Our program this month will be presented by Dr. Katie Maloney. Her program is entitled, Celebrating the Burgess Shale and the Search for Seaweed Fossils.
Program summary: During the construction of the railroad in British Columbia, locals and workers reported "Stone bugs" or trilobites that lead to the discovery of the famous Burgess Shale. Known for its exceptionally perseveration, these soft-bodied fossils record the rapid radiation of animal life in the middle Cambrian. Last year, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) celebrated 50 years of Burgess Shale research and has built the world's largest collection of these fossils with high resolution stratigraphic control and new sites (e.g., Tulip Beds on Mount Stephen). I will highlight ROM discoveries and sites over the last few decades as well as showcase my ongoing research on the Burgess Shale macroalgae.
Dr. Katie Maloney is a paleontologist fascinated by fossils and their paleoenvironments. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Michigan State University. She holds a B.Sc. in Honours Integrated Science from McMaster University, and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Earth Science from the University of Toronto. She was awarded an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship to investigate the ecological expansion of 1 billion-year-old seaweed at McGill University and was then appointed as the Rebanks Fellow in Natural History at the ROM where she studied Burgess Shale Seaweed. She is certified as a Professional Geoscientist in Ontario and co-authors geoscience children's books.
TIME: 8 pm
DATE: Friday, October 23,
2026
PLACE: Room 201, Braunstein Hall, UC Main Campus,
Clifton
SIMULCAST: via Zoom
- Link included in the paid members PDF version of The Bulletin
Meeting Attendance Attendance at UC was good at our September meeting with 22 on Zoom and 28 in-person.
President Absent The monthly meetings will be run by our VP Kyle Hartshorn for the near future. As I mentioned at the last meeting, I have a family member who is immune compromised and, based upon doctor’s orders, I need to stay away from large groups of people so as not to bring home any kind of bug. Kyle will do a great job and I will join on Zoom.
Cincinnati Magazine and TV Coverage The October issue of Cincinnati Magazine features articles of interest to our members. The Dry Dredgers get a mention with field trip photos plus there’s a lot about the geology of the area. Input for these articles was supplied by Professor Carl Brett, Kyle Hartshorn and Jack Kallmeyer. Kyle has provided some of his artwork. Bill Heimbrock, Ron Fine and Jack Kallmeyer provided meeting and field trip photos. Specimens used for the full page fossil photo were provided by Ron Fine, Nikki Zehler and Jack Kallmeyer.
Ken Caster Celebrated The Geology Department will be hosting an event to remember and honor Ken Caster on Friday, October 23rd, 2026, from 12:00 to 2:00 in the Science Library (formerly the Geology-Physics+/-Math Library on the second floor of Braunstein). Ken Caster was the Dry Dredgers founding sponsor at U.C.
Christmas Party Announced The annual joint Christmas party with the Cincinnati Mineral Society has been announced for December 12th. The official flyer with all details is appended at the end of this bulletin.
PayPal We are happy to announce that PayPal is now available to pay your dues. The Dry Dredgers website has been updated to show this as a payment option. See additional information later in this bulletin.
Parking Passes New parking passes were obtained from UC by Kyle Hartshorn. These are to be used when parking in the Clifton Lots off Probasco street on the corner of MLK and Clifton. Passes will be available to members from Kyle.
The October Meeting will be held at the University of Cincinnati, 201 Braunstein Hall.
Beginner's Class
by Lincoln Schumaker
The Beginners Class will be conducted from 7:15 PM to 8:00 PM on October 23rd. It will be held before the general meeting in Room 300, Braunstein Hall, one floor up from our regular meeting room. It will be in-person only. No remote Zoom.
Lincoln’s program will be: An introduction to the Ordovician rocks of the greater Cincinnati area.
For our final outdoor field trip of 2026 we explore the Whitewater, Liberty, Waynesville, and Arnheim formations. As the day progresses, Lincoln Shoemaker will guide us as we move on to several stops on our way What might be found? Many years ago during my very first Dry Dredgers field trip, I found a Conularia. On another trip, I observed a young woman working a 1-meter square area who found over one hundred enrolled trilobites in less than an hour, ranging from pea to marble sized (including three Isotelus!) This is fossiliferous site, so you will not go away disappointed if the time is put into your search.
Please use caution, and surface collect only; there is no need to dig out large slabs of material. All our field trips are rain or shine, and we will be monitoring the weather. Come on out and have a wonderful time before the really cold autumn weather sets in!
Directoins to our gathering place are published in the Emailed full Bulletin in PDF format that goes out to all dues-paying members. Not a member? Join Now!
More interesting and informative articles, along with color illustrations is available in the full E-Bulletin that was emailed to dues-paying members.
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