Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI

Fossil Friday #89: Green Bay Cystoid #fossil #crinoid #paleontology #ordovician #wisconsin #greenbay

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #89.  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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A crinoid from Green Bay, Wisconsin is up for today's post.  Too bad there isn't a green and gold G on the side of it!  This absolutely stunning example of Pleuocystites squamosus comes from ESCONI member Dan Damrow.  P. squalmosus is a cystoid.  Cystoids are related to crinoids and blastoids.  They went extinct at the end of the Devonian.  Dan was the owner of the "Rib River Fossil" booth at ESCONI and Chicagoland shows for many years.  Thanks, Dan!  Here is his description of the fossil.

Here is just one of my favorite echinoderms in my collection. A museum grade Pleuocystites squamosus from the famous but now flooded, Duck Creek Quarry in Howard, Wi.  Howard is just outside of Green Bay.  The Duck Creek Quarry, in its hay day, was renowned for incredible echinoderms and trilobites of the  Middle Ordovician. While Pleurocycites is known from numerous localities, specimens from this quarry were incredible.

Throwback Thursday #91: Winter Collecting 1963 #fossil #paleontology #MazonCreek #TBT #history #ThrowbackThursday

This is Throwback Thursday #91.  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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The snow this week had me looking through the newsletters looking for a winter field trips.  Many of us have collected in extreme winter weather conditions.  I personally have been out in pretty cold weather, say low 20's in November with thunder snow.   

We already posted on a field trip to a Lemont quarry on November 19th, 1950 in Throwback Thursday #41.  They look pretty cold in their winter coats for the picture shown below.  The temperature might have been in the 30's from this historical link.  From the trip report, the weather didn't impact their success as one participant came away with 18 trilobites!

This one was pretty late in the year, but there had to be later ones.  In the January 1963 newsletter, there is mention of a trip to collect Mazon Creek ferns on private property on December 9th, 1962.  There isn't an announcement of the trip in the December 1962 newsletter.  All we have is the report by Olive Knight, who was Co-Editor of the ESCONI newsletter at the time (Her husband Howard Knight was Editor).  17 degrees is cold!  Have you been out later in the winter?  Was the weather colder?  Tell us!

On Sunday, December 9, 1962, in 17 temperature and snow flurries, 8 cars full of members of the Paleontology Group held a field trip to Braidwood for fern fossils. Special permission had been obtained to hunt on private grounds and this could not be passed up!?!? I'll admit. the assistant editor went under strong protest - but a shrimp, a worm and quite a few nice ferns convinced me I'm glad I went! Jim Konecny said Esconi should create a new medal for "explorer type members" who attended this field trip! They must be hardy souls for everyone seemed delighted they had made the effort no one froze (that I know of) and I'll just bet they'd do it again!!!

Olive and Howard Knight were very active in ESCONI for many years.

 

ESCONI Funds Paleontological Society Student Research Grants #paleontology #research #student

ESCONI is providing funds for Student Research Grants administered by the Paleontological Society. The club’s support will cover one grant for each of the next three years, 2022 through 2024. Any undergraduate or graduate student conducting research in paleontology can apply. For the ESCONI grants, priority will be given to projects involving the Paleozoic of the Midwest. More information can be found at https://www.paleosoc.org/paleontological-society-student-research-grants

ESCONI Events January 2022

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

Sat, Jan 8th	ESCONI Junior Meeting - 7:00 PM Zoom - Topic: "Rocking on the Computer" Specifics of this meeting are available from Scott Galloway, 630-670-2591, [email protected]. Contact Scott to get the Zoom link to attend the virtual meeting and find out how to join the Juniors Club.
Fri, Jan 14th	ESCONI General Meeting 8:00 PM Zoom - Topic: “Through the Ages: How we Date Rocks and Geologic Processes” by Dr. Alyssa Abbey from California State University Long Beach.  Zoom link
Sat, Jan 15th	ESCONI Paleontology Meeting 7:30 PM - Topic: "Rise of the Nautiloids" by John Catalani.  No hybrid meeting this month do to the Covid surge.  Zoom link

 

Trilobite Tuesday #35: Ceraurinus icarus #fossil #trilobite #ordovician #paleontology #indiana

How about a Trilobite Tuesday post?  Here is a rare species of trilobite from Indiana, Ceraurinus icarus.  This specimen is from the Whitewater Formation in Union Co., Indiana.  The pictures were contributed by Dan Damrow.  Thanks, Dan!  Awesome trilobite!

