Monthly Archives: July 2012

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: an encrusted plesiosaur vertebra (Jurassic of England)

The weathered bone pictured above sits on my desk as a treasured memento. It is the centrum of a plesiosaur vertebra. I found it in the Faringdon Sponge Gravels (Lower Cretaceous) of Oxfordshire, England, during my first research leave (1985). … Continue reading

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Wooster Geologists in Indiana!

WOOSTER, OHIO–I’ve seen a lot of fossils in my blessedly long time as a paleontologist, and I’ve had the opportunity to study them in many exotic places. I’m often reminded, though, that one of the best preserved and most diverse … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: A stromatoporoid-stromatolite combination (Upper Silurian of Saaremaa Island, Silurian)

There are two common fossil types that begin with “strom” and look roughly alike to the untrained eye. One is the stromatoporoid, which is a calcareous sponge, and the other is the stromatolite, which is a layered structure produced by … Continue reading

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Analysis of a Rhuddanian (Llandovery, Lower Silurian) sclerobiont community in the Hilliste Formation on Hiiumaa Island, Estonia: a hard substrate-dwelling recovery fauna — An abstract submitted to the Geological Society of America for the 2012 annual meeting

Editor’s note: The Wooster Geologists in Estonia this summer wrote abstracts for posters at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, this November. The following is from student guest blogger Jonah Novek in the format required … Continue reading

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Stratigraphy and paleoenvironment of the Soeginina Beds (Paadla Formation, Lower Ludlow, Upper Silurian) on Saaremaa Island, Estonia — An abstract submitted to the Geological Society of America for the 2012 annual meeting

Editor’s note: The Wooster Geologists in Estonia this summer wrote abstracts for posters at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, this November. The following is from student guest blogger Richa Ekka in the format required … Continue reading

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Our last evening in Estonia

TALLINN, ESTONIA–We had our final group dinner in the Olde Hansa restaurant. (Freezing at an outside table, I might add, but the food and company was excellent.) We leave for the USA at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Pictured above, just … Continue reading

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Some wildflowers from the western islands of Estonia

TALLINN, ESTONIA–This is a tradition on my field trips: a sampling of flowers we’ve seen. We are so fortunate to be working in such a beautiful place. It would be a pity not to share. I don’t have any identifications, … Continue reading

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A museum visit: Institute of Geology at Tallinn University of Technology

TALLINN, ESTONIA–This morning Bill Ausich and I examined fossils in the collections of the Institute of Geology at Tallinn University of Technology (the cool exterior of which is shown above). The Chief Curator, Ursula Toom, generously came in from her … Continue reading

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Goodbye Hiiumaa, Hello Tallinn!

TALLINN, ESTONIA–Early this morning the Wooster/OSU geologists left the Estonian island of Hiiumaa on the ferry from the port of Heltermaa (58° 52′ N, 23° 3′ E; seen above). After a 90-minute ferry ride, we landed on the Estonian mainland. We looked … Continue reading

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The coiled-and-ribbed fossil mystery deepens on Hiiumaa

KÄINA, ESTONIA–It has been a rainy day on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa. The Wooster geologists stayed inside most of the day to work on their Geological Society of America abstracts. Bill Ausich and his Ohio State University team, though, … Continue reading

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