Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI

“Exceptionally” Wide and Flat-Headed – New Species of Dinosaur Discovered #fossil #paleontology #dinosaur #europe #transylvania

Inhabitants of the “Island of the Dwarf Dinosaurs” in present-day Transylvania in the Cretaceous: Transylvanosaurus (front right), as well as turtles, crocodiles, giant pterosaurs, and other dwarf dinosaurs. Credit: Peter Nickolaus

SciTechDaily has a post about the discovery of a new ornithopod dinosaur.  The animal, Transylvanosaurus platycephalus, lived about 70 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period.  Its name means "flat-headed reptile from Transylvania".  It was discovered in Transylvania, which was part of an island archipelago during the Cretaceous.  Because it was an island, many of the dinosaurs discovered there are small due to island dwarfism.  The animal was described in a paper in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

In the new study, paleontologists Felix Augustin from the University of Tübingen, his doctoral supervisor Zoltán Csiki-Sava from the University of Bucharest, Dylan Bastiaans from the University of Zurich/Naturalis Biodiversity Center Leiden, and independent researcher Mihai Dumbravă from Dorset reconstruct various possibilities of how Transylvanosaurus reached present-day Romania. These include a suggestion that as with other Rhabdodontidae from Eastern Europe – the animals could have spread westwards, and later certain species could have returned to Transylvania.

Fluctuations in sea level and tectonic processes might have created temporary land bridges between the many islands and could have encouraged these animals to spread.

Furthermore, it can be assumed that almost all dinosaurs could swim to an extent, including Transylvanosaurus. “They had powerful legs and a powerful tail. Most species, in particular reptiles, can swim from birth,” says Augustin. Another possibility is that various lines of rhabdodontid species evolved in parallel in eastern and western Europe.

Fossil Friday #141: Orthotarbus robustus from Mazon Creek #fossil #paleontology #spider #MazonCreek #FossilFriday #carboniferous

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #141.  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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Fossil spiders are always a favorite here for Fossil Friday.  Marty Houdek sent us a gorgeous Orthotarbus robustus from Pit 11.  He found this guy, his first and only spider, on the tipple in 1986.  He's been collecting for a long time, so it's hard to believe that it's his only one!  I guess spiders really are rare!

O. robustus belongs to an extinct group of spider-like animals called Architarbids.  They lived during the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian Periods.  O. robustus was described by Alexander Petrunkevitch in 1945.

Thanks for sharing this beautiful specimen, Marty!

Throwback Thursday #142: Reply to Bill Allaway's 1977 Holiday Letter #history #TBT #ThrowbackThursday #origins

This is Throwback Thursday #141.  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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Last week, we had Bill Allaway's Holiday Letter in 1977.  There was a reply, but it wasn't published until the April 1978 edition of the newsletter.  The reply highlighted some of the work done to bring ESCONI into existence.  The author of the reply is Marty (Martha) Prepp.  She and her husband, Jerry, were very active in ESCONI for many years.

Jerry and Marty (Martha) Prepp (undated photo)

A REPLY TO BILL ALLAWAYS NOTE IN THE JANUARY ESCONI NEWS CONGRATULATING THE CONTINUOUS GOOD WORK THAT PREVAILS IN THE CLUB:

- Bill didn't tell you members it all started in his basement. Five young people (boys) asked his help in starting a rock club. They knew Bill's interest stemmed from his uncle.

- Bill didn't tell you the next meeting in January, 1950, these boys with their fathers elected officers and so ESCONI was formed.

- Bill didn't tell you he and Roy Bechtel issued the first news, while Stevens Norvell designed the front cover and it is still being used.

- Bill didn't tell you the meeting space at the Maywood Library outgrew itself and he, Bill, arranged for future meetings to be held in the auditorium in the high school in Downers Grove.

- Bill didn't tell you the adults interest grew and like wise the younger eager Juniors.

- Bill didn't tell you these Junior's interest was so great a separate day was arranged.  Jay Farr was their leader by the way. Jay had been a math teacher.

