Pennsylvanian Mire Forest
The following images show the people involved and the place we were
for this fossil forest discovery.
People and Places
Description
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Image (click for full size)
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The landscape of East-Central Illinois on the surface above
the coal mines where the fossil forest was found. You can see
flat fields, corn and soybeans, a deciduous forest here and
there... but no rainforest vegetation! We need to travel 250
feet underground to find our Pennsylvanian age rainforest
vegetation.
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Coal is found "underground". Here Howard Falcon-Lang
(University of Bristol) and John Nelson (Illinois State
Geological Survey) stand outside the mine headquarters before
putting on their safety equipment and going through safety
training, prior to entering the mine.
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Howard, all dressed up and ready to go. In addition to Howards
hard hat, cap lamp, reflective gear, SCSR (self contained self
rescuer), battery pack and rock hammer, he is also wearing
metatarsal guard boots and pants cuff straps. Don't forget
your backpack, gloves and lunch Howard!
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From left to right - John Nelson from ISGS, Phil Ames from
Peabody Energy, and Scott Elrick from ISGS discuss a series of
geologic and geophysical logs
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John Nelson, in the mine and examining the coal "rib". In the
"roof" you can see "roof bolts", which are used to stabilize
the roof rock and keep it from collapsing into the area from
which the coal has been removed. The roof rock and coal "rib"
have been sprayed with limestone rock dust, used to help stop
explosions from propagating in the mine. This is what causes
many of the walls of the mine to appear white in color. It
looks like John remembered his lunch.
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Scott Elrick, in a mine in Illinois, examining a few thin
stringers of coal above the main coal seam. Part of the 'rib'
or wall of the passageway has come down, allowing us to see
the black and shiny nature of the coal seam and the dull dark
gray of the roof shale normally hidden by the limestone rock
dust.
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Bill DiMichele, caught in the act of wrapping a fossil sample
in newspaper. By the end of the day, Bill will fill that
backpack to the top! On Bill's left hip you can see the
battery pack that powers his cap lamp.
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Text by Scott Elrick, Image captions by Bill DiMichele, Images by Howard
Falcon-Lang, Bill DiMichele and Scott Elrick
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