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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.?

I went on a trip to the Braceville spoil pile (Pennsylvanian deposits of Francis Creek shale, similar to other Mazon Creek locations but more marine) with the ESCONI club last week. Some of my concretions have already opened and there are a few things I am not sure about. Most of these might be totally unidentifiable, but just in case wanted to check - any input would be great. 1. I think I see some resemblance to a partial whorl of Spiropteris (curvature, and it seems like there are 1.5 whorls present). Could that be the case or it just some miscellaneous plant bit? 2. This one cracked poorly - is this worm identifiable at all? I don't see any evidence of jaws or segmentation. 3. This one is just weird - possibly a coprolite or a bivalve mold? If so, it would be a quite large bivalve. I don't see a hinge or any evidence of shell texture though. 4. Possibly a messed up Achistrum? 5. The elongated leaf in the middle somewhat looks like a small Cordaites leaf?

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!

Today I stopped at a friends house (Marty H.) and picked up about 10+ bags of Mazon Creek fossils. I have done this a number of times over the last couple of years. I go through them and place them into buckets so I can bring them to the ESCONI Braceville Shaft Mine Trip and dump them out for the participant’s. I like to go there with several buckets full of fossils. I went through a few bags and here are a few pictures of some of their contents. These fossils came from Pits 2, 3, 4, 11 and Dresden Lakes.

Today was Day 2 of ESCONI’s Braceville Shaft Mine Trip. Rich @stats will add some pictures from yesterday’s visit. He advised me that there were several FF members in attendance, including, but not limited @connorp , @bigred97. I believe that there were 50 participants yesterday and I believe that there were that many today. The weather was great for collecting, with the temp hitting a high of 80 by the time I left at 12:30 pm. People arrived a little before 9 am for the welcome talk and information on the site and collecting details. As usual, I brought a lot of fossils to dump for the participants. I had Mazon Creek fossils, other Pennsylvanian plant material from Danville, Illinois, Pennsylvanian brachiopods from Olgesby, Illinois, Ordovician hash plates from Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, Fossil shells from Florida as well as dugong ribs, Mississippian hash plates from Vienna, Illinois and I even dropped in a few echinoids from Morocco. It is a great way for me to get rid of excess stuff. @stats also brought a bucket to dump, in addition to stuff he brought yesterday. Here is a picture of FF member @CrustaceousBaki Caroline heading in to start collecting. Here she is getting her dig on. FF member @deutscheben was also out collecting today, here are a couple pics. Continued on next post.

Today was the late Summer ESCONI Braceville Shaftmine collecting trip. Well it was the first day, tomorrow will be the second day of the outing. Today’s trip ran from 9 am - 3 pm. I arrived early and unpacked my car. I try to bring a number of fossils that are dumped out for the participants to go through around noon time. Today I brought a potpourri of fossils that included a bunch of opened Mazon Creek fossils, Pleistocene/Pliocene shells from Florida, Oligocene mammal fossils from South Dakota, Cretaceous Pierre Shale ammonite / bivalves from South Dakota, Mississippian fossils from Vienna, Illinois, Pennsylvanian brachiopods from Oglesby, Illinois, Ordovician fossils from Southern Indiana and Kentucky, Shark teeth and mammoth ivory pieces from Florida, petrified wood from Arizona, cephalopods from Graf, Iowa, Carboniferous fossils from Catlin, Illinois and other fossils. I believe that there were between 40-50 participants. I only stayed around until 10 am, due to prior commitments, but I wanted to bring fossils to dump. There were several Forum members present, including @stats , @deutscheben , @connorp and others, hopefully Rich can add them. Prior to the start collecting , row call and rules are gone over. After that is taken care of most participants walk the 1/4 mile to the Shaftmine spoil pile, while others hang around and learn about fossil collecting at the site and what to look for. There are also Jack’s @fiddlehead books available for purchase. Then it is off to the collecting site for the others. Here are various pictures of the collectors doing their thing. More pictures to follow-

I am getting some fossils together to take to the ESCONI Braceville Shaft Mine trip that is running this Saturday and Sunday. The fossils that are collected there are Mazon Creek flora and fauna. When I am able to make one of these trips, I always pick up the car with several buckets full of fossils that we dump out and allow the participants to take home. This time I’m bringing a bunch of Mazon Creek fossil’s, Ordovician fossils from St. Leon, Indiana, Mississippian fossils from Anna, Illinois, Pliocene / Pleistocene shells from Florida, some echinoids and shark teeth from Morocco, a couple small Meg teeth from South Carolina (?), cephalopods from Graf, Iowa, some Pennsylvanian fossils from Oglesby, Illinois and maybe some other odds and ends that I do not recall. Here are a couple quick pics as I was placing them in the car. @stats

Hey Folks, Here’s another I’m not certain about. Trace fossils, perhaps?

