Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI

Mazon Monday #23: Interesting Pennsylvanian Fossil Sites: Crock Hey, Lancashire, UK #MazonCreek #fossils #MazonMonday #UK #Crockhey

This is Mazon Monday post #23.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].

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In Mazon Monday #10, we discussed localities where siderite preservation of Pennsylvanian fossils has been found.  There were a few localities listed.  Here is more information about the site called Crock Hey (also Crockhey).  This site was located near Lancashire in England.  It was a temporary coal pit.  The pit was located between Liverpool and Manchester in the north of England.  Just like Mazon Creek, fossils in this quarry are found in concretions of siderite.  Many of the plants and animals are similar and even identical to those found in the Mazon Creek deposit.  Unfortunately, the coal mine was only open for about 10 years and has since been recovered.  The fossil deposit was in a layer of shale just above the Wigan Coal.  Age of the stratigraphy is Westphalian A in the Late Carboniferous. This corresponds to 313 to 304 million years ago.  Recall, Mazon Creek occurred around 307 million years ago.

There is a great website with many pictures.  Here is just a small taste... go to the website for more!

The coal from the Lancashire Coal Field has been extracted for many years. Sometimes this is done in underground mines,  but also often in opencast coal pits. In the former case the life span can be long, like the Bickershow mine, which was closed down in 1992 after having yielded coal for more than 150 years. In the latter case the life span is much shorter: mostly less than 10 years. When the concession has been exhausted, the quarry is filled up and made ready for new landscape (building houses included). Click here for SandyForth Opencast.

An example of such a temporary coal pit is Crock Hey (also called Crockhey), which is situated between Liverpool and Manchester, not far from Wigan. This quarry yielded coal for 8 years and has been closed down recently. The pit has been filled in and soon the memory of the big hole will fade away. But not in the mind of the paleontologists!

In the quarry, concretions of siderite (an iron compound) occurred in which plants and small animals from the coal swamps of the Late Carboniferous (Westphalian A) have been preserved in exceptionally good quality. A couple of local amateurs have collected these nodules during the life span of the quarry and they have built up wonderful collections. With one of them, Steve Livesley from Lowton, I have come in contact through my website. With him, my wife and I have collected in the quarry during its last days. We have found there several nice fossils, but they pale before Steve's splendid collection.
Below is a choice of his plant fossils. The photos are mine.

 

 

Asterophyllites equisetiformis in a siderite nodule. Crockhey, Westphalian A. Width of the photo 9.5 cm.

Asterophyllites longofolius in a siderite nodule. Crockhey, Westphalian A. Width of the photo 10 cm.

Lepidodendron lycopodioides. Width of the photo 12 cm. Leaflets not S-shaped, broad at the base. Crockhey, Westphalian A.

Pecopteris sp. Crockhey, Westphalian A. Width of the photo 6.5 cm.

Cyperites, a leaf of a clubmoss tree. Two corresponding nodules! Crockhey, Westphalian A. Width of the photo 10 cm.

Lepidostrobus sp., the spore cone of a clubmoss tree. Crockhey, Westphalian A. Width of the photo 11 cm.

Laveinopteris loshii, a seed fern. Crockhey, Westphalian A. Width of the photo 9.5 cm.

Neuropteris jongmansii, a seed fern. Crockhey, Westphalian A. Width of the photo 11.5 cm.

Mariopteris muricata, a seed fern. Crockhey, Westphalian A. Width of the photo 7 cm. Coll Hans Steur

Cordaianthus, the fructification of Cordaites. Crockhey, Westphalian A. Width of the photo 4 cm.

Euproops rotundatus from Crockhey, Westphalian A Collection and photo: Andrew Tenny.

Palaeoxyris sp. from Crock Hey. Westfalian A. Supposed egg case of a shark. With spirals. Coll. and photo: Andy Tenny

Myiapod from Crockhey, Westphalian A Collection and photo: Andy Tenny.

 

First complete dinosaur skeleton ever found is ready for its closeup at last #dinosaurs #dinosaur

The first complete dinosaur skeleton ever identified has finally been studied in detail and found its place in the dinosaur family tree, completing a project that began more than a century and a half ago.  Credit: John Sibbick

Phys.org has a story about a complete dinosaur found on west Dorset's Jurassic Coast.  The skeleton was collected 160 years ago was sent to Richard Owen at the British Museum.  The animal lived around 193 million years ago during the early Jurassic Period.  The new research was published in the journal Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (2020).

