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.

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: a very large clam (Upper Cretaceous of South Dakota, USA)

mwilson June 3, 2012 1:31 am

Our version above of the bivalve Inoceramus is actually rather small compared to how big it can get. The record holder is a specimen 187 centimeters in diameter (over six feet) in the Geological Museum of Copenhagen. This Wooster Inoceramus … Continue reading →

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Scovel Hall lecture room renovations begin (periodically updated)

mwilson May 31, 2012 3:42 pm

Our beloved Scovel Hall lecture rooms are finally being updated. The fixed seats in Room 105 endured by generations of student behinds are headed to the dumpster (including their 1985 color scheme) and will be replaced by tables and movable … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: a trilobite burrow (Upper Ordovician of Ohio)

mwilson May 27, 2012 1:43 am

This is one of my favorite trace fossils. Rusophycus pudicum Hall, 1852, is its formal name. It was made by a trilobite digging down into the seafloor sediment back during the Ordovician Period in what is now southern Ohio. It … Continue reading →

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Forbes lists Geology as 7th in its “15 Most Valuable College Majors”

mwilson May 26, 2012 12:59 pm

Sure it is intellectually stimulating, adventurous and fun, but geology is also an important field for the present and future according to the latest issue of Forbes magazine. Geology is ranked as number 7 in the most valuable college majors, … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Corkscrew shells from the Pliocene of Cyprus

mwilson May 20, 2012 1:15 am

Steve Dornbos (’97), now a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and I found these intricate shells by the hundreds in the Nicosia Formation (Pliocene) of Cyprus during his Independent Study field work. (We published this study in 1999.) They … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Intricate networks of tiny holes (clionaid sponge borings)

mwilson May 13, 2012 1:28 am

The most effective agents of marine bioerosion today are among the simplest of animals: clionaid sponges. The traces they make in carbonate substrates are spherical chambers connected by short tunnels, as shown above in a modern example excavated in an … Continue reading →

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A rite of passage: Geology Junior Independent Study presentations

mwilson May 6, 2012 7:33 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO–The College of Wooster requires an Independent Study (I.S.) thesis (or performance) from all of its graduates. These are not just extended literature reviews, but unique research projects crafted for and by each of our students. We devote three … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A giant oyster (Eocene of Texas)

mwilson May 6, 2012 1:30 am

It’s no ordinary oyster, of course, because it comes from Texas. It certainly is the largest oyster I’ve ever seen. Wooster received it as part of a large donation in 2010. (You can see students studying it in this previous … Continue reading →

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Now this is field trip weather

mwilson May 1, 2012 3:30 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO–It is now difficult to believe that we were measuring stratigraphic sections in a sleety thunderstorm on Saturday. Today the Tuesday lab of my Sedimentology & Stratigraphy course visited a local outcrop of the Logan Formation (Lower Carboniferous) to … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: the classic bioclaustration (Upper Ordovician of Ohio)

mwilson April 29, 2012 1:52 am

We’re looking at two fossils above. One is the bryozoan Peronopora, the major skeletal structure. The second is the odd series of scalloped holes in its surface. These are a trace fossil called Catellocaula vallata Palmer and Wilson 1988. They … Continue reading →

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