 

Mazon Monday #92: Species Spotlight - Illilepas damrowi #fossil #paleontology #MazonMonday #MazonCreek #barnacle #illinois

This is Mazon Monday post #92.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].

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Illilepas damrowi is a gooseneck barnacle from the Mazon Creek biota, found in Essex localities like Pit 11.  Barnacles are crustaceans thus they are related to crabs and lobsters.  They are fairly rare in the fossil record with the oldest known from the Middle Cambrian about 510 million years ago.  I. damrowi was described by Frederick Schram in 1975.  It is named for ESCONI member Dan Damrow, whom you might remember from his Rib River Fossil booth at ESCONI shows for many years.  Originally, it was placed under the genus Praelepas, but in 1986 Schram moved it to a new genus named Illilepas.

Schram, F.R. (1975) A Pennsylvanian lepadomorph barnacle from the Mazon Creek area, Illinois. Journal of Paleontology, 49(5), 928–930.
Schram, F.R. (1982) The fossil record and evolution of the Crustacea. In Biology of Crustacea. (Ed. L.G. Abele), 1, 93–147. Academic Press, New York.
Schram, F.R. (1986) Crustacea. Oxford University Press, New York. 606 pp.

I. damrowi appears in Jack Wittry's "The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna".

Illilepas damrowi Schram, 1975

Barnacles are crustaceans, although they do not appear or behave like other crustaceans. Illilepas damrowi is a member of the Gooseneck Barnacles. In this group, I. damrowi probably started life as a free-swimming larva, then would change its form as it settled and metamorphosed. In the last stage of metamorphosis, it became stationary and a strong, flexible stalk containing a cement gland formed from the head. The animal then attached itself permanently to an object, perhaps a rock or a piece of driftwood. Some I damrowi specimens have been discovered attached to mollusks. (See Associations, page 169.) Modern forms are colonial filter-feeders more often found on exposed intertidal substrates as they depend, unlike most other types of barnacles, on water motion rather than the movement of their cirri for feeding.

Schram first described I. damrowi in 1975 under the genus Praelepas. It was later determined that this was not a good fit and a new genus, Illilepas, was erected.

There is a short paragraph about I. damrowi in the "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek".

Illilepas damrowi (Schram, 1975) Figures 12.42-12.44

Capitulum well developed, scutum large and subrectangular, tergum moderate in size and oval, together covering almost the entire capitulum, capitular margin marked by a row of fine spines and a large platelike spine between the scutum and tergum (originally thought to be a reduced tergum); peduncle well developed and without any armature.

This barnacle species was originally placed in the family Praelepadidae and related to Praelepas jaworskii of the Soviet Carboniferous. Subsequently, the form of the fossil was reevaluated and found to be closer to that seen in the living Iblidae, stalked barnacles of problematic affinities.

Specimens

These two specimens were contributed by Dan Damrow.  Thanks, Dan!  The first one is from Chowder Flats.

This specimen is from Pit 11.  Dan has both halves, only the positive side is shown.

Breathtaking Fossil of Baby Dinosaur Tucked in Its Egg Yields New Evolutionary Clues #dinosaur #fossil #embryo #egg #paleontology

Photo of the oviraptorosaur embryo inside its fossilized egg. (Xing et al., iScience, 2021)

Nature's Science Alert has a story about a stunning dinosaur fossil.  Found in China, a oviraptor egg has a baby dinosaur preserved in breathtaking detail. The egg dates to between 72 and 66 million years ago.  The fossil was described in a paper in the journal iScience.

A rare and exquisitely preserved dinosaur embryo tucked inside an egg like a baby bird has been unearthed in southern China, providing an "unprecedented glimpse" into dinosaur development.

With a posture that resembles modern bird embryos close to hatching, the fossilized embryo is a remarkable find which raises the possibility that evolutionary links between modern birds and extinct dinosaurs run far deeper than previously thought.

"This dinosaur embryo inside its egg is one of the most beautiful fossils I have ever seen," paleontologist and study author Steve Brusatte at the University of Edinburgh said in a statement.

"This little prenatal dinosaur looks just like a baby bird curled in its egg, which is yet more evidence that many features characteristic of today's birds first evolved in their dinosaur ancestors."

