Author Archives: mwilson

About mwilson

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.

Tragedy at Bear River: two very different historical narratives

mwilson July 17, 2010 4:10 pm

PRESTON, IDAHO–I knew on our drive this morning that Preston, Idaho, is famous as the setting for the Napoleon Dynamite movie. (You can even download “Napoleon Dynamite’s sweet map” of the town.) I did not know that just north of … Continue reading →

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Sure this is a geology blog, but these wildflowers …

mwilson July 16, 2010 11:23 pm

… are fantastic! Geologists are natural historians, so of course anything natural (or historical!) fascinates us. Stephanie Jarvis showed us some flowers (and mushrooms) in Alaska this summer. Last year we looked at acacia trees in Israel. We’ve even delighted … Continue reading →

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The utility of trace fossils

mwilson July 16, 2010 5:05 pm

LOGAN, UTAH–Today we hiked north of Tony Grove Lake in Logan Canyon to explore an Ordovician sequence of rocks. The most interesting unit (to my surprise) was the Swan Peak Quartzite, an orange-brown unit at the base of a white … Continue reading →

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Ancient shorelines

mwilson July 16, 2010 4:09 pm

LOGAN, UTAH–The Wooster geology team currently in central Utah pointed out in the distance Pahvant Butte which has a set of relict shorelines from the famous — and immense — Lake Bonneville. In the spirit of sharing common field experiences … Continue reading →

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Cutting through the Paleozoic in northern Utah

mwilson July 15, 2010 10:28 pm

LOGAN, UTAH–Logan Canyon cuts perpendicularly through the Bear River Range in Cache County, northern Utah. It neatly dissects a complex section of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in the Logan-Huntsville Allochthon noted in my last post. Conveniently, US Highway 89 runs through … Continue reading →

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Yet another Wooster geologist in Utah

mwilson July 14, 2010 11:19 pm

LOGAN, UTAH–I’m here to spend a few days with my parents who are “summer citizens” on the Utah State University campus. Logan is in the far northeastern corner of Utah near Idaho.  Like all of the state, it has fascinating … Continue reading →

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Wooster geologist in New Zealand!

mwilson July 13, 2010 7:08 pm

CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND–And it’s not me! Wooster geology student Andrew Collins is in a study abroad program on the South Island of New Zealand.  He has promised to share with us his geological experiences now and then. Andrew recently traveled … Continue reading →

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Professor Greg Wiles is Wooster’s newest Shoolroy Chair of Natural Resources

mwilson July 12, 2010 2:27 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO–We are very pleased to announce that Greg Wiles has been promoted to Full Professor and named the Shoolroy Chair of Natural Resources at The College of Wooster.  Greg has been at Wooster since 1998 and is our geomorphologist-dendrochronologist-paleoclimatologist … Continue reading →

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Scene from the lab

mwilson July 8, 2010 4:43 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO–I spent a good part of the day in the paleontology lab of Lisa Park, one of our accomplished Wooster Geology alumni who teaches at the University of Akron.  We took scanning electron microscope images of microconchid specimens I … Continue reading →

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Safely in the Tel Aviv airport and all’s well

mwilson June 16, 2010 4:03 am

BEN GURION AIRPORT, ISRAEL — It is always a special moment when the rental car is successfully returned (surprisingly undamaged), the luggage with its curious bags of rocks is checked through (“Why do you need to have numbers on all … Continue reading →

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