- Bill didn't tell you the adults were anxious for additional knowledge in the sciences and so evening classes were formed with Dr. Ben Hur Wilson and Dr. Fleiner, both science teachers. Dr. Wilson was the creator of the Earth Science magazine.

- Bill didn't tell you back of these early individuals was a husband or wife boosting one another's interest as well as other member's.

And so Bill as you watch from rainy California, you can take pride in what you started.

-- Marty Prepp --

Video for ESCONI November 2022 General Meeting - “A Sea Without Fish, Ordovician Fossils of the Cincinnati Region” #fossil #paleontology #ordovician #cincinnati #ohio #indiana #fossils

For the November 2022 General Meeting, our speaker was Dr. David Meyer from the University of Cincinnati. The title of his talk was "A Sea Without Fish, Ordovician fossils of the Cincinnati region".  His book has the same name as his presentation.  Checkout his page at the University of Cincinnati.

Book Description:

The region around Cincinnati, Ohio, is known throughout the world for the abundant and beautiful fossils found in limestones and shales that were deposited as sediments on the sea floor during the Ordovician Period, about 450 million years ago-some 250 million years before the dinosaurs lived. In Ordovician time, the shallow sea that covered much of what is now the North American continent teemed with marine life. The Cincinnati area has yielded some of the world's most abundant and best-preserved fossils of invertebrate animals such as trilobites, bryozoans, brachiopods, molluscs, echinoderms, and graptolites. So famous are the Ordovician fossils and rocks of the Cincinnati region that geologists use the term "Cincinnatian" for strata of the same age all over North America. This book synthesizes more than 150 years of research on this fossil treasure-trove, describing and illustrating the fossils, the life habits of the animals represented, their communities, and living relatives, as well as the nature of the rock strata in which they are found and the environmental conditions of the ancient sea.

 

Massive graveyard of fossilized shark teeth found deep in the Indian Ocean #fossil #paleontology #shark #ocean #teeth

Researchers collected more than 750 shark teeth at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. (Image credit: Ben Healley/Museums Victoria)

LiveScience has a story about the recent discovery of a massive shark tooth deposit in the Indian Ocean.  In October 2022, researchers about the RV Investigator made an unexpected discovery.  During a month long expedition, while trawling for fish for an deep water biodiversity survey, the trawling net pulled up hundreds of shark teeth.  The find included both modern and fossilized teeth.  Shark shed teeth throughout their lives.  The researchers are uncertain as to why the teeth are there is such a high concentration.

"It was our very last sample of the trip before heading back to Australia," Dianne Bray(opens in new tab), senior collections manager at the Museums Victoria Research Institute, told Live Science. "I was a little disappointed at first when we hauled up the net because it was filled with mud and I knew that there wasn't going to be many fish specimens. And even if there were, they would be rumbled and damaged from all the mud."

But as the researchers sifted through the mud-caked material, they realized the catch was than just a colossal mud pie.

"We tipped the contents out on the deck of the boat and as we went through everything, we found shark tooth after shark tooth," Bray said. "We were finding teeth from [modern] mako and [great] white sharks, but also fossilized teeth from ancient sharks like the immediate ancestor of the giant megalodon shark." 

 

Mazon Monday #144: Pecopteris serpillifolia #fossil #paleontology #MazonMonday #MazonCreek #shrimp

This is Mazon Monday post #144.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].  Thanks!

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Lesquereux in 1864 (Wikipedia)

Pecopteris serpillifolia was described by Leo Lesquereux in 1879-1880.  He was born in Fleurier, Switzerland on November 18th, 1889.  Lesquereux described many of the Carboniferous plants of North America, doing surveys for the states of Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Arkansas, Indiana, and Illinois.  He emigrated to the US in 1848.  He is known today for his work as a paleobotanist, but also as an exemplary deaf scientist.  His memoirs can be found at the National Academy of Sciences.

