Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI

ESCONI Events for November, 2012

Sat. 11/17	Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art - "Lapidary Day" - Demonstrations by artists from West Suburban Lapidary Club - beading, silversmithing,cabochon cutting, wire wrapping, faceting, hands-on activities and free jewelry cleaning.
Sat. 11/17	ESCONI Paleontology Meeting 7:30 p.m. College of Dupage, - Tech Ed Building (TEC), Room 1038A (Map) Topic: John Catalani will discuss Archaeopteryx, the first known fossil bird.
Sat. 11/17	Field Museum, 1 pm, Leakey Lecture: Human Biogeography with Dr. Alexander Harcourt. Free with admission; register online or (312) 665-7500 to reserve your seat.
Sat. 11/17	Elgin Public Museum , 11 am to 4 pm, Good Deals for Good Deeds: Jewelry Estate Sale for the musuem. 11 am to 4 pm.
Sat. 11/17	Berger Park,  Jewelry and Pottery Show at Berger Park, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM,  6205 N. Sheridan Rd.,  Chicago, IL 60660, 773-761-0376. Come out and view the beautiful work from the lapidary and ceramics students! Free. Age Range: All ages, View and purchase the work of our students from the lapidary and ceramics fall studio sessions just in time for planning those holiday gifts!
Sun 11/25	Burpee Museum, 70th Anniersary Lecture series in memory of Steve Ellis: "Dinosores - Injury and Behavior in Cretaceous Dinosaurs by Dr. Joseph Peterson. 2:00 pm. Recommended for middle school ages and up. Free to members. Free with paid admission or $5 lecture only.

Oldest Prehistoric Site Found in Europe

From the Bankok Post:

Archaeologists in eastern Bulgaria say they have unearthed the oldest prehistoric town ever found in Europe, along with an ancient salt production site that gives a strong clue about why massive riches were discovered in the region....

ESCONI Paleo Field Trip, November 2, 2012

Fossil  Field Trip, St. Paul, Indiana -

Sign up by sending an e-mail to John Catalini at [email protected].  Indiana state law that no one under 18 is allowed in quarries. Also, need to be a member of ESCONI. Limit of 20 people to trip.

After signing up, on the day of the trip, we will meet at the quarry office by 8:45 am (7:45 am Chicago time). Normal safety equipment is needed - hard hat, protective boots, eye protection. To get to the office take I65 south around Indianapolis to 174. Exit and Exit 123 go south to Michigan Av. right to N. County Road 800 W left following signs to St. Paul. Go through the town over the railroad tracks past town, ending up on Mound Rd, to office on right.

Middle Silurian fossils found.

Photo Used with Permission: (Joe K. of http://www.crinus.info/crinoids/data/eucaly.htm)

Eucalyptocrinus elrodi

Silurian
Waldron Shale
St. Paul, Indiana
Another one of those rare specimens that includes the crown, stem and holdfast. Size: 16 cm inc. stem.br>

National Fossil Day: Where to Find Fossils

From University of California Museum of Paleontology:

In celebration of National Fossil Day (October 17, 2012), an event first organized by the National Parks Service (NPS) two years ago, we would like to call your attention to a feature on The Paleontology Portal website: "Fossils in US National Parks." First announced in January of this year (see the January 2012 UCMP News), the module's interactive map enables one to see all the parks where fossils are present and to find out what fossils (along with their geologic ages) are in any particular park. Improvements in the module's "searchability" have been made since then and better fossil data continue to be entered into the database.

Spider Kills Wasp a 100 Million Years Ago

From Sci-News: (hat tip via Dave at ESCONI Yahoo Group)

This piece of amber preserved the event in remarkable detail, an action that took place some 100 million years ago in the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar.

The fossil also contains the body of a male spider in the same web. This provides the oldest evidence of social behavior in spiders, which still exists in some species but is fairly rare. Most spiders have solitary, often cannibalistic lives, and males will not hesitate to attack immature species in the same web.

“This juvenile spider was going to make a meal out of a tiny parasitic wasp, but never quite got to it,” said Prof George Poinar Jr. of the Oregon State University and world expert on insects trapped in amber, who co-authored a paper in the Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology.

