Monthly Archives: December 2011

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: a siliquariid gastropod (Eocene of Alabama)

Mark Wilson December 25, 2011 1:51 am

It is hard to believe that this twisty tube is a snail, but it is. Tenagodus vitis (Conrad, 1835) is the scientific name for this worm-like gastropod from the Claiborne Sand (Eocene) of Alabama. It was originally named by Conrad … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A cornulitid (Late Ordovician of Indiana)

Mark Wilson December 18, 2011 1:18 am

This may look like just another wormtube on a shell — a recurring theme on this blog — but it is special, of course. This is the common Paleozoic genus Cornulites Schlotheim 1820, specifically Cornulites flexuosus (Hall 1847). It was … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Eurypterids (Late Silurian of New York)

Mark Wilson December 11, 2011 1:35 am

Few fossils are more dramatic than the long-extinct eurypterids. Above is one of Wooster’s best fossils: Eurypterus remipes De Kay 1825 from the Bertie Waterlime (Upper Silurian) of New York. (Thanks to Roy Plotnick for help with the identification.) As … Continue reading →

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A Tale of Two Museums: Part 2 — The Creation Museum

Mark Wilson December 7, 2011 7:18 am

This past Saturday Elizabeth Schiltz of the Philosophy Department and I took our First-Year Seminar students on a long drive to the infamous Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. It was a beautiful day and we had a good time, if … Continue reading →

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A Tale of Two Museums: Part 1 — The Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Mark Wilson December 6, 2011 3:33 pm

Last week I had the marvelous opportunity to visit two very different museums with Wooster Geologists. This is the first of two posts with short vignettes of the memorable sights and sounds. The first museum was the Cleveland Museum of … Continue reading →

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“Whisky Stones” of Vermont: A Wooster Geologist Connection

Mark Wilson December 5, 2011 6:35 am

The following is a guest blog post from Wooster Geology Senior Lindsey Bowman, a native of Londonderry, Vermont: A metamorphic rock composed mainly of talc, soapstone is found all over the world and has unique qualities such as high heat … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A new microconchid genus and species (Permian of Texas)

Mark Wilson December 4, 2011 1:50 am

Two years ago I was invited to Texas by Tom Yancey (Texas A&M) to look at some curious wiggly tubular fossils in the Lower Permian (about 280 million years old). They form small reefs a meter or so across and … Continue reading →

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