Tag Archives: Silurian

Back to the paleontology lab in Tartu, Estonia

Tartu, Estonia — Disconcertingly it says “chemistry”, but there really is a geology department inside this building on the University of Tartu campus. The Geology Department is part of the Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences. We are very impressed … Continue reading

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Fieldwork in Estonia, with a bonus visit to Narva

Tartu, Estonia — Today Bill and I had a spectacular geology and culture field trip in northeastern Estonia. As you can see in the images, the weather was excellent, if a little warm. Our Estonian hosts took us from Tartu … Continue reading

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Starting work in Estonia

Tartu, Estonia — Ah, fossils at last! Bill Ausich and I are here to explore several topics, but the main one is describing the crinoids in a Silurian (Aeronian) Konservat Lagerstätte at Kalana Quarry in central Estonia. Much more on … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Peanut worms from the Silurian of Illinois

This week’s fossils are a set of cool sipunculan worms from the Lockport Shale Member of the Racine Formation (Wenlockian, Silurian) of Blue Island, Illinois (which, it turns out, is not an island.). This is Lecthaylus gregarius Weller, 1925. (There … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: New Early Silurian crinoids from Estonia

It has been a good year for new fossil taxa on this blog. I’m pleased to present a fauna of Early Silurian crinoids from the Hilliste Formation (Rhuddanian) exposed on Hiiumaa Island, western Estonia. They are described in a paper … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Symbiotic interactions in the Silurian of Baltica

This week’s fossils are from work Olev Vinn (University of Tartu, Estonia) and I did last summer that is soon to appear in the journal Lethaia. (An early electronic version of the manuscript has been available since November.) After numerous … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A striated brachiopod from the Silurian of New York

Sometimes it is a Fossil of the Week simply because it is new to me. The brachiopods above are abundant in a thin layer of shells within the Lewiston Member of the Rochester Shale (Silurian, Wenlockian) in western New York … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil (Maybe) of the Week: Kinneyia ripples

While hiking through the Niagara Gorge on a field trip in August, my friend Andrej Ernst of the University of Kiel found the above block of siltstone from the Grimsby Formation (Silurian) with unusual small-scale ripples in a patch. Carl … Continue reading

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Wooster Geologist at Niagara Falls

LOCKPORT, NEW YORK (August 10, 2015) — I know, such a cliché image, but you know it had to happen on this trip. This morning Andrej Ernst and I packed up 78 pounds of bryozoan-rich Silurian rocks and mailed them … Continue reading

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Final day in the Silurian of New York

LOCKPORT, NEW YORK (August 9, 2015) — This was the last day in the field for Andrej Ernst and me. We met all our goals (collecting bryozoans from the Rochester Shale, finding sclerobionts anywhere, and learning more about New York … Continue reading

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