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.

Team Minnesota visits the Upper Ordovician of Iowa

mwilson July 27, 2016 7:27 am

Rochester, Minnesota — Team Minnesota traveled south today to visit exposures of our three favorite formations: the Platteville Limestone, Decorah Shale, and Cummingsville Limestone. Where best to see the Decorah Shale than in Decorah, Iowa? Above the crew is scattered … Continue reading →

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Team Minnesota Assembles!

mwilson July 26, 2016 7:26 am

Rochester, Minnesota — The first Team Minnesota of Wooster Geologists has now gathered for its work in this beautiful state. Above from the left is Rachel Wetzel (’17), Dean Thomas (’17), Nick Wiesenberg (Geological Technician), Nikki Bell (’17) and Etienne … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A bored rhynchonellid brachiopod from the Middle Jurassic of France

mwilson July 22, 2016 12:01 am

Another beautiful brachiopod this week from our friend Mr. Clive Champion in England. His donations to our collections have considerably enriched our teaching program, especially for brachiopods! This specimen is the rhynchonellid Kutchirhynchia morieri (Davidson, 1852) from the Middle Jurassic … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologist at Argonne National Laboratory

mwilson July 16, 2016 12:01 am

Editor’s note: The following post is from guest blogger Clara Deck (’17) about her research experience this summer with an internship at one of the world’s most prominent laboratories. She is working on an important climate change project involving the … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: A molluscan assemblage from the Miocene of Maryland

mwilson July 15, 2016 12:01 am

Earlier this month a gentleman stopped by The Department of Geology and donated the above beautiful slab of fossils to our program. Dale Chadwick of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is an avid amateur fossil collector with a very useful website and considerable … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: An ammonite from the Middle Jurassic of southern England

mwilson July 8, 2016 12:01 am

We’re featuring just a workaday fossil this week because of other summer activities. This is the ammonite Leptosphinctes Buckman 1929 from the Inferior Oolite (Middle Jurassic) at Coombe Quarry, Mapperton, Dorset, southern England. Cassidy Jester (’17) and I collected it … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Iron-oxide oncoids (“snuff-boxes”) from the Middle Jurassic of southern England

mwilson July 1, 2016 12:01 am

These fossils (in the broad sense!) are inevitable for our weekly feature considering how much time we spent studying and collecting them during last month’s fieldwork in Dorset, southern England. “Snuff-boxes” are the subject of Cassidy Jester’s (’17) Senior Independent … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologist high in the air!

mwilson June 20, 2016 2:31 pm

Editor’s note: The following post is from guest blogger Annette Hilton (’17) about her extraordinary research experiences this summer. Annette gets around: You may remember her post last summer from the American Museum of Natural History. This summer I have … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologists in England: Team Dorset

mwilson June 19, 2016 2:47 pm

Cassidy Jester (’17) and I have now finished our fieldwork in southern England this month. Cassidy traveled through Britain afterwards, and I went on to London and the Natural History Museum. It was all a success thanks to my friends … Continue reading →

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Final day at The Natural History Museum … and one more Jurassic snuff-box

mwilson June 17, 2016 6:17 am

London, England — My last day in London was spent working on GSA abstracts and examining one last ferruginous oncoid (“snuff-box”) from the Jurassic (Bajocian) of southern England. Bob Chandler donated to the cause a large discoidal snuff-box. We cut … Continue reading →

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