Thoughts on Leaving Svalbard

Peaks of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, poking up through the clouds as we took off for Oslo.

I’m now in Tallinn, Estonia, awaiting the arrival of Bill Ausich (OSU Professor), Rob McConnell, and Palmer Shonk (intrepid Wooster Senior Independent Study students). Our fieldwork will begin tomorrow once the team is assembled with our Estonian host, Olev Vinn (University of Tartu).

Yesterday I spent several more hours with paleontologist Hans Arne Nakrem of the Natural History Museum in Oslo. We had excellent discussions of possible joint projects with material from Svalbard, and even me joining a future expedition there. (I know what to expect now!) There are very interesting Jurassic carbonates which need analysis for bioerosion and other trace fossils. It is also clear that many of the numerous marine reptile skeletons, especially the common ichthyosaurs, have invertebrates associated with them and other odd features beyond the vertebrate paleontology. Hans Arne and I have discussed exchanging students during the summers, and the easy framework the University of Norway has for visiting scholars in the summer. We’ve opened new doors for future Wooster geology research. In combination with the Alaska and Iceland teams, we’re gaining quite the northern exposure!