Category: Member Posts
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Thomas Carr: Decoding Dinosaurs at Carthage
By Mary Fairchild Last week, we had the pleasure of dining with Thomas Carr and his wife Belinda prior the ESCONI general meeting where we were delighted to hear him speak on his important work at Carthage. “‘Dinosaurs Decoded” premiered Oct. 11, 2009, on the National Geographic Channel. The documentary features Prof. Carr, a vertebrate…
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Mazon Creek Collecting Trip 5/21/2011
Pencil in this date, 5/21-22, for an ESCONI Mazon Creek fossil collecting trip in Braceville. More details to come.
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Paul Sereno: African Dinosaurs Exhibit at Burpee Museum
By Mary Fairchild A 1997 “People Magazine” sporting Paul Sereno as one of 50 most beautiful people was autographed and auctioned off for $80 last night at the 13th annual Paleofest hosted by the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, Illinois. Sereno’s appearance was “part of the package” for his traveling exhibit of African dinosaurs, “Splendid Isolation:…
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The Mineralogical Society of Southern Africa
This article, authored by Dr. Duncan Miller, appeared in the South African Lapidary Magazine in July 2010. At one time there was an exchange bulletin arrangement between ESCONI and the Federation of Southern African Gem and Mineralogical Societies (FOSAGAMS). Now the connection is tenuous, consisting of a small number of common members, pictured below. See…
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Mineral of the Month – Azurite
Azurite from Tsumeb, Namibia. Specimen and photo – J de Jongh Crystal system: Monoclinic Hardness: 3,5 – 4 Density: 3.83 average Cleavage: perfect Streak: light blue Colour: blue to very dark blue. Occurrence: A secondary mineral found in the oxidized zones of copper-bearing ore deposits. Habitat: Crystals are usually…
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Dinosaur Ancestors’ Fossils Found
The earliest known relatives of dinosaurs were the size of a house cat, walked on four legs and left footprints in the quarries in Poland. The tracks, described in a report published Wednesday by the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, push back the first appearance of this dinosaur lineage to about 250 million…
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Mineral of the Month
Mimetite from Tsumeb, Namibia. Specimens and photo by – J de Jongh Crystal system: Hexagonal Hardness: 3,5 – 4 Density: 7,1 – 7,24 Cleavage: Imperfect Streak: White Colour: White, yellow, orange, brown, red. Occurrence: A secondary mineral found in the oxidized zones of lead deposits and in other settings where lead…
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The Brandberg Massif
The Brandberg Massif in Namibia is a granitic intrusion which forms a dome-shaped plateau. The geology of the area is littered with eroded mountains and hills which are made up of granite boulders. One basic ingredient found in granite is the mineral feldspar. Feldspar is often a pinkish color that during sunrise and sunset can…
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Translating the Stories of Life Forms Etched in Stone
PUZZLE Many of the creatures found in the fossil record from the time immediately preceding the Cambrian are so unlike modern forms that deciphering what they are and how they lived continues to challenge paleontologists. In 1909, Charles Walcott, a paleontologist and secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, discovered one of the greatest and most famous…
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Fossil Trade Offer – US Specimens from IL, IN, FL, NC, UT, OR
Don, an ESCONI member, posted about his interest in doing some fossil trading on the ESCONI Yahoo Discussion Group: … As an avid fossil collector, I have recently posted various fossils for sale on ebay under the user name blowfly2. However, I am also willing to TRADE any of these fossils listed for others from…
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Geology Museum UW Madison
This weekend we visited the UW Madison Geology Museum. They just added a meteorite collection from the famous April 14th meteor. Click on the photo to see larger photo.
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Fossils for Trade
Over at the ESCONI discussion board, Don B. wrote: “I have a variety of fossils available for trade. Extra specimens looking for a good home. None are top of the line, but may be of interest to fossil collectors. Included are Illinois worm traces, Wisconsin ocean ripple marks, Indiana crinoid calyxes, large clams, Florida shells,…
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Governmentium by Floyd Rogers
(ed. note: not necessarily the view of ESCONI or its members or comment on anything specific – political satire.) Queens University researchers have discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (symbol=Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass…
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What Are Your Memories of ESCONI?
On this anniversary year, it would be fun to have people share their memories of ESCONI. You can send your thoughts to the email of the ESCONI web administrator, who will post to the web site – diannal20@yahoo.com You can send photographs too!
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Read Any Good Earth Science Books Lately?
