Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois (ESCONI)

ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show

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esconi.info@gmail.com

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.”
Friday, April 24thMAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL.
Saturday, April 25thMAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL.
Sunday, April 26thMAPS Expo XLVII – Springfield, IL.
No meeting this monthMineralogy Study Group
  • 10 Best Far Side Comics About Dinosaurs

    10 Best Far Side Comics About Dinosaurs

    ScreenRant has a post about some Far Side comic strips that feature dinosaurs.  My favorite (and theirs) features the “Thagomizer”.  Apparently, there wasn’t a name for the spikes on a Stegosaur’s tail at the time.  It’s now the preferred name by paleontologists “in the know”. Gary Larson loved to feature dinosaurs in his Far Side comic strips. Whether creating absurd backstories for the dinos or placing them in modern, traditional settings, the dinosaur Far Side comics are some of the strip’s fan favorites. While many are familiar with the iconic Thagomizer comic, there is a slew of dinosaur Far Side strips that tend to go under…

    Read more: 10 Best Far Side Comics About Dinosaurs
  • Long-extinct Tasmanian tiger may still be alive and prowling the wilderness, scientists claim

    Long-extinct Tasmanian tiger may still be alive and prowling the wilderness, scientists claim

    LiveScience has a story about the Tasmanian Tiger.  Some scientists think that the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) survived much longer in the wild that previously thought.  Thylacines were wolf-like marsupials that lived on the island of Tasmania.  The last known animal died in the Hobart Zoo on September 7th, 1936.  It filled an important ecological niche as the apex predator on Tasmania.  There has much talk of “de-extinction” and the thylacine is considered a prime candidate by some. But now, scientists say thylacines probably survived in the wild until the 1980s, with a “small chance” they could still be hiding somewhere…

    Read more: Long-extinct Tasmanian tiger may still be alive and prowling the wilderness, scientists claim
  • Fossil Friday #163: Mazon Creek Shark Egg Case
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    Fossil Friday #163: Mazon Creek Shark Egg Case

    This is the “Fossil Friday” post #163.  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 another Mazon Creek fossil today.  There are a few species of shark egg cases known from Mazon Creek.  Palaeoxyris prendelli is the most common species.   P. prendelli was described by Leo Lesquereux in 1870 from fossils found in Lancashire, England.  Lesquereux was a Swiss born bryologist and a pioneer in American…

    Read more: Fossil Friday #163: Mazon Creek Shark Egg Case
  • Throwback Thursday #164: Looking Back At ESCONI for June 2023
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    Throwback Thursday #164: Looking Back At ESCONI for June 2023

    This is Throwback Thursday #164.  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! 25 Years Ago – June 1998 50 Years Ago – June 1973 70 Years Ago – June 1953

    Read more: Throwback Thursday #164: Looking Back At ESCONI for June 2023
  • ESCONI Events June 2023

    ESCONI Events June 2023

    Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings! Fri, June 9th ESCONI General Meeting 8:00 PM – Topic: “Using geophysics to capture Earth burps and other processes during flow through karst conduits” by Andrew Luhmann, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Wheaton College Zoom link Sat, June 10th ESCONI Junior Meeting – 6:30 PM at College of DuPage – Topic: Lystrosaurus Specifics of this meeting are available from Scott Galloway, 630-670-2591, gallowayscottf@gmail.com. The meeting will be in person at the College of DuPage Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038A (Map).   ESCONI Paleontology Meeting No meeting… see…

    Read more: ESCONI Events June 2023
  • Field Museum: Spinosaurus is arriving on June 2!

    Field Museum: Spinosaurus is arriving on June 2!

    Just in case you didn’t hear, the Field Museum is getting a new dinosaur on June 2nd…. It’s a spinosaurus! Witness the unveiling of Spinosaurus as it prowls overhead at the Field Museum. Stretching 46 feet long, this fearsome fossil is one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs ever discovered, even longer than SUE the T. rex. Learn how this semi-aquatic predator hunted and swam through the water. This fish-eating dinosaur lived during the Cretaceous Period, about 95 million years ago. Spinosaurus swam in rivers thanks to its crocodile-shaped body and paddle-like tail. Plan your visit to catch Spinosaurus, the only skeleton on display anywhere outside of Asia,…

    Read more: Field Museum: Spinosaurus is arriving on June 2!
  • The World’s Newest National Park Protects 550-Million-Year-Old Fossils

