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Showing results for tags 'illinois'.
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Hello, Could I get an ID on this mazon creek unknown? It has pretty high relief and strong segmentation with makes me think arthropod like a millipede, but I don't see any legs so maybe it's an annelid worm or something.
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- francis creek shale
- illinois
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I've been chipping away at this cobble when I have spare time, and slowly exposing this fossil. I found the stone itself in western Illinois, relatively near the rivers. The matrix is shockingly tough, I can only rarely make a difference with any sort of precision, unpowered hand tool. Each grain of sand is firmly in place and does not want to leave. The exposed matrix was originally reddish to brownish, though newly exposed faces of chips broken off lack the red-brown color (the reddish color is entirely lost in the photos). Presumably the stone is Mississippian or Devonian. Other fossils in this rock are all flakey white brachiopod material ranging from 0.5 cm to 4 cm across at the widest points. I have tested some matrix scraps against vinegar, which dissolved the stone around the sand grains, but left the sand grains untouched. I've decided to hold off on any more matrix removal until I know what I should expect to find in the matrix. I found a second one of these, but it chipped off and lost it in my prep area outside. When it comes to the horses & zebras adage I always put more consideration into the zebras than I should, which is why I'm hoping this is some part of a vertebrate but more likely an oddly colored crinoid bit. We just don't have much vertebrate material where I'm at. The photos with circular borders are taken through a stereoscope at 15x magnification. The others have some level of digital zoom applied, but have a scale nearby (mm, cm). I apologize for any focus issues, this new phone has a finicky camera.
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Hey guys! It’s been a long time since I’ve been active on the Forum, but I have an exciting update - I just published my first paleontology paper on Christmas Eve! It’s a short paper documenting two shark species that are previously unreported from the LaSalle Limestone of northern Illinois (you guys may know it as the Oglesby roadcut!), Heslerodus divergens and Ossianodus sp. I’ve added the pdf of the paper here and here’s a link to it as well. Thanks to everyone here that helped give info about the site, especially @deutscheben! Gieser_et_al_2023_Kentiana_5.pdf ***Calling all LaSalle Limestone/Oglesby roadcut fossil hunters!*** If you have collected any shark or fish material from the Oglesby roadcut and would be willing to contribute to science and the growing knowledge of the (severely understudied) Paleozoic vertebrate diversity of Illinois, please contact me! Hobbyist fossil collectors have made some of the best finds in paleontology, and I would love to see what you all have collected from the site. This area’s fish diversity is much higher than is currently known to science and I would like to work on documenting it. Thanks! Email - rgieser2_AT_illinois.edu or you can just contact me on this site as well
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- bond formation
- carboniferous
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any possibility for IL fossil hunting in the winter? where?
rocks in my pockets posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
hey! brand new to the forum. tagged mazon creek because I think that's the most popular spot in IL but I'm aware it's not open to the public at the moment. does anyone know of spots that are open to the public in the winter? anywhere in IL? otherwise, any connections with landowners have access to fossil beds? nowhere with disputed ownership/right on the border between public and private, not looking to put myself and my friends in an unsafe situation especially during deer season. I would really appreciate some input! don't need anything special, just wanna go poking around in the dirt with my friends. :) -
I "rediscovered" a weird rock I found 6 years ago at a quarry near Belvidere, Illinois. The rocks exposed at the quarry are dolomitic ordovician Galena group. Last night, I took a closer look at it under a microscope and noticed that the spiny crystal structures seem to be formed by mycelium. I know mycelium breaks down rocks, but I'm curious to hear any thoughts/insight about this oddity.
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Hello! I’m Ellen B and I’m currently living in far NE Illinois where there is plenty of glacial till and a brevity of outcrops. By day I do computer support now. But I have a MS in geology with a specialty in sedimentary rocks and paleontology. I also am a hobby baker hence my moniker.
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Mazonia wildlife management area - Other paleozoic finds.
