A great, but painful day, collecting Pennsylvanian Brachiopods near Oglesby, Illinois

[Nimravis]

 

On New Years Day. I went to a little road cut near the former Lonestar Quarry near Oglesby, Illinois to collect Pennsylvanian fossils. During my visit, I threw my lower back out, the first time in about 1 1/2 years. I believe that my drive back from Georgia exacerbated my lower back issue, but I still went out collecting. After I finished at this road cut, I still drove to another exposure that is about 5 minutes down the road- the below  pic (Blue Dot).

 

 

To my amazement, it looked like the whole head wall had recently collapsed or was knocked down since my last report to this site on 11-26-17. But due to the fact that my back was not feeling the greatest, I did not attempt to check it out. But like any of us on the Forum who are always looking at the different topics that people post, I would go to sleep and while I was trying to sleep, I would think about what might be waiting for me. Since it was a nice day temperature wise, I decided to drive the 70 minutes (75 miles one way) to check it out. Before I left, I placed pads for my TENS Unit on my lower back and turned it on. When I arrived, my back was feeling worse when it first went out, and it took a while for me to stand up straight. Using a Estwing Rock pole for support, I decided to see if I could get up this loose skree field. Even though I paid for it later, I was able to make several trips up and down with a pack on, I was very pleased.

 

 

Here are a couple pictures from 11-2017 of the site-

 

 

Here are some views from today.

 

 

This area contains fossils from this formation-  La Salle Limestone member of the Bond Formation (Missourian, Pennsylvanian) Unit 3. I am pretty sure that a portion of the Gray Shale (Unit 2) also came down. This Unit is above Unit 3 and contains crinoid pieces and sometimes shark teeth. I just gave it a cursory check, but only save a few crinoid pieces.

 

 

I also believe that there might have been some ichnofossils in this layer.

 

 

 

Here are some of the stuff that I found today, I will post, cleaned up pics with name and scale at the end. If I identified things wrong, please correct me. There are a couple things that I am not sure of.

 

 

Continued-----next post.

 

 

[Nimravis]

 

Continued on next post with larger formatted pics and ID's-

[Nimravis]

Juresania nebrascensis-

 

 

Linoproductus cora-

 

 

Composita argentia-

 

 

Continued Next Post-

 

 

 

[Nimravis]

Punctospirifer kentuckyensis- (???)

 

 

??? Maybe Juresania nebrascensis-

 

 

Possible Cephalopod??

 

 

@Tidgy's Dad , @Peat Burns , @Herb, @Jeffrey P  -  any help on ID's would be appreciated.

 

If you live in Northern Illinois, you should give this site a look, there is a ton of stuff. Once the weathering process begins popping shells out of the matrix, it will be great. As I stated last year, watch yourself when collecting here, there is loose rock and I would not recommend it for small children.

 

One last thing, some good news- I saw in a recent post from ESCONI (Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois) said the following-

 

Fossil Park Proposal For Lone Star Quarry Near Oglesby, IL

In late October 2018, the old Lone Star quarries near Oglesby, IL (owned by Buzzi-Unicem) were acquired by the state with the intent of annexing them to existing nearby state parks. A proposal to create a fossil park in a portion of those quarries has been submitted to IDNR. There will be other groups with ideas of how the property should be developed, and we hope to show IDNR there is support for the idea of a fossil park.

 

This would be great and I hope that it does happen, I have not collected at that location in about 30 years. I remember going there with my son and he could pic up tons of Composita argentia.

 

 

[Wrangellian]

Why are a bunch of the photos in the first few posts so dinky?

I love those big ones... Juresania and Linoproductus.

[Nimravis]

27 minutes ago, Wrangellian said:

Why are a bunch of the photos in the first few posts so dinky?

I love those big ones... Juresania and Linoproductus.

Because I knew I would be taking pics of the pieces later- I would have taken me about 8 post to add them all with the 3.9 mb restriction. 

[ClearLake]

Those are some really great looking finds. I’ll have to look at them closer to see how they compare to the Texas Pennsylvanian material I have had a chance to collect.  I had to look up where Oglesby was to see if I ever go by on my trips north. A bit out of the way, but I’ll have to put it on my “to do” list for the future.  Thanks for the great report. 

[KimTexan]

Those are some monsters. I’ve never seen them that big. Nice finds Ralph.

Please do take care of your back. I’ve had a lot of back issues. I’ve started wearing a brace.

[digit]

Wow! Talk about taking the "No pain--no gain" motto to heart!?!? YIKES!

