Category Archives: Uncategorized

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: a beautiful phacopid trilobite (Middle Devonian of Ohio, USA)

mwilson August 5, 2012 1:57 am

Trilobites are always favorite fossils, especially big bug-eyed ones like Phacops rana (Green, 1832) shown above. It is, in fact, the state fossil of Pennsylvania after a petition from schoolchildren in 1988. This specimen is from the Middle Devonian of … Continue reading →

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A pleasant and productive geological walk in the woods

mwilson August 1, 2012 11:07 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO–One of the best parts of my job is answering questions from the public about rocks and fossils. Now that I’m Secretary of the Paleontological Society, I get queries every day about something or other. (And since my brief … Continue reading →

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Busy Wooster geology labs this summer

mwilson August 1, 2012 6:59 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO–This has been a particularly active summer in Scovel Hall, home of Wooster’s Geology Department. All our fieldwork eventually results in labwork, so our student geologists have been spending quality time with rocksaws, microscopes, computers and x-ray analytical equipment. … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: an encrusted plesiosaur vertebra (Jurassic of England)

mwilson July 29, 2012 1:18 am

The weathered bone pictured above sits on my desk as a treasured memento. It is the centrum of a plesiosaur vertebra. I found it in the Faringdon Sponge Gravels (Lower Cretaceous) of Oxfordshire, England, during my first research leave (1985). … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologists in Indiana!

mwilson July 28, 2012 10:40 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO–I’ve seen a lot of fossils in my blessedly long time as a paleontologist, and I’ve had the opportunity to study them in many exotic places. I’m often reminded, though, that one of the best preserved and most diverse … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: A stromatoporoid-stromatolite combination (Upper Silurian of Saaremaa Island, Silurian)

mwilson July 22, 2012 1:51 am

There are two common fossil types that begin with “strom” and look roughly alike to the untrained eye. One is the stromatoporoid, which is a calcareous sponge, and the other is the stromatolite, which is a layered structure produced by … Continue reading →

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Analysis of a Rhuddanian (Llandovery, Lower Silurian) sclerobiont community in the Hilliste Formation on Hiiumaa Island, Estonia: a hard substrate-dwelling recovery fauna — An abstract submitted to the Geological Society of America for the 2012 annual meeting

mwilson July 19, 2012 1:42 pm

Editor’s note: The Wooster Geologists in Estonia this summer wrote abstracts for posters at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, this November. The following is from student guest blogger Jonah Novek in the format required … Continue reading →

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Stratigraphy and paleoenvironment of the Soeginina Beds (Paadla Formation, Lower Ludlow, Upper Silurian) on Saaremaa Island, Estonia — An abstract submitted to the Geological Society of America for the 2012 annual meeting

mwilson July 19, 2012 1:35 pm

Editor’s note: The Wooster Geologists in Estonia this summer wrote abstracts for posters at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, this November. The following is from student guest blogger Richa Ekka in the format required … Continue reading →

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Our last evening in Estonia

mwilson July 17, 2012 2:33 pm

TALLINN, ESTONIA–We had our final group dinner in the Olde Hansa restaurant. (Freezing at an outside table, I might add, but the food and company was excellent.) We leave for the USA at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Pictured above, just … Continue reading →

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Some wildflowers from the western islands of Estonia

mwilson July 17, 2012 2:13 pm

TALLINN, ESTONIA–This is a tradition on my field trips: a sampling of flowers we’ve seen. We are so fortunate to be working in such a beautiful place. It would be a pity not to share. I don’t have any identifications, … Continue reading →

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