Tag Archives: Ordovician

Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Trepostome bryozoans, burrow systems, and bedding features in an Upper Ordovician limestone from southeastern Minnesota

Mark Wilson August 12, 2016 12:01 am

One of the little mysteries on the recent Minnesota research trip by Wooster students, faculty and staff is the origin of thin limestone beds in the middle of the thick shales of the Decorah Formation (Upper Ordovician). How did such … Continue reading →

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A wet cave and the Mighty Mississippi River

Mark Wilson August 1, 2016 8:01 am

Rochester, Minnesota — Since Team Minnesota efficiently finished its fieldwork yesterday, we have two days before the students fly out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. The good weather has given us a gift of time, so we’re using it like … Continue reading →

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Team Minnesota finishes its work (in Iowa, funny enough)

Mark Wilson July 31, 2016 7:31 am

Rochester, Minnesota — We returned to Decorah, Iowa, today to measure and sample the Decorah Shale (Upper Ordovician) in its type locality. It was much drier here than on our last attempt! Above is the gray Decorah Shale topped by … Continue reading →

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Paleontological fieldwork in southeastern Minnesota

Mark Wilson July 30, 2016 7:30 am

Rochester, Minnesota — It was a good day for fossil collecting on the Minnesota prairie. Above you see a handful of articulated orthid brachiopods collected by Nikki Bell at a quarry exposure near Rochester. This quarry has long been abandoned … Continue reading →

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The work begins

Mark Wilson July 29, 2016 7:29 am

Rochester, Minnesota — Today we started collecting specimens and data for the Team Minnesota student Independent Study projects. We began with a long drive south to Decorah, Iowa, to measure a thick section of our Upper Ordovician target units at … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A new Late Ordovician bryozoan from Oklahoma

Mark Wilson July 29, 2016 12:01 am

I am very pleased to introduce a new bryozoan genus and species recently described in the First View section of the Journal of Paleontology. Paul Taylor (Natural History Museum, London) and I present: “A new runner-like cyclostome bryozoan from the … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologists tramping through the brush of southern Minnesota

Mark Wilson July 28, 2016 7:28 am

Rochester, Minnesota — The middle of the summer is not the best time to do fieldwork in southern Minnesota. The thick and diverse plants make each journey to an abandoned quarry wall or roadcut a jungly adventure. It doesn’t help … Continue reading →

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Team Minnesota visits the Upper Ordovician of Iowa

Mark Wilson July 27, 2016 7:27 am

Rochester, Minnesota — Team Minnesota traveled south today to visit exposures of our three favorite formations: the Platteville Limestone, Decorah Shale, and Cummingsville Limestone. Where best to see the Decorah Shale than in Decorah, Iowa? Above the crew is scattered … Continue reading →

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Team Minnesota Assembles!

Mark Wilson July 26, 2016 7:26 am

Rochester, Minnesota — The first Team Minnesota of Wooster Geologists has now gathered for its work in this beautiful state. Above from the left is Rachel Wetzel (’17), Dean Thomas (’17), Nick Wiesenberg (Geological Technician), Nikki Bell (’17) and Etienne … Continue reading →

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A day at the Natural History Museum in London

Mark Wilson June 14, 2016 6:14 am

London, England — My first full day at The Natural History Museum in London was interesting and inspiring as always, but it did have its tedium. This drawer of Ordovician brachiopods, for example. I scanned each with my handlens in … Continue reading →

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