Nimravis Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 (edited) Today I drove three hours south of Chicago to Danville Illinois, to meet up with some ESCONI members to collect a spoil pile from an old shaft mine. This site has Red Dog Shale, gray shale, black shale and concretions. This site is Pennsylvanian in age, about 305 million years old, about 2 1/2 million years younger than Mazon Creek. It was a great day, temperature wise, in the 70’s, but the wind was unbelievable, seems like it always is. I believe there were about 20 people in attendance, which included some FF members. @stats @deutscheben @connorp @Zimmerman2016 and some others. here are pictures as they were taken, they include site shots, member shots and fossils that I found. Continued on next post. Edited April 28 by Nimravis 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted April 28 Author Share Posted April 28 Continued on next post. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted April 28 Author Share Posted April 28 Continued on next post. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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SPrice Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Great report and finds! The preservation looks pretty good on most of them. The ferns are superb. Did I see a Gingko leaf or two? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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Nimravis Posted April 28 Author Share Posted April 28 Continued on next post. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted April 28 Author Share Posted April 28 That it folks. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted April 28 Author Share Posted April 28 (edited) 38 minutes ago, SPrice said: Great report and finds! The preservation looks pretty good on most of them. The ferns are superb. Did I see a Gingko leaf or two? Thanks- no Ginko, Sphenophyllum and Annularia. As far as preservation, it is great once I split the shale, but most of these will not stay as nice as they are in the pictures. Edited April 28 by Nimravis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stats Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 (edited) Marie @RMAA and Jeremy @Zimmerman2016 were there, too.. Great photos, Ralph! You did a great job covering the event. I'll take some photos of my fossils and post tomorrow. Here are a few photos. Cheers, Rich Group selfies. Jeremy's bark A concretion peeking out... Edited April 28 by stats 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipper559 Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Nice report Ralph !! Thanks for all the pictures Ralph and Rich !! I couldn't make it this time, hopefully I'll be able to join you all in the fall !! Rock On !! Phil 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Thanks for the report! The Rhacophyllum and the Sphenophyllum zwickaviense are trip-makers. Any fauna or insects at that site? 1 Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted April 28 Author Share Posted April 28 2 hours ago, Mark Kmiecik said: Thanks for the report! The Rhacophyllum and the Sphenophyllum zwickaviense are trip-makers. Any fauna or insects at that site? Some fauna has been found, not positive what though. Rich @stats can tell you what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stats Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 5 hours ago, Nimravis said: Some fauna has been found, not positive what though. Rich @stats can tell you what. Fauna found includes horseshoe crabs and clams (a few species including something like Dunbarella). There might have been a shrimp. Jeremy @Zimmerman2016 might have found a millipede cast. Other animals should be possible. Hopefully, the new load of concretions people took home will reveal some more. Cheers, Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 Wow! That was quite a harvest! Thanks for the report. Looks like you all had a great time. Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marguy Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 Thank you for this great report and the multiple photos of fossils collected by the group of researchers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted April 29 Author Share Posted April 29 4 hours ago, Ludwigia said: Wow! That was quite a harvest! Thanks for the report. Looks like you all had a great time. Thanks and Yes- it was great. So far the pieces that I took home are holding up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 Wonderful trip report! Looks like a fun site with plenty of plant material to keep everybody happy. With the excavator there I guess they are slowly mining this mine tailings pile for road fill or something. Had I know there were fossils like this when I was in college I might have tried to make the short drive over from my Alma Mater. Cheers. -Ken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 Excellent photo essay and selection of Carboniferous plants. Congratulations and thanks for sharing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deutscheben Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 Thanks for the photos, @Nimravis and @stats! It was another great day on the hill, with conditions much sunnier than I anticipated, but just as windy as I have learned to expect. It seems like each trip brings its own unique types of finds- as Ralph's photos show, there were many carbonized plant fossils preserved in the soft gray shale found this time. Concretions also appeared to be more abundant as well, or certainly abundant in different locations. As the owner continues to use the hill for gravel and construction fill, it has changed shape and size over the years- still incredibly massive, but notably smaller than it was when I first collected at this site. I will try to post some finds on this thread later when I have the time. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted April 29 Author Share Posted April 29 11 minutes ago, deutscheben said: Thanks for the photos, @Nimravis and @stats! It was another great day on the hill, with conditions much sunnier than I anticipated, but just as windy as I have learned to expect. It seems like each trip brings its own unique types of finds- as Ralph's photos show, there were many carbonized plant fossils preserved in the soft gray shale found this time. Concretions also appeared to be more abundant as well, or certainly abundant in different locations. As the owner continues to use the hill for gravel and construction fill, it has changed shape and size over the years- still incredibly massive, but notably smaller than it was when I first collected at this site. I will try to post some finds on this thread later when I have the time. Can’t wait to see your finds Ben. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted Friday at 04:31 PM Author Share Posted Friday at 04:31 PM @Meganeura Daniel- pics are above from the trip. Good to hear from you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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