Author Archives: Mark Wilson

About Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson is an emeritus 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.

Carbonate hardgrounds at Wooster

On the second floor of Wooster’s Scovel Hall, in a room behind the main teaching laboratory, are six cabinets completely full of labelled rocks and fossils (see below). There is even an additional set of specimens too large for the … Continue reading

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A Wooster Geologist visits Fort Meigs, Ohio

Today my wife Gloria and I visited the reconstructed Fort Meigs in the northwestern corner of Ohio in Perrysburg, just south of Toledo. It was a beautiful day and we practically had the place to ourselves. It was our first … Continue reading

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And sometimes it rains.

Today I took Peter, Lauren and Evie on another afternoon local field trip, this time to Wooster Memorial Park (Spangler). We wanted to repeat the enjoyable exploration we had last week in Lodi Community Park. This time, though, we got … Continue reading

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54 cm Core from Brown’s Lake Bog Reveals …

Guest Bloggers: Evie Sanford and Peter Rothstein Summer diatom research continues at The College of Wooster. Building on last summer’s work by Garret Robertson, Minnie Pozefsky and Dr. Mark Wilson, as well as that of other previous IS students Justine … Continue reading

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A local geological field trip on a midsummer’s day: Return to the Lower Carboniferous of Lodi, Ohio

Wooster, Ohio– This afternoon three industrious summer research students and I took advantage of the brilliant weather to drive 30 minutes north of town to Lodi Community Park in Medina County, Ohio. We wanted to take a break from lab … Continue reading

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Two Environmental Geoscience majors featured in Wooster Magazine

We are proud of all our graduating seniors. When their Senior Independent Study projects are described outside the department, we highlight their excellent work for a larger audience. Corey Knauf (shown above) and Athena Tharenos (shown below) were both featured … Continue reading

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James Parkinson, Paleontologist

Ann Arbor, Michigan — This morning I gave a talk at the North American Paleontological Convention (NAPC) about the extensive contributions that the English physician James Parkinson (1755-1824) made to the rapidly growing field of paleontology in the early 19th … Continue reading

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Twisty little encrusting tubeworms: A new paper describes two new Jurassic spirorbin species, pushing back the origin of the group and giving us a nice paleoecological evolution narrative.

Several of my colleagues and I have been studying the fossil records of tubeworms for almost three decades now. We find them especially interesting because they are often beautifully preserved on hard substrates like shells, rocks and hardgrounds. They represent … Continue reading

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Examining Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) North American dinosaur teeth and their palaeoecological implications in the Hell Creek Formation of Carter County, Montana – The Independent Study project of Hudson Davis (’24)

Editor’s Note: Independent Study (IS) at The College of Wooster is a three-course series required of every student before graduation. Earth Sciences students typically begin in the second semester of their junior years with project identification, literature review, and a … Continue reading

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Morphological Descriptions of Freshwater Sponge Spicules from Brown’s Lake and Their Potential as Paleoenvironmental Proxies When Supplemented with Diatom Biostratigraphy – The Independent Study project of Garrett Ross Robertson (’24)

Editor’s Note: Independent Study (IS) at The College of Wooster is a three-course series required of every student before graduation. Earth Sciences students typically begin in the second semester of their junior years with project identification, literature review, and a … Continue reading

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