 

Chinese Sculpture From Meteorite

From Wiley via geology.com:

The Chinga meteorite fell near the border of what is now Siberia and Mongolia at least 10,000 years ago. Researchers have recently linked a 10.6 kilogram sculpture to the meteorite through geochemical testing and to a culture of the eleventh century located in the fall area through ethnological analysis. Interesting even if you think it is somewhat speculative.   

 

Lecture This Friday 10/12/2012 - Permian Tetrapods

ESCONI General Meeting 8:00 p.m. College of Dupage, - Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038A (Map)Topic: Mike Henderson will speak on Captorhinus and friends, the lower Permian Tetrapods of the Fort Sill fissure fillings southern Oklahoma

National Fossil Day - Oct. 17!

ESCONI will be celebrating National Fossil Day at the Paleontology Study Group meeting on Saturday, October 20. 

7:30 p.m. College of Dupage,  - Tech Ed Building (TEC), Room 1038A.

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! 

Talk by Alan Hodgkinson On Gemstone Identification

Hat tip D. Lovely!

October 15, 2012
6:00 pm 

Jewelers Center 18th Fl. 

5 So. Wabash Ave. 

Chicago, Illinois

 

Today, often sophisticated equipment is needed in the identification of gemstones and diamonds. One of the most underused and misused pieces of equipment is the polariscope. In this enlightening presentation, renowned Scottish gemologist, Alan Hodgkinson, will demonstrate "Pushing  the Polariscope" for ease of determining optic figures, identifying gemstones, distinguishing spectrums, and determining diamond type. Learn to use the polariscope in ways GIA did not teach you.

 

RSVP Today to:  Heidi Harders

Email Heidi click here

$40.00
includes light dinner

Make checks payable to:  GIA Chicago Chapter

Mail to: 

Heidi Harders

Chicago Gem Evaluation Services, Inc.

55 E. Washington St.  Suite 813

Chicago, IL  60602

 

I See Dead People

From TED Video Blogs:

Bioarcheology is a fairly new field — a subset of anthropology which combines biological anthropology and archeology. It’s the use of biological techniques to look at archeological human skeletons. What bioarcheology does is help recreate lives by examining human remains for clues to what they ate, what they did for work, what illnesses they may have had, what traumas they suffered, how tall they were, whether they were a man or a woman, and their age.

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Writeup About the June Archaeology Field Trip

Archaeology June Field Trip

On June 2nd and 3rd, we had an Archaeology field trip to see Cahokia Mounds, the Museum of Westward Expansion, the Saint Louis Arch, and the Lewis and Clark Memorial State Park. 

Cahokia Mounds offers a World-Class Interpretive Center with museum exhibit galleries, an orientation show theater, a museum shop and a courtyard for educational programs. Outdoors you'll find self-guided tours, guided tours, trails and Monks Mound, the largest earthwork in North America.

After viewing the orientation video in the Interpretive Center, we walked around looking at exhibits which explained how the people lived and what tools that they used. The exhibits were great and the artifacts were numerous. I could have easily spent a couple of more hours with the exhibits, but we had to move on to the guided tour of Monks Mound. Its base covers 14 acres and it rises to a height of 100 feet with an estimated 22 million cubic feet of earth.

One informational board in the Interpretive Center stated that it would take a classroom of 30 students, each filling 8 baskets a day (each basket containing 50 to 60 pounds of dirt), 167 years to fill Monks Mound. Dave, our tour guide, was not only very knowledgeable, but also grew up in the area and gave us his insights in how the area looked when he was young and how it changed from what we see today.

 

 

The fieldtrip participants from the left are Floyd Rogers, Bryan Nugent, Lexie and Ryan Kiamco, Betsy Rogers, Vickie Kiamco, and John Spanik.

They are standing outside the Interpretive Center in front of the Cahokia Mounds logo which is an image of the Birdman Tablet.  The Birdman Tablet was found in the Monks Mound area and dates back to 1300 A.D.

Noteworthy -- We had an excellent dinner at Zapata’s Mexican Restaurant in Collinsville, IL. Food and drinks were moderately priced.