    The World’s Newest National Park Protects 550-Million-Year-Old Fossils

    Smithsonian Magazine has an article about the world’s newest national park in the world.  Nilpena Ediacara National Park in South Australia opened to the public in on Thursday, April 27th, 2023.  It’s a huge area, 148,000 acres.  In 1946, Reg Sprigg found the fossil bed that housed fossils that would later be referred to as the Ediacaran biota.  These strange lifeforms lived around 550 million years ago.   The state government is currently working to get the Flinders Ranges area designated as a Unesco World Heritage site. “This is a journey 550 million years in the making, a region that has…

    Read more: The World’s Newest National Park Protects 550-Million-Year-Old Fossils
  • Mazon Monday #166: Langford Book 2nd Edition – June 1963
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    Mazon Monday #166: Langford Book 2nd Edition – June 1963

    This is Mazon Monday post #166.  What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. June 1963 saw the first copies of George Langford’s second book “The Wilmington Coal Fauna and Additions to the Wilmington Coal Flora From a Pennsylvanian Deposit in Will County, Illinois”.  This book detailed the animals of Mazon Creek and added a few plants missing in the first book.  Both books were published by Esconi Associates.  The membership was excited as evidenced by four interesting outtakes in the May 1963 edition of the newsletter.  The outtakes interspersed with the other text of the newsletter were…

    Read more: Mazon Monday #166: Langford Book 2nd Edition – June 1963

  • ESCONI at CGMA 2023

    Today is the last day of the 2023 Chicagoland Gems and Minerals Association show. It’s at the Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles, IL.  There’s lots of vendors, interesting displays, and good friends…. See you there!

    Read more: ESCONI at CGMA 2023
  • The Origin of Butterflies: A 100 Million-Year-Old Mystery Unraveled

    The Origin of Butterflies: A 100 Million-Year-Old Mystery Unraveled

    SciTechDaily has an article about the evolution of butterflies.  A paper in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution details new evidence about the origin of butterflies about 100 million years ago.  Until recently, the order lepidoptera was thought to have arisen as a result of predation by bats after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. Roughly 100 million years ago, a pioneering group of moths began to venture out during the day instead of night, seizing the opportunity presented by flowers abundant in nectar that had evolved alongside bees. This single event sparked the evolution of the entire butterfly species.…

    Read more: The Origin of Butterflies: A 100 Million-Year-Old Mystery Unraveled
  • Fossil Friday #162: J.C. Carr Mazon Creek Fern
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    Fossil Friday #162: J.C. Carr Mazon Creek Fern

    This is the “Fossil Friday” post #162.  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! For this week, we have a fossil specimen from long time ESCONI member Jim Alann, who has shared quite a few fossils with us in the past, including a spider (Arthrolycola), a Helen Asher jelly, and a eurypterid.  Now, he’s back with another very nice historically significant piece. J.C. Carr was a…

    Read more: Fossil Friday #162: J.C. Carr Mazon Creek Fern
  • Throwback Thursday #163: Scenes from the 2000 Chicagoland Gem & Mineral Association Show

    Throwback Thursday #163: Scenes from the 2000 Chicagoland Gem & Mineral Association Show

    This is Throwback Thursday #163.  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! Don’t forget that the 46th Annual CGMA – Chicagoland Gem & Mineral Association is this weekend May 27th and May 28th, 2023.  It’s at Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles.  All the information is available at the website: cgmashow.com. There will be an ESCONI table at the Show, so stop by and say hello and introduce yourself as an ESCONI member! It’s always great…

    Read more: Throwback Thursday #163: Scenes from the 2000 Chicagoland Gem & Mineral Association Show
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    Video for ESCONI May 2023 General Meeting – “About the Falls of the Ohio State Park”

    The title of the presentation at the May 2023 General Meeting was “About the Falls of the Ohio State Park”.  It was given by Dr. Alan Goldstein. As a Park Paleontologist and Interpretive naturalist, Dr. Goldstein has worked at the Falls of the Ohio State Park’s Interpretive Center since it opened in January 1994. Additionally, Dr. Goldstein has also been the curator of the Gerald Troost collection at the Louisville Science Center. He has been investigating, collecting, and writing about the Illinois-Kentucky fluorspar district since 1982. His article on the fluorspar district published in 1997 won the Friends of Mineralogy paper…

    Read more: Video for ESCONI May 2023 General Meeting – “About the Falls of the Ohio State Park”
  • Marsupials might be the more evolved mammals

