Category Archives: Uncategorized

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A mysterious sponge (Late Ordovician of Ohio)

mwilson February 5, 2012 1:48 am

I’ve been collecting and studying fossils from the Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati region for three decades now, but I’ve never seen another specimen like the one pictured above. An amateur collector, Howard Freeland, generously donated this rock to Wooster … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Most Beautiful Building Stones

mpollock January 31, 2012 11:21 pm

Wooster, OH – Volcanoclast is hosting the latest Accretionary Wedge, and since I have exactly 2 hours left until the end of January, I thought I’d post a last-minute entry. The theme is countertop geology, or more broadly, stones that … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A syringoporid coral (Lower Carboniferous of Arkansas)

mwilson January 22, 2012 1:24 am

This specimen was collected from the Boone Limestone (Lower Carboniferous) near Hiwasse, Arkansas. It is a species of Syringopora Goldfuss 1826, sometimes known as the organ-pipe coral (but not the real organ pipe coral!). Syringoporids are tabulate corals, a group … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Marrella splendens (Burgess Shale, Middle Cambrian, British Columbia)

mwilson January 15, 2012 1:42 am

The first story about this iconic fossil is the trouble I went through to get the photograph above. Our specimen of Marrella splendens is preserved in the common Burgess Shale fashion as a thin dark film on a black piece … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A scale tree (Late Carboniferous of Ohio)

mwilson January 8, 2012 1:14 am

We haven’t had a plant fossil in this blog for awhile. Lepidodendron Sternberg 1820, pictured above, is one of the most common fossils brought to me in Wooster by amateur collectors. It is abundant in the Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) sandstones, … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A Tully Monster! (Late Carboniferous of Illinois)

mwilson January 1, 2012 1:33 am

We have several examples of one of the strangest fossils known: Tullimonstrum gregarium Richardson 1966 — otherwise affectionately known as the Tully Monster. The above specimen is from the Francis Creek Shale Member (Carbondale Formation) at Mazon Creek near Chicago, … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: a siliquariid gastropod (Eocene of Alabama)

mwilson December 25, 2011 1:51 am

It is hard to believe that this twisty tube is a snail, but it is. Tenagodus vitis (Conrad, 1835) is the scientific name for this worm-like gastropod from the Claiborne Sand (Eocene) of Alabama. It was originally named by Conrad … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A cornulitid (Late Ordovician of Indiana)

mwilson December 18, 2011 1:18 am

This may look like just another wormtube on a shell — a recurring theme on this blog — but it is special, of course. This is the common Paleozoic genus Cornulites Schlotheim 1820, specifically Cornulites flexuosus (Hall 1847). It was … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Eurypterids (Late Silurian of New York)

mwilson December 11, 2011 1:35 am

Few fossils are more dramatic than the long-extinct eurypterids. Above is one of Wooster’s best fossils: Eurypterus remipes De Kay 1825 from the Bertie Waterlime (Upper Silurian) of New York. (Thanks to Roy Plotnick for help with the identification.) As … Continue reading →

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A Tale of Two Museums: Part 2 — The Creation Museum

mwilson December 7, 2011 7:18 am

This past Saturday Elizabeth Schiltz of the Philosophy Department and I took our First-Year Seminar students on a long drive to the infamous Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. It was a beautiful day and we had a good time, if … Continue reading →

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