The first complete dinosaur skeleton ever identified has finally been studied in detail and found its place in the dinosaur family tree, completing a project that began more than a century and a half ago.

The skeleton of this dinosaur, called Scelidosaurus, was collected more than 160 years ago on west Dorset's Jurassic Coast. The rocks in which it was fossilised are around 193 million years old, close to the dawn of the Age of Dinosaurs.

This remarkable specimen—the first complete dinosaur skeleton ever recovered—was sent to Richard Owen at the British Museum, the man who invented the word dinosaur.

So, what did Owen do with this find? He published two short papers on its anatomy, but many details were left unrecorded. Owen did not reconstruct the animal as it might have appeared in life and made no attempt to understand its relationship to other known dinosaurs of the time. In short, he 're-buried' it in the literature of the time, and so it has remained ever since: known, yet obscure and misunderstood.

 

PBS Eons: The Oddest Couple in the Fossil Record #paleontology #mammals

 

PBS Eons has a new episode over on Youtube.  This one is about an interesting fossil of two early mammals that were entombed together for nearly 250 million years.

To figure out how Thrinaxodon and Broomistega became entombed together, scientists looked at the burrow itself, along with their fossilized bones. And it looks like their luck ran out, when a behavior that usually would’ve helped them survive just didn’t work.

Fossil Friday #20: Blastoids! #fossils #fossil #FossilFriday #blastoids #paleozoic

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #20.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected].  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 real treat... blastoids.  These specimens were contributed by ESCONI Paleo Group Leader John Catalani.  You might remember he sent along some Nautiloids for our first Fossil Friday.  Enjoy!

Blastoids are stemmed echinoderms with 18-21 major plates and hundreds to thousands of smaller plates. Adults were attached to the seafloor by root-like structures called holdfasts. Food gathering involved a set of brachioles that are seldom preserved. Respiration was accomplished using internal, calcareous folds termed hydrospires. Blastoids appeared in the Late Ordovician or Middle Silurian and went extinct in the Late Permian.

Age of blastoids:

Silurian: Troosticrinus reinwardti

Pennsylvanian: Pentremites rusticus

Permian: Deltoblastus verbeeki

Mississippian: remaining specimens

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Deltoblastus verbeeki: one of the last blastoids from the Late Permian of Timor.

 

Diploblastus glaber: from the Mississippian of Southern Illinois.

 

Granatocrinus kentuckyensis: from the Mississippian Osagean Series of Northern Kentucky.

 

Orophocrinus stelliformis: from the Mississippian Burlington Limestone.

 

Pentremites godoni: from the Mississippian Paint Creek Formation of Southern Illinois.

 

Pentremites pyriformis: from the Mississippian Paint Creek Formation of Southern Illinois.

 

Pentremites pyriformis: with Brachioles: from the Mississippian of Kentucky.

 

Pentremites rusticus: from the lower Pennsylvanian of Oklahoma. Note the surface ornamentation.

 

Pentremites spicatus: with color bands: from the Mississippian of Southern Illinois.

 

Troosticrinus reinwardti: one of the first blastoids from the Silurian Beech River Formation of Tennessee.

 

Throwback Thursday #22: Field Trip To Lutz Quarry Near Oshkosh, WI in 1954 #TBT #history #Wisconsin #minerals

This is Throwback Thursday #22.  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 [email protected].  Thanks!

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These are pictures of a field trip to Lutz Quarry near Oskosh Wisconsin in 1954.  Lutz Quarry had rocks from the Ordovician Period.  The formations represented at the quarry were the Galena, Decorah, and Platteville Formations, which are part of the Sinnipee Group.  The quarry was known for mineral collecting with interesting specimens of Marcasite, Pyrite, Calcite, and others present.  The minerals were found in dolostone, limestone, and shale.  Unfortunately, the quarry was reclaimed many years ago.

Specimens from the quarry

Marcasite, etc.

Pyrite

Calcite, etc.

