Here's a way to educate yourself about Illinois geography. This video is from the Across the Globe channel on Youtube. Illinois isn’t just cornfields, Chicago traffic, and deep-dish pizza, it’s one of the strangest states in America, and it’s hiding some of the wildest secrets in the entire Midwest. In this video, we reveal 50 unbelievable facts about Illinois that will completely change how you see the Prairie State. From ancient oceans buried under its cornfields to sand so pure it powers modern technology, this is the real Illinois you’ve never heard about before.

President: Chris Berg 1st. Vice President: Katherine Howard 2nd. Vice President: Keith Robitschek Recording Secretary: Valerie Anderson Treasurer: Andrew Jansen Publicity: Jeff Allen Librarian: Andrew Jansen Curator: Chris Cozart Historian: Richard Holm Field Trip Chairman: Jeremy Zimmerman Assistant Field Trip Chairman: Connor Puritz Editor: Melanie Berg Circulation: Rose Jansen…

This is Mazon Monday post #301. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:[email protected]. Whole-plant reconstruction of Cordaites borassifolius (Sternberg) Unger (reconstruction by J. Svoboda). Cordaianthus ovatus is thought to be the fertile structure for Cordaites borassifolius (see Mazon Monday #299), an extinct genus of early gymnosperms. Cordaites probably grew to more than 100 feet tall in swampy conditions, forming forests similar to modern day mangroves.

The ancient environment and its fauna. Credit: Tibor Pecsics SciTechDaily has a story about an extraordinary dinosaur fossils site in Transylvania. The Hateg Basin is famous for its dinosaur fossils. The site dates to the late Cretaceous Period, some 72 million years ago. So far, thousands of fossils have been found, including bones of amphibians, turtles, crocodiles, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and mammals. 

There's a new episode of PBS Eons. This one is about the origin of Panama and how it changed the world. On land, the Isthmus of Panama kicked off possibly the greatest natural experiment in the history of life on Earth. In the water, this narrow strip of land did something completely different: it divided. And that division would have a much bigger effect on the planet than the land connection ever did.

This is the “Fossil Friday” post #296.  Expect this to be a regular feature of the website.  We will post fossil pictures you send in to [email protected].  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! This beautiful roachoid wing was collected from the Mazon River by Chris Berg... the esteemed president of ESCONI.

Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings! Saturday, Jan 3rd Mineralogy Study Group - 7:30 PM via Zoom "Critical Minerals: What are they and Opportunities in Illinois" presented by Dr. Jared Freiburg of the Illinois State Geological Survey. Friday, Jan 9th General Meeting – 8:00 PM via Zoom Jean-Pierre Cavigelli, Tate Geological Museum, Casper College, will present “Fossil Birds of Wyoming” Saturday, Jan 10th …

This is Throwback Thursday #295. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to [email protected]. Thanks!   email:[email protected]. Don Auler and his wife Dorothy were very active with ESCONI from 1967 until 2002, when Don passed away at the age of 84. 

The Conversation has a story about a chance discovery in a thrift shop. The owner of Thrifty Boutique in Chilliwack, B.C. reached out to the archaeologists at Simon Fraser University in the spring of 2024. The owner wanted to know if some ancient artifacts had historical significance. Turns out the objects in question date to late antiquity or the medieval period.

This is Mazon Monday post #300.  What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected]. The Lauer Foundation just won't let the Mazon Creek horseshoe crabs alone... first it was Euproops danae remains in bromalites (see Mazon Monday #283), now they've found evidence of ancient algal or parasitic infestation in another Euproops danae fossil from the Mazon Creek biota.

The ESCONI December 2025 General Meeting was held on December 12th, 2025 at 8:00 PM via Zoom. The presenter was Steve Miller of the Western Interior Paleontological Society (WIPS). His topic is “Fossils of the Comanche National Grasslands located in southeastern Colorado”. Fossils of the Comanche National Grasslands located in southeastern Colorado The area offers access to the rocks and fossils of the first major cycle of marine deposition of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway.

Southern mammoth bone fragments at the Historyland museum in Hellevoetsluis, the Netherlands. Fossil discoveries in Rotterdam kicked off in the 1950s when fishers dredged the sea floor. The New York Times has an interesting story about “citizen paleontologists” in the Netherlands. The beaches around Rotterdam's port, the largest harbor in Europe, are loaded in Pleistocene fossils from the dredging of the North Sea floor.

