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 Fossil (Maybe) of the Week: Kinneyia ripples

While hiking through the Niagara Gorge on a field trip in August, my friend Andrej Ernst of the University of Kiel found the above block of siltstone from the Grimsby Formation (Silurian) with unusual small-scale ripples in a patch. Carl … Continue reading

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Greetings from a Wooster Geologist in Scotland

Annette Hilton (’17) is having a great time in Scotland, where she is spending a semester abroad. She had a chance to go on a geography field trip recently to the Isle of Kerrera, in the Inner Hebrides off the … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: an upside-down nautiloid from the Devonian of Wisconsin

This lump of a fossil in Wooster’s teaching collection requires some explanation. It is not particularly well preserved, but it is our only representative of an interesting group of nautiloid cephalopods. The label that came with it says it is … Continue reading

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Wooster Geologists on the Gettysburg Battlefield

Gloria and I and our daughter Amy took advantage of the first days of Fall Break at Wooster to visit the Gettysburg Battlefield in Pennsylvania, about a 5.5 hour drive from home. The weather was spectacularly beautiful, as you can … Continue reading

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A Wooster Geologist in Tanzania

Oscar Mmari (’14) is a Wooster Geology alumnus who did field work in Israel as part of his Independent Study. After his graduation he has had excellent geological experience in Africa and Europe, most involving mining and other resource-related industries. … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: A rugose coral and its encrusters from the Middle Devonian of New York

This week’s fossils were found on a most excellent field trip to the Niagara region of New York in August. One of our outcrops was a small patch of gravel in Bethany Center where the Centerfield Limestone Member of the … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A spherical bryozoan from the Upper Ordovician of northeastern Estonia

Way back in July 2007 we had our first Team Estonia doing geological field research. Andrew Milligan (’08) and I, with our friend Dr. Olev Vinn of the University of Tartu, explored the Upper Ordovician of the northeastern part of … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: “Lapis Judaicus” from the Middle Jurassic of southern Israel

Paul Taylor (Natural History Museum, London) is, along with his other talents, an expert on the folklore of fossils. His accounts of how fossils have been used and imagined in the past are fascinating, especially to paleontologists who work with … Continue reading

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Team Yorkshire gets all geochemical

BRYN MAWR, PENNSYLVANIA–When we last saw Mae Kemsley (’16) and Meredith Mann (’16) in this blog, they were celebrating the end of their Senior Independent Study summer fieldwork on the coast of North Yorkshire, England. This weekend the three of … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: calcareous sponges from the Middle Jurassic of southern Israel

This post is in honor of Yael Leshno, a graduate student at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem who is beginning her dissertation on the Middle Jurassic marine fossils of Israel. I’m proud to be on her committee. She will have … Continue reading

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