Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI

Dinosaur Giants at the Main Elgin Library

"Dinosaur Giants" from the Sereno Fossil Lab will be on exhibit in the main Elgin library (Gail Borden Public Library) from May 15 to September 24, 2017. On

exhibit will be Jobaria, Suchomimus and a pterosaur. This will include fossils, dinosaur bones you can touch and expedition images, as well as activities for kids.

 

The Chicago Tribune has more information and pictures here.

 

 

Today is Earth Day 2017

Today, April 22nd, 2017, is Earth Day 2017.  There are many events near Chicago, the March for Science, Science Expo, and more.  Come on out and support Science.

Earth Day Network’s mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide. Growing out of the first Earth Day, Earth Day Network is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working with more than 50,000 partners in nearly 195 countries to build environmental democracy. More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. We work through a combination of education, public policy, and consumer campaigns.

The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. The passage of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other groundbreaking environmental laws soon followed. Twenty years later, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage.

 

May 2017 General Meeting: "Tropical Permian Pangaea: Cradle of Biodiversity, Museum, or Both?", by Dr. Ken Angielczyk of the Field Museum

Our speaker at the May 12th general meeting will be Dr. Ken Angielczyk from the Field Museum. The title of his talk is:

 

"Tropical Permian Pangaea: Cradle of Biodiversity, Museum, or Both?"

A new early Permian continental tetrapod fauna from South America in tropical Western Gondwana sheds new light on patterns of tetrapod distribution.  Northeastern Brazil hosted an extensive lacustrine system inhabited by a unique community of temnospondyl amphibians and reptiles that considerably expand the known temporal and geographic ranges of key subgroups. These findings demonstrate that tetrapod groups common in later Permian and Triassic temperate communities were already present in tropical Gondwana by the early Permian (Cisuralian). This new fauna constitutes a new biogeographic province with North American affinities and clearly demonstrates that tetrapod dispersal into Gondwana was already underway at the beginning of the Permian.

 

ESCONI Field Trip to Vulcan Kankakee Quarry May 20, 2017

There will be an ESCONI Field Trip to the Vulcan Kankakee Quarry on Saturday May 20, 2017 from 8:30 AM to noon. The quarry is located at 1277 County Highway 28.The rules are shown below:

 

1. You must be an ESCONI member as of May 13th and at least 18 years old to attend this trip.

 

2. Maximum attendance is 30.

 

3. Follow any directions given by quarry management on parking.

 

4. We will have site-specific training, and everyone will sign a waiver. I will distribute the waiver forms by email a few days before the trip.

 

5. Collect only in areas designated by quarry management.

 

6. You must have the following safety gear: steel-toed boots, hard hat, safety glasses and safety vest. These must be worn at all times on the property.

 

7. No rock hammers, chisels, or large shovels. We can keep the fossils we find as long as they can easily be carried.

 

8. Photographs of the quarry or quarry facilities are not allowed. Photographs of fossils ARE allowed, and Vulcan management would like to have pictures of nice specimens.

 

9. Please review the ESCONI Code of Ethics available on the ESCONI website. This applies to field trips.

 

To sign up for this field trip, please send me (Dave) an email with the number of members attending. My email address is: fossil54@att.net  No phone calls please. I will confirm via return email within 24 hours. If you do not hear back from me within that time, send it again!

 

ESCONI Field Trip: Braceville, IL - Saturday, May 13th and Sunday, May 14th, 2017

May 13th-14th, 2017 Braceville - Mazon Creek Fossils

Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils on private property.

Meet at 8:00 AM Saturday or Sunday 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. Gardening tools such as a hand rake work also. 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 repellent.

Check the web site for details or contact John Good at 1-630-303-2352 for reservations or e-mail at esconi@hotmail.com.

 

Mazon Creek: Carbon Hill School Museum

Possibly of interest to Mazon fossil collectors is the Carbon Hill School Museum, home of the Carbon Hill Historical Society. Located at 875 N. Second Street in Carbon Hill, it is open on Monday afternoons from noon to 4 p.m. This museum has a number of Mazon fossils donated to it by Tom Testa, who is a resident of Carbon Hill. Among the items displayed in the schoolhouse museum are artifacts from coal mines and the coal fields of Grundy and Will Counties, plus a diorama of Carbon Hill in its mining heyday, circa 1900. Anyone interested in this museum and local coal mining history is welcome to visit. Please phone Michele Micetich at 815-347-0810 or email her at mmicetich@comcast.net for more information on programs, presentations, hours and appointments. ESCONI members should know that Carbon Hill is a very short distance from the BP station in Coal City where we have met in the past before continuing on to collect Mazon fossils at D-Construction Company's Braceville spoil pile.