This is the “Fossil Friday” post #295.  Expect this to be a regular feature of the website.  We will post fossil pictures you send in to [email protected].  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! We have a particularly special Mazon Creek fossil to share this week, a juvenile amphibamid, possibly…

This is Throwback Thursday #294. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to [email protected]. Thanks!   email:[email protected]. Yes, you read that correctly... Snowflake Collecting. Is that even possible? Well, ESCONI member Mark Blazek wrote this article for the January 1975 issue of the ESCONI newsletter.

The ESCONI December 2025 General Meeting will be held on December 12th, 2025 at 8:00 PM via Zoom. The presenter is Steve Miller of the Western Interior Paleontological Society (WIPS). His topic is "Fossils of the Comanche National Grasslands located in southeastern Colorado". Fossils of the Comanche National Grasslands located in southeastern Colorado The area offers access to the rocks and fossils of the first major cycle of marine deposition of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway.

PBS Eons has a new episode. This one is about 2 million year old DNA from Greenland. It made the front page of the New York Times. Ancient DNA over 2 million years old, retrieved from the frozen dirt of Greenland. It reached back further in time than many scientists used to think was even theoretically possible. And it contained the genetic ghost of an /entire ecosystem/ – one that has no counterpart in today’s world and one that we had /no idea/ even existed. It told of a time when Greenland was green…and how we might borrow genes from that ancient past to help us adapt to the future.

This is Mazon Monday post #301. What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:[email protected]. Whole-plant reconstruction of Cordaites borassifolius (Sternberg) Unger (reconstruction by J. Svoboda). Cordaites borassifolius is an extinct genus of early gymnosperms. Cordaites probably grew maybe 100 feet tall in the drier areas of the Carboniferous swamps. They had stilt-like roots, forming forests similar to modern day mangroves.

The 2025 ESCONI Holiday Luncheon was held on December 6th, 2025 at Warren's Ale House in Wheaton, IL. We had a nice turnout. President Chris Berg had a very nice speech to highlight where we are and where we are headed for 2026. It was a very special day as we awarded an honorary membership to John and Kathy Catalani (yes, spelled correctly this time!).

The snout of Nanotyrannus. For years paleontologists assumed this was a teenaged T. rex but new research suggests this is actually a separate smaller species. (N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences) CBC Radio's Quirks & Quarks has a great segment about Nanotyrannus. There's an interview with James Napoli of Stony Brook University, who was coauthor on "Nanotyrannus and…

This is the “Fossil Friday” post #294.  Expect this to be a regular feature of the website.  We will post fossil pictures you send in to [email protected].  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! Phenopterum briggsi is a grylloblattidan species of insect from the Stephanian (Late Carboniferous) deposit of Montceau-les-Mines in southeastern France.

PRESIDENT: Chris Berg 1ST. VICE PRESIDENT: Katherine Howard 2ND. VICE PRESIDENT: Keith Robitschek RECORDING SECRETARY: Valerie Anderson TREASURER: Andrew Jansen PUBLICITY: Elizabeth Magnus-Gentry LIBRARIAN: Andrew Jansen CURATOR: Chris Cozart HISTORIAN: Richard Holm Assistant Field Trip Chairman: Connor Puritz Assistant Field Trip Chairman: Jeremy Zimmerman EDITOR: Don Cronauer CIRCULATION: Rose Jansen PAST PRESIDENT: Phil Anderson MEMBERSHIP: Rose Jansen SHOW CHAIRMAN: Phil Anderson…

This is Throwback Thursday #294. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to [email protected]. Thanks!  email:[email protected]. The stone on display in the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce and Runestone Museum 25 Years Ago – December 2000 Ray Wiggers was the speaker at the ESCONI Holiday Party, which was held at the Greek Island Restaurant in Lombard, IL.

The ESCONI 2026 Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show will be held on March 21st and 22nd, 2026 at the DuPage County Fairgrounds.

The November 2025 Paleontology Study Group Meeting was held on November 15th, 2025 via Zoom. John Cataloni presented “Gonioceras: A Most Unusual Cephalopod”. The diversity of nautiloid shell shapes in the Upper Ordovician of central Laurentia is remarkable. However, one shape is often missing from lists of shell shapes and that is the so-called “flat-fish” form of