It's Summer And You Want To Go To Pit 11 For Mazon Creek Fossils

[Nimravis]

7 minutes ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

I don't think this one is a concretion. I've collected tens of thousands and never came across a shiny one! Not saying it can't be, just wow if it is. Iron siderite, that composes the concretions, has a specific gravity of 3.96, and you may want to check this specimens specific gravity against that of a known MC concretion as a comparison. I'm guessing that since the concretions aren't 100% iron siderite their specific gravity should be somewhere between 3.5 and 3.8 -- of course, this is just an educated (poorly) guess.

It does look different, but I have come across some strange looking ones- I say give it a Whack, or at least a tap to hear the sound it makes. I have always found that a higher "ping" sound me rock and a lower "thud" sound means concretion. I could also just have Superhuman ears - LOL.

[stats]

1 hour ago, Nimravis said:

It does look different, but I have come across some strange looking ones- I say give it a Whack, or at least a tap to hear the sound it makes. I have always found that a higher "ping" sound me rock and a lower "thud" sound means concretion. I could also just have Superhuman ears - LOL.

I agree with this.  A scratch can help, too.  A red scratch shows iron oxide.  Other colors are not associated with Mazon concretions.  That said, it is a pretty rock!

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

[digit]

I'll do some more tests on it once I'm back home (heading back tomorrow). There are a lot of glacial erratics found in the tipple piles in Mazonia-Braidwood. Chunks of quartz or granite and other non-native rocks can be found mixed in with the siderite nodules dropped off by the glaciers on their last retreat through the area. Many of the concretions have a more porous, almost terra-cotta like, texture to them while this one is hard and dense with a bit of a sheen to it. I'll see if my tone-deaf ears can detect a different tonality when I give it a whack.

 

It's been a while since I've had the time to make it out to Mazonia-Braidwood for a side-trip on one of my visits to the Chicago area. I managed to get out 3 times this visit for some short couple-hour excursions (the best I could muster with temps hovering in the low 90s).

 

After a few weeks of soaking, I'll hopefully start seeing the (long dried) fruits of my labors. As long as Ralph doesn't mind me hijacking his post anymore than I already have, it might be useful to include a few photos showing the process and progress of popping these concretions. It would provide a bit of coda to Ralph's excellent informative post on Pit 11.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Nimravis]

10 minutes ago, digit said:

As long as Ralph doesn't mind me hijacking his post anymore than I already have, it might be useful to include a few photos showing the process and progress of popping these concretions.

Have at it Ken, I enjoy reading your posts and seeing your finds.

[deutscheben]

Thanks for sharing @digit. I applaud anyone brave enough to get out and hunt at Pit 11 in these conditions! I don't think I would make it very far off trail before succumbing to the heat and humidity.

 

And you found some really great looking nodules too! I have found some with a similar shiny finish on the outer layer in the past as well. 

[digit]

It was surely hotter and more humid out there now than when folks start going out at the more sane opening of the fossil hunting season on March 1. I'm always up for a challenge and any blood, sweat and tears shed in the course of the hunt (I gave on all three accounts) hopefully go into the credit column in my fossil karma balance sheet. What finally signaled the end of my first foray out to Pit 11 last week was that I was sweating so much that, despite near continuous mopping of my face with a small towel, the streams of DEET-laden sweat were seeping into my eyes and drying out my contact lenses. I drove home from that trip in a bit of a fog (literally) and it was quite a relieved to pop out my lenses for the rest of the day.

 

If anybody uses the information in this topic to venture into Mazonia-Braidwood during the summertime, bring lots of water and lots of DEET bug spray (possibly equal quantities ). Wear a long sleeve shirt and long pants (regardless of the heat, you'll need maximum coverage to ward off scratches and ticks as best you can). Tuck your pant legs into your socks (avoiding that as a vector for tick infestation). Wear a small backpack to pack out your finds. Carry a bunch of zip-top bags which are useful for quickly bagging your finds (and keeping the inside of your backpack from getting too dirty). My backpack has a large carrying handle loop on the very top of it and it did an excellent job of hooking on branches in the undergrowth and impeding forward progress like being grabbed by the scruff of your neck--avoid this feature on field backpacks or give it a loop-ectomy with a strong pair of scissors. A small GPS unit or a smartphone where you can drop a GPS waypoint where you leave the trail and enter the thicket. Navigation in undulating rows of tipple piles can get disorienting and you don't want to be wandering in circles trying to find your way back to the walking trail. Bring a (sweat) towel--Douglas Adams would approve.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Nimravis]

I also try to wear light colored clothes so I can see the ticks crawling on me, it is also beneficial for them to locate there buddies as I collect.