This morning I drove out to Braceville, Illinois to meet a group of ESCONI (Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois) members for one of the annual Braceville Shaft Mine trips to collect Mazon Creek concretions. The temp at 7:45 am was a brisk 45 degrees, but warmed up quickly. As in past visits, I brought 7 buckets of fossils so the leaders could dump out for the participants. On this trip I brought opened Mazon Creek concretions, Pliocene shells and some dugong bones from Florida, Echinoids from Morocco, Pennsylvanian, Ordovician and Mississippian hash plates and some other miscellaneous fossils. I only spent 1 hour at the site, for the purpose of taking pictures. I know that there were Fossil Forum members present, but alas, I do not know the tag names. I do know that Rich @stats was there, but we did not see each other. At 8:00 am people who have attended this trip before began to walk the 1/4 mile in to the collecting area. Others stayed by the cars for a quick tutorial on the area and what they are going to look for as well as the rules for visiting this Private area. Here are some pics of the area and the approximate 50 participants that attended today's trip and there will probably be that many tomorrow. CONTINUED ON NEXT POST-

Today was the 2nd day of the ESCONI Braceville Shaft Mine Trip to collect Mazon Creek concretions. I was not able to go yesterday since I did not arrive back from Puerto Rico until later that night. I did want to make it out today because I had a number of buckets of fossils (Mazon Creek flora and fauna, Indiana and Kentucky Ordovician has plates and loose horn Coral / bryozoan, Moroccan echinoids and Pleistocene/Pliocene shells) to dump out for the participants. I was not sure that the trip was going to go on due to rain, but I did receive a PM from @stats Rich advising me that it was on. I had contacted him before I left for vacation and advised him that I had some buckets that I wanted to dump. Rich and others also had fossils that were dumped yesterday and today. Even though there was quite a bit of rain in the morning, there were a number of ESCONI members who showed up for some fun in the mud, and it was muddy today. I did not stay to do any collecting due to the fact that my wife wanted me to go grocery shopping- lol. If you live in the area you should join ESCONI, you would love going on this trip that is held on two different weekends during the year. Here are a couple pictures that I took while I was at the site. The muddy walk in- Collectors on the hill- Participants going through the “dump pile” of fossils.

This morning I left the house early to drive out to the Braceville Shaft Mine in Braceville, Illinois to drop off 6 buckets of open Mazon Creek concretions so the 50 or so members of ESCONI could take anything that caught their eye. Today is the first trip to the Shaft Mine this year for ESCONI and the members are going to have great weather. Unfortunately for me, I only did a drop and run since I have to work today. Other FF members like Rich @stats also brought buckets to dump for the participants to go through. Rich along with two other ESCONI members run the trips out to Braceville. Besides Mazon Creek fossils, I also brought Mississippian hash plates from Anna and Vienna, Illinois, Pennsylvanian hash plates from Oglesby, Illinois, Ordovician hash plates from Lawrenceburg and St. Leon, Indiana. In addition to the hash plates, I brought Pliocene shells and coral from Florida, shark teeth pans echinoids from Morocco, brachiopods and crinoid stems from St. Leon, dugong bones from Sarasota, Florida and a real pretty Turritella gastropod piece from Wyoming. I place the hash plates on the dirt path to the collecting area so people can see them. The kids and adults get excited when they notice the pieces and that they contain fossils. Here are some of the participants listening to one of the leaders for instructions on safety and what to look for. The walk down the dirt path can be and was muddy due to recent rains, but it should make a great day for collecting. It was difficult to roll 5 gallons buckets down the path with a mini dolly, I am glad others had a wagon to help out. Here are some general pics that I took before I left for the day. If you ever have a chance to go on one of these trips, you will not be disappointed.

I am in the process of cleaning up and examining the Mazon Creek nodules I collected from the Esconi trip to the Braceville pile last month, and I found a few already split nodules I can't identify. The first nodule is 5 cm wide and has what looks like an X formed by two crossing lines in the middle, with an oval shaped depression on either side of the X. I found a very similar looking fossil in a central Illinois river earlier this year as well. The second one is 3.5 cm wide. The third one is 3 cm wide. I was thinking the first and third might be coprolites? But I would certainly appreciate insights from anyone with more experience. Thanks!

So i went with my local club (ESCONI) to a hill they lease for two weekends out of the year for a dig about a month ago. It's nicknamed "Fan Worm Hill" in Braceville, IL. This hill is a old spoil pile from the coal mining, and is filled with nodules from the Essex fauna. We get to dig there, so i was very excited to go! I killed my body and collected about two 5 gallon buckets full. Sadly, most are poorly preserved blanks, jellys or bivalves. I did find one decent polychaete worm and cool associated Jellyfish though.... But now i may have found one of the most interesting pieces in my Mazon fauna. It looks similar to the Sea Cucumbers i find from the South Unit, but i really don't think it is. It's too inconsistent in form and texture. So, I believe it to be a pyrite encrusted piece of coprolite. If anyone has knowledge of Braceville nodules id love to get a confirmation. Thanks for looking! For your amusement, Golden Poop.....

Hi Folks- A couple of other fossils exposed themselves last night. One I believe is a problematica fossil described as a Y or "wye". The other is coprolite....which I normally wouldn't share - but this is a very well preserved piece of !*@*.