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.

Wet and Cold Wooster Geologists in the Silurian of Central Ohio

Mark Wilson April 21, 2012 4:26 pm

DAYTON, OHIO–It was 37°F and raining this morning as three stalwart Wooster Geology students and I worked in a muddy quarry near Fairborn, Ohio (N 39.81472°, W 83.99471°). Our task was to scout out a beautiful exposure of the Brassfield … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A scale tree root in its own soil (Upper Carboniferous of Ohio)

Mark Wilson April 15, 2012 1:48 am

Last week a local man, Larry Stauffer, brought in the above fossil for identification and then kindly donated it to the department. It is part of the root system of Lepidodendron, the “scale tree” of the Carboniferous Period. What is … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: A calcareous sponge with a crinoid holdfast (Matmor Formation, Middle Jurassic, Israel)

Mark Wilson April 8, 2012 1:58 am

The Class Calcarea of the Phylum Porifera is a group of sponges characterized by spicular skeletons made of calcium carbonate (calcite in this case). The spicules (small elements of the skeleton) are often fused together, causing the sponges to look … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A spiriferinid brachiopod (Logan Formation, Lower Carboniferous, Ohio)

Mark Wilson April 1, 2012 1:59 am

This brachiopod is one of the most common in the Logan Formation of Wooster, Ohio, so our students know it well from outcrops in Spangler Park and the occasional excavations in town. Four specimens of Syringothyris Winchell 1863 are visible … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Three cobble-dwelling oysters from the Upper Cretaceous of southern Israel

Mark Wilson March 25, 2012 1:45 am

These fossils of the week, three well-worn cemented oysters, are highlighted to celebrate the final acceptance this past week of a manuscript that describes their geological setting and significance: Wilson et al., 2012 (see reference below). They are attached to … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologists safely in the Tel Aviv airport

Mark Wilson March 19, 2012 2:55 am

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL–Always a happy scene. After a long dark drive through the desert early this morning, and then the adventure of Tel Aviv traffic, Melissa and I are safely in Ben Gurion airport. We had a lot of questions … Continue reading →

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Last day of 2012 fieldwork in Israel by Wooster Geologists

Mark Wilson March 18, 2012 3:07 pm

MITZPE RAMON–Today we finished our exploration of the Upper Cretaceous near Mitzpe Ramon, and then met some old friends for a different project near Ar’arat an-Naqab in the northernmost part of the Negev. This gave me the chance to take … Continue reading →

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Nabataean water management in the northern Negev (circa 2nd Century BCE)

Mark Wilson March 18, 2012 2:47 pm

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–We had an earlier post about water management techniques by Iron Age peoples in the northern Negev. Today during our last period of fieldwork on this trip we ran into a complex Nabataean system in a valley a … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A curving scleractinian coral (Middle Jurassic of Israel)

Mark Wilson March 18, 2012 1:33 am

Since Melissa Torma and I recently returned from our expedition to southern Israel (see immediately previous posts), I thought our weekly fossil highlight should be one of our specimens collected from the Middle Jurassic Matmor Formation of Makhtesh Gadol. This … Continue reading →

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Rapid erosion and subsidence on the shoreline of the Dead Sea

Mark Wilson March 17, 2012 11:54 pm

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–In the image above, Yoav Avni is standing at the edge of an erosional gully that is less than a year old. In fact, it may have formed in less than three months. This little canyon is cutting … Continue reading →

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