The embryo lying inside its fossilized egg dates between 72 and 66 million years old, and was identified as an oviraptorosaur, a group of feathered theropod dinosaurs which had distinct toothless, parrot-like beaks and sometimes elaborate crests as well.

Merry Christmas from ESCONI... Just in Time for Christmas: Knitwear Fit for a T. Rex! #fossil dinosaur #paleontology #london @NHM_London #happyholidays #merryxmas #merrychristmas

Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London

New York Times has a story about a T-rex with an ugly sweater... go ahead you tell him that!  The animatronic replica resides in the Natural History Museum in London.

Behold the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex — all swaddled in a cozy Christmas sweater.

The replica T. rex at the Natural History Museum in London is an enormous, ferocious-looking beast that was built to scale, standing about 60 percent the size of the 40-foot-long prehistoric creature.

The animatronic attraction, which features roaring sound effects, often startles visitors, but on Monday, the predatory edge was somewhat softened when visitors found the T. rex bedecked in a giant blue, red and green holiday sweater, replete with cheerful Christmas trees and snowflakes.

The turtleneck, created by a British company that has also dressed members of Parliament, fit snugly around the T. rex’s wide upper body and neck, then tapered into sleeves short enough to encircle the dinosaur’s wee arms.

“There is nothing more funny than a jumper fitted for a dinosaur that has the tiniest arms in the world,” said Carla Treasure, a buyer and product developer at the museum. “I think it makes it slightly less scary.”

Fossil Friday #88: Trigonocarpus seeds #fossil #FossilFriday #MazonCreek #seedfern #illinois #paleontology

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #88.  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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Back in Mazon Monday #67, we took a look at Trigonocarpus seeds, which are the seed part of an extinct order of plant called Medullosales.  The common name is seed fern.  The order includes Mazon Creek species like Alethopteris, Odontopteris, Laveiniopteris, Neuropteris, and Macroneuropteris.  Back in Fossil Friday #62, we highlighted an exquisite specimen from ESCONI member George Witaszek.  For this week, we have a couple of plates with multiple seed specimens from another ESCONI member.  Wow!  I bet that makes a nice display!

 

Throwback Thursday #90: The Night After a Field Trip #history #TBT #ThrowbackThursday #fieldtrip #poem

This is Throwback Thursday #90.  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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We have a real nice holiday themed post for today.  It's a poem called "The Night After a Field Trip" from the December 1970 newsletter.  Unfortunately, no details are available on the attribution... who were ESCOMO and Gemrock?  Was Gemrock a club newsletter?  If you know, please tell us at [email protected].  We all hope you are enjoying the holiday season and resting up for a Rockin' 2022!

THE NIGHT AFTER A FIELD TRIP

Twas the night after a Field Trip and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring; there wasn't room for a mouse.
With geodes and nodules under table and chairs,
A wee little mouse can't squeeze in anywhere.

When out in the street there 'rose such a clatter
I jumped out of bed as made as a hatter,
Stumbled down stairs, two at a time,
Just as our clock tolled its 3 A.M. chime.

I opened the door and took a long look,
The sight that I saw there would make quite a book.
For parking in front with a roar and a squeak,
Was our Field Trip Leader, in a well-loaded jeep.

He paused just a moment to check his long list
And make doubly certain no one would, be missed.
There's agate, onyx, turquoise, and malachite,
Carnelian, crystal, sapphire, and rhodonite.

He named every stone I ever had heard,
And my heart was so happy it sang like a bird.
For rocks to a rockhound are really a must,
Right next to that stuff labeled, "In God We Trust."

It took quite a while to do this little chore,
But as soon as he'd finished, he came straight for our door.
And I can't understand, though I've honestly tried,
But before I could turn, he was right there inside.

He spoke not a word but went straight to his work
And I stood there and watched thought I felt like a "jerk",
For he knew, more than I, and from visits to faraway hills,
He was wise beyond reason, this jolly "Old Bill."

The gifts he had brought were trips for next year,
And the making of new friends from far and near.
The singing of old songs around campfires bright
And being with the gang every Rock Meeting Night.

He picked up his pack and prepared to depart
And I gave him my thanks from the depth of my heart.
For friendship we know is a wonderful gem,
And the principal key to Peace Among Men.

And A He sprang to his jeep, and stepped on the gas
And left mid the snowflakes, which sparkled like glass,
But I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight,
"Happy Hunting Rockhounds and to all a Good-Night!"

