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Showing results for tags 'illinois'.
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Hi, I am not a fossil hunter but accidentally discovered the ability to find 300,000,000 yr old fossils in Mazon Creek on a TV show. Wow!!! I've been researching all day and now want to take my family there for spring break in March! Our story (short) & my questions: My daughter is very interested in science and nature and critters. She spends hours outside digging contently for rocks, loves bugs, has rock collections, books on rocks & minerals, etc. She struggles in the classroom (3rd grade) and learns best by hands on experience. She would absolutely be in heaven here- our whole family would! I love to help my daughter experience her interests through our adventures. What advice could you give a family of 3 who has never hunted fossils? We are in Missouri so interested in camping close by- does anyone know of any good evening Camping places? Do we need to register with the state park and get daily admission? Should we go where most tourists go or off the beaten path? Is it possible for newbies to find a few fossils? Even if we found the most common we'd be so excited! We love exploring and take small hikes as a family. Are there spots within a couple miles of the "road" or parking? I truly appreciate any help! I will keep researching as well. I hope we can go and see this unbelievable history!!
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Hello everyone! I hope the new year is treating everyone well. Here outside of Chicago, we are about to get hit with a huge snow storm. While this time of year is usually slow for getting outside and doing some searching for interesting finds, a warm day last week allowed for a few new items to be found. In the DuPage river just west of Chicago in Illinois I have been finding a great group of teeth some fossils and a few possible Native American cutting stones. The item I found last week though is quite strange. I have no idea what this could be after searching for over an hour online for similar type stones/fossils. The ridges are very odd to me as they are pretty much evenly spaced. Here are the photos. As always I greatly appreciate any feedback you all have and look forward to discusses this and maybe identifying it. Thank you!
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Hello, I collected this gastropod from a quarry along the Illinois/Wisconsin (USA) State line. Can anyone assit me with the identification? From the attached ID chart, I think that it is Loxonema. Thanks! Greg
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It was 50 degrees on Sunday so I decided to get out to the Silurian Sugar Run formation to look for some trilobites. I checked out some out small outcrops that I've never investigated before, but no luck. It was starting to get late so went to an old spot that I haven't been to in a long time. The rocks in this formation are very difficult to break open and generally need a sledge hammer, so the best method is to look for "promising-looking" rocks and bring them home to break open. This is what I found: Tiny Calymene Gravicalymene celebra Cybantyx cuniculus double cephalons Group shot Most are pretty beat up but a very enjoyable daytrip. Thanks for looking.
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Hey Everyone! Happy new year! A nodule from South Pit 11 Mazonia area split and can't figure out what it is? Millipede? Shrimp tale? I have the Wittrey book I've been looking through and I see similar features on multiple animals from his pictures. Thanks for your help!
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3/31-4/2: Three days exploring the Pennsylvanian of Illinois and Indiana
deutscheben posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Last weekend, since the weather was supposed to be nice and my wife was out of town, I decided to get out and collect from three Pennsylvanian sites in Illinois and Indiana. On Friday, I took the day off work and headed down to the former Chieftain no.20 mine site south of Terre Haute, in what is now the Griffin Bike Park. It was an overcast day with a slight drizzle and I had the park all to myself. I found a nice assortment of nodules, including a few split ones with ferns- the one on the left, although preserved in three pieces, is my biggest one yet from this site. The best find didn't come until I cleaned them after I got home, though. What I thought was a slim fern pinnule turned out to be a millipede, my first! No Myriapoda have been reported from this site, and the preservation is not perfect, so I am not sure what the ID would be for this one. The next day I met up with my dad and enjoyed an outrageously beautiful day at Mazonia-Braidwood in northern Illinois collecting Mazon Creek nodules. I was glad I brought sunscreen! None of the split nodules I found had anything spectacular, just a few nice Essexella, but we found a good assortment of concretions and got to explore a portion of the park I had not been to before. I was also able to educate some folks we met in the parking lot who were visiting from Missouri about what to look for when collecting fossils in the park and shared some of my extra split nodules to make sure they didn't go home empty-handed. It's always a pleasure seeing other fossil collectors in the park.
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Hi all! My name is Shannon. I started fossil hunting about a year and a half ago while visiting family in Michigan. I had forgotten my childhood love of rock and fossil hunting until my cousin took my dad and I to a nearby quarry. (If you're a great lakes rockhound the words "quarry" and "Michigan" are synonymous with Disneyland) Middle aged and older, all of a sudden the three of us were 8 years old again. So many wonders beneath our feet! Back in Illinois I found that the area where I live, about 40 miles inland from Lake Michigan, is geologically part of the Great Lakes system. The fossils I find where I live are marine fossils, primarily from the silurian period, and they're EVERYWHERE. It's apparent that this part of the world used to be a giant reef back when it was floating south of the equator.
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#3. Mazon fossil identification help.
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Hi all, I'm still going through 20 flats of mostly unmarked Mazon Creek fossils, purchased from the estate of a prolific collector here in Central Illinois. I have many questions about identification. The following are a few of my still unidentified specimens, of which I realize their may be a number of worms, as well as some possible fauna. I would like to throw these pictures out there and see if anyone can positively identify them just based on the photographs. I'll start with number 1, and post three pictures of each. Thanks so much!
