Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI

The Top Ten Dinosaur Discoveries of 2024 #fossils #paleontology #dinosaurs #2024

The small Eoneophron was one of several parrot-like dinosaurs that lived in the same habitat at T. rex. Zubin Erik Dutta / Atkins-Weltman et al., 2024, PLOS One, CC-BY 4.0

Smithsonian Magazine has an article that details the Top 10 dinosaur discoveries of 2024.

Another year is coming to a close, and, just like last year, scientists have made an amazing number of dinosaur discoveries. Experts have continued to name new species and reveal previously unknown details of dinosaur lives at a rapid pace, allowing us to envision the Mesozoic world in ever more detail.

Paleontologists have published dozens of new dinosaur papers this year, each adding to what we know about the terrible lizards. Researchers have found tiny long-necks, trackways made by flapping raptors and more. What follows is just a small sampling of this year’s most surprising and informative finds, touching everything from dinosaur social lives to as-yet-undiscovered giants.

1. The largest dinosaurs are still out there to be found!  See the paper in Ecology and Evolution.
2. Flapping Tracks... tracks found in South Korea were made by a running dinosaur that was flapping its wings.
3. Stegasaurs used their spikes too intimidate.  Researchers modeled the tail of Miragaia in the Italian Journal of Paleontology and Stratigraphy.
4. A new burrowing dinosaur from Utah was published in the journal Anatomical Record.
5. Ants farmed fungus after the K-Pg extinction.  Entomologists discovered that fungus-farming ants began their close relationship in the aftermath.

For more, see the interesting article... including the “chicken from hell” from the Hell Creek Formation in western North America.

 

 

Mazon Monday #249: Pecopteris oreopteridia #fossils #paleontology #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #fern #pennsylvanian #illinois #coal #carboniferous

This is Mazon Monday post #249.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].

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Pecopteris oreopteridia is a fern from the Carboniferous Period, which has been found in the Mazon Creek fossil deposits.  It is fairly uncommon and resembles Crenulopteris acadica in appearance (see Mazon Monday #115).  Besides the crenulated edge on mature Crenulopteris pinnules, often venation is the difference between specimens.  Notice the single branch for the veins in P. oreopteridia, but multiple forks in the veins for C. acadica.

Venation of Pecopteris oreopteridia

Venation of Crenulopteris acadica

P. oreopteridia was originally named Filicites oreopteridis by Ernst Friedrich, Baron von Schotheim (1764 - 1832), who was a German paleontologist and politician.  Hist most important work was "Die Petrefactenkunde" published in 1820. He followed that book with a folio atlas.  Those books illustrated his collection of the plant and animal fossils animal of what he considered the "former world".  His books were the first time where Linnaeus' binomial system was used in a German science publication.

Ernst Friedrich, Baron von Schlotheim.

It was later reclassified as Pecopteris oreopteridia by the French paleontologist Adolphe-Theodore Brongniart (1701-1876) in 1834,  Brongniart is considered by many to be the father of paleobotany.

Photographic portrait of Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart (1801-1876), French paleobotanist, plant taxonomist and anatomist.

Jack Wittry discusses Pecopteris oreopteridia on page 122 of his "A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek".

Pecopteris oreopteridia Brongniart, 1834

1804. Filicites oreopteridis Schlotheim: p. 36, pl. 6, fig. 9
1834. Pecopteris oreopteridia Schlotheim; Brongniart: p. 317, pl. 104, fig. 2; pl. 105, figs. 1-3
1879-80. Pecopteris oreopteridis Schlotheim; Lesquereux: p. 238, pl. 41, fig. 8
1924. Asterotheca oreopteridia Schlotheim; Kidston: p. 495, pl. 118, figs. 1, 2; pl. 119, figs. 1-4
1958. Asterotheca abbreviata (non Brongniart); Langford: p. 161, fig. 273
1958. Asterotheca oreopteridia Schlotheim; Langford: p. 161, fig. 274
1969. Pecopteris oreopteridia Schlotheim; Darrah: p. 139-140

DESCRIPTION: The penultimate rachis is smooth. The ultimate pinnae are alternate, flexuous, linear-lanceolate, with the pinnules becoming gradually more confluent toward the blunt, elongated terminal pinnule. The pinnules are oblong, often convex or raised above the matrix, and can be two or three times longer than they are wide. The pinnules are blunt, slightly oblique, and attached by their whole width to a smooth or weakly longitudinally striate rachis. The first pinnule on the lower or basiscopic side (see Fig. la circle) often appears enlarged. This is not a consistent feature which becomes much less apparent as all the pinnules become more oblong, eventually disappearing altogether (see Fig. 5). The venation consists of a heavy, straight midvein that is slightly decurrent at the base in smaller pinnules and extends to the tip, where it sometimes divides into two. The lateral veins are weak, somewhat distant, and rise at an angle of nearly 45°. The veins fork close to their base or slightly above and take on the shape of a tuning fork. They then meet the margin at a slightly oblique angle. The pinnules often appear to be covered by minute scales. The sori have an aster- othecoid appearance.

