Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI

Photos from the ESCONI Field Trip to Belvidere Quarry - June 26th, 2021 #fieldtrip #fossil #Illinois #quarry #fossilcollecting #ordovician

ESCONI held a field trip to a Belvidere, IL quarry on June 26th, 2021.  Some of the finds were Hormotoma snails, nautiloids, and trilobites.  Here are some photos from ESCONI member Therese Cushing.  Thanks, Therese!

 

Paleonursery offers rare, detailed glimpse at life 518 million years ago #fossil #paleontology #cambrian

Chuandianella ovata, an extinct shrimp-like crustacean. Credit: Xianfeng Yang, Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University

Phys.org has a story about a newly discovered fossil Lagerstatte.  A paper published in Nature details the new deposit, which is located near Kunming, China.  It dates to the middle Cambrian about 518 million years ago, which is same age as the Chengjiang locality.  For reference, the Burgess Shale dates to about 508 million years ago.  So far, researchers have discovered 118 species, including 17 never before seen species.

All life on Earth 500 million years ago lived in the oceans, but scientists know little about how these animals and algae developed. A newly discovered fossil deposit near Kunming, China, may hold the keys to understanding how these organisms laid the foundations for life on land and at sea today, according to an international team of researchers.

The fossil deposit, called the Haiyan Lagerstätte, contains an exceptionally preserved trove of early vertebrates and other rare, soft-bodied organisms, more than 50% of which are in the larval and juvenile stages of development. Dating to the Cambrian geologic period approximately 518 million years ago and providing researchers with 2,846 specimens so far, the deposit is the oldest and most diverse found to date.

"It's just amazing to see all these juveniles in the fossil record," said Julien Kimmig, collections manager at the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery, Penn State. "Juvenile fossils are something we hardly see, especially from soft-bodied invertebrates."

Xianfeng Yang, a paleobiologist at Yunnan University, China, led a team of Chinese researchers that collected the fossils at the research site. He measured and photographed the specimens and analyzed them with Kimmig. The researchers report the results of their study today (June 28) in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Mazon Monday #66: Video for June 2021 Paleontology Meeting - "Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils" #fossil #paleontology #MazonCreek #Illinois

This is Mazon Monday post #66.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].

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The topic of our Paleontology Study Group meeting was "Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils".  It was presented by ESCONI President Keith Robitschek.  The presentation included State Park Links, Maps, Surface Collecting Concretions, Concretion Storage, Opening, Cleaning, and Care.

 

Answers for the TBT #64: A Rockhound Spelling Test from November 1962 #history #TBT #ThrowbackThursday #quiz #rockhound

Here are the answers to Throwback Thursday #64 Rockhound Spelling Test.  How'd you do?

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QUIZ ANSWERS

There were 20 words offered. If you spelled 15 right you are doing right well. Seventeen right puts you in the professional class, and 19 or 20 right means you can sit right next to Mr. Dana and you inherit the editorship of this fine bulletin. Everyone over 17 is required to write an article for this bulletin! Authority is a collection of mineral books and the Lapidary Journal.

1. chrysocolla
2. amethyst
3. iridescent
4. invertebrate
5. fluorite
6. turquoise
7. rhodochrosite
8. brachiopod
9. citrine
10. psilomelane
11. baculite
12. aventurine
13. baroque
14. variscite
15. staurolite
16. chlorastrolite
17. thomsonite
18. dolomite
19. jaspilite
20. rhyolite

 

ESCONI Events July 2021

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

Mon, July 12th	ESCONI Junior Field Trip to a Dave's "Down to Earth" Rock Shop in Evanston, IL 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM - Details are here.
Sat, July 17th	ESCONI Field Trip to Rockford, IL Gravel Pit 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM - Details are here.
Sat, July 24th	ESCONI Field Trip to Starved Rock Clay Pit 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM - Details are here.

Have a great summer... see you in September!

Exciting Paleontological Discoveries You Probably Missed in May #paleontology #fossil #science #2021

Size comparison between Machairodus giganteus and the common house cat, Felis catus / Coluberssymbol / Wikimedia Commons

Medium has a story with a nice summary of important paleontological discoveries in May 2021.  

