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The Mirror: Earth Science Week photo competition winners – including stunning shot of Rainbow Mountain
Read more: The Mirror: Earth Science Week photo competition winners – including stunning shot of Rainbow MountainThe Mirror has a post with pictures from the winners of the 2019 Earth Science Week photography competition, “Geoscience for everyone”.
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Reminder: ESCONI October Paleontology Study Group Meeting October 19th, 2019 – Waves, Winds, and Tides: Fossil Collecting on the West Dorset Coast of Southern England
Read more: Reminder: ESCONI October Paleontology Study Group Meeting October 19th, 2019 – Waves, Winds, and Tides: Fossil Collecting on the West Dorset Coast of Southern EnglandWaves, Winds, and Tides: Fossil Collecting on the West Dorset Coast of Southern England. Presentation by: Andrew Young, with Marie Angkuw, Jann Bergsten, Rhonda Gates, and Deborah Lovely. For the last several years, a group of ESCONI members have traveled to England in winter to collect fossils on its famous Jurassic Coast. Contrary to the time of year when vacationers typically hit the beaches looking for calm water and sunny skies, these enthusiasts plan their adventures precisely when the weather promises to be most violent and the tides most dramatic. It is when the fragile cliffs along the shoreline are…
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Happy Earth Science Week, October 13-19, 2019!
Read more: Happy Earth Science Week, October 13-19, 2019!This week is Earth Science Week. Look here for the details. Check out the newsletter. Sunday, October 13International Earthcache Day. Explore the world with this GPS scavenger hunt! Monday, October 14Earth Science Literacy Day. Learn the fundamentals of geosciences with Earth Science: Big Idea, a video series developed to explain why Earth science literacy is important. Tuesday, October 15Earth Observation Day. Engage students and teachers in remote sensing as an exciting and powerful educational tool. No Child Left Inside Day. NCLI Day encourages students to go outside and research Earth science in the field like a professional geoscientist. Wednesday, October 16National Fossil Day. The annually held…
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National Fossil Day 2019 Event: Lauer Foundation at the Cosley Zoo on October 19th, 2019
Read more: National Fossil Day 2019 Event: Lauer Foundation at the Cosley Zoo on October 19th, 2019The National Fossil Day has a page with events planned for on and near the actual date of Wednesday, October 16th, 2019. There’s quite a few events listed and an interesting one listed for Illinois. The Lauer Foundation and the Cosley Zoo in Wheaton, IL are holding an event on Saturday, October 19th, 2019. There will be Mazon Creek fossils, including the Illinois State Fossil Tully Monster. Additionally, they plan to have shark teeth and dinosaur teeth and bones. It should be a great time! Here are all the details. Cosley Zoo Celebrate National Fossil Day Lauer Foundation for Paleontology,…
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ESCONI Flashback Friday #22: Interesting Memories From the Early Days of ESCONI (15th Anniversary)
Read more: ESCONI Flashback Friday #22: Interesting Memories From the Early Days of ESCONI (15th Anniversary)As part of the run up to ESCONI’s 70th Anniversary, here is Flashback Friday post #22. If you have pictures or stories to contribute, please send them over to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! For this Flashback Friday post, we have two letters that appeared in the 15th Anniversity issue of the Earth Science News. The first is from Bill Allaway, one of the founding members and the first chairman/president of ESCONI. The second is from Jay and Elizabeth Farr, also founding members. Both letters convey the same vision of ESCONI when it was first founded. ESCONI was very much (and still is)…
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WTTW: Field Museum’s New Meteorite Contains Stardust That Predates the Solar System
Read more: WTTW: Field Museum’s New Meteorite Contains Stardust That Predates the Solar SystemWTTW News has a piece about a new meteorite at the Field Museum. The new specimen is a 4-pound chunk of a meteorite that crashed into a Costa Rican village earlier this year. The chunk was purchased by frequent donor Terry Boudreaux, a retired health care executive. The unimpressive looking rock is a rare carbonaceous chondrite that contains large amounts of organic compounds that date to about 4.5 billion years ago. The biggest piece of the meteorite discovered – the rock now in the Field’s possession – landed near a farm in Aguas Zarcas, a town of about 20,000 people…
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ScienceAlert: A Fossil of a Ginormous Flying Reptile Has Just Been Discovered in Australia
Read more: ScienceAlert: A Fossil of a Ginormous Flying Reptile Has Just Been Discovered in AustraliaScience Alert has a story about a huge pterosaur discovery in Australia. Pterosaurs seem to be in the news lately and this one is called “Iron Dragon”, Ferrodraco lentoni. Discovered in the Winton area of central western Queensland, it had a wingspan of about 4 meters (13 feet). This animal lived about 96 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period. The paper describing this specimen appeared in the journal Scientific Reports. The newly discovered species, which my colleagues and I have named Ferrodraco lentoni, had a wingspan of about 4 metres (13 feet). It lived around 96 million years ago,…