REMARKS: Pecopteris oreopteridia is uncommon. This taxon is closest in appearance to Crenulopteris acadica. The best way to distinguish between the two is by the venation-in C. acadica the veins fork twice.

Specimens

Field Museum FMNH PP 39992

Field Musem FMNH PP 28676

Field Museum FMNH PP 3271

From George's Basement as Asterotheca oreopteridia

Archaeologists Are Finding Dugout Canoes in the American Midwest as Old as the Great Pyramids of Egypt #archaeology #history #midwest #canoes

Maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen discovered this 1,200-year-old dugout canoe in Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, in June 2021. Tamara Thomsen / Wisconsin Historical Society

Smithsonian Magazine has a s story about the history of people around the American Great Lakes.  The establishment of the Wisconsin Dugout Canoe Project was inspired by the discovery of a 1,200 year old dugout canoe in Wisconsin's Lake Mendota.  Tamara Thomsen, an archaeologist, made the discovery of the carved white oak canoe in 24 feet of water while diving for fish and collecting trash.  The real effort had started in 2018, when Thomson teamed up with Sissel Schroeder, an archaeologist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to help an undergraduate student catalog Wisconsin’s extant dugout canoes. At the time, historians believed 11 existed in collections across the state. In less than a year, after scouring private collections, supper clubs, local museums and more, the team had counted 34.

Two of the ten oldest canoes are dated between 4,000 and 5,000 years old... that older than the pyramids of Egypt!

The Madison area, known as Dejope in the Ho-Chunk language, was an Indigenous metropolis before the arrival of Europeans, says Bill Quackenbush, tribal historic preservation officer for the Ho-Chunk Nation, one of Wisconsin’s 11 federally recognized tribes. Dejope was a richly interconnected society. “There’s this misconception that we had temporary villages here and there,” Quackenbush says, “but Madison was one large living community.”

Carving dugout canoes would’ve been a community occasion, Quackenbush explains: Men would work multiple logs while families gathered, ate and prepared for the coming season. The carving process—with shells or stone tools—could take weeks or even months; once complete, a canoe would sit along the shoreline for the whole village to use. Nearly as vital to thriving as fire, a working canoe meant open trade and shipping networks, fishing in deeper waters, and travel to faraway places. In winter, the Ho-Chunk would secure the vessels in shallow water, to prevent them from drying out before spring. 

In fact, a map of the found dugouts shows us not just where this community lived, but how it moved and changed in pace with the Earth over millennia: Just 300 yards from where Thomsen found that first canoe in Mendota, she later uncovered a cache of at least ten canoes along an underwater ridge that geologists have identified as a previous, now-lost shoreline, a beach in the savannas of ancient Dejope.

A Homeowner Found Huge, Fossil Teeth While Mowing the Lawn. Then, Excavations Revealed a Complete Mastodon Jaw #fossils #paleontology #mastodon #newyork

A recently excavated mastodon tooth found in a backyard, still embedded in the jaw New York State Museum

Smithsonian Magazine has a story about the discovery of Mastodon fossils.  A homeowner was mowing his lawn in Orange County, New York when he spotted strange shaped poking up through his plants.  His first thought was they were old baseballs.  Subsequent digging revealed they were rather fossil teeth with a complete mastodon jaw.

The prehistoric finding, which is the first of its kind uncovered in New York in more than 11 years, was announced in a New York State Educational Department statement on Tuesday.

Mastodons were large, tusked, elephant-like mammals distantly related to woolly mammoths and modern elephants. Slightly smaller than mammoths, they existed around the world from the early Miocene (2.6 million to 23 million years ago) through the Pleistocene (11,700 to 2.6 million years ago). In North America, however, the enormous mammals likely survived even longer, meaning their presence likely overlapped with the arrival of humans on the continent. Like mammoths, mastodons disappeared toward the end of the last ice age, when a series of factors, including climate change and human hunting, drove many large animals to extinction, as Jess Thomson reports for Newsweek.

