File #3331: "Brochure May 12-2-2024.pdf"

Discovery Through
Coal Mining

Scan the QR code to
visit:
“Tales from the
Table”

TALES FROM
THE TABLE
SPOTLIGHT SPECIMEN
MAZON CREEK
IMPRESSIONS

By Young, Andrew. - https://www.andrewyoungart.com/mazon-creek-fossils.html

The Mazon Creek’s availability of
fossils is primarily the result of excess
minerals removed from coal mines in
northeastern Illinois. Coal mining
corporations dumped vast quantities
of shale containing nodules into large
mountainous piles, allowing for easy
access to Carboniferous period
fossils. The fossils found here are
roughly 309 million years old!

The Essex Group
vs.
The Braidwood Group

The Essex Group

By Young, Andrew. https://www.andrewyou
ngart.com/mazon-creekfossils.html

The Tullimonster
was a soft-bodied
carnivorous
vertebrate whose
fossil record is
unique to Mazon
Creek. It was
hotly debated
whether the
creature had a
backbone or not
for many years.

By Young, Andrew. - https://www.andrewyoungart.com/mazon-creek-fossils.html

Two groups of fossils are found at
the Mazon Creek site: the Essex
Assemblage and the Braidwood
Assemblage. The Essex Assemblage
consists of a diverse array of marine
flora and fauna, such as shrimp,
jellyfish, and fish. The Braidwood
Assemblage consists of more
common terrestrial flora and fauna,
such as ferns, centipedes, and
millipedes.

By Young, Andrew. - https://www.andrewyoungart.com/mazon-creekfossils.html

Bony fish such as this
Paleonisciformes are also found
at the Mazon Creek site. This
primitive ray-finned fish, in
contrast to the Tullimonster,
shows similarity to our modern
marine vertebrates.

The Braidwood Group

By Young, Andrew. https://www.andrewyoungart.com/mazon-creekfossils.html

This pill millipede, Amynilyspes
wortheni, lived in a swampy
terrestrial environment.
Centipedes and millipedes like
this likely served as effective
hunters.

Ferns, such as the Asterotheca
shown in John Guyton Table
exhibit, were spore-bearing plants
that characterized the
Carboniferous period.