Snapshot in Time: Geologic Secrets of the Danville, Illinois, Fossilized Forest

Featured Speaker: Scott D. Elrick, Geologist, Illinois State Geological Survey

A 300-million-year-old Carboniferous fossilized forest discovery opens a wide window into the past. It’s a rare opportunity for an up-close look at this rare find preserved in the roof of an underground coal mine near the town of Danville, Illinois. The forest, covering approximately 25 square kilometers, is probably the largest intact rainforest from the Pennsylvanian Period ever to be discovered; and its sheer size affords an unprecedented view of ancient forest life.

Illinois State Geological Survey geologist, Scott Elrick, showcases a photographic array of some of the rainforest’s beautifully preserved and somewhat bizarre plants, many of which are extinct today. From the exposures of plants and their encapsulating geology, a great deal can be learned about the ancient environmental conditions in which they formed and the coal that they left behind. Elrick talks about the geology of this amazing underground discovery and discusses the tectonic and climatic factors that made these conditions possible.

Location: Belleville East High School Performing Arts Center

FREE and OPEN to ALL—middle and high school students, teachers, adults and the general public. Registration not required.

Belleville East High School Performing Arts Center, 2555 West Boulevard, Belleville, IL 62221

Parking is FREE in school lot.

NABT Biology Club Series co-sponsors: