Wooster Geologists in Europe (Summer 2017)

This summer of 2017, Professor Mark Wilson and Independent Study student Macy Conrad (’18) were in Europe for geological adventures. Professor Wilson first attended a meeting in Vienna, and then traveled to Paris to meet Macy for her IS fieldwork in southwestern France with Dr. Paul Taylor, Merit Researcher at the Natural History Museum, London. Here are the detailed posts of the adventures:

May 27: Wooster Geologist in Austria
May 28: Wooster Geologist in Vienna
May 30: A Wooster Geologist on the Somme Battlefield
June 1: Wooster Geologists begin fieldwork in southwestern France
June 2: A day of geology on the coast of southwestern France
June 4: Wooster Geologists get to work in southwestern France
June 5: A day of collecting Cretaceous fossils on the southwestern coast of France
June 6: A day of rocks and churches in southwestern France
June 7: Revisiting the Gironde Estuary for our last day of fieldwork in France
June 8: Wooster Geologists visit Saint-Emilion in southwestern France

Looking ahead —

August 22: Pycnodonte vesicularis from the Aubeterre Formation
June 30: Cleaning and labeling the oysters in Wooster’s paleontology lab
July 19: Meanwhile, what are the Wooster Paleontologists up to?
September 8: A rudistid clam from the Upper Cretaceous of southwestern France
September 15: A predatory trace from the Aubeterre Formation
October 6: A terebratulid brachiopod from the Biron Formation
October 20: Foraminifera clustered around sponge borings
October 27: A bryozoan encrusting a bryozoan from the Biron Formation
November 24: Barnacle borings from the Aubeterre Formation
November 30: Echinoid bite marks on an oyster from the Aubeterre Formation

The above stratigraphic chart, courtesy of Platel (1999) via Paul Taylor, shows the three Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) units studied in southwestern France: The Biron, Barbezieux, and Aubeterre Formations.

Here is Macy at Caillaud with the very white, chalky and fossiliferous Biron Formation. The succeeding Barbezieux and Aubeterre formations look pretty much the same!

Since it was Europe, there were plenty of cultural delights, some with useful outcrops immediately at hand.

Please check out the posts linked above, or follow the tags “Austria” and “France”.

The Natural History Museum in Vienna.

Our final list of localities, with registered localities first, followed by the complete detailed list —

Chemin Aubeterre 155 C/W-745
Caillaud south 162 C/W-746
Plage des Nonnes 164 C/W-747
Archiac 166 C/W-748
Pointe de Suzac 168 C/W-749
Bonnes 171 C/W-750

 

Location GPS Unit Position
Garage Esso Route D17 Aubeterre 153 Biron N45° 16.212′ E0° 10.274′
Route D17 Aubeterre 154 Barbezieux N45° 16.127′ E0° 10.268′
Chemin Aubeterre 155 Barbezieux N45° 16.088′ E0° 10.257′
50 m up lane Aubeterre 156 Barbezieux N45° 16.115′ E0° 10.229′
Back Chateau entrance Aubeterre 157 Aubeterre N45° 16.362′ E0° 10.262′
Car Park Aubeterre 158 Aubeterre N45° 16.344′ E0° 10.176′
Le Maine Roy 159 Maurens N45° 19.383′ E0° 07.885′
Chalais roadcut 160 Biron N45° 16.642′ E0° 02.395′
Cliff north of Mortagne 161 Segonzac – upper N45° 28.963′ W0° 47.943′
Caillaud south 162 Biron N45° 31.805′ W0° 53.629′
Caillaud north 163 Biron N45° 31.916′ W0° 54.206′
Plage des Nonnes 164 Aubeterre N45° 33.534′ W0° 57.895′
Roadcut above Plage des Nonnes 165 Aubeterre N45° 33.627′ W0° 57.894′
Archiac 166 Aubeterre N45° 31.413′ W0° 17.909′
Chez Allard 167 Segonzac N45° 37.040′ W0° 11.546′
Pointe de Suzac 168 Aubeterre N45° 34.933′ W0° 59.352′
Pointe de Suzac south 169 Aubeterre N45° 34.599′ W0° 59.382′
Mirambeau 170 Barbezieux N45° 22.211′ W0° 34.252′
Bonnes 171 Barbezieux N45° 14.735′ E0° 08.935′

About Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson is a Professor of Geology at The College of Wooster. He specializes in invertebrate paleontology, carbonate sedimentology, and stratigraphy. He also is an expert on pseudoscience, especially creationism.
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