Rockwood posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
This photo was taken in the historical society museum in Braidwood Ill. Notice the crinoid pieces. I found similar specimens along with rugose, and tabulate corals in the Mazonia wildlife management area nearby. A few members seemed to not believe that such things could be found there. @Mark Kmiecik was one as I recall. They are on the piles just inside the entrance to the northern unit of the park coming from Braidwood by the way. Does this help anyone with an explanation.
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This was found in the southern unit of the Mazonia Wildlife Management area in northern Illinois. Ma nature had already opened it, so it may be in kind of rough shape. Is there enough here to identify it ?
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I will be using this thread to post what I have found fossil hunting in the Mazon Creek area, including the ESCONI Braceville pile, Mazonia/Braidwood, and any other sites I get a chance to explore. Although I had been to Mazonia a few times previously with virtually no luck, my first successful trip was with ESCONI last September at the private spoil pile they have access to. These first fossils are all from there. I have tried to give the best IDs I can- please jump in if you think I have anything wrong. I also forgot to put something in for scale on this first batch of photos, my apologies. First are three that I believe to be Essexella asherae, all very different looking though. The first is quite large, 7.5 cm across, and I love the red color. Next are two Achistrum sp., the first is my favorite fossil I have found from Mazon Creek thus far- curled up neatly in the nodule and nearly complete. The second is partially pyritized- I couldn't find any similar examples online, so it seems fairly unusual. Here are a few Mazonomya mazonensis, the top one is adorably petite- the shell is less than 1 cm across. This is small impression fossil of some bark- I'm still learning to ID the Pennsylanian flora, so I'm not sure exactly what this would be called. This appears to be a trace fossil, possibly a tunnel of some sort? I believe this is a coprolite. Finally, a few incomplete worms. The first I have identified at the tail end of Didontogaster, while the second nodule seems to have a few thin worm-like fossils preserved- perhaps Flabelligeridae sp.?
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- Braceville
- Illinois
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From the album: Mississippian fossils
A nice Pentremites blastoid from the Golconda Formation of IL.-
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- blastoid
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I'm looking for some help IDing this cephalopod fossil I collected from the Silurian (Racine Dolomite) of northern Illinois. The specimen is just a slice of the entire cephalopod unfortunately, so maybe it will be tough to ID. Any help either way is appreciated. @aek Come across anything like this before?
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- cephalopod
- illinois
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Where is the best place to look for fossils in Madison county Illinois? (Mainly Alton or Godfrey but anywhere near is fine)
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Found in a creek in Alton by the Piasa Cave. Looks like the exoskeleton of some arthropod. Any idea on what it is exactly?
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I found this walking out by my house in Vermilion County, Illinois about 7-8 years ago. I collect rocks and other things I find interesting when I go out to hike. I’ve been keeping a pile of rocks like this one and I’d like to see if anyone can identify it? It is very heavy and the little ball like structure on the inside is very odd. I’ve tried doing research but can’t find anything. I have taken a guess that it might be a ball and socket joint to something? I’m open to suggestions? Thanks
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I found this walking in Vermilion County, Illinois a few years ago. This was in a corn field by my house. It appears to have been used for something and I thought it was unique so I took it home. I’ve been keeping it up by my house for a few years now and decided I’d like to try and identify it possibly. I’ve been looking online and to me it looks like an Native American flaked axe or possibly something else used by them. The indentations on it are very unique. Open to suggestions please. Thanks!