(Author Unknown From ESCOMO via Gemrock)

One of Geology’s Great Mysteries May Actually Be Many Smaller Mysteries #geology #grandcanyon #thegreatunconformity #Cambrian

The discrepancy pops up in the Grand Canyon, where ancient rock abuts, well, less ancient rock. TENJI / CC BY-SA 3.0

Atlas Obscura has a story about the The Great Unconformity.  In geology, an unconformity is a break in the sequence of time in a continuous rock record.  There is usually a large gap of missing rock layers at the contact point between a much older layer and a younger one.  It's caused by a period of erosion or a pause in sediment accumulation.  The Great Unconformity is a sequence of many missing rock layers in the early Cambrian Period about 540 million years ago.  It's cause has stumped geologists all over the world as the gaps is pretty much worldwide.  A new paper in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences proposes that this erosion didn't happen all at once.  There may have been many events... a whole bunch of small unconformities.

GEOLOGY FORMS THE CONTEXT FOR many other fields, including archaeology, paleontology, climatology, and more, but that doesn’t stop this bedrock science from throwing a curveball here and there. In some outcrops around the world there’s a gap, a hint of time gone missing, a huge swath of geological data that should be there but isn’t.

It’s called the “Great Unconformity,” and it has long vexed geologists from Nevada to Scotland. Geology is often the study of layers, set one on top of each other for billions of years and compressed into sequences that provide geologists insight into how the Earth has evolved through the eons. Under the best circumstances, that sequence is more or less uninterrupted, but there can be gaps—sometimes big ones, like the Great Unconformity, which can be seen all over, from the Rockies to southern Africa to northern China. This gap spans one of the murkier periods in Earth’s history, before the Cambrian explosion, around 540 million years ago, when the diversity of life on Earth went wild.

Erosion is one natural process that wears layers away from the stack of geological deposits, but how so much was wiped out across such a wide range of places in one go has remained unknown. Even the unconformity isn’t uniform, ranging in scale from over a billion years of missing time to a mere couple hundred million. In the Grand Canyon, the timeframe of the unconformity jumps multiple times along its length.

PBS Eons: When Pterosaurs Walked #fossil #paleontology #pterosaur #mesozoic

 

PBS Eons has a new episode.  This one is about pterosaurs and how they lived... when they were on the ground.

If you know one thing about pterosaurs, it’s that they’re flyers. And while pterosaurs may be well-known for their domination of the skies in the Mesozoic Era, they didn’t live their entire lives in the air. So how did we figure this out? And what were they like when they finally came down?

Mazon Monday #91: Species Spotlight - Macroneuropteris macrophylla #fossil #paleontology #fern #plant #seedfern #illinois #MazonCreek #MazonMonday

This is Mazon Monday post #91.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].

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Today, we have a seed fern species called Macroneuopteris macrophylla.  It was named Neuropteris macrophylla in 1831 by Alexander Brongniart, a French chemist, mineralogist, geologist, paleontologist, and zoologist.  It was mistakenly renamed as Neuropteris clarksoni by Leo Lesquereux in 1879.  It seems that Lesquereux just missed the older name.  N. clarksoni was carried forward by both Adolf Noe and George Langford.  With the name fixed by Robert Cookall in 1959.  Epidermal research led by Christopher Cleal in 1990 reclassified Neuropteris species into four genera, Neuropteris, Macroneuropteris, Neurocallipteris, and Laveineopteris.

These seed ferns are often mistaken for Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri.  We looked at M. scheuchzeri back in Mazon Monday #39.  There are a few differences between the two species, some more obvious than others.  The hints listed below come from the ESCONI "Keys to Identify Pennsylvanian Fossil Plants of the Mazon Creek Area".  At that time, M. macrophylla was still referred to as N. clarksoni.

• M. macrophylla has no orbicular pinnules.
• M. macrophylla has more coarse venation with sharply defined ridges.
• The shape of M. macrophylla pinnules are nearly triangular.
• M. macrophylla has no surface hairs.

Neuropteris scheuchzeri

The frond is very large. The large primary pinnules are spatulate. The secondary pinnules vary, depending on their position on the frond. The most common is a large elongate pinnule with a constricted base, tapering to a more or less rounded pointed apex. Fine sharp midvein extends nearly to the apex. There may be hairs scattered upon the surface, appearing as scratches across the veins. Two ovate basal pinnules are occasionally present.