Several fascinating paleontological discoveries are taking place each month. Scientists working in the field publish numerous studies, describe new prehistoric species, and propose exciting theories about the biology and behavior of many extinct animals.

This article will do a quick recap of the most important paleontological discoveries and updates from May 2021.

1. The dinosaur that hunted in the dark
2. New giant saber-toothed cat once terrorized North America
3. Fossilized skin of iconic sauropod discovered
4. A giant bird lived along with the last European dinosaurs
5. The oldest centrosaurid yet found?
6. A new mosasaur from Morocco
7. A new titanosaur from Brazil
8. Other mammals, not dinosaurs, held our ancestors back
9. A new genus of crested dinosaur found in Mexico
10. Ancient mammal tracks discovered in aquatic environments
11. South African sauropodomorph had irregular growth
12. Prehistoric whale grew both teeth and baleen

 

Roadtrippers: Kansas is a fossil hunter’s paradise—here’s how and where to explore it #fossil #collecting #Kansas #chalk #cretaceous #carboniferous #permian #roadtrip

Road cut near Eudora, Kansas, just off Kansas Highway 10. | Photo by Jessica Johnson Webb

Roadtripper's magazine has a story about fossil hunting in Kansas.  The article is a good summary of general areas.  It mentions the Niobrara Chalk of western Kansas.  This formation was laid down by the Western Interior Seaway (WIP), which covered the central US and extended from the Gulf of Mezico to the Arctic, during the Cretaceous about 80 million years ago.  Of course, this happened before the building of the Rocky Mountains pushed up the central US. Shark teeth, bivalves, fish, and even huge Mosasaurs have been found. There is the famous "fish within a fish" fossil at the Charles Sternberg Museum in Hays, Kansas that you can visit.  Also mentioned is eastern Kansas and its extensive Carboniferous and Permian deposits.  Brachiopods, crinoids, bryozoans, and even trilobites are common.  If you are really lucky, even plant fossils can possible.  So, if you are in Kansas this sumer, bring along you favorite rock hammer and have a little fossil collecting fun!

Perhaps Kansas isn’t the first location you think of when imagining a battle between giant prehistoric sea creatures—but it should be. 

As a child growing up in the Midwest, my grandparents showed me a small jar of shark teeth they’d collected at a quarry in a nearby farmer’s field. Looking across the gently rolling hills with the only water in sight in a small pond, it was hard to imagine giant marine predators swimming around our land-locked part of north central Kansas. But my grandfather told me that Kansas—along with much of the rest of the Midwest—used to be covered by a sea, millions of years ago. 

That Cretaceous sea, also known as the Western Interior Seaway (WIS), covered much of the middle of North America about 80 million years ago. Plenty of gnarly creatures ate, fought, hunted, foraged, and died there, leaving their remains for fossil hunters to find millions of years later. 

Those remains are strewn across the Niobrara chalk beds found in western Kansas, which are famous for their dramatic sea creatures, according to Rex Buchanan, director emeritus of the Kansas Geological Survey. “In any major museum in this time period, look at the marine Cretaceous stuff and it will be from Kansas,” he says. Some of those fossils came from professional fossil hunters and some from amateurs. The same thrill of the hunt that captured my grandparents’ imaginations has inspired Kansans for a long time. 

 

Fossil Friday #62: Trigonocarpus sp. - A Seed from Mazon Creek #fossil #FossilFriday #MazonCreek #illinois #seed

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #62.  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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This week we have a very special Mazon Creek fossil to share.  This absolutely stunning specimen comes from ESCONI member George Witaszek.  It's a Trigonocarpus sp. nucellus, which is the shell surrounding the megaspore.  These fossils are rarely found in the Mazon Creek biota.   Amazing find George... thanks for sharing!

To learn more, have a look at pages 233 - 235 in "A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek".  Here is the description from Jack Wittry.

