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I drew this coloring sheet to give out at an upcoming children's program I will be doing at the public library my mom works at. I have done two previous programs over the years on fossils and dinosaurs, but this time I am going to be concentrating on the fossils of Illinois. Of course, this includes our bizarre state fossil, the Tully Monster! The sheet features a Tullimonstrum front and center chasing after an Elonichthys, with a pair of Essexella making their way across the background. It's not the most scientifically accurate drawing, but I hope it will be fun to color! Feel free to download and share- I uploaded both JPEG and PDF versions. (The PDF version also has some descriptive text on it) tully monster coloring page smaller.pdf
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Pennsylvanian Road Cut Collecting in Oglesby, Illinois (11-10-19)
Nimravis posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
When I woke up this morning I look outside and saw that it was going to be a nice day in the low 40's and I decided to go out and do a little collecting before it gets really cold and the snow shuts everything down. So i figured why not do the 130 mile round trip to Oglesby, Illinois and collect a nice road cut that I have been to several times that exposes the Pennsylvanian LaSalle Limestone member of the Bond Formation. As with all of the other times that I visited, I was the only one at the site. I only spent about 1 1/2 hours here looking around. I did not collect a lot of fossils, but did pick up a few. If you like brachiopod hash plates, you can find some nice ones just sitting there waiting for someone to pick them up. You do not many weathered out fossils at this site since most of the rockfall is recent, but you can find Composita argentia laying around sometimes- these cool brachiopods pop out of that matrix when struck by a hammer or in natural falls. Here are some pics of the area, hash plates and some small pieces that I collected in the field. Fossils in the head wall- Fossils in the field- Part and Counterpart- Here are some of the pieces that I collected and photographed with a photo cube- Inarticulate Brachiopod- PeltalodusTooth portion- Unknown- Inarticulate brachiopod ? Composita argentia- More to follow-
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- bond formation
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Hi all Found this in Braidwood club. Has cylinder like tubes that are crystal like tubes.Input greatly appreciated.
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On my way out of town after a family gathering at Starved Rock State Park (it was packed like crazy with people, but I was still able to get a quiet hike in early Sunday morning with my mom. The food at the Lodge is not bad at all, also!) I made time to stop by one of my favorite sites, a roadcut near Oglesby, IL. This steep, talus-covered slope is known to produce generous quantities of brachiopods, as well as rarer shark teeth, cephalopods, echinoderms, trilobites and coral, among other things, primarily from the Pennsylvanian La Salle Limestone Member of the Bond Formation. With the wet weather this year plants had grown wildly over the slope, but there was still plenty of rock to explore. I got out of my car, jumped over the little brook running through the ditch, and made my way up the slope. As erosion slowly eats away at the bluff, fresh boulders fall away and expose new things. A large section had fallen last year, and at the top of the slope I saw another section perilously close to breaking away, so I steered well clear of it. Caution is definitely required at this site, especially because of the risk of rock fall near the overhang, but also the danger of slipping on loose rock and falling- a good sense of balance is very helpful! Working my way carefully along the cut I began to find some interesting things. First up was this hash plate- it doesn't look like much here covered in mud, but in the middle are some Archaeocidaris sea urchin spines, and it also features a number of crushed brachiopods, including some with spines, as well as crinoid stem pieces and other bits. I have started cleaning it up, so I will need to take a picture of it after I'm done.
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- bond formation
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I found it near Byron, IL. Can see gabella.... I need confirmation. My guess is gabricersurus....?!?
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Any public locations in central Illinois? Or near Bloomington Illinois
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My friend found this near a parking lot just outside of Chicago in Lisle, IL. Any idea of what it is? Looks a little like the shape of a tooth to me. Thanks!
