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.

Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Strophomenid brachiopods from the Upper Ordovician of southern Ohio

Mark Wilson March 24, 2017 12:01 am

Usually I find fossils in the field or lab and then craft a Fossil of the Week entry around them. This time, though, I started with a paper and then searched for fossils to illustrate it. I found this recent … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A large trepostome bryozoan on a nautiloid conch (Upper Ordovician of northern Kentucky)

Mark Wilson March 17, 2017 12:01 am

This massive trepostome bryozoan, a solid lump of biogenic calcite, was collected earlier this week on the latest Team Cincinnati field expedition into the treasure-filled Upper Ordovician underlying and surrounding that city. Wooster students Matt Shearer, Luke Kosowatz and I … Continue reading →

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Team Cincinnati heads home ahead of the storm (via Serpent Mound)

Mark Wilson March 13, 2017 9:10 pm

Wooster, Ohio — Matthew, Mark and Luke (if only we had a John!) left the field a day early, hightailing it from Maysville, Kentucky, to Wooster today before a large storm system brought snow, ice and freezing rain (delightfully called … Continue reading →

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Team Cincinnati moves into Kentucky for additional fieldwork

Mark Wilson March 12, 2017 11:12 pm

Maysville, Kentucky — It was another frigid morning under the clear, pitiless skies of the Cincinnati region, but Luke Kosowatz (’17) was in good spirits. He is collecting at our first stop of the day: an exposure of the Bellevue … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologists launch Team Cincinnati 2017

Mark Wilson March 11, 2017 11:11 pm

Harrison, Ohio — Our first fieldwork of the year started on this cold, cold March day in southeastern Indiana. (Note the white icicles on the outcrop.) Luke Kosowatz, Matt Shearer and I have begun our projects in the magnificent Cincinnatian … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Encrusting craniid brachiopods (Upper Ordovician of southeastern Indiana)

Mark Wilson March 10, 2017 12:01 am

The two irregular patches above are brachiopods known as Petrocrania scabiosa encrusting the ventral valve of yet another brachiopod (Rafinesquina). That species name “scabiosa” is evocative if not a little unpleasant — it is also the root of the English … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Mysterious tentaculitids (Devonian of Maryland)

Mark Wilson March 3, 2017 12:03 am

The sharp little conical fossils above are common Paleozoic fossils, especially in the Devonian. They are tentaculitids now most commonly placed in the Class Tentaculitoidea Ljashenko 1957. Tentaculitids appeared in the Ordovician and disappeared sometime around the end of the … Continue reading →

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Dr. Rob Thieler delivers the 36th annual Richard G. Osgood, Jr., Memorial Lecture at Wooster

Mark Wilson March 2, 2017 11:21 am

One of the pleasures of being in the Geology Department at The College of Wooster is that we have the annual Richard G. Osgood, Jr., Memorial Lecture series. These presentations, given in honor of the late Professor Osgood, have significantly … Continue reading →

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Professors Greg Wiles and Meagen Pollock earn a field experience grant from the Keck Geology Consortium

Mark Wilson February 26, 2017 3:33 pm

Wooster, Ohio — Two Wooster Geology Professors, Meagen Pollock and Greg Wiles, have a exciting new grant from the Keck Geology Consortium to fund a five-week research program for first-year and sophomore students interested in the Earth Sciences. The experience … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A scaphitid ammonite (Late Cretaceous of Mississippi)

Mark Wilson February 24, 2017 12:01 am

The beauty above is Discoscaphites iris (Conrad, 1858) from the Owl Creek Formation of Ripley, Mississippi. Megan Innis and I collected it during our expedition to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in the southern United States last summer. It is a significant … Continue reading →

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