[Nimravis]

Here are a couple picture that I took on opening day a couple years ago, it is a lot easier to collect during that time and there were no ticks.

 

[Nimravis]

[digit]

So much cleaner looking in the spring after the vegetation is gone. Not even a challenge to spot those concretions--they virtually jump into your collecting bag. 

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Nimravis]

7 minutes ago, digit said:

So much cleaner looking in the spring after the vegetation is gone. Not even a challenge to spot those concretions--they virtually jump into your collecting bag. 

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

It is also easier to spot my car that I parked on the road. I went up the tall hill on the other side of Monster Lake. I still needed the GPS on my phone to find my way back, I really went in deep and got turned around.

[digit]

1 minute ago, Nimravis said:

I really went in deep and got turned around.

Not at all difficult to do. Natural navigation does not work very well on repeating ridges that all look alike unless you can keep your orientation and remember how many times you went up and down them. When searching you usually have your face pointed down and your search tends to take you off in random directions following promising sloping areas. Very easy to get disoriented and on a cloudy day even the sun angle is not available for basic orientation. Be careful out there!

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[stats]

Here are a few videos at Pit 11 this spring.   It's getting pretty overgrown.  I may make another trip or 2 this year, but have to wait until next spring to get info the deeper areas.

 

April 20th, 2019

https://photos.app.goo.gl/X7FN6z5a47BSjeMV6

 

A possum on the trail

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SXDzGmXARYAPrenR9

 

Good shapes!  I hope that top one is a nice shrimp!

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

[Mark Kmiecik]

40 minutes ago, stats said:

Here are a few videos at Pit 11 this spring.   It's getting pretty overgrown.  I may make another trip or 2 this year, but have to wait until next spring to get info the deeper areas.

 

April 20th, 2019

https://photos.app.goo.gl/X7FN6z5a47BSjeMV6

 

A possum on the trail

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SXDzGmXARYAPrenR9

 

Good shapes!  I hope that top one is a nice shrimp!

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

We should play a game of "Guess What's in The Concretion" with this one.

[Nimravis]

@stats Rich those are some nice looking concretions, hopefully something nice will pop out.

 

I have never run into any animals out there will I was collecting, unless you include ticks- lol.

[stats]

35 minutes ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

We should play a game of "Guess What's in The Concretion" with this one.

I like it!  What's your guess @Mark Kmiecik?  It's in the freeze thaw right now.  I'll take a picture when it comes out next.  It has something in it as there is a seam at one end.

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

[Mark Kmiecik]

5 minutes ago, stats said:

I like it!  What's your guess @Mark Kmiecik?  It's in the freeze thaw right now.  I'll take a picture when it comes out next.  It has something in it as there is a seam at one end.

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

Ok, I'll play (since I'm guilty of starting this). 

 

My guess: Annularia stellata, three whorls.

[stats]

1 hour ago, Nimravis said:

@stats Rich those are some nice looking concretions, hopefully something nice will pop out.

 

I have never run into any animals out there will I was collecting, unless you include ticks- lol.

Too many ticks in June.  I had 4 on me from a trip deep off the beaten tracks.  I think they all were Lone Star ticks. 

 

Saw baby deer in May.  We slowly backed away to keep from disturbing it.  Also, I've heard mother deer can get aggressive!

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

 

 

[stats]

23 minutes ago, Mark Kmiecik said:

Ok, I'll play (since I'm guilty of starting this). 

 

My guess: Annularia stellata, three whorls.

Would love that!  I have nice one from Braceville, collected last fall and opened this spring.  2 Whorls, but as you know, plant matter is fairly rare from Braceville.

 

Cheers,

Rich

[digit]

I'll put my money on a nice Kallidecthes richardsoni or Belotelson magister since I've not yet recovered a shrimp from Pit 11 and I love seeing nice examples of these.