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OK folks, Really have no idea on this one, so need some help please. Thanks all in advance with this riddle. Dan
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This weekend I made my first trip out to Mazon Creek! Sorry this is such a scroller, I'm going to try and have this post be informational since there is definitely some stuff I wished I'd known about in advance and some stuff I did that really aided my success. There are pictures at the bottom. The most important thing I did before my trip was print off a topographic map of the area that I pulled from ArcGIS online. It really came in handy. It was also necessary to have a permit to collect there, something I only discovered the night before. Here is a link to a PDF of the permit. I drove down with a fellow UChicago student. We parked at the first lot off of WN5000 road from the Kankakee road side. Our plan was to use the topo map to find the steepest erosional surfaces to collect on. Initially this strategy seemed like a bust. In our first forty minutes we only found three concretions between us. I think that was because the area near the parking lot and WN5000 road was just really picked over. As we moved deeper into the brush, our finding rate increased. At some points we literally found piles of concretions, this was usually because they had landed in the roots of trees or come up against some other impediment. Our best finds were usually midway and above on the hills. Finds near the bottom of the hills tended to be weathered more extensively and were often fragmented. The concretions themselves were reddish and mostly about the size of half dollars, but larger and smaller ones were also abundant. Concretions found in sunny areas tended to have oxidized to a rusty orange color. We found fragments of some very large concretions, so those are out there, but the largest intact ones we found were about the size of a tea saucer. Many were also pre-split from weathering. We collected a fair number of these since they were covered in mud and it was hard to tell whether there might be a fossil or not. By the end of the afternoon we each had about 1/3rd of a 5 gallon bucket filled with concretions. We could easily have filled the buckets with an additional hour or two of effort, but we were pretty tired and satisfied with our success, so we called it a day. In terms of the environment, the terrain was very rugged and filled with dense brush. Open spaces were filled with burr plants to the point of absurdity. By the end of the day we looked like we had ghillie suits from the sheer quantity of vegetable matter clinging to our clothing (picture below). I recommend wearing long sleeves and pants to protect the skin, and selecting fabrics that burrs will not easily cling to. Additionally, there were lots of biting insects, but a quick spray of DEET solved that problem. I'm prepping the concretions by throwing them in the freezer. However, I'd appreciate it if somebody could link me to a post on the proper treatment, or enlighten me below- both for my own knowledge and for other readers. Photo of two of my pre split finds- the rest are in the freezer right now. (I think a polychaete worm on the bottom, and I have absolutely no clue what the thing on the top is) Our overall route (roughly) Concretions/concretion fragments in situ Me covered in burrs and looking like a dork
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- illinois
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I found this back in July from the Ordovician Platteville Formation in Oregon, IL. This is the only picture I have of it, and unfortunately, since it’s at home and I’m at school, this is the only picture of it that I have. It’s less than 2cm from side to side. I just don’t know with this one, my best guess is part of trilobite maybe? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
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I found this in the sangamon river by Decatur Illinois in Macon county. It was found in what looked like a glacial depost in the river. I don't think it is a brachiopod as the shape doesn't quite look right. I think it might be the tail of trilobite.
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- illinois
- macon county
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Does anyone know what these are? The previous owner forgot where they were found but thinks they are from the Fox river in Illinois. Can anyone confirm this? They look like plant fossils similar to those found at Mazon creek. Thanks.
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Hi, wondering what these two Encrinurid species might be? Sugar Run formation. Can't seem to find a match.Thanks for any help. 1
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ID request for fossil found near Alton Illinois along the River Road (Hwy 100)
JamesMcD posted a topic in Fossil ID
Hello all, Last Saturday I took my 7-year-old boy on a fossil hunt along the River Road (Hwy 100), NW of Alton IL. He found the item in the attached images somewhere near here: Google Map Location The longest dimension of the smooth "bit of whatever" with the porous / speckled texture is about 9 cm. I've tried various keyword combinations with google images, and haven't been able to find anything similar. I imagine it's something common and I'm just not describing it correctly. Does anyone recognize what this is? Thank you very much for any help. My kid will be very excited to find out what this is. James
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I am thinking that this is a Drevotella proteana, with, but not necessarily attached to, a Palaeolima retifera.
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- concretion fossil
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I need help identifying these, they are everywhere here in Marseilles but I don’t know what they are
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Hey guys. I'm looking for some help with this large mystery fish tooth from the late Carboniferous of Illinois. The closest match i can find is from the Devonian lobed finned fish Hyneria. But this is late Carboniferous almost Permian. Another contender just based on size is the Rhizodont. But it's not rounded. This tooth flattens out to two cutting edges that are very sharp. It honestly reminds me of a Barracuda tooth. This broken tooth measures about 20mm, but would have most likey been around 30mm if complete. It is associated with a Megalichthys scale and Orthanthus teeth. Any thoughts?