Trigonocarpus sp. Brongniart, 1825

epidermis and sarcotesta

DESCRIPTION: These seeds are large, radiospermic, and range from 7 mm to 6 cm in length. They are rounded at the base and taper gently from the middle toward the distal end where a small aperture may be found. In life, the seed was divided into layers. Starting from the outside toward the center are the epidermis, sarcotesta, sclerotesta, and endotesta (which surround the innermost nutshell-like nucellus layer), and are collectively known as the testa. The details of layer stuctures are known from permineralized examples, but they are difficult to deter mine in the authigenic cementation fossils found in the Mazon Creek area. The epidermis (see Fig. 1) is rarely found; it is generally seen free from the seed and appears as a distorted, tough, flat skin. Next is the sarcotesta (see Fig. 3), which quickly rots away and is seldom preserved. It was fleshy and sometimes grooved. Below this is the tough, fibrous, and, in some species, deeply grooved sclerotesta (see Figs. 4, 5). Below this layer is the most commonly found and recognizable part: the hard, shiny shell of the centermost female gametophyte called the nucellus (see Figs. 6 through 8). It often displays the three-part organization from which the seed gets its name.

REMARKS: Trigonocarpus is rare and the third most common seed taxon in the Mazon Creek flora. In North America, 43 species of Trigonocarpus have been described. When found as authigenic cementation fossils like those in concretions, they can display many different aspects, caused either by compression or desiccation, and depending on which layer of the seed is exposed. It is now believed that the species count is inflated and contains many synonymous names. From permineralized examples in coalball peels where complete seeds with better details can be observed, only 14 species have been described. Due to this fact, no attempt is made to describe species here.

Throwback Thursday #64: A Rockhound Spelling Test From November 1962 #history #TBT #ThrowbackThursday #quiz #rockhound

This is Throwback Thursday #64.  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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How about a spelling test this week... a rockhound spelling test?  This spelling test appeared in the November 1962 edition of "The Earth Science News".  It's attributed to the "PICK and DOP STICK", which is the monthly bulletin of the Chicago Rocks and Minerals Society, which has been organized as a club since 1946.  That's 3 years before ESCONI's start!  They are still going strong.  You can find out more about their club on their website.  So, have a try at the test... the answers will be posted in a few days.

TEST YOUR ROCKHOUND SPELLING via The Pick & Dop Stick

Choose the proper spelling from those offered. All are common rock hound words - most from pages of The Lapidary Journal.

1. chrysacola chrysocolla chrysacolla

2. amethyst amythest amethest

3. irridescent iridescent irridesen

4. invertibrate invertebrate invertabrate

5. flourite fluorite

6. torquois turquoise turquise

7. rhodochrosite rhodochrisite

8. brackipod brachiopod brochiopod

9. citrin citrine citrene

10. psilomelane psilomalene psilomilene

11. baculite bacculite

12. adventurine aventurine adventurene

13. baroqe baroque barouque

14. varisite variscite varascite

15. starolite staralite ataurolite 16. chlorastrolite chlorastolite

17. thompsonite thomsonite tomsonite

18. dolamite dolomite

19. Jaspelite jas palite jaspilite

20. rhyolite ryolite ryholite

Virtual: Dinosaurs of the West, with J.P. Cavigelli, Paleontologist, Thursday, July 15th, 2021 #dinosaur #paleontology #Illinois #lecture

The Woodridge Public Library is have a lecture via Zoom on Thursday, July 15th, 2021.  The topic is "Dinosaurs of the West" with J.P. Cavigelli, Paleontologist.  Here is the annoucement... sounds very interesting!  Register on their website at https://www.woodridgelibrary.org/virtual-dinosaurs-west-jp-cavigelli-paleontologist.

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Virtual: Dinosaurs of the West, with J.P. Cavigelli, Paleontologist

Are you fascinated by the dinosaurs of the American West? Who isn't! Have you wondered why there aren't dinosaur fossils in Illinois? We're very excited to welcome real-life "dinosaur fossil hunter" and paleontologist Jean-Pierre Cavigelli to discuss his excavations, discoveries, and theories of the history of dinosaurs in America.

Jean-Pierre Cavigelli (JP) is currently the Prep Lab Manager, Field Trip Organizer and Collections Manager at the Tate Geological Museum – part of Casper College - in Casper, Wyoming. In his many years at the college, as well as previously at the University of Wyoming, he has led collecting trips all over the west to collect small and large fossils from “Dee the Mammoth” and “Lee Rex” to microscopic mammal teeth and ancient insects. Also, he has had the good fortune of having been invited to join paleontological expeditions to Mongolia, Niger, Tanzania, Alaska and North Dakota.

