This is Throwback Thursday #9.  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 send them to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Thanks!

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ESCONI has had a long history of field trips to the old Elmer Larson (now Vulcan) Quarry in DeKalb, IL.  In researching this story, I found this article in the Chicago Tribune from March 27th, 1994 that lists Jack Wittry and others collecting there.  There are also articles in various papers of the Open House events they held for years (2007).

The abundant fossils collected at this site come from the Brainard Shale, which is part of the Maquoketa Group.   Some of the common fossils found there are brachiopods, trilobites, bryozoans, crinoids, tentaculites, and cephalopods.   Below is a picture of the rock formation exposed in this quarry.

Here are the field trip pictures.  I see quite a few ESCONI regulars, including a younger version of myself!