Tag: geology
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Volcano Comedy Show – Thursday, April 18th, 2024
Ben Miller is bringing his Volcano Comedy Show to Chicago on Thursday, April 18th, 2024. The show will be held at the Lincoln Lodge in Chicago from 7:30 to 9:00 PM. What happens when a comedian walks into a volcano? In 2023, Ben Miller was the artist in residence at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, the first…
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PBS Eons: What Will Earth Be Like 300 Million Years From Now?
PBS Eons has a new video. This one looks forward in time to see what the Earth will look in the future. We spend a lot of time here on Eons looking backwards into deep time, visiting ancient chapters of our planet’s history. But this time, we’re taking a look towards the deep future. After…
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The “Dolomite Problem” – Scientists Resolve 200-Year-Old Geology Mystery
SciTechDaily has a story about dolomite. Researchers at the University of Michigan have published new research that solves the “Dolomite Problem”. The paper “Dissolution enables dolomite crystal growth near ambient conditions” appeared in the journal Science. Until now, scientists have been unsuccessful creating dolomite in the laboratory. Understanding this process should allow for the creation…
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Earth’s biggest cache of pink diamonds formed in the breakup of the 1st supercontinent ‘Nuna’
Live Science has a post about Australian diamonds. Western Australia is the source of 90% of the worlds pink diamonds. They are found in the Argyle formation, which formed about 1.3 billion (yes, billion) years ago. A paper in the journal Nature details the origin of these diamonds. While other diamonds derive their color from…
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Precious Stone – Last Joliet-Lemont Limestone Quarry Closing
Chicago Magazine has an article about the closing of the last quarry supplying the famous Joliet-Lemont limestone. Located in Joliet, Bromberek Flagstone has been in business since the 1940’s. ESCONI has visited for a few field trips over the years. Now, it’s closing as Larry Bromberek has sold his property. Back in July when this…
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PBS Eons: Did a Tsunami Swallow Part of Europe?
PBS Eons has a new video on Youtube. This one is about the England…what happened to Doggerland? What was it and how did it disappear? What happened to the piece of prime prehistoric real estate known as Doggerland? While a massive megatsunami might have drowned it for good, the underlying reason that it now lies…
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Fountains of diamonds erupt from Earth’s center as supercontinents break up
A rough diamond in a mine (Image credit: Getty Images) LiveScience has a story about the formation of diamonds. Diamonds form deep in the Earth’s crust at a depth of about 93 miles. They are brought to the surface by fast moving eruptions called kimberlites. Kimberlites travel at between 11 and 83 mph (18 to 133…
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Video for ESCONI June 2023 General Meeting – “Using geophysics to capture Earth burps and other processes during flow through karst conduits”
The topic for the ESCONI June 2023 General Meeting was “Using geophysics to capture Earth burps and other processes during flow through karst conduits”. Our speaker was Andrew Luhmann Assistant Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Wheaton College, in Wheaton, IL. Karst aquifers are important water resources that are susceptible to…
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Is Africa splitting into two continents?
LiveScience has a story about plate tectonics and Africa. A rift in eastern Africa might be tearing it into two pieces. The rift is known as the East African Rift. It stretches for over 2,000 miles and consists of a system of valleys from the Red Sea to Mozambique. So will Africa rip apart completely,…
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ESCONI June 2023 General Meeting – June 9th, 2023 at 8:00 PM via Zoom – “Using geophysics to capture Earth burps and other processes during flow through karst conduits”
The topic for the ESCONI June 2023 General Meeting is “Using geophysics to capture Earth burps and other processes during flow through karst conduits”. Our speaker is Andrew Luhmann Assistant Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Wheaton College, in Wheaton, IL. Karst aquifers are important water resources that are susceptible…
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PBS Eons: A Natural History of Mars
PBS Eons has a new episode on Youtube. This one is about Mars… how has it changed over the year? While Earth’s natural history has been playing out over the last few billion years, another epic planetary saga has also been unfolding right next door.
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Throwback Thursday #144 – Geology Class Fall 1953
This is Throwback Thursday #144. 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 1953, ESCONI put on a evening school class in Geology at Downers Grove High School during…
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The theory of continental drift and how it changed the geosciences forever
EGU Blogs has an informative page on continental drift. Originating with Alfred Wegener around 1912, continental drift seemed somewhat ridiculous at the time. How could something so large as a continent move?!? The evidence was there… matching geologic formations across oceans, mountain building, and sea floor spreading. There were no good explanations until Plate Tectonics…
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PBS Eons: Where Did Water Come From?
