Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois (ESCONI)

ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show

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  • 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 10thGeneral Meeting – 8:00 PM via Zoom.

Jessica Hull will present “Life in the Devonian Period, The Age of Fishes.”
Saturday, April 11thJunior 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 18thPaleontology 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 monthMineralogy Study Group
No meeting this monthJunior Study Group

  • Fossils Come to Life with CT Scans

    Interesting video discussion from Science Friday about how scientists are using CT technology to study bones and fossils.

    Read more: Fossils Come to Life with CT Scans

  • Paleontology Meeting – Saturday 2/21 at 7:30 pm

    Paleontology Meeting, 7:30 pm, College of Dupage, Building K – Rm 131.  Chris Cozert will speak on Mazon Creek flora and fauna.  Bring your Mazon Creek fossils!

    Read more: Paleontology Meeting – Saturday 2/21 at 7:30 pm
  • Volunteers Needed for Mazon Creek Taxonomy Project

    Volunteers Needed for Mazon Creek Taxonomy Project

    The Chicago Academy of Sciences (CAS), which operates the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago, is looking for volunteers to help with a fossil taxonomy project.  They need individuals with expertise in identifying and verifying Mazon Creek and other local fossils. The Academy has a collection of over 30,000 fossils, many of which have not been shown to the public.  Ultimately, it is hoped that the collection, once catalogued, will be available for public viewing on the Internet.  This is a great opportunity for our members to assist in a most worthy endeavor.  (Photo of Tully Monster from The Virtual…

    Read more: Volunteers Needed for Mazon Creek Taxonomy Project

  • General Meeting – Friday, February 13, 2009

    It will be a lucky Friday the 13th for those attending the General Meeting at 8:00 pm in Room K-131. Cary Easterday from the Department of Earth Sciences, Northeastern Illinois University, will give us an updated and expanded version of his presentation from the 2002 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting entitled: From Chasing Butterflies to Mazon Creek to Florissant: The Life and Research of Samuel Hubbard Scudder (1837 – 1911), Pioneer in the Study of Recent and Fossil Terrestrial Arthropods. Among his accomplishments, Samuel Hubbard Scudder was the founding father of North American studies on fossil terrestrial arthropods such as insects, arachnids, and myriopods. He…

    Read more: General Meeting – Friday, February 13, 2009

  • Poem

    Sent in by Mary Fairchild: Which Are You? Some members keep a group so strong While others join just to belong; Some dig right in, some serve with pride, Some go along just for the ride. Some volunteer to do their share While some lie back and just don’t care. Some do their best, some help, some make, Some do nothing, only take. Some greet new members with a smile and make their coming so worth while. While some go on their merry way, No greeting or kind words to say. Some help the group to grow and grow; When…

    Read more: Poem

  • Mineral – Micromount Study Group Meeting on Agates, Sat. Feb. 14

    The Mineral-Micromount Study Group will be meeting on Saturday, February 14 at 7:30 p.m. at College of DuPage, Room K131 to watch and discuss a video on agates.Photo Credit: Photographer, Albert Copley. Oklahoma University via AGI Earth Science World Image Bank

    Read more: Mineral – Micromount Study Group Meeting on Agates, Sat. Feb. 14
  • If I Could Turn Back Time: Over a Decade With ESCONI by Mary Fairchild

    If I Could Turn Back Time: Over a Decade With ESCONI by Mary Fairchild

         “The Mazon Creek flora is renowned for being almost completely collected by amateurs.  Since 1858, in an area covering approximately 100 square miles, untold numbers of collectors have gathered fossils in quantities unprecedented in North America.”  Jack Wittry  In the mid-1990s when our family first became interested in collecting fossils, one of our neighbors told us to check our electric bill for the location of a collecting area right at the Braidwood nuclear power plant.  Later, we would learn that this was the famous Mazon Creek collecting area.  The area, which had once been the Peabody Coal Pit 11 was now a cooling pond…

    Read more: If I Could Turn Back Time: Over a Decade With ESCONI by Mary Fairchild

  • Purpose of ESCONI

    The aim of the Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois (ESCONI) is to promote an interest in the earth sciences, among these are geology, paleontology, mineralogy, archaeology, micro-mounting and the lapidary arts.

    Read more: Purpose of ESCONI

  • History of ESCONI

    ESCONI (Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois) was founded on November 11, 1949 with an initial meeting of 13 people interested in Earth Sciences. William Allaway was the 1st President of ESCONI. The purpose of ESCONI:  The aim of the Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois is to promote an interest in the earth sciences, among these are geology, paleontology, mineralogy, micromounting, and the lapidary arts. The ESCONI Bulletin, Earth Science News, has been published 11 times per year continuously since January 1950. Excerpts from the original historical document (NewsletterHistory.pdf) On November 11, 1949.  Thirteen People, each interested in some phase of

    Read more: History of ESCONI
  • ESCONI Library Books and Videos

    ESCONI Library Books and Videos

    ESCONI has a library of books and videos about the earth sciences. The ESCONI library now contains 660 items. Download list – last update June_2011. (.pdf) To borrow a book/video, contact Andrew Jansen, who will bring the item to the next meeting.

