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Showing results for tags 'francis creek shale'.
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Calling on the usual suspects, @stats @deutscheben @bigred97 @Nimravis @fiddlehead @flipper559 @connorp @RCFossils , to either confirm or refute my meager guesses at ID on these ferns. Thank you all in advance -- I truly appreciate your help. And of course, I'll consider what any others think as well. Thank you.
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Hey Folks, Here’s another I’m not certain about. Trace fossils, perhaps?
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Hey Folks, Shrimp and plant material? Plant material and plant material? What are we looking at here?
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310-million-year-old fossilized brain found (Mazon Creek, Illinois)
Oxytropidoceras posted a topic in Fossil News
Perfectly preserved 310-million-year-old fossilized brain found By Harry Baker, Live Science, July 28, 2021 Bicknell, R.D., Ortega-Hernández, J., Edgecombe, G.D., Gaines, R.R. and Paterson, J.R., 2021. Central nervous system of a 310-my-old horseshoe crab: Expanding the taphonomic window for nervous system preservation. Geology. Open access Yours, Paul H.- 1 reply
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- carboniferous
- euproops
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Looking to possibly identify the fossil directly below the 1 inch mark of the measuring tape in the first photo. Any possibly insight would be appreciated. Other fossils on this specimen include coral, bivalves, etc.
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Mazonomya mazonensis is a saltwater bivalve found in the Mazon Creek fossil beds. This species is the most abundant and common bivalve included in the Essex Biota. This specimen is preserved in an ironstone concretion.
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Everyone here on the forum knows @Nimravis is very generous with his...um...poop. I was the lucky recipient of a Mazon Creek (Pit 4) carnivore coprolite with a very intriguing inclusion. Does anyone recognize this once tasty morsel? Bug bit? EDIT: The scale bar in the photos is 1 mm.
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- carboniferous
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I wanted to join the squad of great Mazon ID threads we have had in the last week. These two were found split on my opening day trip to Mazonia-Braidwood/Pit 11. I only found half of the first one. It doesn't look like much, and it may be nothing, but its worth asking! The second one was split, but both halves were present. It is much more clearly something, but I'm not sure what, as there are not any clear features, although it is preserved with good definition and a nice contrasting color.
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Fossil hunting season at Illinois's Mazonia-Braidwood State Fish and Wildlife Area, the iconic Pit 11, runs from March to September every year. I didn't make it to the park at all last year, so I wanted to get out there on day 1 this year. I took the day off work and thankfully the weather cooperated- it was cloudy and in the 30s for most of the day. I picked up my rental car at 7:30 in the morning and hit the road for the 90 minute drive north. I wasn't the first one at the park, though- I saw a few other folks heading out on the trail with buckets in hand as I pulled into the parking lot off 5000 N Rd. Although I have been to Mazonia about 6 times in the last 5 years, I am still finding my way around the overgrown landscape of the park. I started out with an area I had been to before, and had some early success. Unfortunately, I followed that by wandering off to explore a new area, lugging my heavy bucket through heavy brush for 2 hours with almost no success. That (and the fact that I was in the early stages of a head cold) led me to taking it easy in the afternoon. I was only able to add a few more concretions to my bucket, but the sun did peek out briefly towards the end of the day resulting in some lovely panoramas from up on top of a ridge. I was able to chat briefly with another fossil hunter when I got back to the parking lot about the joys and tribulations of fossil hunting at Mazonia- we discussed the hard work necessary in order to have a chance to open an incredible window into a 300 million year old world, and how we wouldn't trade that chance for anything. I finished the day at the former tipple on the western side of the park, wide open ridges of dumped waste from the former mine that remain inhospitable to plant life to this day. It is an alien looking world, and usually has not been a great spot for finding fossils. However, it is easy to access at least and I was actually happy to come across a few rough bark impressions in sandstone that I picked up. The sun was getting low, so I decided to call it a day. I only collected about 1 1/2 gallons of concretions, but I was still glad I could get out to the park and find something. I will put my finds in the next post.
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This fossil split a few weeks ago and it has me puzzled. It's from the Mazon River itself and consists of many wispy fibers, with some carbonization at the tips. The edges of a Neuropteris fimbriata leaf have a frayed look that is sort of similar, but the rest doesn't look right. Another possibility I considered was it being some sort of highly degraded non-specific fibrous plant material. But I have not been able to find anything that matches it exactly in my guidebooks. Any ideas?
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So my wife and I loaded up the canoe and headed down to Mazonia South Unit Pit 11 for a day of some paddling and of course some fossil (nodule) hunting. We did really well on the nodule collecting. I happened to find this and was my most exciting find of the day. I found it face down in the mud and full of mineral staining and only found this half of it. After a little prep/cleaning tonight a lot of the details came out. I have no idea what I have here. Any help or ideas with this one? The first picture is more for scale. The remaining pictures were taken with my cell phone but had my wife shine her cell phone flashlight on the fossil. The details really jump out with the added light. Thanks for the help!
