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.

A long, hot day with Cretaceous phosphorites in the Negev

mwilson July 3, 2013 2:18 pm

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–This was one of Oscar’s big field days. He is shown above at his first exposure of the phosphatic zone of the Mishash Formation (Campanian, Upper Cretaceous) exposed at Wadi Hawarim (N 30.84423°, E 34.75742°). We see here … Continue reading →

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Fossil collecting under a desert sun

mwilson July 2, 2013 10:52 am

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–Today the Wooster Geologists in Israel collected fossils from the Matmor Formation in Makhtesh Gadol. It was time to begin assembling data for Lizzie Reinthal’s and Steph Bosch’s Independent Study projects, and to follow up on some projects … Continue reading →

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Field reconnaissance in the northern Negev of Israel

mwilson July 1, 2013 2:20 pm

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–This morning Team Israel 2013 met our friend Yoav Avni, a geologist with the Geological Survey of Israel (GSI), and we traveled north to our field localities. We did a survey of the sites so that we could … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologists return to the Negev

mwilson June 30, 2013 11:13 am

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–These are the shining faces of Team Israel 2013 of the Wooster Geology program. From the left is wind-challenged Lizzie Reinthal (’14) from Ohio, Oscar Mmari (’14) from Tanzania, and Steph Bosch (’14) from Pennsylvania (and soon to … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Mosasaurid teeth from the Cretaceous of Morocco

mwilson June 30, 2013 1:04 am

These impressive teeth are from the mosasaurid Prognathodon and were found in the Upper Cretaceous phosphorites near Khouribga, Morocco. They are not actually a matching set — I just arranged them to look fearsome. (Prognathodon lutigi from the Upper Cretaceous … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A barnacle-bored belemnite from the Jurassic of Spain

mwilson June 23, 2013 1:11 am

Two subjects of previous Fossil of the Week posts are combined together here: a belemnite (the elegant Hibolites hastatus) and barnacle borings (the ichnofossil Rogerella). This specimen is from the Jurassic of Moneva Teruel, Spain. Belemnites are extinct cephalopods, oddly … Continue reading →

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The 16th Conference of the International Bryozoology Association

mwilson June 17, 2013 1:33 am

CATANIA, SICILY, ITALY–The IBA meeting has now ended and, as this is posted, I should be winging my way home across the Atlantic. It was a fantastic experience. This is a unique organization, of which I’m now proud to be … Continue reading →

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Return to Mount Etna

mwilson June 16, 2013 11:42 pm

CATANIA, SICILY, ITALY–The very last field trip stop — and final event — of the International Bryozoology Association Conference was a trip to the south side of Mount Etna. We drove to a spot that had significant activity in 2000 … Continue reading →

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Limestones, basalts, the wine-dark sea and the brooding volcano

mwilson June 16, 2013 3:51 pm

CATANIA, SICILY, ITALY–Today we had our last field trip associated with the 2013 International Bryozoology Conference. We traveled to the east coast of Sicily at Castelluccio, which is south of Catania and north of Syracuse. The weather could not have … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A sawfish rostral tooth from the Upper Cretaceous of Morocco

mwilson June 16, 2013 1:00 am

More fossil fish teeth this week. This impressive, barbed tooth is from the ancient chondrichthyan sawfish Onchopristis numidus (Haug, 1905). It was found in the Tegana Formation (Cenomanian, Upper Cretaceous) near Kem Kem, Morocco (and is yet another contribution from … Continue reading →

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