We spent a short time at the Museum of Westward Expansion right before entering the Saint Louis Arch tram.  The Museum of Westward Expansion highlights the people, places and events of the American west during the 1800s through an extensive collection of artifacts, mounted animal specimens and an overview of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Next we went up to the top of the St. Louis Arch. The view from the top of the arch is breathtaking, but the area for viewing is cramped so we didn’t spend much time there.

On June 3rd we visited the Lewis and Clark Memorial State Park. This is where Lewis and Clark began their journey to the Pacific back in 1804. This museum also has an excellent introductory video that you view before seeing the exhibits. One of the exhibits is a large replica of their ship cut lengthwise so that you can see how they stored equipment and supplies. 

 

Outside the museum, there is also a replica of the fort where Lewis and Clark spent their winter camp.  You can walk around the buildings in the fort to see how they lived and stored supplies.

References

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is located in Collinsville, Illinois off Interstates 55/70 and 255. Cahokia Mounds is just fifteen minutes east of St. Louis, Missouri.

30 Ramey Street
Collinsville, IL 62234
telephone: 618-346-5160

Website: www.cahokiamounds.com

Lewis and Clark Memorial State Park is located about 3 miles north of I-270 on Route 3 (just east of the Mississippi River in Illinois).
http://www.campdubois.com/index.html
Pictures supplied by Floyd and Betsy Rogers and Bryan Nugent

Arctic sea ice reaches lowest extent

Arctic ice  lowest since record keeping started. 

Methane Beneath Antarctic

Via University of California Santa Cruz:: (hat tip Geology.com)

... "It is easy to forget that before 35 million years ago, when the current period of Antarctic glaciations started, this continent was teeming with life," Tulaczyk said. "Some of the organic material produced by this life became trapped in sediments, which then were cut off from the rest of the world when the ice sheet grew. Our modeling shows that over millions of years, microbes may have turned this old organic carbon into methane."

New Finds in Burgess Shale in Canada

Via The Star.com:

Jean-Bernard Caron, curator of invertebrate paleontology at the Royal Ontario Museum, spent seven weeks this summer leading a team on an exploration of the Burgess Shale sites in Yoho National Park in British Columbia.

The best-known site is the Walcott Quarry, where there was a major discovery of well-preserved, soft-bodied fossils in 1909.

The team found a new site in Kootenay National Park, at a location Caron isn’t ready to reveal yet, with “very rich fossil deposits” from new and existing species. It could be comparable to the original site, said Caron.

 

Earth Science Week, Oct. 14 - 20

For the past 15 years, AGI has organized Earth Science Week to foster public and professional awareness of the status of Earth science in education and society.

Read more about this week, as well as other earth science related news in AGI's Earth Science Monthly newsletter. From September newsletter:

• See New Webcast for Intro to Earth Science Week 2012
• Earth Science Week 2012 Coming Soon: Get Ready
• Science Readiness Rates Low But Rising, says ACT
• Make Science Work With an Earth Science Week Toolkit
• Under a Month Left to Enter Earth Science Week Contests
• NASA Highlights Three Geoscience Opportunities
• ‘No Child Left Inside’ Day Comes to Your Area
• Visit DC’s National Mall for National Fossil Day Event
• Women in the Geosciences Day Coming in October
• Shine a Media Spotlight on Your Great Activities
• How to Put Your Event on the Map - Online

 

A new study suggests widespread land-based microbial life in the Archean Era

Via Sci-News: (Hat tip Dave Carlson at the ESCONI Yahoo Group):

Scientists at the University of Washington suggest that early microbes might have been widespread on land, producing oxygen and weathering pyrite, an iron sulfide mineral, which released sulfur and molybdenum into the oceans.

Lepidopteris baodensis sp.

From PhysOrg:

Recently, a mysterious seed fern, Lepidopteris baodensis sp. nov., dating to more than 251 million years ago (Ma), was discovered at the Baijiagou of Baode, Shanxi, China, from the Upper Permian Sunjiagou Formation. This discovery completely changed the understanding of the stratigraphic distribution of the genus Lepidopteris in China and promoted the taxonomic study of late Paleozoic plants.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-09-mysterious-seed-fern-lepidopteris-upper.html#jCp