By the way, you may recognize JP from his appearances in last year's television broadcast of "Prehistoric Road Trip" with Emily Grasslie, produced by the the Field Museum in cooperation with WTTW Chicago and PBS!

Thursday, July 15, 7 p.m. This is a free virtual program using Zoom.

Please register and enter your e-mail address for instructions and Zoom connection details.

https://www.woodridgelibrary.org/virtual-dinosaurs-west-jp-cavigelli-paleontologist

 

Report: ESCONI Field Trip to Danville Shale Pile Fossils - Saturday, June 5th, 2021 #fossils #fossil #FieldTrip #Carboniferous #Illinois #coal #fern #plants #MazonCreek

Here is a report about the Danville Shale Pile field trip on Saturday, June 5th, 2021.

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Danville, Illinois, ESCONI Field Trip – June 5, 2021

The weather was warm and partly cloudy Saturday, June 5^th, at the new Danville spoil pile. By midday, the temperature would reach into the 90s. Keith Robitschek started the event with his safety talk. “You’re not in Kansas anymore. You are on Pandora” … “There’s nothing like an old school safety brief to put the mind at ease.” Following the safety talk, Andrew Young discussed the geology and scientific significance of the location we were about to collect. He truly got the juices flowing! Accompanying the 22 participants was our very own Jack Wittry. Both Jack and Andrew were not only photographing our finds, but they were greatly involved in the identification of the specimens. We hope to be collecting here for quite some time. It will give all participants the opportunity to find something unique and also contribute to an identification guide Jack and Andrew are currently working on. A more comprehensive document of the site’s (Herrin Coal Roof Shale) Pennsylvanian fossils is also in the works.

Regulars and newbies alike had success in finding both shale-based fossils and concretions. Finally, Pennsylvanian fossils with instant gratification! The Red Dog shale is relatively hard but easily chipped and scratched. The black shale is very flaky and layered. Each fossil slab needed to be separated from one another. Some people used bubble wrap, but there are other methods of protection for both temporary and permanent storage. For display, consider small easels or shadow boxes. The back side of the black shale will need stabilizing. Keep in mind, should you decide to donate your find(s) to a museum or similar scientific community, leave the stabilizing to them. As we move forward, we will provide more structured information on safe storage practices and stabilization.

To help keep everyone connected, Dave Carlson, one of our Field Trip Chairmen, created an email chain for all participants to discuss and contribute images to. Thus far, mostly ferns have been found (both seed and spore forms), also lycopsid stems and bark, a few actual seeds and cones, and a couple of shellfish in both concretions and shale. Yet to be identified, the shellfish look similar to clams and scallops. The following images have come from that email chain. Thank you all so much for contributing.

Found by Joe Vitosky, this fossil is a Calamostachys cone.

Found by Rob Russell, this fossil appears to be a seed.

Found by Marie Angkuw, this fossil is an Alethopteris.

Found by Sue Dibblee, these fossils are various forms of fern.

Found by Ben Riegler, this fossil looks to include ovipositional scars located under and to the right of the penny. These scars are caused by insects laying eggs under the surface of plants.

Found by Charles Nicchia, this fossil is a form of bark with leaf scars.

Found by Diane Bedrosian, this fossil is a form of Lepidodendron bark with leaf scars.

Found by Bruce Lauer, this fossil is a form of shellfish yet to be identified.

Found by Rob Russell, this fossil is a form of shellfish yet to be identified.

Mazon Monday #65: Species Spotlight - Paleocaris typus #fossil #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #paleontology #shrimp #Pennsylvanian #Illinois

This is Mazon Monday post #65.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].

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Another shrimp is up for this week's Mazon Monday.   We have Paleocaris typus.  P. typus was described way back in 1865 by Meek and Worthen.  Fielding Bradford Meek (1817 - 1876) was an American geologist and paleontologist, who specialized in invertebrates.  He had many contributions to science, including Paleaontology of California.  You can find his papers at the Smithsonian Institution Archives.  Amos Henry Worthen (1813 - 1888) was an American paleontologist from Illinois.  He was the first curator of the Illinois State Museum.