 

You pulled some nice specimens out but I hope a heating pad and a steady diet of ibuprofen will start to get you sorted out again. No fun being on the disabled list when it is fossil hunting time. I'm wishing for a whole bunch of snow in your area only if it keeps you inside resting up for spring.

 

Not a bad haul for a gimp.

 

Seriously, rest-up for a while--backs are mighty unforgiving when they are mistreated.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

Don’t strain yourself too much. But if there was something to strain for those would be it. Nice finds!

[caldigger]

Gee Ralph, I really wish you would post a few pictures of your trip and finds once in a while. 

Great report and photo journal of the trip and finds. Looks like you got some good ones there. 

Did it look as if you were the first one to the spot after the land fall? Fresh diggins!

 

Better be careful, you're just going to end up replacing all those buckets of M.C. nodules with boxes of slabs.

And if you keep posting all those pictures of brachiopods, your going to give poor Adam a coronary. 

[Peat Burns]

I think my heart skipped a beat. 

[Monica]

Wow, look at all the rock to inspect at the site - heaven! 

 

I love the Juresania - what a beautiful brachiopod! 

 

Congrats on the great haul, and make sure you rest up completely before you head out again!

[smt126]

Awesome trip report once again. I hope no one was around when that wall f ell. I saw that possible fossil park post and am pretty excited.

[Nimravis]

9 hours ago, digit said:

Seriously, rest-up for a while--backs are mighty unforgiving when they are mistreated.

Thanks and I will do that- my back is the reason I have not been posting on my “Whack it thread”, I can’t open concretions in this condition.

[Nimravis]

8 hours ago, caldigger said:

Did it look as if you were the first one to the spot after the land fall?

I believe that I was Doren, no one would have left those big ones behind- there are still plenty of fossils left there for others.

[Jeffrey P]

Congratulations. Really nice haul of Pennsylvanian age brachs there Ralph. Your Punctospirifer kentuckyensis I believe is actually Neospirifer dunbari. Congratulations. I love those Pennsylvanian brachs. Hope to make it out there some day. Finding great fossils should definitely help with your recovery. 

[Fossildude19]

Great report and finds, Ralph!

Thanks for posting these. Always cool to see what you are finding.   

Just go easy on the back for a bit. Hope you heal up quickly. 

 

[caldigger]

58 minutes ago, Nimravis said:

Thanks and I will do that- my back is the reason I have not been posting on my “Whack it thread”, I can’t open concretions in this condition.

Well, that and the fact that it's 20 degrees outside!

[Tidgy's Dad]

[deutscheben]

Thanks for the great report on the site, Ralph! I hope your back gets better soon. 

 

I am excited to get back up there myself and see what was exposed with the rockfall. I'm glad no one was there when it collapsed, though. I've often thought about wearing a helmet while collecting at the site in case any stone came tumbling down from the overhang. 

[deutscheben]

Also, for anyone interested, here is the link to the ESCONI post about the proposal for a fossil park- they are asking folks to send in comments in support of it. 

 

https://www.esconi.org/esconi_earth_science_club/2018/12/fossil-park-proposal-for-lone-star-quarry-near-oglesby-il.html

[Peat Burns]

11 minutes ago, deutscheben said:

Also, for anyone interested, here is the link to the ESCONI post about the proposal for a fossil park- they are asking folks to send in comments in support of it. 

 

https://www.esconi.org/esconi_earth_science_club/2018/12/fossil-park-proposal-for-lone-star-quarry-near-oglesby-il.html

Have the people listed as contacts welcomed or solicited comments? Just want to make sure before I add another "piece of clutter" to their inboxes

[Nimravis]

2 hours ago, caldigger said:

Well, that and the fact that it's 20 degrees outside!

Actually it was about 48 degrees yesterday and that is why I went.

[Nimravis]

56 minutes ago, deutscheben said:

Thanks for the great report on the site, Ralph! I hope your back gets better soon. 

 

I am excited to get back up there myself and see what was exposed with the rockfall. I'm glad no one was there when it collapsed, though. I've often thought about wearing a helmet while collecting at the site in case any stone came tumbling down from the overhang. 

Ditto about that site- when I first went there, I tried my best to stay away from the overhang. 

 

As an FYI, there is a lot of stuff there that I did not touch. I only collected from the highest level because I thought that is was more stable for my back- there is still a lot of stuff on that top layer left too- and I did not really check anything from the rock fall area.