I just finished Snowball Earth and would recommend it. The book is about the “… controversial hypothesis asserts that about 600 million years ago, the entire planet was encased in ice that was thicker and lasted millennia longer than in any previously recognized ice age. Instantaneously in geologic time, the hypothesis continues, the planet moved…
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Are You Using the Browser IE 6 or 7?
If you are using the Internet Explorer 6 or 7 browser, you may want to update to IE8. IE6 & IE7 browsers are the least secure of the IE browsers – in fact, some say, running IE6 and IE7 is like hanging a sign on your back that says kick me (with a virus).
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How to Send Web Posts to Your Email
You can now sign up to have posts from this web site sent to your email with feedmyinbox.com
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Musings on 60 Years Of ESCONI by Karen Nordquist
As I try to put together a slide show for the 60 year anniversary party, I marvel at what this club has been through over the years. I myself have only been here for about the last ten years having found ESCONI late in my life unfortunately. I seem to have missed the really great…
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Congratulations ESCONI – 60 Years!
60 years ago today, the thirteen founding members came together for the first ESCONI meeting. You can read the minutes of their first meeting. As part of the celebrations, ESCONI will have a special 60th anniversary meeting and a special presentation on Friday, December 4th at College of Dupage, Room K-131, 8:00 pm. Before this…
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Crowdsourcing Science
I’m fascinated by crowd sourcing in technology and science.The most well-known example of crowd sourcing is Wikipedia, which defines crowd sourcing as: … the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to a group (crowd) of people or community in the form of an open call.For example, the…
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Can You Identify?
A reader writes in, “… I have been doing countless web searches in hopes to find someone in IL who can help me out with a rather interesting find (and it looks like I might have found the right people).While I was vacationing down in Northern Florida (around the Jacksonville Area), I came across an…
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African Rockhounds
Betsy and I have been members of our local rock club since 1977. The Earth Science Club Of Northern Illinois, ESCONI, played a large role in our family’s lives as the older members shared their finds and their knowledge with Becky and Lisa as they grew into young ladies. So it should come as no…
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Jack Wittry Presents at the General Meeting on 9-11-09, by Andrew Young
There was certainly a back-to-school atmosphere at the General Meeting last Friday, with attending members full of stories and finds after the club’s summer recess. As people paraded into the classroom, many had cardboard trays, specimen cases or plastic bags carrying carefully split fossil concretions pertaining to that evening’s lecture topic. After some special…
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Got Mazon Creek Fossils?
Do you have 1-2 Mazon Creek fossils that you would be willing to part with? I’m asking on behalf of a geology teacher in LaCross Wis. who wants to teach her kids about Mazon Creek and to show her class some example fossils. Ms. Frisby is also the president of the Coulee Region Rock Club…
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Book Recommendations Wanted
What are your favorite earth science books? Tell us… by sending an email to “diannal20@yahoo.com” or by leaving a comment on this post. Books will be added to a new feature of the web site – a list of ESCONI member favorite earth science books…
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How You Can Post to ESCONI Site
All ESCONI members can post to this site. Currently four members are set up to post. If you would like to post to the site, send me an e-mail at “diannal20@yahoo.com” (remove the quotations) and I’ll send you information on how to get setup to post to the site. So far, members have posted on…
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Want to Be Notified of ESCONI Web Posts?
If you would like to be notified by email of new ESCONI web posts, look at the bottom right of the screen for the Notifixious button. Click the button and follow the instructions to sign up for automatic updates.
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Copper Country Mineral Retreat
Last week, Garrison Keillor said Lutherans go on vacation to become better people – not for pleasure. It is so for me – I was brought up Lutheran. So I’m back from our family vacation from Houghton, Michigan and the Copper Country Mineral Retreat and I’ve came back vowing to be a better person –…
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Notes on the Braceville field trip of 5-16-09, by Andrew Young.
Anyone who’s traveled I-55 toward St. Louis, say, an hour or so outside of Chicago, has likely spotted a number of large, anomalous, volcano-like piles spread out on private property along old Rt. 66. Almost without vegetation, they are other-worldly and towering above the grain fields around them. The “spoil heap” of Braceville, Illinois, is…
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Snow Rollers on the Prairie
From NOAA: “… They form with light but sticky snow and strong (but not too strong) winds. Some snow rollers are formed by gravity (i.e. rolling down a hill), but in this case, the snow rollers were generated by the wind…”