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NBC5: Smell Sue the T. Rex’s Breath at New Field Museum Exhibit
Read more: NBC5: Smell Sue the T. Rex’s Breath at New Field Museum ExhibitNBC5 has a segment on some new features in SUE exhibit at the Field Museum. You can feel her skin, hear her rumble, even smell her breath… it’s a whole day in the life of a T-rex! What did Sue the T. Rex’s breath smell like back in the day (i.e. the late Cretaceous Period)? In short, not great. The Field Museum’s multi-sensory portion of the new Sue exhibit lets visitors sniff what the famous dino’s breath might have smelled like, feel her “skin” and more. NBC 5’s Kye Martin reports. (Published Friday, Oct 4, 2019)
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NatGeo: Inside the homes (and minds) of fossil collectors
Read more: NatGeo: Inside the homes (and minds) of fossil collectorsNational Geographic has a story about fossil collectors – professional, commercial, and amateur. There’s a good discussion of the pros and cons to commercial fossil collecting. The conclusion is great… I hope it comes to pass! But the gold rush never quite materialized. There’s a glut of Tyrannosaurus specimens on the market now, and other prize specimens sell only after years of price-cutting. Even so, assorted scandals—faked specimens from China, illicitly smuggled dinosaur bones from Mongolia, and careless or illegal excavations everywhere—have sustained the hostility of some academic paleontologists toward private collectors. So has the tendency to treat precious fossils merely as…
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ESCONI October Junior Meeting on Friday October 11th, 2019 at 7:00 PM – Fossils #fossils
Read more: ESCONI October Junior Meeting on Friday October 11th, 2019 at 7:00 PM – Fossils #fossilsEarth Science Club of Northern Illinois Does your child love collecting fossils? Join us at our next junior meeting! Friday October 11th 7pm College of Dupage Technical Education Center West side room 1038A We will collect while staying in the room! Anything is possible with ESCONI. Kids age 6 to 17 are guaranteed to be thrilled. Contact gallowayscottf@gmail.com with questions Go to http://www.esconi.org for the map
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PBS Eons: When Antarctica Was Green
Read more: PBS Eons: When Antarctica Was GreenPBS Eons has a new episode. This one discusses when Antarctica was green and had a population of animals. Before the start of the Eocene Epoch about 56 million years ago–Antarctica was still joined to both Australia and South America. And it turns out that a lot of what we recognize about the southern hemisphere can be traced back to that time when Antarctica was green.
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Reminder: Rock and Fossil Garage Sale – Saturday, October 5th, 2019
Read more: Reminder: Rock and Fossil Garage Sale – Saturday, October 5th, 2019There will be a sale of rocks and fossils from the collection of Dave and Sheila Bergmann on Saturday, October 5th, 2019 at 401 S. Lombard Ave, Lombard, IL from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Material for sale includes minerals and fossils in flats, as well as individual specimens. There will also be equipment, jewelry, and carvings along with some antiques, fishing equipment, lawn equipment and miscellaneous items.
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ESCONI Flashback Friday #21: 10th Anniversary President’s Message
Read more: ESCONI Flashback Friday #21: 10th Anniversary President’s MessageAs part of the run up to ESCONI’s 70th Anniversary, here is Flashback Friday post #21. If you have pictures or stories to contribute, please send them over to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! In the 10th Anniversary edition of the Earth Science News, ESCONI President Wilbur L. Hoff had this message. While smaller now than we once were, we still strive to uphold the ideals mentioned herein. Come on out and meet some interesting people who all love Earth Science! Wilbur Hoff, Jay Farr, and Jerry Prepp in February 1958 CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE DEDICATING THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF “THE EARTH SCIENCE CLUB OF…
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ESCONI Events October 2019
Read more: ESCONI Events October 2019Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings! Fri, Oct 11th ESCONI Junior Meeting, 7:00 PM College of Dupage – Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038A (Map) – Topic: “Fossils” Fri, Oct 11th ESCONI General Meeting, 8:00 PM College of Dupage – Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038A (Map) – Topic: “Local Vertebrate Microfossil and Brachiopod Records of the Late Devonian Mass Extinction” by Dr. James E. “Jed” Day, Professor of Geology at Illinois State University Sat, Oct 12th ESCONI Field Trip, Rockford Area Gravel Pit, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM – Details here Sat, Oct 19th ESCONI Paleontology…
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UChicago: Fish story for the ages: High schooler unearths rare fossil
Read more: UChicago: Fish story for the ages: High schooler unearths rare fossilThe University of Chicago has a post about a recent Green River find. A very interesting gar fish skull was found this summer by a high school student in Lance Grande’s “Stones and Bones” program at the University of Chicago this last summer. The specimen comes from a fish estimated to be 8 feet long! It was prepared by ESCONI member Tony Bellos, who works as a fossil preparator at the Field Museum. In the 16 years he’s led the program, Lance Grande of The Field Museum in Chicago has helped students make all sorts of discoveries in Wyoming’s Green River Formation.…
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The Forgotten Paleontologist: A Commentary by Keith Robitschek
Read more: The Forgotten Paleontologist: A Commentary by Keith RobitschekThe discovery: Paleontological events are based on theory and evidence is required to prove that an event actually occurred. Today, the event that occurred sixty-six million years ago at the Yucatan peninsula has been proven through scientific research based on core samples at the impact site and iridium analyses in the K-Pg boundary that was observed over much of the world. For years paleontologists hunted for additional evidence of that occurrence, without success. Computer modeling had shown the effects of the impact. These results included a rain of a totally different kind – rain that included solidified molten glass particles…
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South Suburban Earth Science Club Fossil, Gem, Mineral & Jewelry Show – October 19th and 20th, 2019
Read more: South Suburban Earth Science Club Fossil, Gem, Mineral & Jewelry Show – October 19th and 20th, 2019The Prairie State College (PSC) Natural Science Department is hosting the South Suburban Earth Science Club Fossil, Gem, Mineral, and Jewelry Show from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 19th and 20th, in the Prairie Center Gym on PSC’s main campus at 202 S. Halsted St. in Chicago Heights. The event is co-sponsored by the South Suburban Earth Science Club (SSESC). The annual show is an opportunity for gem and fossil enthusiasts to meet the experts, get a close look at the latest finds, learn about the geological history of the area, and purchase rare gems,…
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PBS Eons: When Giant Lemurs Ruled Madagascar
Read more: PBS Eons: When Giant Lemurs Ruled MadagascarPBS Eons has a new episode. It is about the history of lemurs on Madagascar. How did they get there? In what ways did they evolve? What happened to the giants? Just a few thousand years ago, the island of Madagascar was inhabited by giant lemurs. How did such a diverse group of primates evolve in the first place, and how did they help shape the unique environments of Madagascar? And how did they get winnowed down, leaving only their smaller relatives behind?
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Reminder: Rock and Fossil Garage Sale – Saturday, September 28th, 2019
Read more: Reminder: Rock and Fossil Garage Sale – Saturday, September 28th, 2019There will be a sale of rocks and fossils from the collection of Dave and Sheila Bergmann on consecutive Saturday 28th, 2019 at 401 S. Lombard Ave, Lombard, IL from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Material for sale includes minerals and fossils in flats, as well as individual specimens. There will also be equipment, jewelry, and carvings along with some antiques, fishing equipment, lawn equipment and miscellaneous items.
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ESCONI Flashback Friday #20: ESCONI Class Song from 1967
Read more: ESCONI Flashback Friday #20: ESCONI Class Song from 1967As part of the run up to ESCONI’s 70th Anniversary, here is Flashback Friday post #20. If you have pictures or stories to contribute, please send them over to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! Here is a song composed by some ESCONI members way back in 1967. The lyrics are by June Lyon Douglass. It should be sung to the tune of “Chicago”. ESCONI, ESCONI, That Go Happy Group! ESCONI, ESCONI, I’ll Give You The Scoop!! Believe Me, You Will Never Find Any – Club Of Its Kine in the Na-tion, The Na-tion The Mem-bers There Are Way Be-yond Compare! No Pho-nies, No…
ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show
Most Recent Post
- PBS Terra: The Cascadia Megaquake Is Inevitable. And It Will Reshape America Forever
PBS Terra has an interesting new video. This one covers the history, science, and future of the Cascadia Subduction Zone in the Pacific Northwest.
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Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings!
| Friday, April 10th | General Meeting – 8:00 PM via Zoom. Jessica Hull will present “Life in the Devonian Period, The Age of Fishes.” |
| Saturday, April 11th | Junior Study Group Meeting – 2:00 PM, in person at the College of DuPage Technical Education Center (TEC) Building – Room 1038A (Map). Katherine Howard will present on Sand and Sediment Collecting. Specifics of this meeting are available from Scott Galloway, 630-670-2591, gallowayscottf@gmail.com. |
| Saturday, April 18th | Paleontology Study Group – 7:30 PM via Zoom and in person at the College of DuPage, TEC, Room 1038B (Map). Keith Robitschek will present “Digging the Marl of the Lance Formation.” |
| Friday, April 24th | MAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL. |
| Saturday, April 25th | MAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL. |
| Sunday, April 26th | MAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL. |
| No meeting this month | Mineralogy Study Group |