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- carbondale formation
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If anyone can please share their knowledge on what this may be it would be much appreciated! I found it along the bank of the Illinois River in Morris. Image 1 was taken from what I assume to be the top and image 2 is from the bottom. Image 3 is from the side which appears to me to be a crossectional view of the midline of the fossil. It measures approximately 2"W x 2"L x 1"H. I'm a novice collector but my first thought was half of an urchin or something along those lines. Thank you.
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Hello fossil hunters/collectors, My wife and myself are new to fossil collecting, (1 1/2 years). Our main interest is in Mazon Creek fossils. We have been members of ESCONI for 2 years. We joined MAPS this spring at the Iowa City show, as well as Lakeland Gem and Mineral Club in the Wisconson northwoods recently. First off, a BIG Thank You to this Site and contributors for all the useful information and tips. Living in Northern Illinois, we are close to the Mazon Creek basin and that is our primary intrest. Thanks again !! Phil
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Need help identifying this tooth which was found in the Mississippi river near the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. The river bed is constantly dredged to pull sand from the bottom of the river to the river bank. Area is near Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.
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Today I went on a dual club field trip (Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois and Rock River Valley Gem and Mineral Society) to an Ordovician aged quarry in Roscoe, Illinois. It was a hot day for fossil hunting, but a cool breeze kept things refreshing. There were over 20 people on the trip and everyone was finding fossils of some sort. Some pictures of the quarry.
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5/13/19 Oglesby, IL Roadcut- Pennsylvanian shark bits, brachiopods and more
deutscheben posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
A week ago today, I took the day off work to hit one of my favorite sites, a roadcut above the Illinois River in Oglesby, Illinois. This cut exposes the Pennsylvanian LaSalle Limestone member of the Bond Formation and produces abundant brachiopods as well as occasional other fauna including gastropods, cephalopods, coral, trilobites, and shark teeth. The weather was perfect, sunny but not too warm, when I pulled up. The cut is a somewhat unstable slope of cobbles and boulders of varying size, almost all with at least some fossils in them. To get up to the slope, you have to hop across a small ditch with running water. I have a good sampling of the common brachiopods from here, so I am looking for unusual fossils when I go now. I was very happy to quickly find a piece of trilobite as I started to search the rocks at the base of the hill. (I will put pics of everything I brought home in a response post) One interesting find that I was not able to bring home was this Linoproductus brachiopod with some shell preserved and a really pretty dendritic pattern on it- it was very delicate and firmly embedded in the middle of an ~80 lb boulder. I was able to stay for 4 hours, and I felt like I gave most of the site at least a quick look. I am very happy with what I found- I was able to check off many of the rarer things I was looking for, including shark teeth, a trilobite, cephalopod material, and a brachiopod with spines attached, as well as some nice crystallized brachiopods. I will post all of my finds below.
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@piranha @GerryK Can anyone confirm this is Paladin transilis? I found this in the Carboniferous of Illinois. Not sure if they've ever been described here...... And yes it's preserved in pyrite.
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Hi All, I took a trip to Mazon Creek recently with my family. It was the first time that we had visited the site, and we came away with a few concretions. One piece of a concretion that we found already split in the field seemed to have an elongated impression upon it. We're not quite what organism could have created the impression, or even if it is a true fossil at all. Perhaps it is part of a marine worm? We'd love to hear what you all think about it.
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Hi everyone, After the thunderstorm yesterday, me and some friends drove up to the Ponderosa area of Mazon creek park to look for fossils. It was our first time, and we didn't know the specifics of what to look for, but we spent three hours walking the whole perimeter of the lake, braving the aggressive swarms of biting insects. Can anyone here tell me if any of the rocks we found are the right ones to possibly contain fossils? Attached is a picture of all the rocks, and an album with closeup pictures. https://photos.app.goo.gl/XoCZQJwgWU7dbcoS7 Thanks a lot!!!
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