P. typus was a syncarid shrimp.  It is often mistaken for Acanthotelson stimpsonii, also a syncarid shrimp, which we spotlighted back in Mazon Monday #52.  They are both common in the Braidwood Fauna.  The major distinguishing characteristic between the two, are their tails.  P. typus has a proper telson, while A. stimpsonii has a spiky tail.

This shrimp appeared in "ESCONI Keys to Mazon Creek Animals" from 1989, "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek", and "The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna".  "Creature Corner" even provided comparisons between the various species of syncarid shrimp found in the Mazon Creek biota.  Excerpts are shown below.

"Creature Corner" on syncarids.

Super Order Syncarid Shrimp

Malacostracan (soft-shelled) crustaceans of the super order Syncarida are found in Mazon Creek concretions. These slender-bodied, short, perhaps one and a half inch long shrimp were fresh to brackish water inhabitants. This fact has made the concretions containing Palaeocaris typus or Acanthotelson stimpsoni, which constitute 98% of the fresh water malacostracans found, invaluable in plotting the ancient deltaic system.

Ferns, plant fragments, insects, etc. could have blown or floated out into the Pennsylvanian marine waters. Not so, with the Syncarid shrimp.

Concretions containing Syncarid shrimp are being used to plot riverbeds, lagoons, bays and coastal swamps. The paleogeographer is reconstructing this long-buried tropical coastline, near the Equator at that time, with the aid of these concretions.

From "ESCONI Keys to Mazon Creek Animals"... with excellent drawings by Don Auler.

P. typus was first described in 1865 from specimens found along Mazon Creek. This shrimp and A. stimpsoni are common in the Braidwood Fauna, but uncommon in the Essex. It is of moderate size. Cephalon is short and smooth with short rostrum, a prominent eye notch, and stalked eyes. It has long antennae. The first thoracic segment is quite short and the sixth is larger than others.. Last five body segments are progressively smaller giving the abdomen a tapered look. The telson is oval; uropods are flap-like, oval, hairy, and distinctly longer than telson. The first thoracopod is short; the others long and adapted for walking. Last five appendages (pleopods) have the appearance of long ringed bristles. These appendages are seldom found well preserved.

This filter feeder is one of the smallest shrimp in the Essex Fauna, hence is often overlooked. Body preservation is good, leg preservation is not, due to fragility and small size. Oval carapace, half the length of the animal, is squarish in pro file, bearing prominent optic notch. The antennae are short. The first abdominal segment is relatively large and bulbous, the following segments are flexed down in a sinuous "S" curve, hence its generic name. This odd configuration is an aid in field identification. Elements of the tail-fan were sharply tapered. It lacked pleopods.

NOTE: A. stimpsoni and P. typus are the two most common shrimp found in the Braidwood Fauna.

From "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek", chapter 12 "Crustaceans by Fredrich R. Schram, W. D. Ian Rolfe, and Andrew A. Hay

Palaeocaris typus Meek and Worthen, 1865 Figures 12.10, 12.11

Mandibles massive, head-to-thorax ratio 1:4, antennal scale longer than the two peduncular segments of the antennal flagellum or whiplike branch; first thoracic segment greatly reduced, sixth thoracic segment longer dorsally than any other segment, exopod branches of the thoracic limbs flaplike; abdominal limbs are multisegmented; uropods very setose (hairy), with a two-segmented outer branch or exopod, exopod longer than the endopod, which in turn is longer than the telson, outer margin of exopod with slightly developed and widely placed spines; the telson is ovoid but wider at its base than near its tip.

This is the second most common crustacean from the classic Braidwood localities, although rare and poorly preserved in the Essex fauna.

The reconstruction of Brooks (1962) had the abdominal limbs as flaplike appendages; however, these are now known to be rather delicate and multisegmented.

From "The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna", by Jack Wittry

Palaeocaris typus, another syncarid, was first described in 1865 from specimens found in concretions along the Mazon River. The cephalon is short and smooth with a short rostrum, a prominent eye notch, and stalked eyes. It has long antennae. The first thoracic segment is quite short and the sixth is larger than the others. The last five body segments are progressively smaller, giving the pleon (abdomen) a tapered look. The telson is softly triangular and elongate. The uropods are flap-like, oval, hairy, and distinctly longer than the telson. The first thoracopod is short and the others long and adapted for walking. The last five appendages (pleopods) have the appearance of long, ringed bristles. These appendages are seldom found well-preserved.

