display with free samples for guests. Free. All ages welcome!
Sun 10/21	Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art - "Curious about Mars?" Dr. Paul Sipiera from the Field Musuem will review the latest findings from the Curiosity Rover. Ages 8-Adult, 2 pm, Regular Museum Admission, Reservations Recommended
Sat. 10/27	Archaeology Study Group Meeting. 7:30 p.m. College of Dupage, Building K, Rm 161. Topic: Artifact Identification - bring your artifacts
Fri 10/28	Board Meeting. 7:30 p.m. College of Dupage, Tech Ed Build. TEC 1038B (Map)

Interview with Author of "The Rocks Don't Lie"

From Seattle Times: 

An interview with the author of "The Rocks Don't Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah's Flood," MacArthur Fellow and UW professor David Montgomery.... 

Q: Most people probably think creationism is a pretty old belief system, but in the book you clearly lay out that it's not. Briefly describe how it developed.

A: George McCready Price was the guy who championed flood geology (the theory that Noah's flood was real) in its darkest hours through the early 20th century. He was not a trained geologist, but he argued that geologists had the whole theory wrong. His arguments evolved into (John) Whitcomb and (Henry) Morris' book, 1961's "The Genesis Flood." The thing that surprised me about that book was that the guys who wrote it had a really insightful critique of '50s geology. They looked at the key flaws, the shortcomings, the things geology couldn't address: How do mountains form? How do you get fossils of tropical organisms at the poles? In those days, nobody was buying continental drift. They said, geologists can't explain certain basic aspects of geology; we have a better idea....

When Students Became Interested In GeoScience Career

From American Geosciences Institute (AGI), data on when geoscience students got interested in the field of geosciences. 

Events for Friday and Saturday

Friday, 9/28  Board Meeting. 7:30 p.m. College of Dupage, DIFFERENT ROOM! Tech Ed Build. TEC 1038B (Map)

Saturday, 9/29 - 9am to 5pm:Wheaton College Geology will again offer a large amount of valuable material to collectors at all levels. One room will be devoted to children's and beginner's goodies. One room will be for sale of higher-quality items, and one room for intermediate items. Marked prices range from less than a dollar to hundreds of dollars. "Deals" can be made to discount for larger numbers of purchases. These prices are not at the lowest, wholesale range, but are far less than most stores and online offerings. CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED. NO OUT OF TOWN CHECKS.

Items included: large, nice MI coppers; many varieties of quartz (top-quality Arkansas); Tampa Bay agatized corals; Madagascar Ocean Jasper slices; loads of calcites from the TriState, Mexico, etc.; Tsumeb malachite; pyrites and marcasite; TriState galenas, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite, IL fluorite, some with witherite; many pegmatite minerals (including columbite); Mexican arsenates; SD barite; US metamorphic minerals from the Rockies and Appalachians; copper ores from AZ, NM and Butte, MT; gold and platinum ores: uvite and hexagonite from New York; Indian zeolites; New Jersey zinc ores and associated skarn minerals; many types of garnets (uvarovite, melanite, grossular, etc.); USGS portfolios; projection petrographic microscopes; fossils, including many invertebrates (trilobites, corals, etc), Tertiary mammals, turtles, and dino bones; and much more, some in large quantities.

If you want more specific information, please contact me. The sale will take place in Wheaton College's new Science Center.

ESCONI Paleo Field Trip - Oct. 6, 2012

There will be an ESCONI Field Trip to the Vulcan (was Larson) Quarry on Barber Greene Road in Sycamore, IL on October 6 2012, from 9 to noon. Sign up by sending John Catalani ([email protected]) an email with the number of people and their names.  John Catalani. will acknowledge by return email. By request of the quarry management, the trip is limited to 20 people.

Rules:

1. Must be an ESCONI member.

2. Must be at least 18 years old.

3. Must wear a hard hat and boots.

Be there by 9AM. Park by the metal office on the south side of Barber Greene Rd. We will go through site-specific training before going into the quarry area. Bring your MSHA Part 46 certificate if you have one. It isn't required - just nice to have.

The rock exposed here is Late Ordovician (Maquoketa Group) to Early Silurian (Wilhelmi Fm.). Hammers are usually not needed. Bring a bucket, plastic bags to hold fossils, and somethl,ing to wrap them in (like TP) if they are delicate. The most common fossils are brachiopods and bryozoans, but there are also trilobites, crinoids, cystoids, cephalopods and conularids.  

The field trip leader, John Catalini can send directions or a map for anyone who is unfamiliar with the quarry.

Radio Interview on Human Relation - the Denisovans

Via Science Friday: 

Reporting in Science, researchers write of sequencing the genome of a young Denisovan girl -- an archaic human distantly related to Neanderthals and modern humans. Geneticist David Reich discusses the tale the genome tells about the Denisovan people and their interactions with modern humans.

