EMSP SOAPBOX

By Tom Lee

I was lucky enough to get a chance to make the annual pilgrimage to Macomb, Illinois on Sat. April 8th to attend the MAPS 28 National Fossil Exposition. My daughter, Abby, decided to come along for the ride and check out the great fossils. This was her first trip since the show moved to the gym of Western Illinois University, which is expansive. It was a beautiful sunny cool day. The trip takes about 3 h one-way, but is well worth it. It is an easy drive, with little traffic. If you get off to an early start, there is an opportunity to collect fossils on the way up to Macomb, particularly in Lincoln and Pike counties of Missouri. Once we got to the show, we were immediately on fossil overload. We only had about 3 h to take in the show, which clearly wasn’t enough. We saw many members of the EMSP at the exposition, either staffing booths or just wandering around. We made a few small purchases- my favorite was a large 3 million-year-old, 6-inch scallop from Virginia. It was only $ 10.00. Although most of the better fossils are expensive, there were lots of great finds for less than $20.00. It seems like the prices for Spinosaurus teeth and trilobites have dropped. I guess the Moroccan’s are flooding the market with these items. Anyway, we got back about 9:30 p.m. -- it was another great trip to MAPS. Hopefully, some of the club members will bring a few of their purchases or trades to an upcoming meeting for the rest of us to enjoy.

Upcoming Events

April 14th. Note the change of meeting place. The April EMSP meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the St. Louis Science Center in conjunction with a lecture presented by Joshua Smith, Ph.D. More details below.

May 12th. The May meeting of the Eastern Missouri Society for Paleontology will be on Friday, May 12th, 2006 at 7:30 pm in room 203 of the new Earth & Planetary Sciences Building on the campus of Washington University. The speaker for May (tentatively arranged) will be Russ “Dino” Jacobson, who will talk about the search for the elusive Illinois dinosaur. Russ is a long-time Illinois State Geological Survey Employee, but his real passion is dinosaurs. This should be a don’t miss talk.

July/August 2006. Fossil cleaning party? Club picnic? More discussion to follow about these events at upcoming meetings.

August 19-20th. Rocks from the Universe. 14th Annual Gems, Minerals, Jewelry & Fossil Show and Sale. St. Charles Convention Center. Sponsored by the Greater St. Louis Association of Earth Sceince clubs, Inc. This is the former Queeny Show in which we participate each year.

Thanks!

Our speaker in March was Michael Morales, Ph.D., Assoc. Professor of Geology and Museum Director-Earth Science Dept., Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas. Dr. Morales gave a very dynamic talk about dinosaur reproduction. The talk was very informative, as well as, entertaining. Many thanks go to Dr. Morales for a very fine talk.

DUES ARE DUE

Our treasurer, Pete Smith will accept dues payment for a full year. Dues are $15.00 per household per year and are payable on the anniversary date printed on your newsletter address label. See Pete at the next meeting or mail a check (payable to Eastern Missouri Society for Paleontology) to:

EMSP

P.O. Box 220273

St. Louis, MO. 63122

April Meeting

Please note the meeting location change. The next meeting of the Eastern Missouri Society for Paleon-tology will be on Friday, April 14th, 2006 at 7:30 p.m. in meeting rooms A, B, and C of the St. Louis Science Center. The Saint Louis Science Center’s address and directions to the Science Center are as below:

Saint Louis Science Center 5050 Oakland Avenue St. Louis, MO 63110

The main entrance is off of Oakland Avenue, half-a-block west of Kingshighway. From Highway 40/I-64, exit south on Kingshighway, exit 36a, then immediately go right on Oakland for half a block. From I-44, exit 286 north, on Hampton Ave. for almost a mile, then go right at the light on Oakland for a mile, half a block past Macklind. Parking on Friday night is free.

