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Archaeology Meeting Sat. 9/26 – When Did Alphabet First Appear?
Read more: Archaeology Meeting Sat. 9/26 – When Did Alphabet First Appear?Archaeology Meeting, 7:30 pm, College of Dupage, Building K, Rm 131, “When Did the Alphabet First Appear” by Bryan Nugent and John Good.
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Events Coming Up Next Weekend
Read more: Events Coming Up Next WeekendThere are many interesting events happening the weekend of September 26 – 27. Collecting trips for geodes and Mazon Creek fossils as well as other activities as well.
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African Rockhounds
Read more: African RockhoundsBetsy 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 surprise that we joined a club in Cape Town this year. The Cape Town Gem and Mineral Club has a narrower scope than ESCONI, focusing on minerals and lapidary. They are quite active, holding monthly sales, swaps, programs and barbeques as well as the occasional…
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Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils Sat 9/26 & Sun 9/27, 2009
Read more: Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils Sat 9/26 & Sun 9/27, 2009Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils Meet at 8:00 A.M. Saturday and or Sunday at the BP Amoco in Coal City. No Age Limit. Hard Hats not required. Boots are recommended. An Estwing rock hammer is the best tool. A small shovel or pick is helpful. Knee pads, backpacks, fanny packs, extra clothes (you will get wet and muddy) are also a plus. Bring a bucket for the fossils. Also bring insect repellant. Note: Field trips are for members only. Collecting from this private property can only be done during the time permitted by the owner for the group. Take I-55 to…
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Report that NPS Has Fewer Geologists
Read more: Report that NPS Has Fewer GeologistsArizona Geology posts about an interesting issue (via geology.com): … The NPS [National Park Service] Geologic Resources Division was not established until the late 1990s and instead of growing, they are shrinking. They are now at 20 people, down 9 in the past few years. Most parks that were designated so because of their geologic attributes do not even have a single geologist on staff. Compare this to something like 800 biologists in the NPS….
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Paleontology Meeting, Sat, 9/19 – Mazon Creek Jellyfish
Read more: Paleontology Meeting, Sat, 9/19 – Mazon Creek JellyfishPaleontology Meeting, 7:30 pm, College of Dupage, Building K – Rm 131. On September 19th, the Paleo study group will begin examining Mazon jelly fish. So bring your Mazon Creek jellyfish – some may be photographed for the new book. Then, on October 17th, the Paleo study group will cover the worms. ESCONI is creating a new Mazon fauna book. Each paleo meeting will be a time for specimens to be photographed for possible inclusion in the new book. So examine your Mazon Creek collections over the next few months and consider any possibilities you may have to contribute to…
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Jack Wittry Presents at the General Meeting on 9-11-09, by Andrew Young
Read more: Jack Wittry Presents at the General Meeting on 9-11-09, by Andrew YoungThere 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 announcements, Jack Wittry, author of the beautiful and informative book entitled, The Mason Creek Fossil Flora, presented a standing-room only talk on his specialty. Not only was his delivery and organization clear – making sense of the, often time, fragmented evidence of the fossil record…
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Rock Slide Site
Read more: Rock Slide SiteRock slide site, rock slide site, sock rock lite… (just try to say Rock Slide Site three times and get it right.) From David Petley’s blog, On the Slide, interesting articles and photographs about rock slides via Geology.com Photo on the left: A long runout landslide from Sichuan in China taken by kenner116.
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Micro Meeting Cracks Geodes
Read more: Micro Meeting Cracks GeodesSaturday night the Micromineral groups was busy cracking geodes using a pipe cutter. This method worked well because the pipe cutter cut the geode into two halves – instead of many pieces. Many of the geodes fluoresced – mostly the Mexican geode brought by Kathy. (see below)
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Micro-Mineral Meeting Tonight 9/12 7:30
Read more: Micro-Mineral Meeting Tonight 9/12 7:30MicroMineral Meeting, 7:30 pm, College of Dupage, Building K – Rm 131. The geode splitter will be back, plus a video and a show and tell.