    Read more: ESCONI Library Books and Videos

  • Wisconsin’s Indian Mounds by Mary Fairchild

    “It may come as a surprise to some people to learn that the Dells area was once in the center of what might be called a lost civilization.”  Ross M. Curry About two years ago after rock climbing at Devils Lake, our guide pointed out a strange shape in the grass alongside the lake.  It was a great time to spot it as the sun was beginning to set and shadows began to detail the shape.  I was becoming more and more aware of the fact that there was a lot more to see and investigate in the area if…

    Read more: Wisconsin’s Indian Mounds by Mary Fairchild

  • Mazon Creek Reference Information

    Articles & Slides:Overview of Mazon Creek FossilsTully MonsterJack Wittry’s General Meeting Presentation 2009 Books: Paleontology is one of the most visible yet most misunderstood fields of science. Children dream of becoming paleontologists when they grow up. Museum visitors flock to exhibits on dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. The media reports on fossil discoveries and new clues to mass extinctions. Nonetheless, misconceptions abound: paleontologists are assumed only to be interested in dinosaurs and they are all too often pictured as bearded white men in battered cowboy hats.  A behind-the-scenes look at paleontology as it exists today in all its complexity is…

    Read more: Mazon Creek Reference Information

  • New Honorary Members

    In November, the board voted in the following members as honorary members in recognition of their outstanding service to ESCONI: Congratulations!

    Read more: New Honorary Members

  • 1st Archaeology Meeting of 2009!

    On Saturday, January 24th, Sheila Bergmann will give a presentation about the Indians of Central Wisconsin in Room K – 131, College of Dupage at 7:30 p.m. Visitors are welcome; refreshments will be served; parking and admission are free.

    Read more: 1st Archaeology Meeting of 2009!
  • January General Meeting

    January General Meeting

    The next ESCONI General Meeting is January 09, 2009 at 8:00 pm in Room 131 of Building K at the College of Dupage. Scot Williams, Burpee Museum Collections Manager, will present “Burpee Museum Discoveries”. From the Burpee Museum website – Burpee Museum has four floors of modern exhibits. Exhibits are specimen based, with strong interactive and educational components. The first floor is dedicated to paleontology; take a walk-through time as your visit exhibits chronicling key times in earth’s history. The Geoscience exhibit is located on the second floor, where rocks and minerals, fluorescent minerals, and the geology of the region…

    Read more: January General Meeting

  • 1st Field Trip for 2009!

    Mayslake Field Trip and Pizza Party Join us on Saturday, February 14, 2009 from 10:30 a.m. until approximately 1:00 p.m. as we explore the elegant Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 West 31st Street, Oak Brook, IL 60523. We will meet at the west door in front of the estate which is located just to the west of Route 83 on 31st Street in Oak Brook. There is plenty of free parking available. The estate, currently owned by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, was built between 1919 and 1921 by Francis Stuyvesant Peabody. Mr. Peabody was a coal mining magnate…

    Read more: 1st Field Trip for 2009!

  • ESCONI Newsletter

    Here is a list of several years of the ESCONI newsletter. Click on the underlined month to download the Adobe Reader .pdf file for that month’s newsletter. If the month is not underlined, the newsletter/article is unavailable at this time. We will have all the newsletters/articles available soon. 2010 January Feb March April May June July/August 2009 JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJuly-AugSeptember October November December 2008January February March April May June July-August September October November December 2007January February March April May June July – August September October November December 2006November December Past Karen’s Komments: (in process of updating) October 2006 September 2006 August 2006…

    Read more: ESCONI Newsletter
  • Andy Hay Memorial Scholarship

    Andy Hay Memorial Scholarship

    From the Northeastern Illinois University Newsletter for NEIU Donors February 2004 Friends and family of Andrew A. Hay, distinguished university fellow in the earth science department, recently established the Andrew A. Hay Memorial Scholarship fund. The earth science department will award the scholarship. It will be open to earth science majors who have a grade point average of 3.0 and higher.

    Read more: Andy Hay Memorial Scholarship

  • Links of Interest

    The following links cover the topics of: Archaeology, Juniors, Lapidary, Mineralogy and Paleontology. Most of these sites are outside the ESCONI domain, please let us know if any of these site addresses have changed. Archaeology Juniors Lapidary Mineralogy Paleontology  

    Read more: Links of Interest
  • Museums of Interest

    Museums of Interest

    So many museums, so little time…. check out our list of some of our favorites in Chicago, the United States and internationally (list always being updated) …. Chicagoland Illinois Midwest Farther Afield

    Read more: Museums of Interest