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 few of the Mojave wildflowers

mwilson March 19, 2011 3:53 pm

Several people have asked what kind of wildflowers we saw this spring on our departmental field trip in the Mojave Desert. They were gorgeous and diverse — more than last year in variety and abundance, but far below the carpets … Continue reading →

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An outpost of Wooster in the Mojave celebrates today’s basketball victory!

mwilson March 18, 2011 10:50 pm

(Guest post from Lindsey Bowman.) After an afternoon of rewarding trilobite collecting, nothing was more welcome than the news this afternoon from Salem, Virginia. Our basketball team advanced to the NCAA Division III finals after defeating Williams College by two … Continue reading →

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The last stop of the field trip: Date shakes!

mwilson March 18, 2011 9:33 pm

ZZYZX, CALIFORNIA–Apparently visiting China Ranch and having the famous date shakes is a tradition on at least a few other geology field trips. We were introduced to it by Matt James at Sonoma State, and today we met students and … Continue reading →

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Trilobites! Now it’s a field trip.

mwilson March 18, 2011 8:41 pm

Just kidding about the trilobite requirement for a true field trip, but we must acknowledge a certain charm that comes only from these spiny little beasts. Thanks to my buddy Matthew James, we were directed to an especially fossiliferous set … Continue reading →

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A favorite stop: the Resting Spring tuff exposure

mwilson March 18, 2011 8:27 pm

ZZYZX, CALIFORNIA–We’ve visited this roadside outcrop on California Highway 178 in the Resting Spring Range on each of our field trips to the Mojave Desert. Meagen Pollock may explain more about this fascinating outcrop later in the blog, but for … Continue reading →

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A little vignette of desert ecology

mwilson March 18, 2011 9:12 am

ZZYZX, CALIFORNIA–While exploring the Amboy Crater lava fields on Wednesday, we noticed these small and very active “yellow” beetles. With a little research we discovered they are Desert Spider Beetles (Cysteodemus armatus) that feed on the nectar from a variety … Continue reading →

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Back to granite on Cima Dome

mwilson March 17, 2011 11:50 pm

ZZYZX, CALIFORNIA–Our last stop of the rapidly-cooling day was on the huge Cima Dome east of Zzyzx in the Mojave National Preserve. The dome is so large (about 70 square miles) that it is impossible to detect when you are … Continue reading →

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A tuff afternoon

mwilson March 17, 2011 11:45 pm

ZZYZX, CALIFORNIA–After lunch we took a long drive south and east to the Hole-In-The-Wall visitor center and trail. Exposed here are diverse and colorful rocks called tuffs that were formed by pyroclastic eruptions from volcanoes roughly 18.5 million years ago. … Continue reading →

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A massive pile of sand: the Kelso Dunes

mwilson March 17, 2011 11:41 pm

ZZYZX, CALIFORNIA–Later in the morning the Wooster Geologists visited a favorite location: the Kelso Dunes in the Mojave National Preserve. We arrived before noon so we could work up a hearty appetite for lunch by climbing the dunes first. The … Continue reading →

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Deep in the heart of a lava flow

mwilson March 17, 2011 9:51 pm

ZZYZX, CALIFORNIA–This morning the Wooster Geologists enjoyed an ancient lava flow from the inside. We found our way to a lava tube near the center of the Mojave National Preserve and explored the interior with flashlights and flash cameras. It … Continue reading →

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