    Marsupials might be the more evolved mammals

    Phys.org has an interesting article about mammal evolution.  A new paper in the journal Current Biology claims that marsupial mammals are more evolutionarily derived than placental mammals.  This discovery is very surprising as marsupial mammals have long been thought to be an intermediate state between egg laying and placental birth. The study, published in Current Biology, analyzed skulls during different stages of development in 22 living mammal species. Micro-CT scans of 165 specimens helped the research team reconstruct the changes of the skull for these species during this early phase. Using this data, they estimated how the common ancestor of marsupials and…

    Read more: Marsupials might be the more evolved mammals
  • Mazon Monday #165: Braceville Spring 2023 Report
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    Mazon Monday #165: Braceville Spring 2023 Report

    This is Mazon Monday post #165.  What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The ESCONI Braceville field trips for spring of 2023 were well attended.  We had 50+ people for both Saturday, May 6th and Sunday, May 7th.  The weather was great.  Saturday started overcast with light sprinkles, but turned into a nice day, with highs in the low 70’s.  Sunday was hot!  It was sunny all day with highs in the upper 80’s.   Many concretions were collected.  Not only is Braceville an event for beginners to experience fossil collecting out in nature.  It has also become…

    Read more: Mazon Monday #165: Braceville Spring 2023 Report
  • Earliest sea scorpion from China found in end-Ordovician Anji Biota in Zhejiang

    Earliest sea scorpion from China found in end-Ordovician Anji Biota in Zhejiang

    Phys.org has a story about sea scorpions.  Eurypterids are iconic animals of the Paleozoic.  They first show up in the fossil record during the Darrowillian stage of the Ordovician 467 million year ago and go extinct at the end Permian mass extinction event about 250 million years ago.  Now, a new paper published in the Journal of Paleontology sheds light on their presence in China during the Ordovician.  These new animals also represent the first Eurypterids from China and their evolution on the ancient continent of Gondwana. Eurypterids (Arthropoda: Chelicerata), normally known as sea scorpions, are an important extinct group…

    Read more: Earliest sea scorpion from China found in end-Ordovician Anji Biota in Zhejiang
  • Never Get Poison Ivy Again! The Science Explained

    Never Get Poison Ivy Again! The Science Explained

    When out collecting fossils in the spring, summer, and fall, I always seem to come across poison ivy…. usually when I’m not paying attention or least expecting it.  A video by StoneAgeMan over on Youtube claims to show you how you’ll never get poison ivy again.  Check it out and happy hunting this summer! I poured poison ivy on myself to show you how to never get it yourself!  

    Read more: Never Get Poison Ivy Again! The Science Explained
  • Fossil Friday #161: Seeds from Danville
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    Fossil Friday #161: Seeds from Danville

    This is the “Fossil Friday” post #161.  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! On April 15th, 2023, ESCONI held a field trip to a coal mine spoil pile near Danville, IL.  Everyone found something, and there were numerous nice fossil specimens.  Caroline Davis found not one, but two seed fossils.  One was a well preserved Trigonocarpus sp. (Mazon Monday #67), while the other was unidentified. …

    Read more: Fossil Friday #161: Seeds from Danville
  • Throwback Thursday #162: Field & Street Archaeopteryx

    Throwback Thursday #162: Field & Street Archaeopteryx

    This is Throwback Thursday #162.  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! Back in Throwback Thursday #137, we looked at the traveling Archaeopteryx exhibit back in 1997. Althiough it was only at the Field Museum from October 4th to the 19th, actual Archaeopteryx fossils were on display for the first time in the United States,  ESCONI was there for a field trip on the last day, October 19th, 1997. About 10 years earlier on April…

    Read more: Throwback Thursday #162: Field & Street Archaeopteryx
  • Smithsonian: Paleontologists Uncover Fossil Impressions of Giant, Alligator-Like Amphibians

    Smithsonian: Paleontologists Uncover Fossil Impressions of Giant, Alligator-Like Amphibians

    Smithsonian Magazine has a story about the discovery of alligator-like amphibians from the Permian Period.  The animals, Rhinesuchus, were found in the Karoo Basin in South Africa.  They lived more than 255 million years ago.  They are thought to be salamander-like, but the size of modern day alligators.  The rhinesuchid temnospondyls were described in the paper “Unique trackway on Permian Karoo shoreline provides evidence of temnospondyl locomotory behaviour”, which was published in the journal PLOS One. Determining what sort of organism made a trace fossil, including those on the Dave Green paleosurface, can be a challenging task. Body fossils, such…

    Read more: Smithsonian: Paleontologists Uncover Fossil Impressions of Giant, Alligator-Like Amphibians