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: an orthid brachiopod (Upper Ordovician of Indiana)

mwilson November 27, 2011 12:56 am

This beautiful brachiopod is Vinlandostrophia ponderosa (Foerste, 1909), an orthid brachiopod from the Maysvillian (Upper Ordovician) of southern Indiana. Until recently it had been traditionally known as Platystrophia ponderosa until a critical paper by Zuykov and Harper (2007) investigated the … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologist on the Crampton’s Gap Battlefield in northern Maryland

mwilson November 26, 2011 8:13 pm

In September 1862, Union forces under General George B. McClellan pursued General Robert E. Lee‘s Army of Northern Virginia through northwestern Maryland. Lee had invaded Maryland to demoralize the North ahead of the November elections, and to convince Europe that … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: a baculitid ammonite (Cretaceous of Wyoming)

mwilson November 13, 2011 1:50 am

This is a specimen I often place on my Invertebrate Paleontology course lab tests. It is the “straight” ammonite Baculites, which is common enough, but the shell and internal walls (septa) have dissolved completely away, leaving this strangely articulated set … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: an Italian keyhole limpet (Pliocene of Cyprus)

mwilson November 6, 2011 1:39 am

This week’s fossil is a beautiful little gastropod (snail) scientifically known as Diodora italica (Defrance, 1820), and commonly as the Italian Keyhole Limpet. I collected it with Steve Dornbos (’97) during the 1996 Keck Geology Expedition to Cyprus, where it … Continue reading →

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George Davis (’64) gives the Thirty-First Annual Osgood Memorial Lecture

mwilson October 25, 2011 11:47 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO–We were greatly honored this evening to have one of our own, Dr. George Davis (Wooster ’64), present the 31st Annual Richard G. Osgood, Jr., Memorial Lecture. The Osgood Lectureship was endowed in 1981 by the three sons of … Continue reading →

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Exploring the Silica Formation (Middle Devonian) in Northwestern Ohio

mwilson October 22, 2011 7:25 pm

PAULDING, OHIO–There’s nothing like the stirring rings of 50 geologic hammers in the morning. Today I was a guest of the North Coast Fossil Club and my friend Brian Bade in a quarry exposing the Middle Devonian limestones and shales. … Continue reading →

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How Fossils Saved Civilization: A National Fossil Day Talk

mwilson October 20, 2011 10:02 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO — National Fossil Day has now been in place for two years. Curiously enough, two Wooster alumnae, Erica Clites and Eva Lyon, have been critical organizers and promoters of this great event as Paleontology Interns with the National … Continue reading →

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They’re back! Nursery school students visit the tree-ring lab

mwilson October 19, 2011 2:46 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO — This time it was the turn of Dr. Greg Wiles to host the The College of Wooster Nursery School children as they visited Scovel Hall and its world-famous Wooster Tree-Ring Laboratory. He had ambitious plans for the … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A carrier shell snail (Recent, Pacific Ocean)

mwilson October 16, 2011 12:01 am

OK, it’s true: our Fossil of the Week is not actually a fossil. (The “Recent” in the title was a clue.) I bought this shell at the Wayne County Fair and it was so beautiful it just had to make … Continue reading →

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Sclerobionts and Extinctions: A Wooster Geologist Faculty Talk at the 2011 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting

mwilson October 12, 2011 9:29 am

The last day of a professional meeting is very different from the first. At least half the attendees have gone home. Those that remain move a little slower and have that glazed look from late night dinners, too little sleep, … Continue reading →

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