Photos from the field trip

ESCONI Events September 2020

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

Fri, Sept 11th	ESCONI General Meeting 8:00 PM Zoom - Topic: "Carboniferous Fossils Reveal How Fishes Evolve, and How They Don’t” by Dr. Lauren Sallan from the University of Pennsylvania.  Zoom link
Sat, Sept 12th	ESCONI Field Trip to Cheney Limestone in Bellevue, MI - This is a joint trip with Kalamazoo Geological and Mineral Society (KGMS).  Details here.
Sat, Sept 19th	ESCONI Paleontology Meeting 7:30 PM Zoom - "Brag Night", bring pictures to share. Zoom link.
Sat, Sept 19th	ESCONI Field Trip to Braceville, IL - 8 AM to 2 PM - Details are here
Sun, Sept 20th	ESCONI Field Trip to Braceville, IL - 8 AM to 2 PM - Details are here

 

 

Trilobite Tuesday #20: The Trilobite Papers #trilobite #fossils #TrilobiteTuesday

The Trilobite Paper website has pdfs of the "Trilobite Papers 20" newsletters from August 2018 to February 2020.  The newsletter is Fred Sundberg's "reboot" of Rolf Ludvingsen's international journal for and by trilobite paleontologists.  The issues are published about every six months and are filled with everything trilobite. 

Rolf Ludvingsen was an paleontologist and author, that wrote many, many books on the subject.

Check them out!

One of the ongoing problems with lower and middle Cambrian trilobites (and most likely any aged trilobites) are the type species of genera are poorly known or represented by poorly preserved specimens. I have already pointed out (Sundberg, 2007), the specimen of Antagmus typicalis Resser, 1937, which is the type species of Antagmus, a commonly reported lower Cambrian genus. The type specimen is a nearly complete, internal mold of a cranidium preserved in a medium grained friable, limonite-cemented specimen. I suggested (Sundberg and McCollum, 2000; Sundberg, 2007) that the genus be considered nomen dubium, accepting this causes a chain reaction. Antagmus is the genotype of the subfamily Antagminae, which includes Austinvillia, Bicella, Crassifimbra, Eoptychoparia, Luxella, Onchocephalus, Onchocephalites, Periomma, Piaziella, Poulsenia, Proliostracus, Sombrerella, and Syspacephalus.

To complicate this even more, Rasetti (1955) tried to make sense of the taxonomy using better preserved specimens from limestone boulders from the Silly Formation. However, almost all of the type species were known from only cranidia (a couple have librigena). Furthermore, Rasetti commented that the different forms appear to grade from one to another. Authors have used Rasetti’s work to assign their specimens to the genera, but with the gradational nature of the different genera and the lack of other sclerites makes these assignments questionable.

 

Mazon Monday #22: Pit 11 #MazonCreek #fossils

This is Mazon Monday post #21.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].

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Summer is passing into September and the temperature should should be cooling.  Unfortunately, the overgrowth isn't going to diminish until next spring.  However, Pit 11 doesn't close to fossil hunting until September 30th.  So, It's time to repeat this article about Mazon Creek on the Fossil Forum from last year.  There's even new information as the discussion has continued.  The article was published in 2019, but it hasn't changed at all.

If you want to visit Pit 11 this year, get on out there, dress accordingly and bring plenty of bug spray!

Over on the Fossil Forum, an ESCONI member, Ralph Jewel, has an fantastic report on Pit 11 collecting.  He's got a bunch of old and new pictures for comparison.  Additionally, he has some maps and directions to show you where to collect.  The Tipple, ESCONI Hill, Monster Lake, and Ponderosa Lake are all mentioned.  Check it out!  The Fossil Forum is a great resource!

 

 

ESCONI September 2020 Paleo Meeting - September 19, 2020 - Brag Night! #fossils #paleontology

September 19, 2020, Paleontology Study Group Meeting

John A. Catalani

We are going to have a Paleo Study Group meeting on Saturday Sept. 19 beginning at 7:30 p.m on Zoom. The plan is to have members present their fossil finds collected since the last “Brag Night” meeting of Sept. 2019. It would be best to present your finds in photograph form. The photos should be collected in a folder for ease of access. You can then show the photos in order by advancing to each in turn. Please limit the number of photos to 20 for each participant, so all can be seen. Instructions for joining the Zoom mtg will be on the ESCONI web site. Additionally, an invitation via e-mail will be sent the day before the meeting.

After all photos have been presented, we will discuss future Paleo meetings. Please think about presenting a program to the group.