Three Rivers Library Minooka Branch Hosting an Exhibition of Locally Found Pleistocene Mammal Fossils

The Three Rivers Library Minooka Branch is currently hosting an exhibition of Pleistocene mammal fossils found by a local farmer, John Bamford. in rural Minooka. The bones, found in 1901, were rescued from deterioration and oblivion by George Langford Sr. in 1912. The bones eventually were acquired by The Field Museum. The most famous of these fossils was dubbed the Minooka mastodon (actually a group of mastodon specimens). One of the tusks, still in its field jacket, is on display along with other mastodon fossils and animal fossils excavated from a Pleistocene bog in what is now Kendall County, IL. The Minooka Historical Society Museum, located in the basement of the Minooka library, is open Monday evenings from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.  To schedule a viewing during other library hours, please contact Three Rivers Library’s Local Historian Michele Houchens at 815-467-1600 x 207. The loan of these Field Museum specimens is for only one year, so don't miss this event.

The Minooka Library is less than 15 miles from the Grundy County Historical Society Museum, so you can easily visit both in one trip, an easy drive from Chicago and surrounding communities via our Interstate highway system. All you need do is call to arrange a visit to the library and the museum. Allow a minimum of 1/2 hour per site for touring their respective fossil displays. The GCHS Museum has other interesting exhibits, including native American artifacts, an 82-pound lump of native copper, and a recreation of an 1880s dry goods establishment. The Grundy County Museum is located alongside a portion of the I & M Canal, just one block west of Canalport Park in Morris.

 

Paul Mayer Lecture at the Grundy County Historical Society, Tuesday, April 25th, 2017 at 7:00 PM

The Paul Mayer lecture to the Grundy County Historical Society (open to everyone, member or not) will focus on Mazon Creek fossils. The lecture will happen Tuesday, April 25, 2017, at 7 p.m. in the lower level of the Morris, IL, public library. The library is located at 604 Liberty Street in Morris. Google it for exact directions. Parking is on-street though the library has a small parking lot at the north end of the library building. Mr. Mayer, of The Field Museum, is well-known to ESCONI members.

The Grundy County Historical Society's Museum (GCHS) already has a small, but very fine selection of Mazon plant fossils, some of which were collected before the Museum's inception in 1923, including a part and counterpart Annularia spinulosa (formerly A. stellata) concretion well over 12 inches in length. The Field is loaning, for exhibit, a number of animal specimens specifically collected by and then donated to it by two Grundy County residents and noted Mazon collectors, Judge Bedford and Mr. Green. Bedford, at one time, had many of his Mazon fossils on display in shadowboxes in the front windows of the Morris, IL, bank.

 

This new exhibit is being designed by ESCONI member Joan Bledig and Brenda Larson of the GCHS Museum and will be in place for viewing by April 22 . This is not a permanent exhibit; it will remain in place for only one year. The GCHS Museum is located at 510 W. Illinois Ave. It is open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Private tours are available on other days and are encouraged. Call 815-942-4880 to make an appointment for your tour.

ESCONI Field Trip: St. Paul, IN, Friday, May 5th, 2017

ESCONI Field Trip to St. Paul quarry in St. Paul, IN.  We will meet at the quarry office BEFORE 8:00 AM Eastern Time to sign waivers and receive instructions.  As always, the trip is tentative based on quarry activity.  Map

This trip is open to 20 members.  There will be a waiting list, if necessary.

Trip rules:

• You must be 18 years of age (Indiana State law)
• We are going to be enforcing strict safety requirements: everyone must wear a hard hat and hard shoes construction-type at all times. No open toed sandals, tennis shoes, or casual/street shoes will be allowed. Also, long pants are required, no shorts will be allowed.

To sign up, contact John Catalani at Fossilnautiloid@aol.com.  You may also sign up at the April General and Paleo meetings.

NOTE: participants must be ESCONI members by April 16th, 2017.

 

ESCONI Field Trip to Rockford-area quarry Sunday, May 7, 2017

There will be a field trip for ESCONI members on Sunday, May 7, 2017 to the Porter quarry near Rockford. The trip starts at 9 AM and ends at 12 noon. Rules are as follows:

 

1. You must be an ESCONI member as of May 1st.

 

2. Everyone in your party must be at least 18 years of age.

 

3. Because this is a combined trip, there are only 15 open slots for ESCONI members.

 

4. The address of the quarry is 6832 Swanson Rd, Roscoe, IL.

 

5. We will have site-specific training, and everyone will sign a waiver.

 

6. You must have the following safety gear: sturdy (preferably steel-toed) boots, hard hat, safety glasses and safety vest.