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This is my first year hunting Mazon Creek and I've found some cool stuff so far. I'm starting this thread not only for myself but for others to show off their personal Mazon Creek finds that you're proud of. I will be continuously adding to this thread to show pictures and i may need help with IDs. We all love pictures, so don't be shy. Show us what you got! And someone please correct any mistaken IDs (that's how we learn) Edit: IDs added Pecopteris mazoniana-Pit 2 Alethopteris serli-Pit 2 Lobetelson partial Shrimp-Pit 11 Achistrum (Sea Cucumber)-Pit 11 Rhaphidiophorus hystrix (polychaete worm)-Pit 11 Achistrum (Sea Cucumber)-Pit 11 Achistrum (Sea Cucumber)-Pit 11 Achistrum (Sea Cucumber)-Pit 11 Essexella asherae-Pit 11 Essexella asherae-Pit 11 Essexella asherae-Pit 11
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Had a few nodules pop from my winter nodule stash from pit 11 collecting. Wondering if anyone has ideas? Don't know if they are animals or suggestive mineral staining? from left to right: 1. jellyfish? 2. worm? 3. jellyfish? Something from the plant world? Sphenopteris? Thanks!
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I was able to find some time today and go through buckets of Mazon Creek nodules I had collected this season so far from the Mazonia South Unit (Essex Biota) that I have been freeze/thawing. Here's what popped open and wondering if I can have some help with some ID's? I'm seeing a lot of "worms" but would like some more specifics if anybody has ideas. Thanks! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 1. 2. 3. shrimp molt? 4. 5. sea cucumber? 6. 7.
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6/7/15 Join Us As We Dig 300Myo Fossils In The Francis Creek Shale
fossilized6s posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Come and join us as we dig up nodules from the Francis Creek Shale and celebrate Ken's (Digit) birthday! We will be heading to Fossil Rock campground in Wilmington, IL on Sunday the 7th of June. Our Floridian friends Ken and Tammy will be heading North to Chicagoland for business and pleasure. We WILL BE DIGGING, so digging tools, buckets and gloves will definitely help in your hunt. It also will cost $5 per person to enter and dig the campground. Here is a weather link for weather updates http://m.accuweather.com/en/us/wilmington-il/60481/extended-weather-forecast/629 Suggested items list: +Shovel, spade, pickaxe, screwdriver, garden claw, rock hammer (anything you're comfortable digging tough shale with) +gloves help. I sometimes forget mine and then my blisters have blisters. But sometimes I over do it and can't stop searching. +bug spray. There are a ton of mosquitos, ticks and spiders. +water. +snacks and/or food +buckets. Two is better than one. Evening out your load between two buckets helps while hiking up and down the hills. +backpack, bag or whatever to carry tools, water, phone, etc. +sandwich baggies. I like to keep these handy for long broken nodules that can be pieced back together at a later time. It keeps all of the fragments separate from your other nodules. +boots are suggested. It does get muddy and slippery. +an extra pair of clothes and shoes definitely helps on the ride home, especially if we get wet. +knee pads, if you got em'. Those are my basics. If anyone else has any suggestions, feel free to post them. You can find mainly Carboniferous flora. But insects, horseshoe crabs, shrimp and even Eurypterids have been recovered from here. -
I and other members will be heading to Fossil Rock campground to hunt pit 2 on Sunday October 19th 2014. Hopefully the weather will corporate and we can get our buckets filled! Come and join us. It doesn't matter if you've never done it before, i will be happy to teach you what to look for and how to be successful in your 300mya scavenger hunt. We will meet at the Shell gas station in Coal City @ 8-8:30am. It's just west of rt.55 on 113. Hopefully this link will help http://goo.gl/maps/z6m7q Supplies you need and may want. -shovel, pickaxe, rockhammer (basically a good and sturdy digging device). We will be digging through hard shale. -a pair of gloves to keep from collecting blisters -a pair of extra clothes and boots/shoes definitely helps on the ride home. -a bucket, backpack, rock bag (anything that will handle about 5lbs-50lbs worth of rocks) -water is a must, water, water, water -snacks and food is up to you -hiking boots, old pair of shoes, etc. They will get dirty. -i would say bug spray, but being so late in the year hopefully they won't be too crazy. -also it's $5 a person to dig at the campground. This pit is great for very well preserved plants, wood, insects and horseshoe crabs. I have found some awesomely preserved stuff there. These are some of the hardest nodules you will collect anywhere in the Mazon Creek area, and sometimes they take over 30+ freeze/thaw cycles to pop. As i stated above, we WILL be digging, so eat your Wheaties. You can hike around and try and surface collect, but since the spoil piles aren't that tall it may be a waste of time. Here's a live weather link to check the weather for that day. http://m.accuweather.com/en/us/coal-city-il/60416/weather-forecast/332818 Hope to see you there!