Two giant gold nuggets worth $250,000 found in Australia #minerals #gold #australia

CNN has a story about the discovery of two giant gold nuggets.  Collectively, the nuggets weigh about 7.7 lbs (3.5 kg) and are worth about $250,000.

Gold diggers in southern Australia have found two huge nuggets worth $350,000 AUD ($250,000 USD) in historic goldfields.

The pair of nuggets weigh in at a combined 3.5 kilograms (7.7 pounds) and were found on the same day near Tarnagulla in the state of Victoria, as shown on Thursday's episode of "Aussie Gold Hunters" on the Discovery Channel.

 

Prospectors Brent Shannon and his brother-in-law Ethan West found the nuggets in a matter of hours with the help of West's father Paul West, according to a Discovery Channel press release.

 

The nuggets have been valued at $250,000 USD.

 

The nuggets could fetch up to 30% more than their estimated value by weight if they are sold to a collector, according to the release.

 

"I reckoned we were in for a chance," Shannon told Australian breakfast chat show Sunrise. "It was in a bit of virgin ground, which means it's untouched and hasn't been mined."

 

The pair had been waiting months for a permit that would allow them to start searching for gold in the area, according to the release.

PBS Eons: How We Figured Out Fermentation #archaeology #beer #fermentation #pickles

 

PBS Eons has an episode on how we discovered beer, pickles and much, much, more!

Thanks to a recent adaptation, instead of getting sick from the boozy, fermented fruits, one of our primate ancestors could digest them safely, and get more calories at the same time. This new superpower would open up a whole new nutritional landscape for us: fermented foods.

Throwback Thursday #21: Field Trip To Rosiclare For Fluorite April 25th 1958 #TBT #minerals #fluorite #Rosiclare

This is Throwback Thursday #21.  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 [email protected].  Thanks!

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Fluorite is the Illinois State Mineral.  For a while, ESCONI had field trips to southern Illinois to collect fluorite.  One of the places visited was the Rosiclare Fluorspar and Mining Co., at one time the largest fluorspar mining company in the US.  The American Fluorite Museum is located on the site of the company.  They have photos, specimens, mining paraphernalia, and instructive dioramas. 

By the way. Rosiclare, IL still holds the Fluorspar Festival the first week of October each year.

The following photos are from a field trip to the Rosiclare Fluorspar and Mining Co. on April 25th, 1958.  It looks like they were down in the mine itself.  After that, they visited the Cave-in-Rock State Park.

Marion, Kentucky

Cave-in-Rock State Park 

Ohio River

Awesome specimen of Fluorite from Rosiclare!

ESCONI Field Trip to Braceville - Saturday, September 19th and Sunday September 20th, 2020 #MazonCreek #fossils

Braceville Field Trip Rules - Sept 2020

The ESCONI field trips to Braceville for Mazon Creek fossils are set for Sept 19 and 20, 2020 from 8 AM to 2 PM. You can attend either (but not both) day(s). There is an attendance limit of 50 people each day.

If you are sick, have any symptoms of Covid-19 or have tested positive, DO NOT COME!

Everyone MUST have a face mask and wear it if less than 6 feet from another person.

1. Families are welcome, but the minimum age is 5 years old. Children must be supervised at all times by their parent or guardian. Registration ends at midnight Sept 16 th .
2. You and everyone in your party must be members of ESCONI. No membership dues will be accepted at the field trip site. Have your membership status resolved before the trip, no later than Sept 16th. You can pay dues by mailing a check, or with a credit card using the PayPal link on the ESCONI website.
3. You will be required to check-in at the collecting site. By attending, you agree to follow the ESCONI Code of Ethics and Conduct (available on the ESCONI website) and agree to the
   conditions set forth in the ESCONI Accident Waiver and Release of Liability Form (sent by email to those that register). You don’t need to print it out, just know what you’re agreeing to.
4. The collecting site is in Grundy County. If Grundy County’s covid status slips back from phase 4 to phase 3, the trip will be canceled.
5. You’re going to be digging in dirt and mud – dress accordingly! You may want to bring a shovel, pickaxe, trowel, or hammer. Use only a rock hammer, not a claw hammer or roofing hammer. If you decide to hammer on something, use eye protection. There may also be insects and poison ivy. Hard hats are not required. Bring a bucket to carry your fossils in. Gloves are strongly recommended. The collecting site is an old spoil pile on private property. There may be old rusty tools or other iron pieces embedded in the pile. Sliding down the hill could be very painful.
6. The top of the pile is unstable and not safe to stand on. Do not go above the flags/caution tape markers. Anyone found above the markers will be asked to leave and may not be allowed to sign up for future field trips.
7. Sign up for the trip by sending me (Dave) an email with your name, the number of members attending and the day you are attending. I will acknowledge by return email within 24 hours. If you don’t hear from me in that time, send it again! My email is [email protected]
8. If the trip is full I will keep a waiting list in case there are cancellations. If you are signed up and can’t make it, please let me know.

