Category: Mazon Creek
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2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show March 23th and March 24th – Preview #15, Macroneuropteris (Mazon Creek)
Tomorrow is the 2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show! Here are a few more pictures of live auction material Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri (Mazon Creek)
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2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show March 23th and March 24th – Preview #13, Laveineopteris rarinervis (Mazon Creek Fern)
Another preview of material for the live auction at the 2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show… Laveineopteris rarinervis (Mazon Creek Fern)
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2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show March 23th and March 24th – Preview #12, Neuropteris vermicularis (Mazon Creek Fern)
Another preview of material for the live auction at the 2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show… Neuropteris vermicularis (Mazon Creek Fern)
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2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show March 23th and March 24th – Preview #11, Alethopteris serlii (Mazon Creek Fern)
Another preview of material for the live auction at the 2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show… Alethopteris serlii (Mazon Creek Fern)
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2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show March 23th and March 24th – Preview #9, Laveineopteris rarinervis (Mazon Creek Fern)
Another preview of material for the live auction at the 2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show… Laveineopteris rarinervis from the Mazon Creek biota.
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2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show March 23th and March 24th – Preview #7, Alethopteris (Mazon Creek Fern)
Another preview of material for the live auction at the 2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show… Alethopteris sullivanti from the Mazon Creek biota.
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2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show March 23th and March 24th – Preview #6, Crenulopteris (Mazon Creek Fern)
Another preview of material for the live auction at the 2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show… Crenulopteris acadica from the Mazon Creek biota.
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2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show March 23th and March 24th – Preview #2, Mazon Creek Plant
Another preview of material for the live auction at the 2019 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show. This very nice Crenulopteris subcrenulata will be offered up for auction.
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ESCONI Field Trip: Saturday, September 8th and Sunday, September 9th, 2018 to Braceville for Mazon Creek Fossils
The ESCONI field trips to Braceville for Mazon Creek fossils are set for September 8 and 9, 2018 from 8 AM to 2 PM. You can attend either or both days. There is an attendance limit of 40 people each day. Meet at 8 AM at the entrance to the collecting site on S Berta…
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Braceville Field Trip Report for Spring 2018
it started out rainy and fairly cold (46 degrees), but the day turned out nice. There were many concretions found. Hopefully, they will prove to be more than just potentially fossil bearing. The world has turned very green recently!
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ESCONI Field Trip: Saturday, May 12th and Sunday, May 13th, 2018 to Braceville for Mazon Creek Fossils
The ESCONI field trips to Braceville for Mazon Creek fossils are set for May 12 and 13, 2018 from 8 AM to 2 PM. You can attend either or both days. Meet at 8 AM at the entrance to the collecting site on S Berta Road, just east of the intersection with Division St (Braceville…
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Field Trip: September 9-10, 2017 Braceville – Mazon Creek Fossils
Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils on private property. Meet at 8:00 A.M. Saturday or Sunday at the BP Amoco in Coal City. No Age Limit. Hard Hats not required. Take I-55 to Exit 236 (Coal City). Take a right onto Highway 113 (Division Street). Go west to Broadway Street and Division in Coal City. We will…
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ESCONI Field Trip: Braceville, IL – Saturday, May 13th and Sunday, May 14th, 2017
May 13th-14th, 2017 Braceville – Mazon Creek Fossils Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils on private property. Meet at 8:00 AM Saturday or Sunday at the BP Amoco in Coal City. No Age Limit. Hard Hats not required. Take I-55 to Exit 236 (Coal City). Take a right onto Highway 113 (Division Street). Go west to Broadway…
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Mazon Creek: Carbon Hill School Museum
Possibly of interest to Mazon fossil collectors is the Carbon Hill School Museum, home of the Carbon Hill Historical Society. Located at 875 N. Second Street in Carbon Hill, it is open on Monday afternoons from noon to 4 p.m. This museum has a number of Mazon fossils donated to it by Tom Testa, who…
