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.

Snuffboxes! Team Dorset has a project

mwilson June 8, 2016 6:08 am

Sherborne, England — Cassidy Jester (’17) now has a Senior Independent Study project: Origin and paleoecology of ferruginous oncoids (“snuffboxes”) from the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) of southern England and northern France. (We’re not going to France; I have specimens I … Continue reading →

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Team Dorset closes in on a project

mwilson June 7, 2016 6:07 am

Sherborne, England — Another gorgeous day of exploring in the Middle Jurassic of southern England. The weather and the companions could not be better. Today was our last day of reconnaissance and tomorrow Cassidy Jester (’17) begins her Independent Study … Continue reading →

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Jurassic cephalopod heaven in southwestern England

mwilson June 6, 2016 6:06 am

Sherborne, England — Cassidy Jester (’17) and I are now at our main base in a bed and breakfast in northern Dorset. Our lodgings are a converted milking house on an estate with a beautiful view of the surrounding rolling … Continue reading →

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Team Dorset arrives in England

mwilson June 5, 2016 6:05 am

Ilminster, Somerset, England — Little Team Dorset, consisting of Cassidy Jester (’17) and me, arrived today in England after a long journey of cars, planes and trains. As you can see from the above image of the Bristol Temple Meads … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: A bored Ordovician hardground from Ohio, and an introduction to a new paper on trace fossils and evolution

mwilson June 3, 2016 12:01 am

Above is an image of a carbonate hardground (cemented seafloor) from the Upper Ordovician of Adams County, Ohio. It comes from the Bull Fork Formation and was recovered along State Route 136 north of Manchester, Ohio (Locality C/W-20). It is … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Echinoderm holdfasts from the Upper Cambrian of Montana

mwilson May 27, 2016 12:01 am

The white buttons above are echinoderm holdfasts from the Snowy Range Formation (Upper Cambrian) of Carbon County, southern Montana. They and their hardground substrate were well described back in the day by Brett et al. (1983). We have these specimens … Continue reading →

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Construction of the new Life Sciences building begins, and the geologists welcome our new biologist labmates

mwilson May 24, 2016 3:47 pm

Wooster, Ohio — The College of Wooster community will soon say goodbye to Mateer Hall (above), which has housed the Biology Department for decades. It will be demolished next month to make way for the new Ruth Williams Hall of … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A phyllocarid crustacean from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada

mwilson May 20, 2016 12:01 am

We are fortunate at Wooster to have a few fossils from the Burgess Shale (Middle Cambrian) collected near Burgess Pass, British Columbia, Canada, including this delicate phyllocarid Canadaspis perfecta (Walcott, 1912). This species is one of the oldest crustaceans, a … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A Recent Sponge Boring from South Carolina

mwilson May 13, 2016 12:01 am

We’re not actually looking at fossils here, but this bivalve-coral-sponge assemblage from the very modern Myrtle Beach in South Carolina is too cool not to share. Jacob Nowell (Wooster ’18) picked it up while on Spring Break this year and … Continue reading →

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A Wooster Geologist Visits Spangler Park

mwilson May 9, 2016 1:01 pm

Editor’s note: The following entry was written by Chloe Wallace (’17), a student in this year’s Sedimentology & Stratigraphy course. One of our writing assignments was to write a blog post about our recent field trip to Spangler Park (also … Continue reading →

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