Four students, Geological Technician Nick Wiesenberg and Professor Mark Wilson (me!) have just completed eight days of geological fieldwork in the Upper Ordovician of southeastern Minnesota as part of Wooster’s Senior Independent Study program. The students are, from the left, Etienne Fang, Nikki Bell, Rachel Wetzel, (me), and Dean Thomas. We have blog posts for each day of the expedition, which have now appeared after we arrived home. Because the entries did not come out daily, you can read them by using the blog calendar or this list:
July 26: Team Minnesota Assembles!
July 27: Team Minnesota visits the Upper Ordovician of Iowa
July 28: Wooster Geologists tramping through the brush of southern Minnesota
July 29: The work begins
July 30: Paleontological fieldwork in southeastern Minnesota
July 31: Team Minnesota finishes its work (in Iowa, funny enough)
August 1: A wet cave and the Mighty Mississippi River
August 2: A visit to the Dalles of St. Croix in Wisconsin
Thank you again to Andrew Retzler (Wooster Geology ’11), a Paleozoic Geologist at the Minnesota Geological Survey, for suggesting this trip and for being such a superb guide to the stratigraphy of southeastern Minnesota. We could not have done it without him! The same is true of Nick Wiesenberg, who was an essential member of the team, being absolutely critical when it came to logistics and planning.
Now Dr. Shelley Judge and I begin advising the laboratory portion of the student projects. More posts from Team Minnesota will appear soon!
Minnesota 2016 Localities —
C/W-730 Quarry near Rochester, MN
C/W-731 Market: N 43.97233°, W 92.38215°
C/W-732 Golden Hill: N 43.98788°, W 92.47962°
C/W-733 Wangs Corner: N 44.41047°, W 92.98338°
C/W-734 Turkey Run: N 44.38441°, W 92.91199°
C/W-735 Decorah-Bruening Quarry: N 43.29036°, W 91.76558°
