Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI

Dinosaurs Made Out of Lighted Pumpkins

You just have to see to believe.

What Came First: Fangs or Armor?

Via Scientific American

Which came first: fangs or bony armor? For years, paleontologists have thought that the first bones to emerge were teeth, and that the protective armor coverings of early fish, made of similar material, followed. But now, a study reveals that the truth is the other way around....

 

high quality spectral data of minerals

Database of Raman spectroscopy

Trilobite Fakes

Roy Plotnick post on the ESCONI Facebook Page to let us know about a new Facebook page about Trilobite Fakes and Restorations.

Pollen in Sediment Provides Clues About Late Bronze Age

Via NYTimes:

Pollen Study Points to Culprit in Bronze Era Mystery

Analysis of pollen grains from sediment beneath the Sea of Galilee and the western shore of the Dead Sea indicate drought caused a Late Bronze Age collapse.

Archaeology Study Group Meeting on Saturday 10/26

Archaeology Study Group Meeting. 7:30 p.m. College of Dupage, - Tech Ed Building (TEC), Room 1038B (Map) Topic: "Shipwrecks and Archaeology-What the finds tell us about history"

Over the last several hundred years, there have been thousands upon thousands of shipwrecks in both the Great Lakes and Oceans. With over 70% of the Earth's surface covered in water, we will probably never know how many really exist. If we did, it would take hundreds of years to locate each one.

Eric will be discussing some of his favorite shipwrecks. Over the years, Eric has acquired a few nice items from relatively famous shipwrecks-including the Titanic.

His collection also includes a few shipwreck Silver 8 Reales which were the Spanish coins used in the middle/late 1700's in the soon to be United States.  One of them was on a ship used to fund the Spanish government-but sank in 1783. The coins never made it-but why? Why were these coins so historically significant?  Be sure to attend and find out how this shipwreck altered the history of the United States.

If you have ever wanted to see an artifact from the Titanic or a famous shipwreck-be sure to attend and see them first hand.

Ice Sheets Scour Ocean Floor

From geology.com:

“We knew of such scour marks from places like the Antarctic and Greenland. They arise when large ice sheets become grounded on the ocean floor and then scrape over the ground like a plane with dozens of blades as they flow. The remarkable feature of our new map is that it indicates very accurately right off that there were four or more generations of ice masses, which in the past 800,000 years moved from the East Siberian Sea in a north-easterly direction far into the deep Artic Ocean.” Quoted from the Alfred Wegener Institute press release.

ESCONI Earth Science Auction

From Eric Schmidt, Archaeology Study Group Leader:

The Archaeology Study Group will be hosting the first of what we hope will be several auctions designed to promote the interest of Archaeology within the club. The auction will be hosted at the January 2014 meeting and will be devoted exclusively to ESCONI related interests. While the auction will be hosted by the Archaeology club, the items that can be auctioned off can pertain to Archaeology, Paleontology, Geology, Mineralogy, or any related Earth Science.  

This will be an excellent opportunity to add items to your collection or make some space by auctioning items you no longer need.  With so many interests within the club, the amount of items available for auction could be endless.

Because the event is ESCONI related please note that all proceeds will benefit the club. The items that should be considered for auction would most likely be extra fossils, stones, minerals, artifacts, tools, magazines, DVD's etc. While this is simply a recommendation, you are free to bring whatever you prefer-as long as it is ESCONI related. 

Also-being a member of ESCONI is not required so family and friends are welcome.

In order to compile a list of items that will be available prior to the auction, please e-mail me if you are interested in adding items for the auction. If so, please send me details of what it is so I can prepare a final list that will be posted to the website, newsletter and facebook. 

Please send your name and item(s) details to Eric Schmidt: [email protected]

The Guidelines are below which will be proved before the auction as well.

1) Item must pertain to ESCONI interests: Archaeology, Paleontology, Geology, Mineralogy, etc

2) Items include but are not limited to: Fossils, artifacts, minerals, gems, magazines, tools, DVDs, Videos, etc. 

3) Each person bringing an item (s) for auction must advise the Archaeology Study Group lead by January 1, 2014. A detailed list of items up for bid will be provided to ESCONI before the auction to post to the ESCONI website and Facebook. 

4) Send item details to Eric Schmidt: [email protected]

5) Those bringing items for auction are responsible for attesting to the authenticity of the items up for bid. 

6) There will be no absentee bidding. All bidders must be present to win.

7)  Acceptable forms of payment are cash only. No Checks, Money Orders or Credit Cards.

8) All bids are final

9) There is no buyer commission or seller fees.

10) No reserve bids

Shape Shifting Metals

Via BBC:

A new shape-changing metal crystal is reported in the journal Nature, by scientists at University of Minnesota.

It is the prototype of a new family of smart materials that could be used in applications ranging from space vehicles to electronics to jet engines.