Acanthotelson stimpsoni and P. typus are the two most common syncarid shrimp found in the Braidwood Fauna.

Specimens

From "The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna"

From George's Basement

 

Phys.org: When tyrannosaurs dominated, medium-sized predators disappeared #dinosaur #tyrannosaur @SUEtheTrex #cretaceous

New research from UMD shows ecology changed for tyrannosaurs as they grew up. Slender, agile young tyrannosaurs (left) hunted different prey and did so in a different fashion than the much larger, powerful jawed adults (right). Credit: Image credit: Zubin Erik Dutta.

Phys.org has a story about tyrannosaurs... seems they didn't share much.  A new study published in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences found that tyrannosaur juveniles out competed medium sized carnivores wherever their adults rose to dominance.  

The research conducted by Thomas Holtz, a principal lecturer in the University of Maryland's Department of Geology, verified previous anecdotal reports of a dramatic drop-off in diversity of medium-sized predator species in communities dominated by tyrannosaurs. Diversity of prey species, on the other hand, did not decline. This suggests that medium-sized predators did not disappear because of a drop off in their prey, and that something else—likely young tyrannosaurs—stepped in to fill their ecological role. The study was published online on June 17, 2021, in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.

"Earlier in the history of dinosaurs, in most communities you'd have a bunch of different types of carnivores of various size ranges from small fox-sized all the way up to the occasional giants," Holtz said. "Then something happens between 95 and 80 million years ago, where we see a shift. The really big carnivores, larger than an elephant, like tyrannosaurs and their kin, become the apex predators, and the middle-sized predators, say leopard to buffalo-sized carnivores, are either missing or very rare."

 

A Mysterious Crater’s Age May Add Clues to the Dinosaur Extinction #dinosaur #extinction #Cretaceous #crater #meteor #geology

An artist’s impression of the Chicxulub crater shortly after it was created by an impact from space.Credit...Detlev van Ravenswaay/Science Source

The New York Times Trilobites column has a story about a mysterious crater in Ukraine.  Scientists have long questioned when the 15 mile wide Boltysh crater was formed, either before or after the Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan Peninsula, which caused the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous Period.  A new paper in Science Advances details a study that dated rock samples from Montana and Bloltysh. This was the first study that compared Boltysh directly with the K-Pg boundary.  It found that Boltysh formed about 650,000 years after the event.  This result contradicts previous research which placed it a few thousand years before the K-Pg event.

Some 65 million years ago, a rock from outer space slammed into Earth, wreaking havoc on life in its wake and leaving a large crater on our planet’s surface.

No, it’s not the one you’re thinking of.

Boltysh crater, a 15-mile-wide formation in central Ukraine, may not be as famous as the Chicxulub crater under the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, which is directly implicated in the death of the dinosaurs and many other species about 66 million years ago. Nevertheless, Boltysh has long led to debate among scientists. Some have suggested that the crater, which is buried under more than 1,000 feet of sediment, could have formed before or after the Chicxulub event, making its role in this cataclysmic period unclear.

Now, a team led by Annemarie Pickersgill, a research associate at the University of Glasgow, estimates that Boltysh formed about 650,000 years after the Chicxulub catastrophe. The refined age has implications for understanding how Boltysh affected this tumultuous time, and can shed light on our own era of sudden climate change.

Fossil Friday #61: Calamostachys sp. from the Danville Spoil Pile #fossil #plant #FossilFriday #cone #Carboniferous #Pennsylvanian #Danville #Illinois

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #61.  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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The field trip to the Danville area to collect fossils from a coal mine spoil pile was very productive.  There was quite a bit of variety available, most of it plant material.  Joe Vitosky joined us for his first ESCONI field trip.  And, wouldn't you know it.... he had the find of the day!  It was a large, beautiful, and detailed Calamostachys cone, which is the fairly rarely found reproductive organ of Calamites.  In the Mazon Creek biota, these structures are at most a couple of inches long.  Joe's cone is a couple inches wide, which means it was probably 4 to 5 times larger than the specimens found in Mazon Creek.  Congratulations on the extraordinary find, Joe!  And, thanks for sharing these pictures with everyone!