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I received not 1, but 3 gift boxes from our very own Nimravis. I was in Kuwait when he sent them, so I had him ship them to my parents house for safe keeping until I got home. I was VERY excited. 2 of the boxes were from Mazon Creek. My favorite is the 2 jellyfish. they are to the far right. 1 above the other. To the left of the small jellyfish is a piece of coprolite. At the bottom are unopened concretions. I have them freezing at the moment to try the freeze/thaw method to see if anything is in them. There are also ferns, a clam, and bark. The other bow was "about 22 Florida Pliocene shells from 16 different species" Thank you, Nimravis, VERY much. My son and I really appreciate this very much.
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A Quick Visit To A Couple Road Cuts Near Oglesby, Illinois (Part 2)
Nimravis posted a topic in Fossil Hunting Trips
Today I decided to drive about 150 miles round trip to go to an auction that sometimes has fossils. This time there was only a Riker mount of composite Spinosaurus teeth and a huge ammonite that hardly fit into a banana box. I believe that the ammonite might have come from Texas and it looked like it weighed +120 lbs. Neither of these items sparked my interest, and since it was a sunny, 55 degree day, I decided to stop at a couple road cuts that I had visited earlier in the year. The first road cut (Site 1) is near Oglesby, Illinois and is located right next to the former Lonestar Quarry, that contains limestone from the Pennsylvanian Bond and Mattoon formations. The second (site 2) is about 5 minutes away and appears to contain the same type of fossils, just in better shape, since I have yet to find any loose fossils here. On my way back home I drove by Site 1 again and met Fossil Forum member @Siwash and his family collecting. Composita argentia Brachiopod Juresania nebrascensis Brachiopod Punctospirifer kentuckyensis Brachiopod (?)
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I'm curious how one can determine whether a cephalopod fossil is an adult or juvenile? I seem to recall hearing from somewhere that if there is a double suture line in the middle of the phragmocone indicates it is an adult. Here are three Beloitoceras specimens I found at different localities. The specimen in the middle has double suture rings. Thanks for any insight.
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As much as I've looked through books and the internet, I haven't run across any possible places to find ammonites in the midwest. Any suggestions of locations? I'm in Illinois. My wife's keen to hunt one of these down.
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Hello everyone! The warm weather continues in the Midwest so I am still able to get out and do some river hunting into December with shorts and a long sleeve shirt. Pretty amazing. This is from DuPage River, western suburbs of Chicago. Northern Illinois. The same location where I have found the following for reference: I imagine these to be bovine. The one other tooth found so far has been wild boar/pig which was cool. I look forward to people's feedback. Here is today's find:
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Alright everyone I'm pretty excited about this one. It's about an inch long and 1 1/2 inches wide.
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Hello! I posted a little while ago when I found a tooth out river hunting in Northern illinois. Well I have returned to that spot several times since and have found teeth almost every time. They were all found within about 25 feet of each other. It has been quite fun to go back and see what I will find. My original post is here: Here are pictures of the new ones. #2 appears to be maybe cow/bison. #3 appears to be horse. #4 maybe cow/bison again. #5 I have no idea despite looking at animal teeth pictures for an hour this morning. #5 May just be a stone but it sure looks and feels like a canine tooth. Let me know what you think:
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I'm hoping someone can help me identify this possible in phibian fossil found in Morris Illinois Mazon Creek region I've been told by several it is an amphibian but I'm get find any pictures to match it and get a name thank you
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My name is Makayla, and I am an aspiring Paleontologist I have been collecting fossils since I was 7, and have just started researching about buying my own fossils. I saw the Forum for the first time while reading about fake mosasaur jaws and identifying fake fossils. The articles I found were VERY helpful and interesting, and I cannot wait to learn more. So glad to have found the Forum!
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A mini fossil museum exists within the lobby of the Park Hyatt in Chicago, just off Michigan Avenue. I'm guessing not too many people know about it unless they're guests at the hotel. It's a wonderful display of very large Moroccan trilobites, ammonites and various other fossils from around the world. It is free, of course, because it's in the lobby and a nice diversion if you're ever in the area. Another added bonus is it's open 24 hours.
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Hello! This is from DuPage River, western suburbs of Chicago. Northern Illinois. I found this interesting stone and originally thought of it as a Native American grinding stone. When I looked closer at it through my macro lens I noticed this odd screw type shape. Looking through various sites it appears to be a crinoid. Any thoughts? Thank you for your time!
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Hello all! I am so happy to find this amazing forum. I love looking through all the amazing things people are finding! It's a great site. I have returned to the same place in this river I have found a bunch of interesting objects and animal teeth. Today, even though it was very cold, I did some river hunting when the sun was out and made it fairly decent. I came across this odd stone or object. I have been going to this same stretch of river ofr about 6 months now, have purchased a few geology books and searched online but haven't come across something like this yet. I just have no idea what this is. Any ideas? Thank you for your time, I greatly appreciate your feedback!
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From the album: Snakebite6769's Finds
The trilobite is super small relative to the crinoid arms. Do you see it?© Robert Phillips Collection
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Illinois crinoid with trilobite before prep
snakebite6769 posted a gallery image in Member Collections
From the album: Snakebite6769's Finds
hard to se but there's a tiny trilobite on the arm of this crinoid. I will have a post minor prep picture added soon.© Robert Phillips Collection
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Last year, I found a large trunk of a tree at a coal mine heap in the Mazon Creek area. Images of it here and here. A few weeks ago, I found some more parts (a few feet from the original) that look like identical material. One of which is also a large root/trunk. It has an interesting curve shape. Looks like part of a root mantel rising out of the ground. Here's the bottom part. And here's some details of areas of the bottom showing what I assume is adventitious rootlets.
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