Meet at 8 AM at the entrance to the collecting site on S Berta Road, just east of the intersection with Division St (Braceville IL). A nearby landmark for driving directions is the Braceville Gardner Cemetery, 7295 East Braceville Road, Braceville. I can send a small map to anyone that needs it.

 

Trilobite Tuesday #19: A 429-Million-Year-Old Trilobite Had Eyes like Those of Modern Bees #trilobite #fossils #TrilobiteTuesday #eyes

Scientific American has a story about trilobite eyes.  In a 429 million year old fossil trilobite fossil, scientists from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland got a glimpse at how the world looked to these ancient animals.  A remarkably preserved specimen of Aulacopleura koninckii showed that these animals had eyes that were about as good as today's bees and dragonflies, which have some of the best vision among arthropods. The paper was published in the journal Nature.

Perfectly pristine fossils might make great museum showpieces, but they are not always the most informative for paleontologists. Some of the more salient secrets of ancient life are locked inside fossils, and lucky breaks can reveal internal details that may otherwise remain hidden. In the case of one particular 429-million-year-old trilobite—an extinct arthropod that looked like a big version of a wood louse—a crack in just the right place has allowed paleontologists to see the world through the creature’s eyes.

Trilobites are one of evolution’s greatest success stories. These early animals, characterized by the “three lobes” of their exoskeletal body, first appeared about 521 million years ago, during the biodiversity spike called the Cambrian explosion. They proliferated for millions of years more, ranging from sizes smaller than a button to bigger than a dinner plate, before going extinct about 252 million years ago. And given how common trilobites were in ancient seas, studying their evolutionary history can offer deep insights into life in our planet’s oceans.

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“For a long time, it was thought that just bones, teeth and other hard objects could be preserved in the fossil record,” she says. “To be able to distinguish cellular structures, especially in the eyes, is very, very rare and exceptional.”

Schoenemann and her co-author Euan Clarkson of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland published their analysis of the ancient eye on Thursday in Scientific Reports. Despite being 429 million years old, the trilobite has a modern-looking eye that resembles those of today’s bees and dragonflies. This type is called an apposition compound eye, meaning each lens acts independently to create a mosaic image of what a creature sees.

The detailed look at the trilobite’s eye helps track the evolution of eyes and vision in arthropods over time, says University of New England paleontologist John Paterson, who was not involved in the new study. “The take-home message appears to be that trilobites had developed apposition compound eyes during the earliest evolutionary stages of the group and stuck with this design throughout their history.”

Mazon Monday #21: Species Spotlight: Euproops #MazonCreek #fossils #horseshoecrab

This is Mazon Monday post #21.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].

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Euproops was a horseshoe crab.  There are two species of horseshoe crab found in the Mazon Creek biota, Euproops danae (common) and Paleolimulus sp. (extremely rare).  Both are known from other Carboniferous fossil localities around the world.  As you can see in the pictures, they both look very similar to modern species.  The holotype (shown below) resides at the Illinois State Museum.  This picture appears here on georgesbasement.com.

There are a few great examples on that page.

The Field Museum had this specimen on display during Member Nights in 2019.

Dave's Down To Earth Rock Shop has a very large specimen.

Here is the text from Creature Corner.  The column first appeared in February 1987.

EUPROOPS (horseshoe crab)

Time and again this column has had as it's subject an animal that could easily have been the primitive ancestor of a Sunday Supplement "Living Fossil" article. Soit is again with the "horseshoe crab", Euproops. Our horseshoe crab, Genus Euproops, is a member of the Phylum Arthropoda,Subphylum Chelicerata, Class Merostomata, Subclass Xiphosura and Superfamily Euproopacea.