 

I grinned when I saw that you have discovered that the inexpensive plastic shoeboxes work really well for storing Mazon Creek concretions. I use one of these to hold a load of soaked and saturated concretions as it fits well on the Quick Freeze shelf of my freezer. I've decided to run the freeze/thaw cycles on the take from my recent trip to Chicago, keeping different collecting locations in the Mazonia South Unit separate. I'm soaking my finds from the Monster Lake area now and will take additional photographs as the process continues. This batch of concretions will sit in a plastic bucket in my garage for a few weeks. I won't keep it outside as we have more than enough mosquitoes in South Florida already.

 

    

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

 

[deutscheben]

15 hours ago, stats said:

Here are a few videos at Pit 11 this spring.   It's getting pretty overgrown.  I may make another trip or 2 this year, but have to wait until next spring to get info the deeper areas.

 

April 20th, 2019

https://photos.app.goo.gl/X7FN6z5a47BSjeMV6

 

A possum on the trail

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SXDzGmXARYAPrenR9

 

Good shapes!  I hope that top one is a nice shrimp!

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

A study has shown opossums are avid devourers of ticks, so I hope that one was hard at work! I hate those little blood-sucking monsters...

 

Also, that is an outstanding Annularia for Braceville.  

[digit]

17 minutes ago, deutscheben said:

Also, that is an outstanding Annularia for Braceville.

For anywhere--better than the few I've found. Did turn up a relatively nice one this time--a split half concretion. I'll have to take a photo of it soon.

 

I've got possums, raccoons and armadillos in my yard (mostly at night). The armadillos leave small holes in the grass or mulched areas while snooting around looking (smelling/tasting) for invertebrates. The other two species are more of a pest digging up plants and shredding the water-holding cups of my bromeliads. Years back I used to use my (non-lethal) Have-a-heart cage trap baited with cans of cat food to capture and relocate these pests a few miles west to the open area in the Everglades transition zone. It was annoying getting up several times each night when I heard the trap snap closed to deport these guys off my property. Finally, I gave up and took out the plant types that they would slice into cole slaw each night--it was a less tiresome option.

 

My opinion of opossums has raised slightly given the information provided above about their diet proclivities. The enemy of my enemy is my.... um, (nocturnal, marsupial) friend?

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[stats]

1 hour ago, deutscheben said:

A study has shown opossums are avid devourers of ticks, so I hope that one was hard at work! I hate those little blood-sucking monsters...

 

Also, that is an outstanding Annularia for Braceville.  

Agreed.  I remember hearing that on a recent episode of the Ologies podcast about ticks.

 

Thanks!  That's my nicest Annularia from anywhere!

 

Cheers,

Rich

[stats]

45 minutes ago, digit said:

For anywhere--better than the few I've found. Did turn up a relatively nice one this time--a split half concretion. I'll have to take a photo of it soon.

 

I've got possums, raccoons and armadillos in my yard (mostly at night). The armadillos leave small holes in the grass or mulched areas while snooting around looking (smelling/tasting) for invertebrates. The other two species are more of a pest digging up plants and shredding the water-holding cups of my bromeliads. Years back I used to use my (non-lethal) Have-a-heart cage trap baited with cans of cat food to capture and relocate these pests a few miles west to the open area in the Everglades transition zone. It was annoying getting up several times each night when I heard the trap snap closed to deport these guys off my property. Finally, I gave up and took out the plant types that they would slice into cole slaw each night--it was a less tiresome option.

 

My opinion of opossums has raised slightly given the information provided above about their diet proclivities. The enemy of my enemy is my.... um, (nocturnal, marsupial) friend?

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

Thanks Ken!   It's my nicest from anywhere!

 

Cheers,

Rich

 

 

[bigred97]

Rich, I saw an opossum on my last trip to Pit 11 in May also! I was walking north back to my car on the big trail that runs pretty much straight down from the parking lot to the bottom part of Monster Lake. I glanced to my left down a side path and there it was sitting there and looking at me. I put down my load of concretions and slowly tried to get out my phone to take a pic but he started running away down the path. So I got a blurry picture of an opossum's posterior on that trip!

 

I know there are deer all around, too, and found fresh tracks, but they steer well away from the heavy-tramping human coming their way. I also have found what I think must be coyote scat. I could tell it had to be a carnivore of some sort because of all the hair in it. When I got home I googled to make sure there aren't any bears in the area, but it sounds like Illinois no longer has a bear population.