Pecopteris serpillifolia appears on pages 124 and 125 in Jack Wittry's "A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek".  Note the amended description as some of Lesquereux specimens, including the holotype, are no longer considered P. serpillifolia.  A paratype has been proposed.

Pecopteris serpillifolia Lesquereux amend.

1879-80. Pecopteris serpillifolia Lesquereux: p. 237, pl. 46, fig. 3 (re-figured here as Fig. 2); non figs. 1, 2
1969. Pecopteris arborescens (non Schlotheim); Darrah: pl. 79, fig. 3; non text

Basionym; Pecopteris serpillifolia Lesquereux, 1880. Description of the Coal Flora of the Carboniferous Formation in Pennsylvanian and Throughout the United States, Volume I. Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania: Report of Progress, P, Text, 1880, p. 237; Atlas, 1979, pl. 46, figs. 1-3.
In the Lesquereux type series, Fig. 1 USNM 13930 and Fig. 2 USNM 13929 of the three syntypes are now accommodated in P. subcrenulata. The remaining specimen, Fig. 3 USNM 13931, remains as the lectotype of P. serpillifolia. It is proposed here that PP28649 be made a paratype. It is deposited in the paleobotanical type and figured collection of The Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

DESCRIPTION: The penultimate pinnae can be large, up to 36 cm in length. They are linear-lanceolate and sharply constrict to elongated, sharply pointed apices. The ultimate pinnae are free, oblique to the rachis, and end in small, blunt lobes. The pinnules are inclined upward about 5 mm, twice as long as wide, have straight sides, and rounded apices. At their bases, they are decurrent and overlap the pinnule directly below. The midvein is decurrent, straight, and forks near the apex. The lateral veins are distant, simple, narrow toward the margin, and straight. They often have fibers that appear as veins mixed in and running between the lateral veins. A heavy coat of scales often completely masks the venation making it difficult to determine. The sori hang from pedicels and are divided into 3 or 4 sporangia (see Fig. 5).

REMARKS: Pecopteris serpillifolia is rare. The fossil in Fig. 2 is the remaining Lesquereux type specimen of Pecopteris serpillifolia. P. serpillifolia and Pecopteris subcrenulata are similar but can be separated by the pinnule venation and shape. The former is oblong with straight lateral veins; the latter is ovate with irregularly undulating veins.

Specimens

From "A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek"

ESCONI member specimen from Pit 3

ESCONI member specimen from Indiana

Merry Christmas from ESCONI! #xmas #fossil #MazonCreek #fern

Family trio of fossil hunters behind rare discovery in outback Queensland #fossil #paleontology #australia

Sisters Cassandra Prince (left) and Cynthia Nicholls with the skull of the newly-discovered plesiosaur at the Museum of Tropical Queensland in Townsville. (ABC North Queensland: Rachael Merritt)

ABC News in Australia has a story about a family fossil find.  It seems that a couple sisters in the Australian outback have discovered a plesiosaur skull in their backyard.  The animal lived about 100 million years ago.  The sisters, nicknamed the "Rock Chicks", live close to the Australian Dinosaur Trail.

When sisters Cassandra Prince and Cynthia Nicholls first pulled a rock-like object from the ground of their outback cattle property, they had no clue it was a 100-million-year-old fossil.

The pair, along with their cousin Sally, are the trio of fossil hunters behind the discovery of Australia's first complete plesiosaur fossil with head and body intact.

"We actually dug that site last year but we didn't go down deep enough. I had a really strong feeling to dig it again this year," Ms Prince said.

Fossil Friday #140: Palaeoxyris multiplicatum #fossil #paleontology #MazonCreek #shark #MazonCreek #illinois

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #140.  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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What says Christmas more than a fossilized shark egg case from Mazon Creek?  Well, Palaeoxyris has always reminded me of the finial Christmas ornaments.

A particularly large species of Palaeoxyris is P. multiplicatum.  Here is a description from the Field Museum's Palaeoxyris field guide.  That guide was created by renowned Mazon Creek author and ESCONI member Jack Wittry.

