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′ |
