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Fossil Friday #152: Dunbarella striata
Read more: Fossil Friday #152: Dunbarella striataThis is the “Fossil Friday” post #152. 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 an Mazon Creek Dunbarella striata from Pit 11 for today’s gem. This little beauty was found by ESCONI member Jake Fill in the last few weeks… the year seems to be off to an exciting start for Jake! We did a Mazon Monday post about scallops back in 2020. …
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2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #18!
Read more: 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #18!This is the preview post #18 for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show Live Auction. The ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show for 2023 will be held on March 18th and 19th at the DuPage Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL, which is the same location as last year. All details can be found here. Yes, time for yet another preview for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show. Last one for the day… more to come tomorrow! This is a beautiful 6.2 lb chunk of Flourite. There are multiple colors, yellow, blue, and purple. Come out this weekend…
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2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #17!
Read more: 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #17!This is the preview post #17 for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show Live Auction. The ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show for 2023 will be held on March 18th and 19th at the DuPage Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL, which is the same location as last year. All details can be found here. Yes, time for yet another preview for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show. Still going…. come back soon for more! Another German fossil… this time it’s a few brittlestars, Furcaster palaeozoicus, from the Hunsruck Shale in Bundenbach. These little guys lived during the…
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2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #16!
Read more: 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #16!This is the preview post #16 for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show Live Auction. The ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show for 2023 will be held on March 18th and 19th at the DuPage Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL, which is the same location as last year. All details can be found here. Yes, time for yet another preview for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show. It’s getting down to the end…. we’ll keep these previews going up for a while longer! This is an absolutely gorgeous Aeger sp. shrimp from the Solnhofen of Germany. These…
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Throwback Thursday #153: Flea Market 1999
Read more: Throwback Thursday #153: Flea Market 1999This is Throwback Thursday #152. 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! Here are some scenes from the ESCONI Flea Market on October 2nd, 1999. This event was held at the College of DuPage in the Student Resource Center Room in Building K. Karl Everett was ESCONI President. Here is the announcement from the ESCONI newsletter in September 1999. I recognize some of the faces…. John Good, Dave Bergman, Sheila Bergman, Kathy Dedina, Karen Nordquist,…
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2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #15!
Read more: 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #15!This is the preview post #15 for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show Live Auction. The ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show for 2023 will be held on March 18th and 19th at the DuPage Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL, which is the same location as last year. All details can be found here. Yes, time for yet another preview for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show. Yet another Mazon Creek fossil… come on out! We have more! This one is a Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri, a seed fern from Mazon Creek. These fossil plants are found in Illinois…
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***Trip Full*** ESCONI Field Trip to Danville Shale Pile Fossils – Saturday, April 15th, 2023
Read more: ***Trip Full*** ESCONI Field Trip to Danville Shale Pile Fossils – Saturday, April 15th, 2023This trip is full! An ESCONI field trip to the Danville Shale Pile for Pennsylvanian fossils is scheduled for April 15, 2023 starting at 10 AM. This is on private property and there is an attendance limit of 25 people. The gate will be secured once we are in and locked when we leave. Plan on being off the hill at 3 PM to give time for specimen identification and pictures. You must register to go on this trip. See rule 6 below for instructions. This is the only way to register. If you are sick, have any symptoms of…
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2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #14!
Read more: 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #14!This is the preview post #14 for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show Live Auction. The ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show for 2023 will be held on March 18th and 19th at the DuPage Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL, which is the same location as last year. All details can be found here. Yes, time for yet another preview for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show. It’s almost here…. don’t miss it! More stunning crystals… this is a beautiful piece of amethyst. The photos are nice, but they don’t do it justice!
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2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #13!
Read more: 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #13!This is the preview post #13 for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show Live Auction. The ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show for 2023 will be held on March 18th and 19th at the DuPage Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL, which is the same location as last year. All details can be found here. Yes, time for yet another preview for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show. Less than a week to the show! Wilbur Rath & ESCONI Exhibit Muskegon Show 1964 This one is lucky 13! These are some beautiful calcite crystals from the Wilbert Rath…
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2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #12!
Read more: 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #12!This is the preview post #12 for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show Live Auction. The ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show for 2023 will be held on March 18th and 19th at the DuPage Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL, which is the same location as last year. All details can be found here. Yes, time for yet another preview for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show. We have a bunch to get through and the show is coming up fast! It’s Mazon Monday, so if we were going to post a preview, it had to be…
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Mazon Monday #155: Paleontologists flip the script on anemone fossils
Read more: Mazon Monday #155: Paleontologists flip the script on anemone fossilsThis is Mazon Monday post #155. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. If you are a collector (or just a fan) of Mazon Creek fossils, you’ve probably heard of the (somewhat controversial) work of Roy Plotnick’s work to reclassify Essexella asherae from a jellyfish to a sea anemone. Roy is a long time ESCONI member and professor emeritus of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He did a presentation on E. asherae for the ESCONI Mazon Creek Open House back in October 2022. We looked at Essexella way back in Mazon…
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2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #11!