The feature of the evening will be a lecture by Josh Smith of Washington University entitled “The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt.” His talk is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Josh will describe his quest in 2000 to rediscover the dinosaur bone beds first discovered by Ernst Freiheer Stromer von Reichenbach in 1911. Stomer discovered a unique collection of dinosaur species in the Bahariya Depression of Egypt, including Spinosaurus. Stromer’s collection of dinosaurs was held in a museum in Berlin, Germany. His collection was lost forever as the result of Allied bombing during WWII. Although Josh and his crew did not find Stromer’s dig sites, they did discover a very large new sauropod, Paralititan stromeri. This find gained national media attention. His quest to follow in the footsteps of Stromer was the subject of a documentary carried by the A&E cable channel. Additionally, Josh has co-authored a book entitled The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt that was published in 2002.

This lecture is of course open to the public. Club members are asked to bring a labeled Missouri fossil for display. Club members will staff the Dino prep lab in the early evening. Please come early and get a tour of the lab if you haven’t done so already. A brief business meeting will be held following Josh Smith’s lecture.

Cedar Creek Trip

The Cedar Creek field trip scheduled in February has been rescheduled for Saturday, April 29th. Bruce Stinchcomb will lead a Field Trip to Cedar Creek near Fulton, MO. The trip will be held unless it looks like it will rain or storm all day. This is an easy hike up a creek bed to collect blastoids, brachiopods, crinoids and other Mississippian-age fossils. Petrified wood is often found on this trip, as well. This should be a nice trip and appropriate for kids that can hike comfortably.

Plan to meet at 9:00 a.m. at the Burger King restaurant across from what used to be called the Beltz Outlet Mall near I-70 and Hwy 61. The mall appears to be now called the Mall at Wentzville Crossing.

This trip involves a creek so hiking boots are appropriate. Also, bring your hammer, chisel, sack lunch, newspapers for wrapping your finds, and a backpack or bucket to lug around your tools and collected fossils. This should be fun. See you there!

Please call Bruce if you have any questions.

Lee Creek Mine Trip 2006

Our club was awarded 6 slots to collect on April 29th at the Lee Creek Mine near Aurora, North Carolina. Details were disclosed in the March Newsletter. This is a great chance to collect sharks teeth, marine mammal bones, mullosks, etc. from the Miocene. According to Rick, there are still 4 slots open for this trip. Rick needs to know by April 15th. If you are still interested, please contact him ASAP.

Fossil Day at Mastodon State Park.

EMSP members have been invited by Ken Smith (Asst. Site Administrator, Mastodon State Historic Site) to Mastodon State Historic Site on June 10, 2006 for the 3rd Annual Fossil Day celebration. Club members are invited to display their collections and share their knowledge with the general public. Lunch and drinks will be provided to club members that bring displays. Those interested in participating should call the site at 636-464-2976 so they can get a count of all who will be in attendance. Also, club members may sell fossils. If you intend to sell fossils, please let the folks at the Mastodon Site know so they can forward you the appropriate forms for tax purposes. This has been a really fun event for the club. Please consider setting up a display.

Argentinean Dinosaurs:

Giants of Patagonia

(message received from Dave Lukens)

The 1st presentation in the US of an exhibition of Argentinean Dinosaurs will be available from 3/26/06 until 9/17/06 in the “SciTech Hands On Museum” located at:

18th W. Benton Street, Aurora IL 60506 USA

Tel. 630-859-3434 Entrance cost $12.00.

This display is totally dedicated to the dinosaurs that inhabited Argentina. The exposition is organized by the Organization of Cultural Heritage of Latin America.

To find out more about dinosaurs in Argentina go to the following web site:

http://www.welcomeargentina.com/paleontologia/museos.html

Distribution of the Newsletter by email

The list of members electing to receive the newsletter by E-mail is growing. This is a cost savings measure for the club. Each newsletter currently costs 39 cents to mail. This is over $4.00 per person each year for postage alone. A sign-up list will continue to be available at each meeting, or E-mail Tom (motirek@charter.net) to begin to receive the newsletter electronically.

Be Patient

If the renewal date posted on the copy of the newsletter you receive hasn’t changed, although you recently paid your dues, don’t panic. It takes a little while to update our records when you pay your dues for the year. The correct date will appear shortly. Thanks your patience.

Volume 5 Number 4 April 2006