PBS Eons has a new episode over on Youtube. This one is about early Earth and where did we get our liquid water. Mercury, Venus, and Mars are all super low on water – so where did ours come from and why do we have so much of it? We think our water came from…
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Throwback Thursday #123: Historical Documents
This is Throwback Thursday #123. 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! In the past, we have highlighted historically important documents related to ESCONI and/or Mazon Creek. We posted about…
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PBS Eons: How Plate Tectonics Transformed Los Angeles
PBS Eons has a new episode over on Youtube. This one is about the geology and paleontology of Los Angeles. Despite the profound changes we’ve made here in recent history, the epic saga of Los Angeles' natural history is still visible – and even striking – if you know where and how to look for…
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Illinois Now Has an Official State Rock. Here’s What It Is
NBC5 Chicago has a story about the new Illinois state symbol. The Tully Monster is the Illinois State Fossil and we have Fluorite as the State Mineral, now Dolostone is the State Rock. Governor Pritzker signed the bill yesterday – June 6th, 2022! We posted back in 2021 that the Pleasantdale Middle School in Burr…
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Scientists find evidence for biggest earthquake in human history
Live Science has a story about a very large earthquake 3,800 years ago. It happened in northern Chile and probably measured about 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale. Previously, the largest earthquake was the 1960 Valdivia earthquake in southern Chile. That one had an average slip of 11 m across the Nasca faults, with 25…
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Wisconsin Rocks and Minerals
Curious about rock, minerals, and fossils in Wisconsin? There’s a new interactive website by the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, is something you should check out! There’s explanation of sedimenary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks. And, information about dolomite, granite, sandstone, and more. Oh…. and also some very beautiful pictures. Check it out!
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Video for ESCONI January 2022 General Meeting – “Through the Ages: How we Date Rocks and Geologic Processes”
The January 2022 General Meeting was held on January 14th, 2022 via Zoom. Our speaker was Dr. Alyssa Abbey from California State University Long Beach. The title of her talk was “Through the Ages: How we Date Rocks and Geologic Processes”.
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ESCONI January 2022 General Meeting – January 14th, 2022 at 8:00 PM via Zoom – “Through the Ages: How we Date Rocks and Geologic Processes”
The January 2022 General Meeting will be held at 8:00 PM on January 14th, 2022 via Zoom. Our speaker is Dr. Alyssa Abbey from California State University Long Beach. The title of her talk is “Through the Ages: How we Date Rocks and Geologic Processes”. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84180301201?pwd=OUxhc2JJZk0rMWdNOVZBV3JaT2NaZz09 Meeting ID: 841 8030 1201Passcode: 398444One…
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One of Geology’s Great Mysteries May Actually Be Many Smaller Mysteries
Atlas Obscura has a story about the The Great Unconformity. In geology, an unconformity is a break in the sequence of time in a continuous rock record. There is usually a large gap of missing rock layers at the contact point between a much older layer and a younger one. It’s caused by a period…
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Mazon Monday #85: Neuropteris ovata
This is Mazon Monday post #85. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com. Our species spotlight for this week is Neuropteris ovata. N. ovata was described by Friedrich Hoffmann (1797-1836) in 1826. Hoffmann was a Professor of Geology at the University of Berlin. He is esspecially known for his work on the…
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PBS Eons: How a Supervolcano Ignited an Evolutionary Debate
PBS Eons has a new episode about the eruption of the supervolcano Toba. About 74,000 years ago, ancient humans, in Africa, suffered an evolutionary bottleneck. It seems Toba erupted at around the same time, was it the cause? The research is not clear. The Toba supervolcano was the biggest explosive eruption of the last 2.5…
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17 Pictures that will make you want to become a Geologist
ZME Science has a post that will definitely make you want to consider geology as a career. It’s filled with stunning photos from mountains to fossils to minerals. It makes me want to go back to school! Check a few examples from the article below, but don’t miss the full article.
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Field Trip Report: Starved Rock Clay Pit, July 24th, 2021
Here’s a field trip report from ESCONI Vice President Dave Carlson for the Starved Rock Clay Pit field trip back on July 24th, 2021. Usually we are concerned about mud at the clay pit, but not this time. It was quite dry for this trip, even to the point where some rain would have been…
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A Mysterious Crater’s Age May Add Clues to the Dinosaur Extinction
The New York Times Trilobites column has a story about a mysterious crater in Ukraine. Scientists have long questioned when the 15 mile wide Boltysh crater was formed, either before or after the Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan Peninsula, which caused the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous Period. A…
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ESCONI July 2021 Junior Field Trip – Dave’s Down to Earth Rock Shop July 12th, 2021 10 AM
Hello juniors families, I am planning a field trip, for juniors families only, on July 12th. To start the morning out we will meet at a Home Depot in Evanston, IL at 10:00. There we will have a scavenger hunt to determine what items, for sale in the store, are made of rocks and…
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Video: ESCONI February 2021 General Meeting – “Assessing the Early Mars Hydroclimate Using Paleolake Geometries”
Did rainfall and snowmelt fill rivers and lakes on Mars? GETTY Our February 2021 speaker via Zoom will be Dr. Gaia Stucky de Quay from the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin. The topic of her talk will be evidence for water and its effect on the geomorphology of early…
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Seminar at U of I via Zoom: “Rivers of Power: How an Ancient Force Still Rules Us All” – March 25, 2021 from 1:00 – 2:00 PM
There will be a free seminar presented via Zoom by the Geography Dept at the University of Illinois on March 25, 2021 called “Rivers of Power: How an Ancient Force Still Rules Us All” by Laurence Smith of Brown University. Dr. Smith wrote the book “Rivers of Power: How a Natural Force Raised Kingdoms, Destroyed…