Radio Interview on Confuciusornis Inside a Sinocalliopteryx

Via Quirks and Quarks:

A team of researchers from China and the University of Alberta have identified a pair of  carnivorous dinosaurs with the remains of their last meals in their guts.  The dinosaurs are wolf-sized, bipedal feathered predators called Sinocalliopteryx.  One fossil contained in its gut the remains of a small feathered dinosaur.  The other contained the remains of at least two primitive birds, in different stages of digestion.  Both predators must have died and been buried not long after their meals.  Scott Persons, a paleontologist and Ph.D student in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta, was part of the research team.  He's particularly excited about the find because knowing what these dinosaurs were eating tells a great deal about their behaviour, including what kind of hunters they likely were. 

Fate of Pumice Rafts

Via Wired:

The NASA Earth Observatory has been doing an excellent job tracking the spread of the pumice from the Havre eruption in the Kermadec Islands. Currently the pumice is spread over an area of 270,000 km² / 100,000 sq. miles of the Pacific Ocean and is continuing to spread (see above). This pumice will likely stay afloat for months if not longer and eventually make landfall wherever the currents dictate – potentially as far off as South America. Pumice rafts are not particularly uncommon (see map below), especially in areas of abundant submarine volcanism like the southwestern Pacific Ocean, and they can be fascinating on levels even beyond the volcanology and petrology of the eruption itself. The pumice rafts are like islands that move around the oceans (without the problems of messing with the Orchid station), so you might expect that oceanic organisms will take advantage of their newly created pieces of real estate.

photo credit: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center via photo pin cc

Mazon Creek Animal E-Book

E-books (self-publishing) are becoming more popular.

Here is an e-book being sold on E-bay about Mazon Creek Animal Fossils. The author, TVTesta, is a previous member of ESCONI, as well as speaker to the Paleontology study groups. He is also a subject of a 2004 Chicago Reader article about the Mazon Creek fossils: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-vanishing-mother-lode-of-mazon-creek/Content?oid=915941

Partial description of Mazon Creek Animal Fossils: 

.... The sole purpose of this book is to share photographs of remarkable and interesting museum quality Mazon Creek fossil specimens from the private collection of T.V. Testa.... This volume contains photos of Mazon Creek fossil animals including; the amphibian Aornerpeton, the arthropod Concavicaris, Cyclus, and Halicyne, the centipede Latzelia, the chiton Glaphurochiton, coelacanth fish Rhabdoderma,  jellyfish Anthracomedusa, Etacystis and Octomedusa, the crustacean Acanthotelson, Anthracophausia, Belotelson, Dithyrocaris, Hesslerella, Illilepas, Kallidecthes, Kellibrooksia, Mamayocaris, Palaeocaris, Tyrannophontes, the enigmatic Escumasia,  the fish Conchopoma, Elonichthys,  Gilpichthys and Rhabdoderma, the lamprey Mayomyzon, the hexapod Testajapyx, horse-shoe crab Euproops and Palaeolimulus, millipede Xyloiulus, myriopod Kottixerxes and Smithixerxes, onychophoran Ilyodes, Palaeoxyris, priapulid Priapulites, the scallop Aviculopecten, sea-cucumber Achistrum, sea-scorpion Adelophthalmus, shark Acanthodes and Bandringa, the worm Astreptoscolex, Copronoscolex, Didontogaster, Dryptoscolex, Esconites, Fossundecima, Hystriciola, Levsettius, Pieckonia, and Rhaphidophorus, Tullimostrum (Tully Monster), and many un-named insects. 

 

Fuego Volcano in Guatemala

Guatemala has evacuated thousands of people after the Fuego volcano started spewing ash and lava.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-19594481

See also http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=79168 for a view from space.

Mysterious Spheres on Mars

Via AFP:

NASA's Opportunity rover, older brother to the Curiosity rover that landed on Mars last month, has made a new discovery that geologists find both puzzling and exciting, the US space agency said Friday.

Opportunity, which has been on the Red Planet since 2004, has come across an outcrop of tiny spheres -- up to around an eighth of an inch (three millimeters) in diameter -- the likes of which scientists have never seen before.

 

Mazon Creek Field Trip

Saturday and Sunday, 9/22 and 9/23 , meet at 8:00 A.M. Saturday at the BP Amoco in Coal City. No Age Limit.  Hard Hats not required. 

Take I-55 to Exit 236 (Coal City).  Take a right onto Highway 113 (Division Street).  Go west to Broadway Street and Division in Coal City.