Fossil Friday #245: Tullymonstrum gregarium #fossils #paleontology #MazonCreek #FossilFriday #hagfish #pennsylvanian

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #245.  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 hash tag #FossilFriday on Twitter/X and Bluesky for contributions from around the world!

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This week's fossil is a Tully Monster, which are always popular fossils.  Tullymonster gregarium come in all shapes and sizes. It got both its common and scientific names from Eugene Richardson, Jr., who was the Curator of Fossil Invertebrates at the Field Museum for many years.  Legend has it that Francis Tully brought in some specimens for identification in 1958 and Richardson thought the animal so bizarre that he referred to it as "Mr. Tully's Monster".  The latest research seems to indicate it's a primitive fish, maybe related to hagfish and lampreys.

Known only from Illinois, the State Fossil of Illinois has been reported from three main areas - Pit 11 (where most have been found, along with surrounding marine deposits like Braceville and Pit 4), Chowder Flats (an old fossil collecting site west of Morris, IL off Route 6), and the Sunspot Mine near Astoria, IL.  We featured a Tully from the Mazon River in Fossil Friday #123.

This particular specimen was collected in the summer of 2024.  Notce how lighting and background can bring out detail.

Throwback Thursday #245: Wonderland #poem #history #TBT #ThrowbackThursday

This is Throwback Thursday #245.  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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Today, we have a winter poem by Bill Allaway, an ESCONI founder and the first Chairman of ESCONI.  He wrote quite a few poems for the newsletter over the years.  We've published many of them.  His daughter Peggy inherited his talents as she was poeta laureate at the University of Illinois in the early 1950s.

WONDERLAND

Deep in a sunlit valley
Flows a river broad and green,
And on its banks
Mid serried ranks
Lives the Forest's virgin queen.

The tall and stately Sycamore
Survives the passing years.
While men below
Stride to and fro
Chained down by doubts and fears.

The trees and rocks along the trail
Are covered with Fairie's lace,
They work at night
When the moon is brite
In the morn there is no trace.

Along the shaded pathway
You'll feel a sudden chill,
Come swirling round
From underground
Beneath the rocky hill.

The great cave yawns before you
With dark forbidding face,
The die is cast
You step at last
Into the stygian space.

Decending into darkness.
The feeble lanterns burn,
Like fire-flies
With glowing eyes
Around each rocky turn.

Thru dark and aged labyrinth
Far down beneath the ground,
Where linestone gleams
In craggy seams
And silence is profound.

Where giant rooms spread out
In spacious majesty,
Whose lofty domes
Inspire poems
To tell of things they see.

Thru passage dark and dank
Which ne'er has lite of day,
On rivers brim
Where blind fish swin
You'll slowly wind your way.

The ancient Mississippi Seas
Laid down its sediment,
The rain end time
Worked on the lime
To form this mighty vent.

At the end of the winding trail
Comes the final show at last,
Stone waterfall.
On frescoed wall
A relic of the past.

Mid a maze of spires and columns
Of onyx and travertine,
You'll find your way
To the lite of day
Silenced by things you've seen.

This story has no ending
With endless things to see,
And soon 'twill seen
Just like a dream
With no reality.

When winter winds ere blowing
And summer's far away,
To caverns deep
Where stalactites weep
Your memories will stray.

- Bill Allaway

Merry Christmas from ESCONI! #christmas #xmas #santa #holiday #theholiday #elf #elfonashelf #parasaurolophus

Merry Christmas from ESCONI!

You've heard of Elf on a Shelf.... how about....  a Pair-a-Saurolophus?!?

Twas the Night Before Christmas - ESCONI 2024 #poem #christmas #xmas #holiday

Here it is... Katherine Howard's take on the classic poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas".  She read it at the ESCONI Holiday Party and at the December 2024 General Meeting. Thanks for sharing, Katherine!