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Paul Mayer Lecture at the Grundy County Historical Society, Tuesday, April 25th, 2017 at 7:00 PM
The Paul Mayer lecture to the Grundy County Historical Society (open to everyone, member or not) will focus on Mazon Creek fossils. The lecture will happen Tuesday, April 25, 2017, at 7 p.m. in the lower level of the Morris, IL, public library. The library is located at 604 Liberty Street in Morris. Google it…
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Braceville Field Trip Report – Fall 2016
The day started out rainy and the trail was muddy and buggy, but there were many concretions to be collected. Many of us spent part of the day surface collecting concretions that were exposed by the recent heavy rains. A few members supplied fossils from past trips to the kids (young and old) in attendance. …
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Braceville Field Trip Report
There was great weather on the weekend of May 21st and 22nd. Quite a few people showed up and everyone collected concretions. Some lucky ones found artefacts from the mining days. Here is a movie of the approach to the spoil pile. The hill has shrunk quite a bit in the last few years. …
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The Fantastically Strange Origin of Most Coal on Earth – Phenomena : Curiously Krulwich
Carboniferous Forest Diorama. Photograph by John Weinstein, Field Museum Library, Getty Robert Krulwich has a good post about the origin of 90% (yes, 90%!) of the coal on Earth. It seems that back during the Carboniferous Period the fungi needed to break down “wood” hadn’t evolved yet when “trees” started making cellulose and lignin. …
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The Brain Scoop: The Tully Monster
The Field Museum’s Brain Scoop YouTube Channel has an episode about the Tully Monster. Yes, it may be a repeat of previous information, but it’s the Tully Monster… and they open some concretions!
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Field Trip: Braceville, IL for Mazon Creek Fossils, May 21st and 22nd, 2016
May 21-22, 2016 Braceville – Mazon Creek Fossils Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils on private property. Meet at 8:00 A.M. Saturday or Sunday at the BP Amoco in Coal City. No Age Limit. Hard Hats not required. Take I-55 to Exit 236 (Coal City). Take a right onto Highway 113 (Division Street). Go west to Broadway…
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PBS Chicago Tonight: The Tully Monster
PBS’s “Chicago Tonight” has a great segment on the Tully Monster. It features a 12 minute interview with the Field Museum’s Paul Mayer and Scott Lidgard. There was an excellent discussion of Mazon Creek fossils, in general, with a great specimen of Alethopteris. All kinds of good information, Colchester coal, Braidwood, Coal City, and even…
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Field Trip: Braceville, IL, Mazon Creek Fossils May 16-17, 2015
Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils on private property Meet at 8:00 AM Saturday or Sunday at the BP Amoco in Coal City. No Age Limit. Hard Hats not required. Take I-55 to Exit 236 (Coal City). Take a right onto Highway 113 (Division Street). Go west to Broadway Street and Division in Coal City. We will…
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Braceville, IL Field Trip – September 27th and 28th, 2014
Meet at 8:00 A.M. Saturday at the BP Amoco in Coal City. No Age Limit. Hard Hats not required. Take I-55 to Exit 236 (Coal City). Take a right onto Highway 113 (Division Street). Go west to Broadway Street and Division in Coal City. We will be collecting Mazon Creek concretions from an old spoil…
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Mazon Creek in the News
From Chicago Tribune: … Before the time of the dinosaurs, long-nosed Bandringa sharks were leaving their freshwater homes to lay eggs in the shallow coastal waters of a long-gone sea that stretched over most of the American Midwest, according to a new paper published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology…. … In 1969, researchers discovered…
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Where Can I Collect Mazon Creek Fossils?
Here is the state park in Illinois that is known for Mazon Creek fossil collecting – http://www.dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/PARKS/R2/MAZONIA.HTM Resources about collecting: http://www.esconi.org/esconi_earth_science_club/2009/01/mazon-creek-reference-information.html ESCONI hosts two Mazon Creek collecting field trips each year to a site on private land. You just need to be a member of the club to attend. Here is the page with information…
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Mazon Creek Fossils: Dinner With Dr. Frederick R. Schram by Mary Fairchild
Rob Sula, Dr. Frederick R. Schram, Jack Wittry, Jim Fairchild.–August, 2011. The Mazon Creek site is very significant because of the diversity of life compared to other Lagerstatten. Frederick R. Schram (2) In August, ESCONI members Rob and Sondra Sula, Jack and Charlene Wittry, and Jim and I met with Dr. Frederick Schram at the Two Brothers…
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