Our creature for this month can trace its ancestry back to the Cambrian Period. The xiphosura of that timehaving all the appearance of a trilobite; tri-lobed, 12 movabile segments and a sword-like telson (tail). Modern horseshoe crabs have a fused median or central shield that is smooth, with insignificant lobes. Paleozoic xiphosurans were in a state of transition.Terms used to describe trilobites do not "fit' our Euproops. For brevity Euproops has a head-shield, median and a tail. The head-shield, that bore spines in some species, was almost half the body length, and is quite oftenthe only portion found in concretions. The median is almost circular in shape, bearing furrows that denote the positions of the fused segments. Spines, common to all horseshoe Crabs, carry on over the flattened edge or rim of the median and up and over the median furrows. This last feature is used in identifying Euproops. Appendages are located beneath the animal, and are never (?) seen in concretions. Last is the telson, very often lacking on our Mazon Creek fossils.

The species Euproops danae is classified as "common", being the horseshoe crab most often found in Mazon Creek concretions. It is found mainly in Braidwood (non marine) locations, although a few specimens are found in Essex (marine) localities. The fact that it was a denizen of fresh water has been accepted for more than a century. Euproops is quite often found in concretions that contain Arachnids, fresh-water clams, millipedes and plant fragments. Surprising because modern limulids are exclusively marine. There are several species of Euproopids. All became extinct during the Paleozoic.

Sand: What’s It Really Made Of? #sand #geology @eltshow

 

Gimlet's podcast "Every Little Thing" has an interesting episode about sand... what it is and where it comes from.

Caller Hank wants to know where the sand on his central California beach came from. ELT gets the surprising scoop on how beaches are born. Guest: Kiki Patsch, California State University Channel Islands. Special thanks to Gary Griggs. 

99-Million-Year-Old ‘Hell Ant’ Attack Captured in Amber #fossils #amber #ants

A worker of the hell ant Ceratomyrmex ellenbergeri grasping a nymph of Caputoraptor elegans preserved in amber from Myanmar. Image credit: New Jersey Institute of Technology / Chinese Academy of Sciences / University of Rennes.

SciNews has a story about an interesting ant found in amber.  Found in Burma, the "hell ant" (Ceratomyrmex ellenbergeri) lived during the Cretaceious Period about 78 million years ago.  The "hell ants" due to their horn-like appendages on their head.  Details can be found in a paper in the journal Current Biology.

“Fossilized behavior is exceedingly rare, predation especially so,” said lead author Dr. Phillip Barden, a researcher in the Department of Biological Sciences at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History.

“As paleontologists, we speculate about the function of ancient adaptations using available evidence, but to see an extinct predator caught in the act of capturing its prey is invaluable.”

“This fossilized predation confirms our hypothesis for how hell ant mouthparts worked. The only way for prey to be captured in such an arrangement is for the ant mouthparts to move up and downward in a direction unlike that of all living ants and nearly all insects.”

The hell ant lineage, along with their striking predatory traits, are suspected to have vanished along with many other early ant groups during periods of ecological change around the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event 65 million years ago.

“Since the first hell ant was unearthed about a hundred years ago, it’s been a mystery as to why these extinct animals are so distinct from the ants we have today,” Dr. Barden said.

Fossil Friday #19: Phacops from Paulding, OH #fossils #fossil #FossilFriday #trilobites

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #19.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected].  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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There is a fossil park in Paulding, OH, where you can collect fossil specimens from the Silica Shale.  You might remember we did a page about brachiopods from the Silica Shale in Ohio a few months ago.   This park is a dump site of fossiliferous overburden shale from the La Farge Quarry in Paulding Ohio.  Here is a great page with a description and directions to the site.  La Farge are very generous to provide this community collecting area.  Last I read, they even have a porta-potty on site!

I haven't visited yet, but plan to at some point.  Below, are pictures of two Paulding Phacops rana trilobites.

Throwback Thursday #20: Rediscovering a Dinosaur Named Elmer #TBT #history #dinosaurs @FieldMuseum #tyrannosaur

This is Throwback Thursday #20.  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 [email protected].  Thanks!