The lateral veins and veinlets are fine, arching to the margin, and close. The veins fork usu ally four times, sometimes three or five times. The veinlets number about 40 per centimeter, with a range of 38 to 44.

Neuropteris clarksoni

N. clarksoni is similar in size to N. scheuchzeri, however, the venation is more coarse with sharply defined ridges and valleys with a rasp like appearance. The pinnule is nearly triangular and there are no surface hairs.

M. macrophylla appears in "A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek" by Jack Wittry.

1831. Neuropteris macrophylla Brongniart: p. 235, pl. 65, fig. 1
1879-80. Neuropteris clarksoni Lesquereux: p. 94, pl. 9, figs. 1-6
1925. Neuropteris clarksoni Lesquereux; Noé: p. 14, pl. 20, fig. 2; pl. 21, fig. 1
1958. Neuropteris clarksoni Lesquereux; Langford: p. 197, figs. 340-342
1959. Neuropteris macrophylla Brongniart; Crookall: p. 176, pl. 38, fig. 4; pl. 39, fig. 1; pl. 40, figs. 1-3; pl. 42, figs. 1, 3
1979. Neuropteris clarksoni Lesquereux; Janssen: p. 149, fig. 138
1990. Macroneuropteris macrophylla Brongniart; Cleal: p. 488

DESCRIPTION: The rachis is thin and longitudinally striate. The pinnules are attached subopposite, oblique, and often partially cover the rachis with their bases. Their sizes and shapes are highly variable-some may be lanceolate-acute with a large auricle (see Fig. 2), while others are oblong-obtuse and cordate at the base (see Fig. 1) The terminal pinnule is rhombic in shape. The midvein enters the pinnule off-center toward the acroscopic sice it is strongly marked at the base, but gradually disappears toward the middle. The lateral veins are strong, arched, and fork generally four times, with 35 veins per centimeter at the margin.

REMARKS: Macroneuropteris macrophylla is common. This taxon is most easily confused with M. scheuchzeri. However, the latter's characteristics of a symmetrical pinnule base; coarse, scattered "hairs"; and small, orbicular pinnules at the base separate the two. The name Neuropteris clarksoni, often used in North America, was never accepted in Europe. It appears that Lesquereux simply missed the fact that Brongniart had described this form some 50 years earlier, thus making Lesquereux's Neuropteris clarksoni a junior synonym of N. macrophylla.

Specimens

From Langford.

From Wittry

From an ESCONI member

Mammoth and Horse DNA Left in Freezer Rewrite Ice Age Extinctions #fossil #dna #iceage #canada #mammoth

Frozen DNA evidence trapped in soil suggests that mammoth and wild horse populations petered out slowly, instead of vanishing quickly. Leonello Calvetti via Getty Images

Smithsonian Magazine has a story about research that shows that woolly mammoths and other Ice Age animals survived up to about 5,000 years ago instead of the accepted 13,000 years.  Frozen permafrost samples collected about 10 years ago were analyzed and they revealed DNA of wooly mammoths, wild horses, and steppe bison.  The research was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Most DNA samples are taken from materials like bone or hair, but soils also contain also genetic residue that animals leave behind as they move through an environment, according to Gizmodo’s Isaac Schultz. The soil samples sat in a freezer untested for years until Tyler Murchie, an archaeologist specializing in ancient DNA at McMaster University, decided to reinvestigate them.

“I found them in the freezers while looking for a new project during my PhD,” Murchie, lead author of the new paper, tells Gizmodo. “One of my responsibilities at the ancient DNA center is freezer maintenance, so I had a good idea of what cool stuff might be in there waiting for someone to study.”

The research team was eager to understand how and why large North American species like mammoths and bison survived for thousands of years before they vanished. During the Pleistocene-Holocene transition roughly 11,000 to 14,000 years ago, the climate went through rapid changes that led to the extinction of many Ice Age species like mastodons and saber-toothed cats. Based on previous research, scientists suspected two factors were driving extinctions: a loss of food due to a warming climate or overhunting by humans. It’s a question scientists have "been grappling with for some 270 years,” says Murchie to Gizmodo. In the new paper, Murchie's team presents a DNA record of the plant and animal community dating back 30,000 years. 

PBS Eons: The Fossil Record In Your Mouth #fossil #teeth #paleontology #humans #dentistry #dentist

 

PBS Eons has a new episode.   This one is about fossils in your mouth!  Ever have your teeth cleaned?