Palaeoxyris multiplicatum: Unlike other species of egg cases, the outer egg cover is rigid. When compressed it shatters into broken elongated fragments. There are no known complete examples of the band pattern. Other than the shattered apparence it has two features that help separate it from the other egg cases. The sutures abruptly change angle as they enter the body from the beak. And they are nearly straight as they run down the pedicle. Rare.

I visited Jack and the museum back in mid-December and took a few pictures of some rather large specimens. 

This  specimen was found by Andy Hay and donated to the Field Museum by past ESCONI President Jim Fairchild. 

A quite large and detailed specimen from the Field Museum collection.

 

Throwback Thursday #141: 1977 Holiday Letter From Bill Allaway #history #TBT #ThrowbackThursday #holiday #xmas

This is Throwback Thursday #141.  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 look back at a holiday letter from Bill Allaway in 1977.  When ESCONI was founded back in 1949, Bill was its first chairman.  The first few meetings were held in his basement.  He served as chairman from 1949 through 1951.  He and his wife Helen moved to California in the early 1960's, where it sounds like he had an out sized impact on a club in Santa Clara Valley.

The letter appeared was received in December 1977, but not published until January 1978.

TO Earth Science News
     from Bill Allaway

Way out here in Los Gatos, California Helen and I have been watching the many activities of Esconi for the past 15 years and are very proud of this great club. On page 28 of the December 1977 bulletin I note that Esconi was selected as one of six clubs in the Midwest to receive the All-American Trophy and a certificate for outstanding service. We were also awarded a trophy for one of the Midwest Merit awards.

As the only surviving member of the founding team of Norvell, Farr, Beghtol and Allaway and also as Honorary President of ESCONI which title was conferred on our 20th anniversary, I would like to let our members know that I think they are doing a great job and know they will continue to do so.

Incidentally, our local rock club, the Santa Clara Valley Gem & Mineral Society is gradually building up along the lines of ESCONI and has six groups which meet separately from the regular meetings. It would be interesting to exchange bulletins.

Congratulations on another great year.

                                                                       Sincerely yours,
                                                                       Bill Allaway

 

Excerpts from the Xmas letter--

Here we go again, with Xmas just around the corner. We had such good response to last year's letter which we tried for the first time that we are going to try for a repeat......

We had a great trip to Europe this fall which included Germany, a trip from Switzerland to Holland on the Rhine, Belgium, Normandy beaches, Mont San Michel and Gay Paree, which reminded me of the Streets of Paris at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. The Mont was tremendous, the high- light of the trip as we clambered up 900 steps to the top, being quite an achievement for us. My son Bill drove and we visited Universities where he had students. He is Director of Students abroad program, for t the University of California.

We are still working with the museum, Director for 5 years, church, rock club, garden and the golf course of course, but not as avidly as here-to-fore.

The best of Christmas greetings to all our friends and we hope you are all enjoying life as much as we are.   A very Merry Christmas.

                                                                       Helen & Bill Allaway

 

2022 ESCONI Holiday Lunch Photos #holiday #lunch #party

Here are some photos from the ESCONI Holiday Lunch on December 10th, 2022.  It was held at Warren's Ale House in Wheaton, IL.  There was a good turn out with much stimulating conversation.

First the required selfie.

Ugly sweaters... wait I mean beautiful sweaters!

Cupcakes from Rose!

Assorted photos

Scientists Discover an Unexpected Danger Lurking in Ancient Mayan Cities #archaeology #maya #mayan #history #mexico #centralamerica

An image depicting an ancient Mayan temple.

SciTechDaily has a story about an unexpected discovery in some Mayan ruins.  It shouldn't be surprising that pollution isn't a modern invention.  The Romans used lead extensively and maybe have suffered lead poisoning.  Now, some researchers at the Australian Catholic University have discovered mercury pollution in some of the cities of the Mayan civilization in ancient Mexico.  The Maya used cinnabar and mercury paints and powders for decoration.  The discovery was documented in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science.

