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.

The paleontology of hiatus concretions: fossils without sediment

Mark Wilson December 15, 2010 8:16 pm

Way back in 1984, when I was just a green Assistant Professor of Geology, my wife Gloria and I explored a series of Upper Ordovician (about 445 million years old) outcrops in northern Kentucky to plan a paleontology course field … Continue reading →

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A very volcanic tour of New Zealand’s North Island

Mark Wilson December 1, 2010 4:47 pm

Our most distant Wooster Geologist this year, Andrew Collins, is now home from his semester abroad in New Zealand. He had many geological adventures, including that massive earthquake in Christchurch with its hundreds of aftershocks. Please visit his blog for … Continue reading →

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Trays of trilobites, buckets of belemnites ….

Mark Wilson November 26, 2010 9:20 am

WOOSTER, OHIO — Last weekend we picked up another load of rocks, minerals and fossils donated by the family of one of our loyal alumni. We will be sorting through them for months getting them ready for displays and our … Continue reading →

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GeoJeopardy!

Mark Wilson November 11, 2010 7:01 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO — Dr. Meagen Pollock had a great idea: a geology Jeopardy game to liven up a Geology Club meeting … and to encourage the retention of all that knowledge we’re serving up daily. She used a software package … Continue reading →

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Putting donated fossils to work

Mark Wilson November 5, 2010 10:52 am

WOOSTER, OHIO — Last month we began integrating a large collection of rocks, minerals and fossils into our teaching program in the Department of Geology. These specimens were donated by an Ohio family who lovingly gathered them over decades. They … Continue reading →

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It is not just fossils in a paleontology lab

Mark Wilson November 4, 2010 2:50 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO — To understand ancient life a paleontology student must also know a considerable amount about modern life. In our Invertebrate Paleontology course this means that students study, for example, modern clams to provide a context for the fossil … Continue reading →

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Another GSA presentation from a Wooster Geologist: Long-term tree ring records from Glacier Bay National Park

Mark Wilson November 3, 2010 6:25 pm

(by Stephanie Jarvis, ’11) Professor Greg Wiles, the Ross K. Shoolroy Chair of Natural Resources at Wooster, finished off the series of Wooster presentations at this year’s Geological Society of America Annual Meeting with his talk: “Multi-millenial-scale tree ring records … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geology Alumni Gather at the 2010 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting

Mark Wilson November 1, 2010 11:09 pm

DENVER, COLORADO — It has been a tradition for decades that Wooster Geology alumni, faculty and students meet one evening during the annual GSA conference. This year we had forty people come by; a good number of them are pictured … Continue reading →

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Anomalocaris now not so scary

Mark Wilson November 1, 2010 4:18 pm

DENVER, COLORADO — I very much enjoyed a talk this afternoon by Whitey Hagadorn (a Wooster favorite since his Osgood lecture last year) entitled: “Putting Anomalocaris on a soft-food diet?” Even though Whitey says Anomalocaris “may still have been a … Continue reading →

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Stromatolites, Basalt and Sharks: Wooster Geology Student Posters at GSA (Part 1)

Mark Wilson November 1, 2010 12:57 pm

DENVER, COLORADO — The first set of Wooster geology student posters have been successfully delivered at the Geological Society of America annual meeting. Three of our students did very well with their clear graphics, intelligent explanations, and winning smiles.  Elizabeth … Continue reading →

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