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Elmer Riggs on an expedition in Bolivia, 1927. The photo's description notes that this is a dig site for Lestodon, a group of extinct ground sloths.  Field Museum Photo Archives

The Field Museum has a blog post about a dinosaur named for Elmer Riggs.  Elmer the man, was the Field Museum's first field paleontologist.  He collected fossils on multiple continents (North and South America).  He was employed by the Field Museum from 1899 until he retired in 1942.  Although he found countless specimens for the museum, he is probably best known for presenting evidence that Apatosaurus and Brontosaurs were species of the same animal (Note: since 2015, they are again separate taxa).

Geology preparator John Abbott, on the expedition with Riggs, wraps the dinosaur specimen in a plaster jacket, in preparation to move it out of the field. Alberta, Canada, 1922.  Field Museum Photo Archives

Elmer the dinosaur is a species of Gorgosaurus, actually a young tyrannosaur.  It was discovered in 1922 in Alberta, Canada by Elmer the man.  The bones spent 77 years encased in plaster field jackets.  Finally in 1999, fossil preparators took time to open the jackets and prepare the bones.   It was then that they were finally identified as a Gorgosaurus.

For every specimen you can see out on display at the Museum, there are many more behind the scenes. Our scientists and visiting researchers are always studying what’s in our collection—and sometimes, we make unexpected discoveries. 

One such mystery in our collection was a dinosaur fossil discovered by Elmer Riggs, the Field’s first paleontologist. Riggs and his team unearthed the specimen in question on a 1922 expedition to Alberta, Canada. Riggs noted in his records that he suspected it was a “little carnivorous dinosaur,” but it was part of our collection for nearly eight decades before we understood what a fascinating find it really was.

In 1999, fossil preparators finally had the opportunity to open up field jackets containing Riggs's dinosaur. After painstakingly removing rock from around the fossils, our scientists were able to identify the mystery dino: Gorgosaurus, ​​​​​​a young tyrannosaurid that’s related to the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex.

Fondly nicknamed “Elmer” after Riggs himself, this cousin of T. rex is an exciting find. Though we don’t have the full skeleton, the parts we do have are remarkably complete. Riggs’ team found the skull, neck bones, hips, both legs—including a 100-percent-complete right foot—and a nearly complete eight-foot-long tail. What makes Elmer even more interesting is that it’s a young dinosaur. It gives us a unique look at the bones of a juvenile, which we can study to better understand dinosaur growth as a whole.

ESCONI/KGMS Field Trip to Cheney Limestone, Bellevue, MI - Saturday, September 12th, 2020 #FieldTrip #minerals #fossils

There will be a field trip to the Cheney Limestone quarry near Bellevue, MI on September 12, 2020, from 10 AM to 3 PM (Eastern). This is a joint trip between ESCONI and the Kalamazoo Geological and Mineral Society (KGMS). There are 20 spots for ESCONI members.

The rock formation at this quarry is the Bayport Limestone, Mississippian in age, in the Michigan Basin

Both fossils and minerals can be found there. Typical fossils include brachiopods, corals, pelecypods and echinoderms, often coated with glauconite. Minerals include calcite, barite, pyrite, marcasite and chalcopyrite.  Also rarely found are sphalerite, fluorite, celestine and vivianite. Mostly medium-temperature hydrothermal minerals.

The quarry is located at 9400 Sand Rd, Bellevue, MI.

Rules

1. You and everyone in your party must be a member of ESCONI by Sept 9, 2020. Minimum age is 18.
2. Register by sending me (Dave) an email with the number of people attending. My email is: [email protected].  I will respond within 24 hours. If you don’t hear from in that time, send it again!
3. Registration ends at 11:59 PM Sept 9, 2020.
4. If the trip is full I will keep a waiting list. If you register but find out that you cannot attend please let me know.
5. You must have and wear a hard hat, a safety vest and sturdy boots. Long pants are required.

When you arrive at the quarry, park by the side of the road and wait for instructions.

Depending on where you live it could take a few hours to drive to the quarry. There don’t appear to be any hotels in Bellevue. If you’re staying overnight, try Battle Creek.

Some pictures of pyrite, calcite and marcasite specimens from this area can be seen at: https://www.mindat.org/loc-10031.html

A very relevant article entitled “History, Geology, and Mineralogy of the Bayport Limestone Quarries, Bellevue, Eaton County, Michigan” appeared in Rocks and Minerals magazine in 2018. The author was kind enough to provide a PDF of the article which I can send (for personal use only) to any trip participant who wants it.