We will be collecting Mazon Creek concretions from an old spoil pile on private property.  Hard hats are not required.  Boots are recommended.  An Estwing rock hammer is the best tool.  A small shovel or pick is helpful.  Knee pads, backpacks, fanny packs, extra clothes (you will get wet and muddy) are also a plus.  Bring a bucket for the fossils. Also bring insect repellant.

Contact John Good at 1-630-483-2363 for reservations or e-mail at [email protected].  Or, on the day of the trip, contact John Good at 630-303-2352.

** Special announcement - if you are interested in becoming an ESCONI Field Trip leader, please talk to John Good and express your interest! He can tell you what the responsibilities are. We need a couple more leaders!!

 

Tyler Keillor's Dino Kickstarter Project!

Be part of a new paleo project through a Kickstarter project for Tyler Keillor (who was a member of ESCONI when young) - Award winning Paleoartist Tyler Keillor uses digital technology to create the authoritative full-body reconstruction of Dryptosaurus. 

New Way of Thinking About Ocean Currents

Via PhysOrg:

 

... Here's how it works: Basically, the oceans, together with the atmosphere, rebalance heat on the planet. The sun shines on the Earth and heats up the tropics more than the poles. Near the poles, the ocean is cold and the water sinks; near the equator, the surface of the ocean is inviting and warm—and floats on top of the colder deep water. So the question is this: Where does the water that goes down come back up? Speer, Marshall and other oceanographers now believe that it comes back up in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica—not as much in the warm oceans as had been previously thought. "We're not saying that nothing comes up in the rest of the World Ocean, just that the main thrust is in the Southern Ocean," Speer said. "To a large extent it's driven by the wind." Very strong winds, to be precise.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-08-ocean-currents.html#jCp

 

Cracking a 26,000 lb Granite Slab with a 2 lb Hammer

From geology.com:

You don’t need a huge hammer to break a massive rock. Lots of tiny blows smartly delivered and the help of a few simple tools. In the second half of the video you can clearly “hear” the rock breaking.

Metamorphosis and Evolution

Via Scientific American:

The evolution of metamorphosis remains somewhat mysterious, but biologists have gathered enough evidence to plausibly explain its origins...

 

Got Extra Rocks To Give Away?

Hawthorne Hill Nature Center needs rocks! They are creating a family-friendly rock collection area. They are looking for all different kinds of rocks and would appreciate if you would contact them if you have rocks to donate - whatever you would like to donate – interesting shaped or naturally-colored rocks, stream stones, fossil-laden rocks, minerals, etc.  How cool!

This October, Hawthorne Hill Nature Center will be celebrating their very first “Rock Out” Month at HHNC and throughout Elgin with special programs at thenature center, Elgin Public Museum, and Elgin History Museum.

To donate rocks & fossils, please contact:
April Anderson
Naturalist
Hawthorne Hill Nature Center
28 Brookside Drive  (physical address  not for mail)
Elgin, IL  60123
847 531 7055

OR just bring the rock donations to the September General Meeting for drop off! 

Workshop This Saturday 9/8

** Note - this is a late posting - but it is good to know about for next year - you may want to go to their web site and read the abstracts or learn more about the Illinois State Archaeological Society.  

(hat tip John G.) - This Saturday, Sept. 8th, is the IAS meeting and Fall Workshop. This event is being held on the U of I campus at the Illini Union, 1401 West Green St, Urbana. At the Union, the talks will be held in the Illini Ballroom, located on the second floor of the north wing of the building. Easiest way to find the room is to enter from the north entrance, go the right and take the elevators to the 2^nd floor. Go right after exiting the elevator and the ballroom is at the end of the hall.  

 

PARKING:  Metered lot or street parking is enforced on Saturdays so you will want to avoid that (fines are steep). Do not park at any 24 hour a day permit lot. Those with difficulty walking longer distances can be dropped off at the U-drive on the north side of the Illini Union. Two blocks east of the Union free parking can be found at a large surface lot (D-1) east of the intersection of Goodwin and Illinois Ave. A small lot is located west of that intersection. Take Green St east to Goodwin then turn right (south) to reach the stop sign at Illinois. Two blocks west of the Union free parking can be found in a parking deck at the corner of Sixth St and John St. John St is one block south of Green Street.  Enter the parking deck from the west along the one way John St. Driving on campus can be hectic and be aware that Pedestrians have the right of way in crosswalks, stopping is required.

 

The talks will begin at 10:00 AM after the IAS Annual Meeting. There is a break for lunch and then the talks will continue until 5:00. Use this link (ISAS website) to see the schedule and abstracts of the individual papers. These talks are free and open to the public so take advantage of this opportunity to hear talks on a variety of interesting topics on Illinois Archaeology.  

Bill Nye on Evolution

From BigThink via Geology.com

Bill Nye on Evolution

From BigThink via Geology.com