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On September 17th, 2022, ESCONI held a field trip to a coal mine spoil pile near Danville, IL. It was a fairly hot day with temperatures in the upper 80's. However, it was a productive field trip. There had been quite a bit of work on the hill this summer and it was looking quite different from the spring. The road to the top went around from the left instead of the right. There weren't as many exposed fossils in "Red Dog" found this time, but concretions were readily available for collecting. There were a few Forum members present. @deutscheben @connorp I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, please announce yourself! Here are some photos of the trip. Some of the photos were taken with a drone. I need to take some more photos of fossils, so stay tuned... I'll post concretions if/when they open. There was a bunch of poison ivy all around outside of the hill. Mushrooms were plentiful. And, of course fossils!

Hi, new to the forum so please bear with me ! My Dad was a coal miner and he had several fossils which I “inherited” when he passed away 17 years ago. Among them is what seems to me to be a small, heavy petrified mussel (photo attached). It’s about an inch and a half across, very heavy and looks to be completely intact. I’m just after an explanation of how it cane to be and a rough idea of age ? It was found in amongst a seam of coal around 2000 feet below an estuary. Any info would be gratefully received ! Thanks