ESCONI 2024 by Katherine Howard

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the quarry
Not a member was stirring, as John told his story;
The chisels were placed by the hammers with care,
In hopes that fossils the rocks would soon bare;
The members were nestled all snug in their beds,
While zoom presentations danced in their heads;
And Rose in her ’kerchief, and Andy in his cap,
Had just settled their brains for John’s long rap,
When out from the internet there arose such a clatter,
Rich sprang to his console to see what was the matter.
Over his keyboard his fingers like a flash,
Raced through the login and password with a dash.
The moon on the crest of the new sediment below
Revealed dozens of concretions that made eyes glow,
Then, what to our flickering screens should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a laugh and a grin, he came with a surge,
I knew in a moment it must be Chris Berg
More rapid than raptors his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Connor! now, Irene! now, Jeremy and Don!
On, Dave! on, Keith! on, Valerie and Phil Anderson!
To the top of the hill! to the top of the wall!
Now dig away! dig away! dig away all!"
As shovels of dirt from past eons did fly,
Visions of triceratops, or pterodactyls in the sky;
So down to the limestone and dolomite dirt flew,
With gloved hands, the trowels, and even sifters too.
And then, in a twinkling, grasped in each hand
Trilobites, ammonites, Katherine happy with sand.
As Chris Cozart inventoried all they had found,
Into the quarry a T-Rex came with a bound.
It was covered all in feathers, from its head to its foot,
And the red feathers were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of dinosaurs it had flung on its back,
And it looked like it was preparing to snack.
Its claws how they clicked – its eyes how they squinted!
Its jaw opened wider, its teeth how they glistened!
Its tiny front legs were drawn up in a curl
And our breath we all held, dust still all a swirl;
The stump of a leg it held tight in its teeth,
And the black flies encircled its head like a wreath.
It had a broad head and a long barreled belly,
The earth shook when it roared, like a bowlful of jelly.
It was massive and bloody, not an old bone on a shelf,
And we gawked when we saw it, in spite of ourself;
A blink of its eye and a twist of its head,
Somehow we knew, we had nothing to dread;
It made not a noise, but went straight to its work,
And dumped all the dinosaurs; then turned with a jerk,
And nudging a triceratops aside with its nose,
And giving a growl, up the quarry it rose;
We all breathed a sigh of relief, the sound sharp as a whistle,
And around our feet T-Rex feathers flew like the down of a thistle,
We heard Katherine say before she walked out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

 

Mazon Monday #248: Paleolimulus mazonensis #fossils #paleontology #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #pennsylvanian #horseshoecrab

This is Mazon Monday post #248.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].

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Paleolimulus sp.; modified after Shabica and Hay (1997). Scale bar 5 mm.

There are currently 3 recognized species of horseshoe crab known from the Mazon Creek deposit - Euproops danae, Paleolimulus sp., and Liomesaspis laevis.  Euproops danae is the most commonly found species.  Until 2022, Paleolimulus was largely undescribed.  In 2022, Russel D. C. Bicknell, Serge V. Naugolmukh, and Scott C. McKenzie published the paper "On Paleolimulus from the Mazon Creek Konservat-Lagerstätte" in the journal Comptes Rendus Palevol, in which they describe Paleolimulus mazonensis from multiple specimens.

Abstract

Horseshoe crabs are extant chelicerates with a fossil record extending back to the Ordovician. Despite the documentation of their long evolutionary history, xiphosurids are rarely preserved within fossil assemblages due to their unmineralized cuticular exoskeleton. However, in exceptional circumstances, an abundance of fossil xiphosurid specimens have been documented. The Moscovian-aged Mazon Creek Konservat-Lagerstätte represents one such fossil deposit with a high abundance and diversity of xiphosurids. Although fairly well known, the Paleolimulus specimens from the Mazon Creek have not yet been subject to a thorough taxonomic examination. In the light of recent efforts to organise Paleolimulus, we revisit this undescribed material, erect Paleolimulus mazonensis n. sp., and present a phylogenetic analysis that places P. mazonensis n. sp. as a sister taxon to P. signata (Beecher, 1904). The palaeoecology and possible ontogeny of P. mazonensis n. sp. are presented, as well as a statement on the future directions for understanding this xiphosurid genus.

Jack Wittry discusses Paleolimulus sp. on page 39 of "The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna".

Paleolimulus sp.

Found in the marine Essex Fauna, Paleolimulus is a small to moderate-sized animal distinguished from other Mazon Creek xiphosaurans by eyes that are more medially located. The prosoma is semicircular in outline, raised or arched, and the abdomen is triangular in shape with the segments fused to form a continuous shield. The abdominal axis is distinctly ringed, and in front of the long, sword-like telson is a moveable segment.

Mazon Creek area Paleolimulus has not been described at the species level and is in need of reexamination. The genus is much less common than Euproops danae, but shows the same sexual dimorphism, with females being much larger than males. Rare examples are known to reach 6 cm or more in width. It is known from locations in the United States and Europe into the Permian, and is a member of the family Paleolimulidae within the superfamily Limulacea-which includes modern horseshoe crabs.

