This is the “Fossil Friday” post #85.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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You might recall that this year ESCONI had a couple field trips to a Danville, IL area spoil pile to collect fossils.  There was a spring and a fall trip and we expect to return next spring.  They were productive trips with many new and exciting finds for everyone.  Most of the fossils were found in “red dog” shale, which is shale that was baked to a hardness when the spoil pile caught fire years ago.  However, there were also fossil bearing concretions.  Some were found open and others were collected for the freeze/thaw processing common with Mazon Creek concretions. 

Earlier this week, one popped open!  This is a Callipteridium neuropteroides, a seed fern similar to Alethoperis and Neuropteris.  It has been in an out of the freezer since July, maybe 30 – 35 cycles.

Here is a photo of the outside of the concretion.  Not as smooth as those found in the Mazon Creek deposits,

Open concretion.