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Fossil Friday #332: Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri from Kansas
Read more: Fossil Friday #332: Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri from KansasToday, we have a Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri (see Mazon Monday #39) from the Tonganoxie Sandstone (Stranger Formation of the Douglas Group in the Virginian Stage) near Ottawa, Kansas. That formation has been dated to a range of 306 to 299 million years ago, which is younger than Mazon Creek. Many plant fossils were collected from the locality in the late 1970’s. Unfortunately, the site is now closed.
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Throwback Thursday #332: Another Don Auler Painting at the Rock Swap
Read more: Throwback Thursday #332: Another Don Auler Painting at the Rock SwapSome Don Auler art was on display at the recent ESCONI Rock Swap. Rick Rock had this painting of an owl on black shale up for sale. Long-time contributors B.J. and Mike Kukulka purchased it and graciously let us post it here.
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Mazon Creek Fossil Day 2026 – Saturday, October 10th, 2026 – Coal City Library
Read more: Mazon Creek Fossil Day 2026 – Saturday, October 10th, 2026 – Coal City LibraryThe 2026 Mazon Creek Fossil Day will be held on Saturday, October 10th, 2026 at the Coal City Library from 10 AM to 3 PM. See you there! Previous events
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Paleontology rocked by organic molecules found in 66-million-year-old dinosaur bones
Read more: Paleontology rocked by organic molecules found in 66-million-year-old dinosaur bonesScience Daily has a story about another discovery of organic molecules in dinosaur bones. Since the early 2000’s, paleontologists have been finding organic material in dinosaur bones. The discoveries have been met with skepticism by paleontologists. Now a study in the journal Analytical Chemistry adds new evidence. Professor Steve Taylor, chair of the Mass Spectrometry Research Group at the University of Liverpool’s Department of Electrical Engineering & Electronics, said: “This research shows beyond doubt that organic biomolecules, such as proteins like collagen, appear to be present in some fossils. “Our results have far-reaching implications. Firstly, it refutes the hypothesis that…
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Mazon Monday #337: Carbohymen testai
Read more: Mazon Monday #337: Carbohymen testaiI had a chance to catch up with Jack Wittry at the Field Museum this weekend. He mentioned that he had tracked down the insect whose name we first encountered at Tom Testa Day at the Carbon Hill School Museum back in June. At the time, Jack wasn’t sure whether Carbohymen testai was actually a valid name. After doing some digging, he not only confirmed it was a valid published name, but also located the actual fossil… in a box from the Czech Republic.
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RNA is supposed to fall apart within hours…
Read more: RNA is supposed to fall apart within hours…RNA is supposed to fall apart within hours, yet researchers have now read it from a mammoth frozen in Siberian permafrost 39,000 years ago — and the transcripts caught his muscle tissue in the middle of a stress response
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PBS Eons: When Earth Was a Toxic Wasteland
Read more: PBS Eons: When Earth Was a Toxic WastelandPBS Eons has a new episode. This one is about the Permian Mass Extinction, the Earth’s worst mass extinction. Watch Eons: Life and Death on Pangea on the free PBS App: https://to.pbs.org/EonsApp or on the web here: https://pbs.org/eons ← use this link if you are outside of the U.S. For 3 million years, microbes ruled the Earth. But were these tiny survivors just lucky? Or did they play a more sinister role in the greatest disaster our planet has ever faced?
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Fossil Friday #331: Peachocaris strongi
Read more: Fossil Friday #331: Peachocaris strongiJerry Zhu posted this stunning example of Peachocaris strongi to the “Illinois, Mazon Creek, and Carboniferous Fossils of the World” group on Facebook a few weeks ago. The concretion was collect from Pit 11. From the looks of it, it must have opened via freeze/thaw.
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Throwback Thursday #331: Happy (Belated) Unearth Day, SUE!
Read more: Throwback Thursday #331: Happy (Belated) Unearth Day, SUE!Last Wednesday was SUE’s Unearth Day! SUE was found by Sue Hendrickson on August 12th, 1990. Sue hung back at camp, while the rest of the team from the Black Hills Institute went to town to fix a flat tire on one of their trucks. Sue decided to explore some area around the camp. She noticed some bone bits at the base of a hill and the rest is history…
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Lost ‘mega-escarpment’ across ancient USA may explain Grand Canyon’s missing billion years
Read more: Lost ‘mega-escarpment’ across ancient USA may explain Grand Canyon’s missing billion yearsPhys.org has an interesting story about the Grand Canyon. The geologic record of the Grand Canyon spans about 2 billion years, but more than half of it is missing! This gap is known as the Great Unconformity. Now, a new study, published in the journal Geology, may have found evidence of what happened those missing rock layers. Scientists have found evidence that a colossal cliff stretching thousands of kilometers across ancient North America may have exposed the heart of the Grand Canyon nearly a billion years before it was carved by the Colorado River. The study, led by the University…
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Field Faire: A Knight at the Museum
Read more: Field Faire: A Knight at the MuseumThe Field Museum is holding another special Museum After Hours event. This one is Thursday, August 20th, 2026. Hear ye, seekers of wonder, scholars of the arts, and revelers of science and sorcery— For one enchanted evening, the hallowed halls of the Field Museum will transform into a realm of myth, merriment, and discovery for a 21+ Renaissance-inspired celebration unlike any other. Upon arrival, guests shall join one of four noble orders — Science, Record, Research, or the Dissemination of Knowledge — the founding muses upon which the museum was built, and rally behind their Champion of Discovery throughout the evening’s festivities.…
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Mazon Monday #336: 1980’s Pit 11 Collecting
Read more: Mazon Monday #336: 1980’s Pit 11 CollectingKeeping with the history theme, here’s a photo from a field trip to Pit 11 most likely from the 1980’s. You can see Braidwood Station in the background. Construction on August 1st, 1975 and completed in 1988.