The hardened residue scraped off your teeth at the dentist is called your dental calculus, and your dental calculus is the only part of your body that actually fossilizes while you’re alive! And scientists have figured out how to study & trace the evolutionary history of these microbes over tens of millions of years.

Fossil Friday #87: Neuropteris vermicularis from Knob Noster #fossil #FossilFriday #paleontology #MazonCreek #Missouri #pennsylvanian #carboniferous

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #87.  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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We've got a Pennsylvanian seed fern for today's fossil.  You might guess that means another Mazon Creek fossil, but that would be wrong.  This species of seed fern, Neuropteris vermicularis, is known from Mazon Creek, but this particular specimen comes from a fossil deposit in Knob Noster, Missouri.  The Knob Noster locality is contemporaneous with Mazon Creek, which dates to about 307 million years ago.  Back in the Pennsylvanian, a large bay separated the two deposits.  The red dot below represents Wilmington, IL 300 million years ago. Looking at the outline of Missouri, Knob Noster is in the middle west portion of Missouri, just southeast of Kansas City. 

Paleo Map from https://dinosaurpictures.org/

Fossils from Knob Noster are found in concretions just like Mazon Creek.  But, the Matrix is quite a bit different, being much lighter in color and much less dense.  We had a spider from Knob Noster back in Fossil Friday #84.

The specimen below was opened with a hammer.... not me!  It was purchased at the MAPS show in Springfield, IL back in October.  Enjoy!

Throwback Thursday #89: A B C's Of What One Can Do With Rocks #history #TBT #ThrowbackThursday

This is Throwback Thursday #89.  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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This week we have sort of a poem, but at least a list about what else... rocks!  This list piece appeared in the September 1997 issue of the newsletter.  The attribution is to "Cross Timber Talk 4/97".  Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much about that phrase on the internet.  Only reference that seemed relevant was to a column in "Jewelry Making Gems and Mineral" magazine.

A B C'S

OF WHAT ONE CAN DO WITH ROCKS

from Cross Timber Talk 4/97

A - Admire 'em
B - Brag about 'em
C - Cut 'em or Cab 'em
D - Display 'em
E - Enjoy 'em
F - Facet 'em
G - Gloat over 'em
H - Hunt 'em
I - Idolize 'em
J - Joy in the beauty of 'em
K - Kick 'em
L - Lick 'em
M - Make something with 'em
N - Never tire of 'em
O - Ogle 'em
P - Polish 'em
Q - Quicken to collect 'em.
R - Roam for 'em
S - Stumble over 'em
T - Trade 'em or Tumble 'em
U - Unable to resist 'em
V - Vastly enjoy 'em
W - Wonder at the colors of 'em
X -X-ray the xenolity on 'em
Y -Yearn for more of 'em
Z -ZOOM to collect more of 'em

 

Roy Plotnick: I found a fossil!! (or did I?) #paleontology #fossil

Are these fossils? (yes)

Roy Plotnick has a new post over on Medium.   In this one, he gives some great tips for those occasions when you're out on a walk and find a rock and hope it's a fossil.

You are walking along a creek bed when you see an oddly shaped and colored rock. You pick it up and think “this must be a fossil!” So, you immediately take a few fuzzy photos, email them to a professional paleontologist whose name you found online, and ask them to identify it. Maybe they will also tell how old it is and if it is worth anything! And just to be careful, you don’t tell them where you found it, except that “it was in a creek bed near my house.” I am here to tell you that when the paleontologist responds, they will applaud your curiosity, but inform you that you have not given anywhere near enough information to make any kind of identification. Like when you go to the doctor or auto mechanic, the more information you have ready in advance, the better the interaction. So, as a service to both interested members of the public and my fellow paleontologists, here are some suggestions of what to so before you seek a professional opinion.

Oh and if you haven't heard... Roy has a new book out.  It's called "Explorers of Deep Time - Paleontologists and the History of Life".  You can find it on Columbia University Press.

Paleontology is one of the most visible yet most misunderstood fields of science. Children dream of becoming paleontologists when they grow up. Museum visitors flock to exhibits on dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. The media reports on fossil discoveries and new clues to mass extinctions. Nonetheless, misconceptions abound: paleontologists are assumed only to be interested in dinosaurs, and they are all too often imagined as bearded white men in battered cowboy hats.