Read more: 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #11!This is the preview post #11 for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show Live Auction. The ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show for 2023 will be held on March 18th and 19th at the DuPage Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL, which is the same location as last year. All details can be found here. Yes, time for yet another preview for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show. We have a bunch to get through and the show is coming up fast! We have some very nice used Star Diamond Multiunit Lapidary Equipment. Star Diamond is still in…
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2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #10!
Read more: 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #10!This is the preview post #10 for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show Live Auction. The ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show for 2023 will be held on March 18th and 19th at the DuPage Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL, which is the same location as last year. All details can be found here. Yes, time for yet another preview for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show. We have a bunch to get through and the show is coming up fast! Here’s a sweet Neuropteris ovata.and a nice Diplozites unita. These specimens was collected many years ago…
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Fossil Friday #151: Lepidostrobophyllum Pair from Indiana
Read more: Fossil Friday #151: Lepidostrobophyllum Pair from IndianaThis is the “Fossil Friday” post #151. 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! Today, we have a pair of large cone bracts from the Pennsylvanian deposits of Indiana. These are large specimens, similar to Lepidostrobophyllum majus (see Mazon Monday #124) in the Mazon Creek biota. This specimen was purchased at the MAPS Expo in October of 2022. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any provenance with the fossil,…
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Throwback Thursday #152: The Ten Rockmandments
Read more: Throwback Thursday #152: The Ten RockmandmentsThis is Throwback Thursday #152. 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! The following list of ten “Rockmandments” appeared in the December 1992 edition of the ESCONI newsletter. It originally appeared in the newsletter for the Nunawading & District Lapidary Club in Nunawading, Victoria, Australia. It’s good to see that the club seems to still be operation! It was founded in 1967. Nunawading and District Lapidary Club was formed in 1967 by a group of…
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2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #9!
Read more: 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #9!This is the preview post #9 for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show Live Auction. The ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show for 2023 will be held on March 18th and 19th at the DuPage Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL, which is the same location as last year. All details can be found here. Yes, time for yet another preview for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show. We have a bunch to get through and the show is coming up fast! This specimen is a beautiful branch of Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri. It includes multiple pinnules with the associated…
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2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #8!
Read more: 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show – Preview #8!This is the preview post #8 for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show Live Auction. The ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show for 2023 will be held on March 18th and 19th at the DuPage Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL, which is the same location as last year. All details can be found here. Time for another preview for the 2023 ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show. Expect quite a few more! Paraspirifer brownockeri is a species of brachiopod from the Silica Shale of Sylvania, Ohio. It lived during the Devonian Period about 390 million years ago. For more…
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Mazon Monday #154: Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils At Pit 11: Amateur Perspective
Read more: Mazon Monday #154: Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils At Pit 11: Amateur PerspectiveThis is Mazon Monday post #154. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. In honor of Pit 11 Opening Day on March 1st, here is a historical article from the Lizzadro Museum’s newsletter in 2006. There’s an advertisement of the Mazon Creek Open House held on November 11th, 2006. The article is titled “Collecting Mazon Creek Fossils At Pit 11: Amateur Perspective”. It was written by Andrew Hay and Samuel Kruty… both were long time collectors. Andrew Hay was very active in ESCONI for many years. He wrote “Creature Corner”, which appeared in the “Earth Science News”,…
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PBS Eons: How a Mass Extinction Changed Our Brains
Read more: PBS Eons: How a Mass Extinction Changed Our BrainsPBS Eons has a new episode. This one is about the evolution of the mammal brain. During one of the most pivotal moments in our evolutionary story our brains actually shrank relative to our bodies.
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Burpee Museum: PaleoFest 2023 – March 3rd-5th, 2023
Read more: Burpee Museum: PaleoFest 2023 – March 3rd-5th, 2023Burpee Museum’s PaleoFest 2023 is March 3rd-5th, 2023…. that’s this weekend! Details can be found on their website. Join us as Burpee Museum celebrates 25 years of PaleoFest, with research talks from paleontologists around the world, and special activities and programming! Dino-lovers, rock collectors, and fossil diggers unite for an internationally attended festival. Our audience includes scientists and researchers, aspiring scientists, students, and paleo-lovers, and even dino-loving kiddos! Many of the talks will focus on our speakers’ cutting edge research and amazing new discoveries. Not Just for Professional Scientists Students, interested community members, and aspiring scientists are encouraged to join the…
ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show
Most Recent Post
- PBS Eons: The Chaotic Race to Name T. rex
PBS Eons has a new episode. This one is about the controversial history of the name Tyrannosaurus rex.
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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 |