ESCONI Field Trip to Rockford-area Gravel Pit, Saturday, July 17th, 2021 #fieldtrip #fossil #illinois #Rockford #ordovician

There will be a field trip to a gravel pit in the Rockford area on July 17th, 2021. This is the same location that has been visited before. Because this is a shared trip with the Rockford club (RRVGMS) there is space for 15 ESCONI members. The trip will be from 9 AM to 12 noon.

1. You and everyone in your group must be a member of ESCONI by July 14th. Have your membership status resolved by then.
2. The minimum age to attend this trip is 18 years old.
3. Hard hats are required!
4. You will be required to sign a waiver from the quarry.
5. Please review the Code of Ethics and Conduct on the ESCONI website. You will be expected to sign-in at the quarry. By signing you agree to follow the Code of Ethics and the conditions on the ESCONI Liability and Waiver form (sent by email to those that sign up). You do not need to print out the waiver form, just know what you’re agreeing to.
6. ESCONI members can sign up by sending me (Dave) an email with the number of members attending and their names. My email is [email protected] No phone calls please. Do not call the quarry. I will acknowledge by return email. If you don't get a reply in 24 hours, send it again!

I will send the address to everyone signed up during the week prior to the trip.

Note: this is a sand and gravel quarry, not the usual hard rock quarry in Rockford. There are fossils, but they come from the glacial till. So, if you are in the mood for a general rock collecting trip, this is for you!

 

Throwback Thursday #63: Field Trip to Lone Star Quarry on April 7th, 2002 #ThrowbackThursday #TBT #history #fieldtrip #fossil #illinois #ottawa

This is Throwback Thursday #63.  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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In April 2002, ESCONI had a field trip to Lone Star Quarry near Oglesby, IL.  It looks like a rainy, muddy day.  That trip was part of a yearly series to Lone Star.  In some years, ESCONI had both spring and fall trips. Unfortunately, the trips ended in the late 2000's after an unrelated boating accident on the Illinois River.  Not long after the accident, the quarry closed.  Collecting at this fossil locality was always productive as the quarry exposed Pennsylvanian rock layers that were very fossiliferous.  Brachiopods, crinoids, sponges, trilobites, cephalopods, and even shark teeth were plentiful.  The State of Illinois purchased the Lone Star in October 2018, and there is now a proposal to turn it into a Fossil Park.

For more information, try our previous Lone Star posts in Flashback Friday and Throwback Thursday.

 

ESCONI June 2021 Paleontology Meeting - June 19th, 2021 at 7:30 PM via Zoom - "Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils" #fossil #paleontology #MazonCreek #Illinois

A. a fern (Neuropteris); B. amphibian eggs; C. a ringed (annelid) worm; D. bark and a leaf scar of a giant seed fern (Ulodendron), which reached heights upwards of 130 feet; E. Illinois’ state fossil, the Tully monster (Tullimonstrum gregarium), was an aquatic invertebrate that some scientists believe may deserve its own phylum; F. a small bony fish (Elonichthys); G. the orientation of bivalves, or burrowing mollusks, can be seen in the shale as if they were trying to dig out of the silt that was accumulating on top of them; H. Annularia were leaves of tree-sized relatives of the modern horsetail; I. Euproops thompsoni, a small relative of the modern horseshoe crab; J. a shrimp (Acanthotelson stimpsoni); K. an extinct order of an omnivorous crustacean, Belotelson magister; L. a seed fern (Neuropteris); M. an unsegmented worm, Priapulites konecniorum; N. the whorled leaves of Annularia stellata, a relative of the modern horsetail.

The topic of our Paleontology Study Group meeting is "Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils".  It will be presented by ESCONI President Keith Robitschek.  The presentation will include State Park Links, Maps, Surface Collecting Concretions, Concretion Storage, Opening, Cleaning, and Care.

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See Inside the American Museum of Natural History’s New Hall of Gems #gems #amnh #minerals #art

The entrance to the new galleries features a pair of towering amethyst geodes that are among the world’s largest on display.  Photo by D. Finnin, ©American Museum of Natural History.

Artnet has a story about a the AMNH's new Hall of Gems.  The new hall has been dedicated to "Nature's Art".  The Artnet article is interesting with both pictures and descriptions.  If you're in NY, don't miss this new exhibit.