Specimens

Holotype Field Museum FMNH PE 81596, Collected by Tom Testa

Fig. 2. — Holotype of Paleolimulus mazonensis n. sp.: A, FMNH PE 81596a, part; B, FMNH PE 81596b, counterpart, showing moveable spine notches (white arrows). Scale bars: 5 mm.

Specimens from Wittry's "The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna"

Specimen from the collection of Andrew Young (appears in Wittry's book on page 39)

New Pterosaur Species Discovered in Japan #fossils #paleontology #pterosaur #cretaceous #azhdarchid #Quetzalcoatlus

Life restoration of a group of giant azhdarchids, Quetzalcoatlus northropi, foraging on a Cretaceous fern prairie. Image credit: Mark Witton / Darren Naish.

SciNews has a story about the discovery of a new species of quetzalcoatline azhdarchid pterosaur in Japan.  The animal has been named Nipponopterus mifunensis. It lived about 90 million years ago in what is now the Japanese island of Kyushu.  The quetzalcoatline azhdarchids include the largest flying animals ever known, with up to 30+ foot wingspans - Quetzalcoatlus northropi, Arambourgiania philadelphiae, and Hatzegopteryx thambema.  Nipponopterus mifunensis is not thought to be that large and was described from just a few bones.  See the description in the paper "Reassessment of an azhdarchid pterosaur specimen from the Mifune Group, Upper Cretaceous of Japan" in the journal Cretaceous Research.

“Nipponopterus mifunensis represents the first nominal species of pterosaur from Japan,” the researchers said.

“This new species shows numerous quetzalcoatline features, being strikingly similar to the unnamed Burkhant azhdarchid from the Turonian-Coniacian of Mongolia.”

A partial sixth cervical vertebra of Nipponopterus mifunensis came from outcrops of the Mifune Group near the Amagimi dam, Mifune town, Kumamoto prefecture, on the Japanese island of Kyushu.

“The specimen was found within the middle part of the Upper Formation of the Mifune Group, in a coarse lens-shaped sandstone bed, 30 cm (12 inches) in thickness and placed between two tuff layers,” the scientists said.

PBS Eons: When Neandertals Became Apex Predators #fossils #paleontology #neandertals #hunting #eurasia #evolution

PBS Eons has a new episode.  This one is about the Neandertals and how they lived.

Climbing to the summit of the Eurasian food chain was one of the Neandertals’ most impressive evolutionary feats, but in the end, it may have actually been what doomed them.

Fossil Friday #244: A beautiful Laveiniopteris from Knob Noster #fossils #paleontology #FossilFriday #MazonCreek #pennsylvanian #knobnoster #missouri

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #244.  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 hash tag #FossilFriday on Twitter/X and Bluesky for contributions from around the world!

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The Knob Noster, Missouri fossil deposit is contemporaneous with Mazon Creek, which dates to 307 - 309 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 seemingly less dense.  We had a beautiful spider from Knob Noster (Fossil Friday #84). a nice Neuropteris vermicularis (Fossil Friday #87), and most recently we did a post (Fossil Friday #232) will some information about Chuck Barlow, who lives in Knob Noster, MO and comes to the MAPS Expo to sell many of the specimens he finds on his property.

Laveiniopteris rarinervis (Mazon Monday #81) is an extinct species of seed fern from the Pennsylvanian Period.  This sweet specimen has a partial branch and multple rachis with many pinnules.  It was purchased at the MAPS Expo in October of 2024.

Throwback Thursday #244: Leaverite (Leaveitite) #ThrowbackThursday #TBT #history #rocks #rockcollecting

This is Throwback Thursday #244.  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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Beginners may hear a more experienced collector refer to a rock specimen as a "Leaverite".  Here's the definition from Wikipedia.

Leaverite is a slang term used by geologists, mineralogists, archaeologists, and amateur rock collectors to identify a specimen in the field that may look interesting or valuable but not worth removing.^[1] Rocks identified as such are generally left where they were found, as there is not sufficient reason to attempt to remove them. The term leaverite derives from the phrase "leave 'er right there".^[2][3]

From December 1963, we have a newsletter article about "Leaveitite"...  His message seems to be don't judge a rock from its appearance.  This article came to ESCONI from the Minnesota Mineral Club, which seems to be still be around.  They were organized in 1945.  It's good to see that the Three Rivers Mineralogy Society is also still in operation in Fort Wayne, IN.

