Irene Quarry Trip- Belvidere, Illinois

[Nimravis]

This morning I met about 12 other members of E.S.C.O.N.I. (Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois) at Irene Quarry in Belividere, Illinois for a quick 3 hour visit. The quarry contains hard rock Ordovician dolomite from the Galena Group. This was my first time at this quarry and though I did not find much, I had a great time with the group and we could not have had better weather. 

 

Here are some views of the quarry:

 

 

 

 

Here are a fews pics of my finds:

 

Receptaculites-

 

 

 

Receptaculites and Hormotoma-

 

 

 

 

Horn Coral- I believe Strepteasma

 

 

 

Brachiopod-

 

 

 

At first thought that this was a trilobite Cephalon, but now think it is a brachiopod, looks similar to the brachiopod above. If any one can ID, please do so.

 

 

 

One of the collectors found a large cephalopod in a block of dolomite.

 

 

 

Here is the large section out of the block-

 

 

 

Receptaculites - of course I did not take this one.

 

[Miocene_Mason]

Nice report, I think the haul was quite nice as well.

[Monica]

Hi Ralph!

 

Great finds!!!  I love your Hormotoma sp. nestled within the rock - it looks so cozy in there! 

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Monica

[minnbuckeye]

My gut instinct says that is a trilobite cephalon, not a brachiopod. We will see what more intelligent members say. Nice finds!

 

Here is what I found that looks very similar:

Thaleops (or Nanillaenus) trilobite cephalon from the Verulam fm.

This first specimen is a somewhat complete cephalon

[piranha]

3 hours ago, Nimravis said:

At first thought that this was a trilobite Cephalon, but now think it is a brachiopod, looks similar to the brachiopod above. If any one can ID, please do so.

 

      

 

 

They are trilobites: Thaleops sp.

 

[Nimravis]

10 minutes ago, piranha said:

 

 

They are trilobites: Thaleops sp.

 

Thank you very much, I was doubting myself- again. I will look them up, much appreciated.

[Nimravis]

47 minutes ago, minnbuckeye said:

My gut instinct says that is a trilobite cephalon, not a brachiopod. We will see what more intelligent members say. Nice finds!

 

Here is what I found that looks very similar:

Thaleops (or Nanillaenus) trilobite cephalon from the Verulam fm.

This first specimen is a somewhat complete cephalon

Thanks Minn, I appreciate your ID and the pic.

1 hour ago, Monica said:

Hi Ralph!

 

Great finds!!!  I love your Hormotoma sp. nestled within the rock - it looks so cozy in there! 

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Monica

Thanks Monica- gotta love when you multi fossils.

[piranha]

13 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

Thank you very much, I was doubting myself- again. I will look them up, much appreciated.

 

 

Here you go:

 

Amati, L., & Westrop, S.R. (2004)

A systematic revision of Thaleops (Trilobita: Illaenidae) with new species from the Middle and Late Ordovician of Oklahoma and New York.

Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 2(3):207-256   PDF LINK

[Rob Russell]

Sorry I missed the event.  I've attended in the years past, and have always enjoyed hunting with the folks at esconi.  Congratulations on your finds.  

[Nimravis]

32 minutes ago, Rob Russell said:

Sorry I missed the event.  I've attended in the years past, and have always enjoyed hunting with the folks at esconi.  Congratulations on your finds.  

Thanks Rob- As you know, it is not as easy as collecting a weathered road cut.  But like you stated, it is fun to collect with other people, I usually go solo.

[aek]

I was at the quarry yesterday too! ..here's my Thaleops. Maybe I'll see you on the next trip.

[Nimravis]

51 minutes ago, aek said:

I was at the quarry yesterday too! ..here's my Thaleops. Maybe I'll see you on the next trip.

Very nice.

[deutscheben]

Thanks for the report! I have not made it to any of the non-Braceville ESCONI trips yet, so it's great to read about the experience. 

[smt126]

Some nice finds. Do you know if they got that cephalopod out?

[Nimravis]

11 hours ago, smt126 said:

Some nice finds. Do you know if they got that cephalopod out?

It came out in pieces and he used a chisel-  had a limited time to do this, or it was gonna be crushed. 

[smt126]

Still nice to get some of it out, hopefully they can glue it back together

[Wrangellian]

On 10/8/2017 at 5:01 PM, Monica said:

 

Great finds!!!  I love your Hormotoma sp. nestled within the rock - it looks so cozy in there! 

 

It does! Nicely blanketed under that Receptaculites.

 

That orthocone is impressive... Hate to hear that stuff like that is being crushed, but what can we do?