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Report for the Rock, Mineral, and Fossil Swap 2026
Read more: Report for the Rock, Mineral, and Fossil Swap 2026The day started cloudy with a predictions on rain from about 9 AM to 11 AM. Unfortunately, the meteorologists were correct this time. It rained pretty steadily for more than an hour. That kept probably kept quite a few people away, but for the ones who showed, there was much fun and plenty of rocks! Here is just a small sampling of the day…
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Field Museum in the News! Paul Mayer on the Morgan Shoal
Read more: Field Museum in the News! Paul Mayer on the Morgan ShoalPaul Mayer, Fossil Invertebrate Collection Manager at the Field Museum in Chicago, IL was on “Chicago Live” recently. He was answering questions about the Silurian Rocks exposed in Lake Michigan at Morgan Shoal along the southern shoreline.
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Fossil Friday #330: Mazon Creek in the Illinois State Fair 4H
Read more: Fossil Friday #330: Mazon Creek in the Illinois State Fair 4HESCONI Junior Luke Schallhorn had his Mazon Creek Fossils 4H geology project selected as a delegate from Marshall-Putnam County to the Illinois State Fair! It was on display on Sunday, August 16th, 2026. Maybe, you saw it?!?
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Throwback Thursday #330: All Illinois Rock Swap and Silent Auction 1976
Read more: Throwback Thursday #330: All Illinois Rock Swap and Silent Auction 1976August 28, 2026 will mark the 50th Anniversary of the “All Illinois Rock Swap and Silent Auction”. It was held on August 28th and 29th, 1976 at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL. The event was held in Parking Lot K. Long-time ESCONI member Rich Rock was Chairman. And really, who has a better name for than him to be involved in an event like this? Here is a photo of him and his grandson Pete at last year’s ESCONI Rock Swap.
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ESCONI Field Trip to Bellevue, MI Quarry on Saturday, September 12th, 2026
Read more: ESCONI Field Trip to Bellevue, MI Quarry on Saturday, September 12th, 2026A field trip to a quarry in Bellevue, MI is scheduled for Saturday, September 12th, 2026. This is a joint trip with the Kalamazoo Geological and Mineral Society (KGMS), and will be led by KGMS members. There is space for 15 ESCONI members. The trip will be from 9:30 AM ET to 2:30 PM ET. Note […]
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Reminder! 2026 ESCONI Rock, Mineral and Fossil Swap and Sale – August 15, 2026 at College of DuPage
Read more: Reminder! 2026 ESCONI Rock, Mineral and Fossil Swap and Sale – August 15, 2026 at College of DuPageESCONI is sponsoring a rock swap and sale event on August 15, 2026 at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. The location is Parking Lot 4, south of the Health and Science Building, and adjacent to the prairie.
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Mazon Monday #335: Richardson Collecting at Pit 11 in 1974
Read more: Mazon Monday #335: Richardson Collecting at Pit 11 in 1974A few years ago, Charlie Shabica donated a collection of historical documents to ESCONI, and these photographs were among the materials. They document a Mazon Creek field trip in July 1974 led by Eugene Richardson Jr., Curator of Fossil Invertebrates at the Field Museum.
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Behold, The World’s Oldest Amber – a Record of a World 385 Million Years Ago
Read more: Behold, The World’s Oldest Amber – a Record of a World 385 Million Years AgoScience Alert has a story about the discovery of the oldest known amber. The amber dates to the Middle Devonian Period, some 385 mullion years ago and about 65 million years older than the previous record holder. Amber is fossilized tree resin, so land plants needed to evolve before amber was possible. This particular amber was found in a coal deposit in northwest China. We tend to think of tree resin as an ancient, fragrant defense against munching insects – one that fends off pests and scabs over the wounds left by their voracious mandibles. But a new discovery suggests that these viscous…
Mazon Creek Fossil Day – October 10th, 2026!
Most Recent Post
- Fossil Friday #332: Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri from Kansas
Today, we have a Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri (see Mazon Monday #39) from the Tonganoxie Sandstone (Stranger Formation of the Douglas Group in the Virginian Stage) near Ottawa, Kansas. That formation has been dated to a range of 306 to 299 million years ago, which is younger than Mazon Creek. Many plant fossils were collected from the locality in the late 1970’s. Unfortunately, the site is now closed.
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Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings!
| Saturday, July 11th | Field Trip to Mount Orab for Ordovician Trilobites Details were sent in an email. |
| Saturday, August 15th | ESCONI Rock, Mineral, and Fossil Swap College of Dupage – 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM. Details here. |
| No meetings until September | General Meeting |
| No meetings until September | Paleontology Study Group |
| No meetings until September | Junior Study Group Meeting |
| No meetings until September | Mineralogy Study Group |