"Leaveitite"

In the last several months, some of the mineral magazinus nave given publicity to a new name of a stone called leaveitite. What is it? Who knows? It is supposed to be of any material that has no other name and is not of a superior for quality for cutting (leave it where you found it). Who knows what rock is leaveitite and what is not? It may be leaveitite to one person but not to the other. To some people, any rock is leaveitite. To others, only part of the rocks are leaveitite. A good example of this is the iron mining company. Thay haul out millions of tons of leaveitite to a certain area and make huge dumps of it, never intending to make use of it.again. Rockhounds dig. through these dumps and sort out certain rock that they feel is worth saving and can be cut, polished, and made into jewelry. It is not leaveitite to them, but it is to the mining company. Inthese dumpe there are many different kinds of material that are not considered junk or leaveitite, (even by the rockhounds) that some day will be recognized as a gem stone material.

In the last several months, some of the mineral magazinus nave given publicity to a new name of a stone called leaveitite. What is it? Who knows? It is supposed to be of any material that has no other name and is not of a superior for quality for cutting (leave it where you found it). Who knows what rock is leaveitite and what is not? It may be leaveitite to one person but not to the other. To some people, any rock is leaveitite. To others, only part of the rocks are leave- itite. A good example of this is the iron mining company. Thay haul out millions of tons of leaveitite to a certain area and make huge dumps of it, never intending to make use of it.again. Rockhounds dig. through these dumps and sort out certain rock that they feel is worth saving and can be cut, polished, and made into jewelry. It is not leaveitite to them, but it is to the mining company. Inthese dumpe there are many different kinds of material that are not considered junk or leaveitite, (even by the rockhounds) that some day will be recognized as a gem stone material.

Many rockhounds will pick up stones only if they know that certain stone has a name they recognize. What I am referring to is an exper- ience I had on a club field trip some years ago. There was a small group of members walking alongside of one of our stone experts. Many times one of the group would pick up a stone and ask the expert what it was. When he told them it was only chert, or jasper, or it was a mixture of minerals, they would toss it aside (leaveitite to them). I made it my business to pick up each stone that was tossed aside until I had about a dozen of them, and brought them home without saying anything to the rest of the group. Everyone of these stones polished real nice and showed a lot of color. Anyone would be proud to wear them as jewelry if the stone had a popular name attached to it. I kept these stones in my show case for a long time with the best of my stones and many people admired them.

I think we should pick up any stone that looks like it will cut and polish, wheather it has a name or not. Many times while on a trip, I hava picked up material that I had never seen before and didn't know what it was. Most of it turned out to be a vary interesting material and was mounted in jewelry when I was finished with it.

All of our gem stones were without a name at one time, and they became popular because someone picked up some and polished them.

There are still many nameless stones just waiting for someone to attach a name to them. When this happens, the stone is no longer leaveitite, but rather a gem stone with a place in society.

- Minnesota Mineral Club
- via Three Rivers Mineralogy Soc.

Oldest Human Genomes Reveal How a Small Group Burst Out of Africa #fossils #paleontology #dna #genes

An artist’s interpretation of the LRJ people, who lived across northern Europe about 45,000 years ago. DNA reveals they were closely related to all living non-Africans.Credit...Tom Björklund

The New York Times' Origins column has an article about a group of early humans. Around 45,000 years ago, a small group of people, likely fewer than 1,000, lived on the icy edges of Europe, hunting large game such as woolly rhinoceroses. This group is identified as the LRJ culture. They are believed to have migrated from Africa approximately 47,000 years ago, significantly later than other groups that had already dispersed to more distant regions like Asia and Australia. A recent study published in Nature analyzed the genomes of seven LRJ individuals from fossils discovered in Germany and the Czech Republic. These genomes are the oldest genetic samples of modern humans identified to date.

Dr. Prüfer and his colleagues found that the LRJ people lacked some key mutations found in living Europeans. They did not have the genes that produce pale skin, for example, which suggests that they had dark pigmentation, as their ancestors who emerged from Africa did.

The scientists also used the genomes to figure out where the LRJ people fit on the human family tree. Previous studies had established that human ancestors evolved for millions of years in Africa. About 600,000 years ago, the ancestors of Neanderthals split off on their own. They spread through the Middle East and established themselves across Europe and western Asia. Neanderthals endured for hundreds of thousands of years, disappearing from the fossil record about 40,000 years ago.