Mesoamerica’s ancient Maya cities never cease to amaze visitors. However, an unexpected danger lurks under the soil’s surface: mercury pollution. Researchers have found in a review article published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science that this pollution is not modern: it is the result of the Maya’s widespread usage of mercury and mercury-containing products between 250 and 1100 CE. There are areas where the pollution is so severe that it might pose a health risk to unsuspecting archaeologists today.

Lead author Dr. Duncan Cook, an associate professor of Geography at the Australian Catholic University, said: “Mercury pollution in the environment is usually found in contemporary urban areas and industrial landscapes. Discovering mercury buried deep in soils and sediments in ancient Maya cities is difficult to explain until we begin to consider the archeology of the region which tells us that the Maya were using mercury for centuries.”

 

Mazon Monday #143: Mamayocaris jaskoskii #fossil #paleontology #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #shrimp

This is Mazon Monday post #143.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].  Thanks!

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Mamayocaris jaskoskii, sometimes referred to as the "Lobster", was described in 1974 by Frederick Schram in the paper "The Mazon Creek Caridoid Crustacea", which appeared in Fieldiana, Volume 30, No. 2.  It was named in honor of Professor B. J. Jaskoski of Loyola University of Chicago.  

M. jaskoskii appears on page 86 of Jack Wittry's "The Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek".

Mamayocaris jaskoskii Schram, 1974a

Mamayocaris jaskoskii is a moderate-sized crayfish-like ani- mal, probably a scavenger or low-level carnivore, and is a member of the marine off-shore Essex community. Characteristics include a smooth carapace, half the length of the animal; a small pointed rostrum; strong walking legs; a sturdy, broad abdomen lacking appendages; and an elaborate tail fan containing well-developed units. Most specimens are well-preserved with ventral or dorsal surfaces exposed upon splitting the concretion. The animal strongly resembles a small lobster.

Another caridoid, Anthracaris gracilis, an inhabitant of the Braidwood Fauna, and M. jaskoskii bear a strong resemblance to each other and were contemporaries, yet A. gracilis is virtually unknown in Essex concretions.

Chapter 12 of the "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek" is entitled "Crustacea" and was written by Frederick Schram, W.D. Ian Rolfe, and Andrew Hay. M. jaskoskii appears on page 161.

Figure 12.19. Mamayocaris jaskoskii, modified from Schram (1974). Scale bar = 5 mm.

Mamayocaris jaskoskii Schram, 1974a Figures 12.18, 12.19

Carapace with well-developed branchial region covering the gills, anterolateral spines short and followed by a row of five marginal ser- rations, gastric spines present cervical groove posteriorly directed; tailfan with well-developed flaplike uropods, exopodal ramus with two seg- ments and the joint between the two (diaresis) s-shaped; telson subtriangular in outline, bearing small lobate caudal furca and an accessory projection of the telson over the lobate caudal spine.

These crayfishlike mysidaceans are rarely en- countered and occur only in the Essex fauna. However, because they were bottom-dwelling scavengers with a cuticle that was originally well sclerotized, they are typically well preserved.

Specimens

From "The Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek".

The holotype from the original paper

Mega-predator likely wasn't underwater hunter, researchers argue #fossil #paleontology #dinosaur #spinosaurus

Spinosaurus likely stood on its hind legs, with dense bones suited for walking upright. Credit: James Gurney

Phys.org has an article about the on-going controversy on whether Spinosaurus aegyptiacus was fully aquatic.  S. aegyptiacus was discovered in 1915 in Egypt by Ernst von Stromer.  It lived during the Cretaceous Period about 99 to 93.5 million years ago.   The original skeleton was destroyed during WW II.  A new specimen was found in 2014, which was the basis of a 2014 paper published by a team led by Paul Sereno at the University of Chicago that redescribed the animal.   In 2020, a team in the UK published a paper that postulated that S. aegyptiacus lived an aquatic lifestyle based on the density of its bones, its center of gravity, and a fin down its tail.  Now, the original team have published a new paper, which refutes the aquatic lifestyle theory due to new evidence.