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A few days ago I took a trip to view some exposures of Ordovician aged rock along the Mississippi River. I had decided afterwards to take a little detour and stop by a fairly popular exposure of Mississippian aged Golconda Formation outside the town of Anna, Illinois. There is rock exposure along both sides of the road here. I was careful, and decided to park further down along a gravel road. A lot of material at this site is weathered out, and easily collectable. I flipped about every rock I saw as I walked up to the exposure, and the first rock I flipped had a nice blastoid on it that looks to clean up nice. I didn't use any tools here, everything collected was just picked up loose. I found a few more nice Pentremites blastoids. This next one is probably the largest Pentremites I've found in Illinois. It was huge! Here are the two compared next to each other. I believe they are both Pentremites pyriformis. I found a few nice crinoids as well. I almost couldn't believe what I saw when I spotted this first crinoid! A very small and dirty Phanocrinus crinoid. The next one I found was on a rock I flipped over, and better shows the bottom calyx plates. This one unfortunately wasn't complete, still not too shabby. There were alot of bryzoans and brachiopods weathered out. I did take a small handful of Archimedes spirals. Last find was a small block with a trilobite pygidium on it. This was a nice little stop. It was very easy to collect as well.
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From the album: Pennsylvanian fossils
Phylum: Brachiopoda-Articulata Class: Rhynchonellata Order: Athyridida Family: Athyrididae Genus: Composita Portions of the pedicle valve were removed to expose the lovely crystals within.-
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- bond formation
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From the album: Pennsylvanian fossils
Phylum: Brachiopoda Class: Rhynchonellata Order: Spiriferida Family: Trigonotretidae Genus: Neospirifer A nice larger Neospirifer brachiopod with both valves.- 1 comment
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This is the Mazon Monday post from the ESCONI website this morning. There were numerous Fossil Forum users.... @bigred97 @flipper559 @RMAA. I know there were others there. Please add yourselves. ---------------------------------------------------------- The Fall 2023 Braceville Field Trip is in the books... is is that on the web? It was a enjoyable, but somewhat wet, weekend. We had rain at the very end of the day on Saturday and most of Sunday. The mud was not too bad. The dry conditions this late summer probably left the shale in a state where it could soak up a good bit of the water. We had visitors from out of state both days. Alan Keith was very generous and passed out fossils from Texas and Oklahoma. The fossil dump was as good as ever. We had quite a few buckets on both days. Unfortunately, not as many people stuck around until 11:30 on Sunday, as we had a steady rain for most of the morning. Material was supplied by Ralph Jewell, @Nimravis Andrew Young, Rich Holm, Alan Keith, and others. Thank you for your contributions! Good morning! Here is a little introductory video on the walk in on Sunday morning. It rained quite a bit Saturday night, so the shale was sticky in places. Here is a Mazon Monday post about the history of the Braceville spoil pile. It was called worm hill by the old timers. Fossil Dump on Saturday Good luck horseshoe found by Chris Berg @bigred97. Huntin' for fossils! Smiles from the pile! Mud! Poison ivy! Steam from the hill when the sun came out on Sunday afternoon Open fossils found! Say goodbye to another successful field trip!
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Hello! I had the privilege of joining ESCONI to Mazon’s Pit 4 yesterday and came across this concretion. There’s a very good chance it’s nothing, but I thought the 3D shape might be peculiar. The concretion is about 1.5 cm wide in total. Thank you for looking!