Modern humans remained longer in Africa before expanding to other continents. When they met Neanderthals, possibly in the Middle East, they interbred. Today, all humans around the world carry at least a trace of Neanderthal DNA.

Scenes from the 2024 Holiday Party and 75th Birthday Celebration #holiday #party #birthday #75years

ESCONI held a Holiday Party on December 7th, 2024.  There was a Birthday cake to celebrate ESCONI's 75th Anniversary!

Here are various photos supplied by Rose Jansen, Chuck Styles, and Rhonda Gates!  Thanks!

Sharon and Scott Galloway

Mike Litt with Rich and Peggy Rock

Phil and Valerie Anderson

Mary Ann and Don Cronauer and Jeff Allen

The Jansen Family - Andy, Rose, Laura, and Kevin

Marie Angkuw and Rhonda Gates - What have you been eating, Marie?!?

Jann Bergsten, Marie Angkuw, and Rhonda Gates

Dave Carlson and Mary Hogan

Jack Wittry, Bill Vinikour, and Andy Jansen

Chuck and Lori Styles

Keith Robitschek and Kristi Overgaard

ESCONI Board Members

Mazon Monday #247: Oligocarpia gutbierii #fossils #paleontology #MazonCreek #MazonMonday

This is Mazon Monday post #247.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].

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Oligocarpia gutbierii is a sphenopterid, which is a genus of seed ferns.  Seed ferns, Pteridospermatphyta, as a group have a geologic range which spanned from the late Devonian to the late Cretaceous, although a few species seem to have survivied into the Eocene.  Oligocarpia was a part of the forest understory.  O. gutbierii is considered uncommon in the Mazon Creek fossil deposit.

 

 

Oligocarpia gutbierii was first described in 1841 by Heinrich Göppert, a German botanist and paleontologist (1800–1884). Göppert was a professor of botany and the curator of the botanical gardens in Breslau. In the 1840s, he made a groundbreaking discovery by demonstrating the presence of plant cells in microscopic samples of coal, resolving the long-standing debate about coal's botanical origins. During his time, Göppert's private collection of fossil flora was regarded as the most extensive and finest in the world. 

 

O. gutbierii can be found on page 112 of Jack Wittry's "A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek".

Oligocarpia gutbierii Göppert, 1841

 

1841. Oligocarpia gutbieri Göppert: p. 35 pl. 4, figs. 1, 2
1879-80. Oligocarpia gutbieri Göppert; Lesquereux: p. 266, pl. 48, figs. 1-3
1899. Oligocarpia ef. gutbieri; White: p.69,
1899. Oligocarpia missouriensis White: p. 66 partial, pl. 20, fig. 1; pl. 21, figs. 1-4
1923. Oligocarpia gutbieri Göppert; Kidston: p. 285, pl. 70, figs. 1-3; pl. 75, figs. 1, 2
1958. Oligocarpia gutbieri Göppert; Langford: p. 253, fig. 461
1958. Oligocarpia brongniarti (non Stur); Langford: p. 253, fig. 460
1969. Oligocarpia gutbieri Göppert; Darrah: p. 160, pl. 25, fig. 3; pl. 55, fig. 2
1979. Dicksonites pluckeneti (non Schlotheim); Janssen: p. 140, figs. 1170, 123
1983. Oligocarpia gutbieri Göppert; Brousmiche: p. 236, pls. 57-61

 

DESCRIPTION: The penultimate pinnae are widest in the middle and are generally lanceolate with a heavy, smooth, and straight rachis. The ultimate pinnae are alternate, gradually taper from their bases to their apices, are generally free, holding 8 to 13 pairs of pinnules, and end in blunt lobes. The rachis is heavy, smooth, and straight. The pinnules are attached by a wide and constricted base, with a shallow sinus on the lower side and a larger one on the upper side. They are oval or subtriangular and become slightly undulating and recurved at the margins as they become elongated. Near the pinna base, the pinnules have a single lobe (see Fig. 3a) on the acro- scopic side. The pinnules are all slightly larger on the acroscopic side of the pinna, especially those near the base. The venation is well marked and dichotomous, with a thin, flexuous, and decurrent midvein. The lateral veins rise from a bend in the midvein, then divide near the base; the upper vein may divide again in larger pinnules. When fertile, the sori are located on the ends of short lateral veins.