The team also calculated that Spinosaurus would have been too buoyant to fully submerge itself regularly, needing 15 to 25 times the estimated power of its tail. The bone and muscle structure of the tail wouldn't have been flexible enough to propel it smoothly through water, unlike the fleshy tail flukes on whales or light, springy fish fins.  The heavy, bony sail on its back also would have made it an awkward swimmer that struggled to right itself, unlike alligators and crocodiles that can easily spin and roll to pursue their prey.

Finally, Sereno's team turned to the geographic fossil record to argue that Spinosaurus could not be a highly specialized, fully aquatic predator. More of its fossils have been found in two inland basins in Niger, far from any prehistoric marine coastline. They were buried in riverbank deposits alongside other large herbivores and suggests that they lived along both marine and freshwater habitats.

In the new paper, the authors conclude that this evidence is a strong confirmation that Spinosaurus aegyptiacus is "a semiaquatic bipedal ambush predator that frequented the margins of both coastal and inland waterways."

PBS Eons: How Did Lucy Live and Die? #fossil #paleontology #lucy #australopithecus #evolution #human #humanevolution #ethiopia

 

There's a new episode of PBS Eons on Youtube,  The live and death of Lucy, who is the Australopithecus discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, says much about human evolution.  She lived about 3.2 million years ago.

Did our most famous fossil ancestor, Lucy, die by falling out of a tall tree? The answer is part of a decades-long debate over how, exactly, our ancestors transitioned from life in the trees to life on the ground.

Fossil Friday #139: Lobatopteris tenuinervis from Danville #fossil #paleontology #fern #MazonCreek #FossilFriday

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #139.  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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ESCONI member Phil Anderson sent us a very interesting fern from the ESCONI field trips to a Danville spoil pile. This is a specimen of Lobatopteris tenuinervis, which is a fern in the order Filicopsida.  You can read more about the flora of the Herrin coal in Mazon Monday #86.

This gorgeous specimen has great color contrast.  The concretion is very thin, much thinner than what is usually seen.  Thanks for sharing this beautiful fossil, Phil!

Throwback Thursday #140: Mineral Names #TBT #history #ThrowbackThursday #names #minerals

This is Throwback Thursday #140.  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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Apatite-(CaF) (Fluorapatite) Doubly-terminated crystal in calcite Locality : Yates mine, Otter Lake, Pontiac RCM, Outaouais, Québec, Canada Size of crystal 32cm

Jean Reynolds held many offices in ESCONI, including President in 1972 and 1973, Vice President, Editor, Circulation Chairman, and more.  For 45 years, from 1961 until 2006, Jean served on the ESCONI board.  In December 1977, she wrote an article for the newsletter called "Names".  It it, she details the origin of some minerals and elements.

Wikipedia has a nice page called "List of Minerals".  It has an alphabetical list of minerals.  There are links to each mineral's page.

NAMES

Several years ago I listened to a lecture by Paul Desautel entitled "What to name the baby". I thought as I entered the room--that is a strange title for a program at the Midwest Federation Convention. I soon learned that he was talking about how minerals are named. The lecture on nomenclature was very interesting.

Several years later it was announced that Russ MacFall would have a mineral named after him. We were asked if any other person in the years later it was announced that Russ MacFall would have a Midwest had been so honored. The only one I could think of was Bill Bingham. I realized then that I knew the source of only a few names of minerals. As a result I started reading and checking and have start- ed what I hope will be an interesting list.

I started reading and found I was not only learning about minerals but also history, geography, and a greater appreciation for the geologists in the past. Geologists living in the 19th century discovered, analyzed, and named the bulk of the mineral specimens. Pliny's names were sufficient down to the 16th Century. The real beginning of the science of chemistry and crystallography was de L'Isle's work in 1772 to 1783 (four volumes.) A majority of the minerals were named between 1800 and 1890, with the peak about 1850.