 

7. Please review the ESCONI Code of Ethics available on the ESCONI website. This applies to field trips.

 

To sign up for this field trip, send me (Dave) an email with the number of members attending. My email address is: fossil54@att.net  No phone calls please. Do NOT call the quarry. I will confirm via return email within 24 hours. If you do not hear back from me within that time, send it again!

 

The FOSSIL Project Newsletter Spring 2017

 

Volume 4, Issue 1, Spring 2017|FOSSIL Project Newsletter Spring 2017

• Featured Professional: James R. Thomka
• Amateur Spotlight: Malcolm W. Bedell, Jr.
• Club Corner: Paleontological Association of Georgia (a new organization)
• Dealing with a Fossil Estate by Jack Kallmeyer, Rocky Manning & Rodney Wise
• Featured Fossil: Tooth Deformities in Megalodon by Victor Perez
• Research: Horse Teeth Reveal the History of the Youngest California Crocs by Michelle Barboza
• Education: Paleontology in the “Real-World”: Using the Recent Paleontological Literature to Engage High School Students and Encourage STEM-based Learning by Gina Roberti
• Education: South Florida Museum and Paleontology/Toomey Foundation Badlands Trips for Educators by Aaron Bokelmann
• New Characters in a Long History of Bighorn Basin Paleontology by Jason P. Schein
• A Dinosaur for California! by Karol McQueary
• Dallas Paleontological Society Releases New Book–“Guide to Fossil Collecting” via Roger Farish
• FOSSIL Project Updates Spring 2017 by Eleanor Gardner
• Women in Paleontology Webinar Series by Joyce Drakeford
• Upcoming Events

 

Lyme Regis Presentation Announcement for Paleo Group meeting, April 15th, 2017

ESCONI Presentation - Saturday, April 15, 2017

Paleontology Study Group Meeting - 7:30 PM
College of Dupage - Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B

In the Footsteps of Mary Anning: Collecting England's Jurassic Coast.
This past February, five ESCONI Women took to the beaches of Lyme Regis and Charmouth of famed Dorset County where Mary Anning made numerous paleontological discoveries. In her time, the ichthyosaur, plesiosaur, and pterosaur had no place in the popular conception of the history of the planet, nor were women recognized for their academic contributions. Today, Mary is celebrated as a pioneer in the field and the fragile cliffs of southern England continue to tell the story of life in the ocean 200 million years ago. The presentation will address both the human history and geology of the area, as well as specific finds made during this recent adventure. Stonehenge was also on the itinerary of the trip, so the evening will include a discussion of its mysteries.

Presentation by: Marie Angkuw, Jann Bergsten, Therese Cushing,
Rhonda Gates, and Deborah Lovely.


Marie Angkuw, Deborah Lovely, Rhonda Gates, Therese Cushing, and Jann Bergsten at Stonehenge.
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Lyme Regis shore looking east toward Charmouth.
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Pyritized fossil ammonites from the beaches of Dorset County.

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April 2017 General Meeting: "Venus’ Craters, Coronae, and Chasmata: What’s Going On?"

At our April 14th meeting Dr. Paul Stoddard of NIU will present a program called:

 

"Venus’ Craters, Coronae, and Chasmata: What’s Going On?"  This will be a brief history of the exploration of Venus, the results of that exploration, and the questions raised by those results.

 

ESCONI Events April 2017

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

Sat, April 8th	ESCONI Minerology Study Group Meeting, 7:30 PM College of Dupage - Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map) - Topic: "Slide Program on Micromounting" We will review the slide program on micromounting, which was recently digitized, with a view to updating it
Fri, April 14th	ESCONI General Meeting, 8:00 PM College of Dupage - Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map) - Topic: "Venus’ Craters, Coronae, and Chasmata: What’s Going On?" by Dr. Paul Stoddard of NIU
Sat, April 15th	ESCONI Paleontology Study Group Meeting, 7:30 PM College of Dupage - Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038B (Map) - Topic: "Lyme Regis" more details to follow
	ESCONI Archaeology Study Group Meeting - Open at this time, seeking a chair
	ESCONI Junior Meeting - Open at this time, seeking to restart the group.  Contact Diana Lord for information.