 

REMARKS: Oligocarpia guthierii is uncommon. White (1899) doubted that Lesquereux's interpretation of O. gutbierii was the correct one for North American examples. He believed that the original description by Göppert could not be completely conformed to, and added a cf. to specimens that were similar to those which Lesquereux had figured in his description (see Fig. 4). Darrah (1969) compared the Mazon Creek form with the European taxon O. gutbierii, but more tentatively as O. cf. gutbierii on the one specimen he figured that was from the Mazon Creek area. He did so noting that the Mazon Creek examples have heavier rachises than what he considered normal for this taxon. He prefaced his description by saying he had not seen any genuine European specimens. On the other hand, Lesquereux's interpretation of this taxon was agreed with by both Kidston and Brousmiche.

Specimens

 

Field Museum specimen PP7571

 

 

Field Museum specimen PP11763

 

 

Field Museum specimen 42522

 

George's Basement

 

 

98-Million-Year-Old Ichthyosaur Fossil Uncovered in New Zealand #fossils #paleontology #Ichthyosaur #cretaceous #newzealand

A pair of Platypterygius sp. Image credit: Dmitry Bogdanov / CC BY 3.0.

Sci News has a piece about the discovery of a new species of Cretaceous ichthyosaur from New Zealand.  The specimen, GS15687, is still unnamed as it is too fragmentary.  It was found disarticulated in a concretion from the Swale Member of the Split Rock Formation.  The concretion dates to the Cenomanian (Ngaterian) about 98 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period.  Interestingly, the final extinction of the ichthyosaurs occurred just a few million years later.  The description was published in the paper "A platypterygiid ichthyosaur from the Cenomanian of central New Zealand" was pubished in the journal Vertebrate Paleontology.  The animal thought to be a late branching member of the platypterygiid ichthyosaurs, closely related to an Eastern Gondwanan species called Platypterygius australis and to many European Cretaceous ichthyosaurs.

“Ichthyosaurs were a clade of secondarily aquatic marine reptiles that inhabited the seas for much of the Mesozoic Era, first appearing in the Early Triassic before their ultimate extinction at the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary,” said University of Canterbury paleontologist George Young and his colleagues.

“Cretaceous ichthyosaurs were once thought of as a group with low diversity and disparity resulting from a long-term decline since the Jurassic.”

“However, recent work has produced a growing body of evidence that Cretaceous ichthyosaurs were much more diverse than previously thought.”

PBS Eons: Could You Survive The End-Triassic? #fossils #paleontology #dinosaurs #triassic #massextinction #extinction

PBS Eons has a new episode of their "Surviving Deep Time" podcast.  This one is about the Triassic/Jurassic mass extinction.  This is the extinction event that lines up with the break up of Pangaea.

In the aftermath of the Great Dying, rapid evolutionary radiation resulted in the rise of a bunch of weird creatures in the Triassic Period. But life at the end of the period, including the earliest dinosaurs, faced yet another catastrophic extinction event. Could you survive in this strange time period?

 

Fossil Friday #243: Eoscorpius carbonarius from Mazon Creek #fossils #paleontology #MazonCreek #FossilFriday #scorpion #pennsylvanian #fossilscorpion #eoscorpius

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #243.  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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Eoscorpius carbonarius was described by FB. Meek and A.H. Worthen in 1868.  E. carbonarius was one of the early species described from Mazon Creek fossil material.  The first being Miamia bronsoni.  Scorpions have a very long history and are thought to be one of the first animals that ventured from the ocean onto dry land.  For more information see Mazon Monday #102.

Well... the exceptional finds keep coming from Dan Quasney.  He marveled us with his coelacanth back in April and a very sweet tailless whip scorpion just a few weeks ago.  Awesome fossil, Dan!  Thanks for sharing!

Throwback Thursday #243: Rock Collecting Limericks #poem #limerick #TBT #history #

This is Throwback Thursday #243.  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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There were a couple rock collecting themed limericks in the December 1999 newsletter.  Unfortunately, they were unattributed.

THERE ONCE WAS A ROCKHOUND NAMED STOUT,
WHO ON OLD QUARRY WALLS CLIMBED ABOUT,
WHEN SPYING SOME GARNET,
SLIPPED RIGHT OFF, GOSH DARN IT,
NOW WE ALL DO WITHOUT STOUT ABOUT.

THERE WAS A YOUNG ROCKHOUND NAMED KENT,
WHOSE CHISELS WERE CROOKED AND BENT,
WHEN WORKING A VEIN,
HE SAW WITH DISDAIN,
THE CRYSTALS DIDN'T COME OUT, THEY WENT.