The present method is as follows: The proposal is submitted to the president of the Commission on on New Minerals and Mineral Names of the International Mineralogical Association by either the researchers or the equivalent National Committees of France, Japan or the U.S.S.R. The data furnished should be as complete as possible. The president is authorized to ask for additional information, or to point out possible objections before the proposal is submitted to the Commission.

The proposal is then sent by air mail to the members of the Commission who have 40-45 days to vote and comment in detail. Objections may cause the president to suspend the voting while the researcher responds and this then distributed to the commission members.

When the vote is completed the president notifies the author, the members of the commission and the professional journal in which publication is intended, of the voting results.

There are three basic ways that minerals have been named. These are: 1. Minerals given a name which pertains to their chemical composition, color, crystal structure, form or physical characteristics. 2. Those named for the person who discovered the mineral, or in honor of some person. 3. Minerals named for the area or location where it was found. Here are a few that I have found in reading.

1. MINERALS NAMED FOR COMPOSITION, COLOR, APPEARANCE

Apatite	from the Greek word "to deceive" because it has been mistaken for other minerals
Barite	J.D. Dana 1868 - for the Greek meaning "weight"
Celestite	word means "heavenly" Specimen were "heavenly blue"
Cylindrite	from the Greek meaning a "cylinder" (crystal structure)
Fluorite	from "fluores and fluere" to "flow" - it flows easily
Mimetite	"an imitator" - its resemblance to pyromorphite
Pectolite	"well put together" - because of its structure
Vanadinite	composition - Chloro-vanadate of lead

Elements

Arsenic	from the Greek word meaning "orpiment"
Platinum	from Spanish "platina de pinto"

2. MINERALS NAMED FOR A PERSON

Alexandrite	in honor of Czar Alexander II of Russia
Hiddenite	in honor of William Hidden
Macfallite	in honor of Russell P. MacFall
Prehnite	in honor of Col. von Prehn
Smithsonite	in honor of James Smithson (a provision of his will provided the funds for the Smithsonian Institute)

3. MINERALS NAMED FOR A LOCATION

Amazonstone	for its locality, the Amazon River
Dravite	for the Drave district in Carinthia, Austria
Labradorite	for the country
Muscovite	Muscow, Russia
Neptunite	from Neptune, the god of the sea

References

Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia 4th Edition (1968). Glossary of Mineral Species Michael Fleischer - Mineralogical Record Descriptive Mineralogy-Edward Dana, John Wiley publisher

Fossil site reveals giant arthropods dominated the seas 470 million years ago #fossil #paleontology #arthropod #ordovician #morocco

Fossils from the Fezouata Shale. From left to right, a non-mineralized arthropod (Marrellomorpha), a palaeoscolecid worm and a trilobites. Credit: Emmanuel Martin

Phys.org has a story about some interesting arthropod fossils from Morocco.  The fossils date to the Ordovician Period about 470 million years ago.  The locality holds new species and while some are fragmentary, the fragments suggest large animals, maybe up to 2 meters long.  The research was published in Science Advances.

Discoveries at a major new fossil site in Morocco suggest giant arthropods—relatives of modern creatures including shrimps, insects and spiders—dominated the seas 470 million years ago.

Early evidence from the site at Taichoute, once undersea but now a desert, records numerous large "free-swimming" arthropods.

More research is needed to analyse these fragments, but based on previously described specimens, the giant arthropods could be up to 2m long.

An international research team say the site and its fossil record are very different from other previously described and studied Fezouata Shale sites from 80km away.

They say Taichoute (considered part of the wider "Fezouata Biota") opens new avenues for paleontological and ecological research.

"Everything is new about this locality—its sedimentology, paleontology, and even the preservation of fossils—further highlighting the importance of the Fezouata Biota in completing our understanding of past life on Earth," said lead author Dr. Farid Saleh, from the University of Lausanne and and Yunnan University.