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- carboniferous
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From the album: Pennsylvanian fossils
Phylum: Chordata Class: Chondrichthyes Order: Petalodontiformes Family: Petalodontidae Genus: Petalodus-
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Hello, I’ve recently been starting fossil hunting excursions at the last place I’d ever imagine — a parking lot. Put simply, there’s some piles of rocks near a big store around Champaign, IL, and in them I’ve found fossils. However, the rocks did not come from there, and because I’m anything but an expert geologist, I have no clue what rock I’m working with, what formation they came from, or in general what to expect. My guess is that it’s Silurian Dolomite but I’d appreciate some secondhand opinions, and nonetheless I’m still unsure of what particular formation the rocks belong to. Here are some of my finds: A bunch of brachiopods, and what looks like an external mold of a crinoid stem, I'm guessing. A few more brachiopods i’ve found as well. This is the usual stuff I find, just lots of brachiopods and (I think?) the occasional bivalve. Oh, there’s also this thing. I’m guessing some weird type of brachiopod but I’m not 100% confident, any IDs would be cool. Anywho, if y’all can figure out where these come from, is there anything else I can find in that formation/in these rocks? And if so, is there any sort of specific techniques/strategies i can use to know which rocks will bear fossils? Because some, like the first image, would be chock-full of them, but many would have only one fossil in them, and most wouldn’t have any at all. (Oh btw, I should note that these are pretty big rocks, like 6-10 cubic inches) Furthermore, are there any rarer fossils i could find (trilobites?? ;-;), and are there ways to find em as well, or is this just gonna be a matter of smashing open rocks till you’re lucky?? Oh, and lastly, whatever kind of rock I'm dealing with, it’s very hard. If I want to crack a rock open, I kinda just smash it with my sledgehammer; but I'm not really able to get precise cuts into the rocks with it, so I wonder if maybe there are times when I’ll crack open a rock, think there are no fossils in it, but in reality i just didn’t crack the right part of the rock open. Is there a way to know? Or a way to crack open the rocks more precisely? (I also have two pickaxes and some chisels, but the pickaxes are much worse at working with rocks, and honestly I’m too scared of breaking my hand with the chisel if i miss my hammer). Sorry if this is a lot, and kind of all over the place. I just have a lot of questions and a lot of inexperience. Thank you so much for any help!
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From the album: Pennsylvanian fossils
Phylum: Chordata Class: Chondrichthyes Order: Petalodontiformes Family: Pristodontidae Genus: Peripristis sp.- 1 comment
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Curious and a bit crazy, I drove a couple hours out to what used to be a popular blastoid collecting site in Illinois. I've read online that this location has been the example of a couple bad apples ruining the bunch in the past, so I wasn't sure if I could collect or not. The exposure lies in a creek between private property, so to cover my bases I went knocking on some doors. Sometimes, that's all it takes. I spoke with the landowner, and he was nice and did not mind me looking and collecting. I would kindly express that anyone else with similar intentions do the same. Excited, I raced down to the exposure. A short walk from my car and I found the creek. The post will be picture heavy. A bit overgrown, but that's normal during the summertime in the Midwestern USA. I waded to the other side of the creek and started checking the mud towards the bottom. It didn't take long until I found a Pentremites blastoid! It was a decent size, though a bit compressed. Checking back, I noticed another one right below it, and gave them a quick creek wash. I then went up and started checking the first lower wall and noticed a nice dirty blastoid eroding out of what looks like a mudstone/ shale rock. I decided getting low on my hands and knees and checking through all the eroded material would be the best approach. This worked well. There were many blastoids just waiting to be plucked at the surface, or waiting just below some debree. So far, they were all in nice condition. The soft matrix attached also comes off easily in most cases. After finding 4, I got overwhelmed a bit from excitement and had to sit for a few minutes. A short break later, I started looking again and found more. A lot more. There were so many Pentremite blastoids just littered around. It was almost like picking up pecans when they start to fall, but better! Venturing towards the top of the exposure, I noticed some larger examples. Some were exposed in the soft wall, while a few looked like they had fell out recently. Here was a very nice specimen I found towards the top buried in mud. After a quick wash Almost everything I had found was just laying there and weathered out. No tools were required. I flipped through and looked at some of the bigger chunks of rock, but most were barren besides one cool little multi block. There were also some nice brachiopods and bryozoa I collected, which I sadly didn't photograph. I did find some sort of crusher toothplate as well. I think the blastoids always get most of the attention here, and I can understand why. I've never collected a spot with them so abundant. My final find ended up being my favorite, and biggest blastoid. I'm amazed at the quality, sizes, and sheer abundance of Pentremites blastoids that are here. This was a lot of fun and is a productive place to spend a day.
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Hello, We found this cool fossil mixed in with other stones in our planting in Lake County, Illinois and cannot figure out what type it is. We are in Northern Illinois near the Wisconsin border. My mom thinks it is a coral but I think it looks like the imprint of a bunch of isopods. We know little about fossils but would love to know more about this find. It is possible that it is not from our area since it was mixed in with landscaping rocks. Thanks!
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