Four years ago, the Halls of Gems and Minerals at New York’s American Museum of Natural History closed for long-overdue renovations. The cavelike space, deliberately designed to evoke the feeling of the mines where many of the specimens on display had been excavated, had been essentially untouched since 1976.

This week, it reopens to the public and features some 5,500 objects, from polished diamonds to rough-hewn sandstone.

“I think it’s fair to say that no space, no gallery is quite as glittering as these new halls,” museum president Ellen Futter said at the press preview.

The 11,000-square-foot halls have traditionally been one of the museum’s most beloved attractions, and the museum is predicting that it will be a major draw for tourists returning to the city.

“There is something truly elemental and visceral about our connection to the minerals and materials of the earth on which we live,” Futter said. “Didn’t we all collect rocks as children?… And who among us doesn’t appreciate a spectacular gem?”

Remade by exhibition design firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates courtesy of benefactors and new namesakes Roberto and Allison Mignone, the hall is virtually unrecognizable from the dark gallery with carpeted ramps and floor-level display cases it used to be.

“I called [it] the jungle gym and the nanny-dom,” George Harlow, the museum’s curator of the department of earth and planetary sciences, said at the press preview.

This grouping of topaz gems includes the Brazilian Princess, a 221-facet, 9.5-pound pale blue topaz that once was the largest cut gem in the world. Photo by D. Finnin, ©American Museum of Natural History.

 

Mazon Monday #64: Species Spotlight - Essoidea epiceron #fossil #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #shrimp #paleontology #Illinois #Pennsylvanian #Carboniferous

This is Mazon Monday post #64.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].

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For Mazon Monday this week, we have a small filter feeding shrimp, which is one of the smallest known from the Mazon Creek fossil biota,  Essoidea epiceron, was described in 1974 by Dr. Frederick Schram, who has described many fossil crustaceans including Kallidecthes richardsoni.  This little guy appeared in "ESCONI Keys to Mazon Creek Animals" from 1989, "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek", and "The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna".  Excerpts are shown below.

From "ESCONI Keys to Mazon Creek Animals"... with excellent drawings by Don Auler.

This filter feeder is one of the smallest shrimp in the Essex Fauna, hence is often overlooked. Body preservation is good, leg preservation is not, due to fragility and small size. Oval carapace, half the length of the animal, is squarish in pro file, bearing prominent optic notch. The antennae are short. The first abdominal segment is relatively large and bulbous, the following segments are flexed down in a sinuous "S" curve, hence its generic name. This odd configuration is an aid in field identification. Elements of the tail-fan were sharply tapered. It lacked pleopods.

From "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek", chapter 12 "Crustaceans by Fredrich R. Schram, W. D. Ian Rolfe, and Andrew A. Hay

Essoidia epiceron Schram, 1974a  Figures 12.24, 12.25

Small shrimp like form; rostrum moderately developed, prominent optic notch, carapace sub rectangular in outline without any decoration; thoracic legs long and delicate in form; abdomen with first segment greatly inflated, deflecting the distal parts of the abdomen downward; uropods bladelike; telson subrectangular, lateral margins serrate, the terminus is pointed and flanked by two pairs of spine like caudal furca.

This animal was placed among the "eocarids" but has many structural similarities to mysidan mysidaceans and may in fact be one. The animal is relatively rare among the Essex fauna crustaceans, though this fact may not reflect its original abundance since it was probably a pelagic form that was rarely preserved in the Essex biota.

From "The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna", by Jack Wittry

A probable filter-feeder, Essoidia epiceron is one of the small est shrimp in the Essex Fauna, and is therefore frequently over looked. Body preservation is often good, but leg preservation is not, due to fragility and small size. The oval carapace-half the length of the animal-is squarish in profile, bearing a prominent optic notch. The antennae are short. The first segment of the pleon is relatively large and bulbous; the following segments are flexed down in a sinuous S curve, hence the common name, S-shrimp. This odd configuration is an aid in field identification. Elements of the tail fan are sharply tapered, and the pleopods are not known to be preserved.

Specimens

Recently opened from Pit 11

Same specimen, but from a microscope

From the web