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.

Ancient islands

mwilson May 27, 2013 11:42 pm

LOGAN, UTAH–Today we explored the area around Promontory, in northern Utah. Among the many beautiful sites were these rocky, faceted hills that several thousand years ago. This particular hill was intriguing although inaccessible. (It is on a vast tract of … Continue reading →

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The Lodgepole Limestone Formation

mwilson May 26, 2013 11:42 pm

LOGAN, UTAH–Today we hiked up part of Logan Canyon along the south side of the Logan River. Towering above us on either side were massive limestone cliffs, as shown above. The thickest unit is the Lodgepole Limestone Formation (Lower Carboniferous, … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Mackerel shark teeth from the Eocene of the Atlas Mountains, Morocco

mwilson May 26, 2013 1:30 am

This week we highlight another gift to the Wooster Geology Department from George Chambers (’79). Among the many fossils that arrived in three delightful boxes were these shark teeth. They are from the extinct Mackerel Shark Otodus obliquus Agassiz, 1843. … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologist on the Wasatch Front in northern Utah

mwilson May 25, 2013 2:49 pm

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH–It may be a vacation, but even so, every geologist has the delightful duty of enjoying the local geological setting. The above image is looking south from the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City along … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: An amphibian from the Permian of Germany

mwilson May 19, 2013 1:41 am

The above skeleton is of the salamander-like Apateon pedestris von Meyer 1840 from the Lower Permian of Odernhelm, Germany. There are just enough of these tiny little bones to show the ghostly outline of this freshwater amphibian. It is our … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Embedded cornulitids from the Lower Silurian of Estonia

mwilson May 12, 2013 1:57 am

At first specimen this looks like a series of holes drilled into a small, smooth substrate (like Trypanites), but then you notice that the substrate has grown up around the holes, and on the far left you can make out … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: An asaphid trilobite from the Middle Ordovician of the Leningrad Region, Russia

mwilson May 5, 2013 1:28 am

This weathered trilobite is nothing like the gorgeous specimens of this genus you can buy at various rock shops around the world and on the web, but it has sentimental value to me. I collected it on an epic field … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Tubular drillholes (Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati Region)

mwilson April 28, 2013 1:59 am

This is one of the simplest fossils ever: a cylindrical hole drilled into a hard substrate like a skeleton or rock. The above image is of a hardground (cemented carbonate seafloor) from the Upper Ordovician of northern Kentucky with these … Continue reading →

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Sed/Strat goes local with its field trip: the Meadville Shale and the Logan Formation (Lower Carboniferous)

mwilson April 27, 2013 6:46 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO–The traditional spring field trip in the Sedimentology & Stratigraphy course at Wooster is taken several hours south, usually in Jackson County or, as last year, in a soggy quarry outside of Dayton. This time, though, we stayed nearby, … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geology poster session at the 2013 Senior Research Symposium at The College of Wooster

mwilson April 26, 2013 2:56 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO–It was a bit of a crowded room in Andrews Library for our geology seniors (and all their friends, family and faculty), but it was a very happy place. Joe Wilch (above) escaped the crowd, though, because he is … Continue reading →

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