Roy Plotnick provides a behind-the-scenes look at paleontology as it exists today in all its complexity. He explores the field’s aims, methods, and possibilities, with an emphasis on the compelling personal stories of the scientists who have made it a career. Paleontologists study the entire history of life on Earth; they do not only use hammers and chisels to unearth fossils but are just as likely to work with cutting-edge computing technology. Plotnick presents the big questions about life’s history that drive paleontological research and shows why knowledge of Earth’s past is essential to understanding present-day environmental crises. He introduces readers to the diverse group of people of all genders, races, and international backgrounds who make up the twenty-first-century paleontology community, foregrounding their perspectives and firsthand narratives. He also frankly discusses the many challenges that face the profession, with key takeaways for aspiring scientists. Candid and comprehensive, Explorers of Deep Time is essential reading for anyone curious about the everyday work of real-life paleontologists.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Roy Plotnick is professor emeritus in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a fellow of the Geological Society of America and the Paleontological Society.

 

Never-before-seen ammonite muscles revealed in 3D from Jurassic fossil #fossil #ammonite #paleontology #jurassic

Phys.org has a story about an amazing ammonite fossil.  The 165 million year old fossil has revealed never-before-seen soft body detail in an ammonite.  It was found about 20 years ago in Gloucestershire, UK.  Researchers at Cardiff University and Imperial College London, who published their study in the journal Geology, found evidence of muscles and organs by using 3D imaging.

The findings add insight into how ammonites lived and are evidence that coleoids, the sub-group of animals containing squid, octopuses, and cuttlefish, might be evolutionarily closer to ammonites than previously thought.

Study co-author Dr. Alan Spencer, from Imperial's Department of Earth Science and Engineering and the Natural History Museum, said: "This ammonite is remarkably well preserved, which is very rare. New imaging techniques allowed us to visualize the internal soft parts of ammonites that have so far resisted all our previous efforts to describe them. This is a major breakthrough in ammonite palaeobiology."

Backlit shell with visible organs (to the left). Credit: Cherns et al.

Mazon Monday #90: Video for ESCONI December 2021 General Meeting - "The Life and Death of the Herrin Peat Swamp – Whys, Whens, and Hows” #fossil #illinois #coal #paleontology #pennsylvanian #paleoclimate

This is Mazon Monday post #90.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].

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For December 2021, the presentation by Scott Elrick provided context for the Danville, IL spoil pile fossils.  Scott also discussed coal formation in Illinois during the Pennsylvanian.  Additionally, he mentioned where the Colchester #2 Coal, associated with Mazon Creek, fits into the paleo-environment of the Pennsylvanian.

The speaker at our December 3, 2021 meeting was Scott Elrick, Head of the Coal, Bedrock and Industrial Minerals Section of ISGS. The topic of his talk via Zoom was paleoecology of the Herrin Coal roof shales including depositional environment and climate. This talk added context to the fossil flora found at the Danville shale pile.

A story about Scott and the discovery of a large underground coal forest in the Smithsonian Magazine from 2009.

Finding a fossil in a coal mine is no big deal. Coal deposits, after all, are petrified peat swamps, and peat is made from decaying plants, which leave their imprints in mud and clay as it hardens into shale stone.

But it was a different thing entirely when John Nelson and Scott Elrick, geologists with the Illinois State Geological Survey, examined the Riola and Vermilion Grove coal mines in eastern Illinois. Etched into ceilings of the mine shafts is the largest intact fossil forest ever seen—at least four square miles of tropical wilderness preserved 307 million years ago. That's when an earthquake suddenly lowered the swamp 15 to 30 feet and mud and sand rushed in, covering everything with sediment and killing trees and other plants. "It must have happened in a matter of weeks," says Elrick. "What we see here is the death of a peat swamp, a moment in geologic time frozen by an accident of nature."

To see this little-known wonder, I joined Nelson and Elrick at the Vermilion Grove site, a working mine operated by St. Louis-based Peabody Energy and closed to the public. I donned a hard hat, a light, gloves and steel-toed boots. I received an oxygen bottle and a safety lecture. In case of emergency—poison gas, fire or an explosion—follow the red lights to find the way out of the mine, safety manager Mike Middlemas counseled. We could encounter "thick black smoke, and you won't be able to see anything in front of you." He said to use the lifeline running along the ceiling, a slender rope threaded through wooden cones, like floats in a swimming pool.