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MicroRNA Used to Track Evolution to Fossils
Read more: MicroRNA Used to Track Evolution to FossilsVia Science News: …. The team’s microRNA sequencing results also agree with the order in which the different annelids and their relatives appear in the fossil record—something that previous hypotheses about their relationships had failed to do, said co-author Derek Briggs, Yale’s Frederick William Beinecke Professor of Geology and Geophysics. “This study is an elegant example of how new methods can reconcile results from molecular sequencing of living animals with information from the fossil record,” he said…
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Reminder for General Meeting
Read more: Reminder for General MeetingThe General Meeting will still be held in Building K, Room 131, but there will be no water in the building that night.
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Largest Crystals in the World
Read more: Largest Crystals in the WorldDescription of exploration of the Crystal Cave of Giants. The explorer, George Kourounis, has other photo galleries as well. From the site: … The crystals themselves are made of selenite which is crystallized gypsum, the same material used in drywall construction. Except these crystals formed over a span of about half a million years in a hot water solution, saturated with minerals. The the temperature inside the cave remained very consistently hot for the entire time the crystals were growing.…
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10 Extraordinary Lakes
Read more: 10 Extraordinary LakesFrom Womans Day via geology.com: When a body of water is inland, not part of an ocean, deeper than a pond and fed by a river, it is classified as a lake. Usually created by rifts, tectonic shifts and ongoing glaciations—often found in basins or along mature rivers—they’re some of the most beautiful nature-… Photo: Plitvice Lake by 29cm
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No Water in Building During General Meeting 9/11
Read more: No Water in Building During General Meeting 9/11The College of Dupage has to shut down the water in the building that we will be meeting in on Friday. So there will be no restroom facilities available in Building K. Be sure to call other members who may not read this blog and let them know. Check this site for other updates before attending the meeting, e.g, there may be other buildings made available.
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General Meeting – Book Signing Too – This Friday 9/11
Read more: General Meeting – Book Signing Too – This Friday 9/11Just found out that Jack Wittry will be available before and after his presentation to sign his book, The Mazon Creek Fossil Flora. The book will be on sale for $65 hard cover, $35 soft cover at the General Meeting on Friday, September 11 at College of Dupage, Building K, Room 131, at 8:00 pm. (Photo by: Andrew Young) A book reviewer on Amazon wrote this: … This book is like having a paleobotanist at your service to get the labels right. It is inexpensive and will appeal to collectors, students, nature enthusiasts, and teachers. The subject matter will also…
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Updated site for buying minerals
Read more: Updated site for buying mineralsI don’t know much about this site, but saw that they had updated their site to make it easier to use… MinFans
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Got Mazon Creek Fossils?
Read more: 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 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. So, if you have a one or two Mazon fossils that you would like to part with, you can bring it to the Friday, Sept. 11th General Meeting and I’ll collect and send on in the following week.
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Listening to Rocks
Read more: Listening to RocksVia Science Daily: …Earth is not a quiet planet. The key is knowing how to listen to the ever-present ambient noise. University of Illinois seismologist Xiaodong Song and graduate student Zhen J. Xu have become good listeners, especially to the sounds beneath our feet. Using a technique called “ambient noise correlation,” Xu and Song have observed significant changes in the behavior of parts of Earth’s crust that were disturbed by three major earthquakes….
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The Geologist’s Tale
Read more: The Geologist’s TaleVia NYT: … But it was all true. And now Dr. Sallenger, a coastal geologist for the United States Geological Survey, has turned the 153-year-old story into a book he hopes will not only engage readers with its tale of love, death and narrow escapes but also teach them about the hazards of living on the ever-changing coastal landscape, particularly in an era of climate change and rising seas. The book is “Island in a Storm.”…
ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show
Most Recent Post
- Fossil of Pincer-Wielding Crawler Reveals Origins of Spiders, Scorpions and Others
The Trilobites column over at the New York Times has a interesting story about the origin of chelicerates – spiders, scorpions, mites, horseshoe crabs, and others. Chelicerates are a diverse group of arthropods that consists of more than 120,000 known species. Member of this group are classified by having a pair of appendages called chelicerae. These appendages are adapted for various purposes like snatching prey, injecting venom, and even spinning silk.
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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.” |
| No meeting this month | Mineralogy Study Group |
| No meeting this month | Junior Study Group |