Ancient lizard with teeth like butcher knives 're-calibrates the whole shebang' of reptile evolution #fossil #paleontology #lizard #triassic

An artist’s impression of "Cryptovaranoides microlanius" when it was alive millions of years ago. (Image credit: Lavinia Gandolfi)

LiveScience has a story about a new lizard from the Triassic.  Cryptovaranoides microlanius dates to about 202 million years, which makes it the oldest lizard fossil known by about 35 million years.  It was discovered in 1950's near Britol, England and had been incorrectly described as Clevosaurus.  The animal was redescribed recently in the journal Science Advances.

For the new study, researchers analyzed the fossil and found that the lizard dates to around 202 million years ago, from the latter part of the Triassic period (237 million years to 201 million years ago); and that the remains included a partial skeleton, skull and mandibles. A computed tomography (CT) scan of the fossil helped researchers determine that they were looking at a type of Squamata — the largest order of reptiles, encompassing lizards, snakes and a group of legless lizards called amphisbaenians, or "worm lizards."

 

The fossil is small enough to "fit in the palm of your hand" and includes a 1.2-inch (3 centimeters) skull with a jaw full of sharp teeth, said Michael Benton(opens in new tab), the study's co-author and a professor of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Bristol.

 

Because of the fossil’s small size, the researchers had to use less invasive techniques to study the lizard; such methods weren’t around when it was first discovered. 

Mazon Monday #142: Pecopteris squamosa #fossil #paleontology #fern #MazonMonday #MazonCreek #carboniferous #paleobotany

This is Mazon Monday post #142.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].  Thanks!

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Pecopteris squamosa was originally named by Leo Lesquereux in 1870.  It's a true fern belonging to the class Filicopsida.

Leo Lesquereux described much of the North American Carboniferous flora in the mid 1800's as a consultant to various US state geological surveys.  His book "Atlas to the Coal Flora of Pennsylvania and the Carboniferous Formation throughout the United States" written from 1879 to 1884 was the standard reference for the Carboniferous flora in the US for many years.

Lesquereux in 1864, from Wikipedia

P. squamosa appears on page 126 of Jack Wittry's "A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek".

Pecopteris squamosa Lesquereux, 1870

1870. Pecopteris squamosa Lesquereux: p. 400, pl. 12, figs. 1-4; pl. 13, figs. 10, 11
1879-80. Pecopteris squamosa Lesquereux; Lesquereux: p. 235, pl. 39, figs. 12, 13
1899. Pecopteris squamosa Lesquereux; White: p. 84,
1925. Pecopteris squamosa Lesquereux; Noé: pl. 30, fig. 3
1940. Asterotheca squamosa Lesquereux; Janssen: p. 65, pl. 16, figs. 1-3
1958. Asterotheca squamosa Lesquereux; Langford: p. 158, figs. 265, 266
1958. Pecopteris ultraminuta (non Janssen); Langford: p. 172, fig. 305
1958. Asterotheca cyathea (non Brongniart); Langford: p. 161, fig. 270
1958. Pecopteris lepidorachis (non Brongniart); Langford: p. 167, fig. 283
1969. Pecopteris squamosa Lesquereux; Darrah: p. 132
1979. Pecopteris squamosa Lesquereux; Janssen: p. 122, figs. 103, 117c

DESCRIPTION: The primary pinna is triangular with a thick rachis covered in long, close scales. These scales may also lie at an open angle. The penultimate pinnae are linear-lanceolate, often flexuous, and curved upward. The rachises are wide and scaly, or punctate if the scales have been shed. The ultimate pinnae are of an unequal length, linear-lanceolate, narrow, obtuse, close, often touching for their whole length, and are inserted at nearly a right angle to the rachis. The pinnules on mature ultimate pinnae are obtuse lobes. The venation consists of a strongly marked midvein, and lateral veins that are indistinct, simple or forked once, and distant.

REMARKS: Pecopteris squamosa is uncommon. It has only been reported from two other locations: Cannelton, Pennsylvania, and Henry County, Missouri.

Specimens

Field Museum

George Langford via George's Basement

Wittry's "A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek".