Category: Mazon Creek
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Mazon Creek Fossil Day, October 14th, 2023, 10 AM to 3 PM, Coal City Public Library
Today is the day! Come on out! JOIN US FOR MAZON CREEK FOSSIL DAY Coal City Public LibraryOctober 14, 202310 AM to 3 PM Displays of Mazon Creek FossilsIdentification of Mazon Creek FossilsBooks on Mazon Creek Fossils for saleLecture on collecting Mazon CreekFossils at 1 PM Download Flyer Presented by ESCONI (Earth Science Club ofNorthern…
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Fossil Friday #182: Lepidodendron Bark
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #182. 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! Lepidodendron, also known as “scale tree”, is…
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Throwback Thursday #183: Braidwood Historical Society
While doing some research on the area, I stopped by the Braidwood Area Historical Society last Saturday. I met Ed Bunting and Carida Davis, who are super knowledgeable and very helpful. They can answer any question you throw at them!
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Mazon Monday #185: The Naming of the Tully Monster
This is Mazon Monday post #185. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The Tully Monster was named the state fossil in 1989. Unfortunately, this was about two years after Francis Tully, its namesake, had passed away. The following article appeared in the April 1989 edition of the ESCONI newsletter. It was…
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Fossil Friday #181: Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #181. 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! This week, we have a rather nice…
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Mazon Monday #184: Historic Collectors – L.E. Daniels
This is Mazon Monday post #184. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Lorenzo Eugene Daniels was a Farmer, Sheriff of Grundy County, IL, Assistant State Geologist, Indiana, and an Amateur Conchologist. He was born in Mazon, Illinois on March 4th 1852. In the scientific literature of the time, he is referred…
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Fossil Friday #180: Acanthotelson stimpsoni
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #180. 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! This week’s fossil is a sweet little…
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Mazon Monday #183: Sphenopteris plicata
This is Mazon Monday post #183. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Sphenopteris plicata was described by Leo Lesquereux in 1858. Lesquereux (1806 – 1889) described much of the North American Carboniferous flora in the mid 1800’s as a consultant to various US state geological surveys. His book “Atlas to the…
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Fossil Friday #179: Reticulopteris munsterii
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #179. 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! We have a Pit 3 Reticulopteris munsterii…
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Mazon Monday #182: Braceville Fall 2023 Report
This is Mazon Monday post #182. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The Fall 2023 Braceville Field Trip is in the books… is is that on the web? It was a enjoyable, but somewhat wet, weekend. We had rain at the very end of the day on Saturday and most of…
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Fossil Friday #178: Radicites
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #178. 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! We have something different from Mazon Creek…
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Throwback Thursday #179: Braceville Field Trip Photos 2016
This is Throwback Thursday #179. 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! Here are photos from the ESCONI Braceville Field Trip in May 2016. By the looks of it, the…
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Mazon Monday #181: Mariopteris nervosa
Mariopteris nervosa is the most common species of Mariopteris found in the Mazon Creek fossil biota. It was named by Adolphe-Theodore Brongniart in 1879. He was a French botanist, who is widely considered the father of Paleobotany. He lived from 1801 until 1876. Some of his works were published posthumously in the early 1880’s. He…
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Fossil Friday #177: Euproops danae
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #177. 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! Today’s fossil is a very nice horseshoe…
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ESCONI September 2023 General Meeting – Friday, September 8th, 2023 at 8:00 PM via Zoom – “Tropical rainforests – A 300-million-year-old history”
The September 2023 General Meeting will be held on Friday, September 8th, 2023 at 8:00 PM via Zoom. Our speaker is Fabiany Herrera, who is the Assistant Curator of Paleobotany at the Field Museum. Mazon Monday #178 was about a recent paper by Fabiany. Approximately eighty plant taxa have been recognized from the Mazon Creek…
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Mazon Monday #180: Grundy County Historical Society Museum
This is Mazon Monday post #180. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The Grundy County Historical Society Museum is a hidden gem in Morris, IL. Their mission is to house, preserve, and exhibit objects pertaining to Grundy County’s history: cultural, social, geological, and anthropological. Established in 1923, they had a centennial celebration…
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Fossil Friday #176: Aphlebia crispa
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #176. 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! —————————————————– Fossil Friday has become a family…
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Mazon Monday #179: Mr Tully’s Tullys
This is Mazon Monday post #179. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The Tully Monster was designated Illinois’ State Fossil in 1989. Unfortunately, Francis Tully (yes! an ESCONI member!) didn’t live to see it as he died in 1987. While much is still uncertain, we know quite a bit more about…
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TRIP FULL: ESCONI Field Trip to Danville, IL – Saturday, September 23rd, 2023
This trip is now FULL. Danville Field Trip Rules for Sept 23, 2023 An ESCONI field trip to the Danville Shale Pile for Pennsylvanian fossils is scheduled for Sept 23, 2023 starting at 10 AM. This is on private property and there is an attendance limit of 25 people. The gate will be secured once…
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Mazon Monday #178: Investigating Mazon Creek fossil plants using computed tomography and microphotography
This is Mazon Monday post #178. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Fabiany Herrera, Assistant Curator of Paleobotany at the Field Museum of Natural History, was the lead author of a new paper about Mazon Creek plant research. The paper is entitled “Investigating Mazon Creek fossil plants using computed tomography and…
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Fossil Friday #174: A Jellyfish with a Secret
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #174. 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! —————————————————– Mazon Creek concretions come in many…
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ESCONI Field Trip to Braceville, IL for Mazon Creek Fossils – Saturday, September 16th and Sunday September 17th, 2023
Update: both days are FULL! Braceville Field Trip Rules for Sept 2023 The ESCONI field trips to Braceville for Mazon Creek fossils are set for Sept 16 and 17, 2023 from 9 AM to 3 PM. You can attend one or the other, but not both days. There is an attendance limit of 50 people each…
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Mazon Monday #177: Elonichthys hypsilepus
This is Mazon Monday post #177. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Elonichthys hypsilepus was described in 1900 by Oliver Perry Hay (1846 – 1930) in the paper “Descriptions of some vertebrates of the Carboniferous age, Proceedings American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia”. Hay was an American herpetologist, ichthyologist, and paleontologist. He worked…
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Fossil Friday #173: Elonichthys hypsilepus from Mazon Creek
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #173. 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! —————————————————– Today, we have a gorgeous Mazon…
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Mazon Monday #176: “Please, try for more fossil insects!”
Today’s post is an update to Mazon Monday #172, which was entitled “Fossil Insect Symposium 1990”. Long time ESCONI member Marty Houdek read that post and sent us some information about the event, because he was there! Actually, he’s in the last photo framed in the window, wearing the flannel shirt.
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Fossil Friday #172: Mazoscolopendra richardsoni
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #172. 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! Centipedes are one of the rarest of…
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Throwback Thursday #173: Chiton Hill in Pit 11
Earlier this week, we posted Mazon Monday #172 Glaphurochiton. In that post, it was mentioned that chitons tended to be found in larger assemblages. In fact, a few ridges in Pit 11 were referred to as “Chiton Hills”.
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Mazon Monday #175: Glaphurochiton concinnus
This is Mazon Monday post #175. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Chitons are rare in the Mazon Creek biota. They are Mollusks, belonging to the same Phylum as oysters, clams, cephalopods, snails, and gastropods. Classified as polyplacophorans, they always have eight ornamented segments or valves. Glaphurochiton concinnus was one of…
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Fossil Friday #171: Mazon Creek Annularia
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #171. 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! Today’s fossil comes from long time ESCONI…
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Mazon Monday #174: Flea Shrimp
This is Mazon Monday post #174. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Thylacocephala are considered problematic. They are known from some species in the Paleozoic and a few more from Mesozoic, with no known extant forms. There are two species of Thylacocephala, often referred to as “flea shrimp”, from Mazon Creek…