Called a "martensite", the crystal has two different arrangements of atoms, switching seamlessly between them.

It can change shape tens of thousands of times when heated and cooled without degrading, unlike existing technology.

Currently, martensite metals are made of an alloyed mixture of nickel and titanium.

They have the remarkable ability to "remember" their shape and even after being bent will return to their original form. For this, they are called "shape memory" metals.

Quarry Pool in Your Backyard?

From the ESCONI Yahoo Discussion Group:

If you have the money (like these folks obviously do), then this is one thing you can do with an abandoned quarry -
 
http://homes.yahoo.com/blogs/spaces/quarry-most-beautiful-backyard-pool-america-181744493.html
 
There's an embedded YouTube movie toward the bottom of the article that describes the construction.
 
No mention of fossils though...
 
Dave

New Crater Lake National Park Map Available

Crater Lake National Park is the latest Oregon icon to get its own high-tech map from state geologists.

The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) released a new recreation map of Crater Lake this week, the third in its series of geologic guides and recreation maps of iconic Oregon places.

The map, officially known as the "Crater Lake Geologic Guide and Recreation Map," by Daniel E. Coe, shows trails and other features in great detail and describes geologic history.

 

http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20131011/NEWS/310110313/-1/NEWSMAP

Start Your Holiday Shopping Today!

You can buy the following items from ESCONI at a General Meeting or by completing and mailing the ESCONI Order Form.

The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna, by Jack Wittry (hard cover) $55.00
The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna, by Jack Wittry (soft cover) $30.00
The Mazon Creek Fossil Flora, by Jack Wittry (hard cover) $45.00
The Mazon Creek Fossil Flora, by Jack Wittry (soft cover) $25.00
Keys to Identify Pennsylvanian Fossil Animals of the Mazon
Creek Area, by ESCONI - $12.00
ESCONI Newsletter 1949-2012, DVD $15.00
ESCONI Messenger Bag $15.00

Earth Science Week 2013 (October 13-19) Webcast

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Watch New Webcast for
Earth Science Week 2013
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Go online today to view a new webcast detailing resources, events, and opportunities available through Earth Science Week, the annual worldwide celebration of the geosciences! Find the “Introduction to Earth Science Week 2013” webcast online now for viewing at your convenience.

This free webcast, narrated by AGI Outreach Manager Geoff Camphire, provides an overview of learning activities, instructional materials, career resources, upcoming events, networking opportunities, contests, videos, and other programs available through Earth Science Week. The tutorial includes a wealth of online links, which viewers can click during the presentation to review available resources.

The roughly 8-minute webcast focuses on Earth Science Week 2013 (October 13-19), which celebrates the theme “Mapping Our World.” To view the webcast, visit http://www.earthsciweek.org/webcasts/index.html. In the coming months, look for additional webcasts on topics such as promoting activities through media, the status of Earth science education nationwide, and AGI’s geoscience teacher award competition.

10 Metre Long Fossil Found in Alberta Oil Dig Site

From the Yahoo ESCONI Yahoo Group:

A large dinosaur fossil has been found by a pipeline crew near Spirit River, Alta... The 10-metre-long fossilized skeleton was found Tuesday when a backhoe operator working on the Tourmaline Oil Corp. pipeline installation moved some earth, inadvertently breaking off a piece of the fossil.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/massive-dinosaur-fossil-unearthed-by-alberta-pipeline-crew-1.1876996

The Dynamic Earth: A Course for Educators!

Coursera is offering a course from the American Museum of Natural History: The Dynamic Earth: A Course for Educators  by Edmond Mathez, Ph.D., Ro Kinzler, Ph.D.

The course is still open, so check it out if you are interested in taking this free online course for earth science educators.

 

New species of Cockroach - Early Cretaceous Yixian Formati

Via ScienceyThoughts:

In a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 23 July 2013, Chongda Wang and Dong Ren of the College of Life Sciences at Capital Normal University in Beijing describe a new species of Cockroach from the Jehol Biota of the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation Liaoning Province, China.

Major New Dinosaur Site

Via Live Science:

Researchers may have just scratched the surface of a major new dinosaur site nearly inside the Arctic Circle. This past summer, they discovered thousands of fossilized dinosaur footprints, large and small, along the rocky banks of Alaska's Yukon River.

U of I supercomputers and climate change

Via WGN:

The eyes of the world will be on Stockholm, September 27th, 2013, when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change- I.P.C.C. releases it’s latest findings.  Five years ago, that panel won a Nobel Prize for it’s climate work.  And Atmospheric Science Professor Don Wuebbles from the University of Illinois, shared in that high honor.  Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling traveled to Urbana last week to catch Dr. Wuebbles for a preview of their report before he left for Sweden.

Read more: http://wgntv.com/2013/09/26/tom-skilling-reports-on-climate-change/#ixzz2gRC206xh