Category Archives: Uncategorized

Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Bryozoan encrusting a bryozoan (Campanian of southwestern France)

Today’s post is in honor of Macy Conrad’s (Wooster ’18) poster at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, which was held earlier this week. It is also to recognize again the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) genius of … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Foraminifera clustered around a sponge boring (Campanian of southwestern France)

If all goes to plan, today I leave for the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America, held this year in Seattle, Washington. To mark the occasion, this week’s fossil is from a poster Macy Conrad (’18), Paul Taylor … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: “Ghosts” in the Upper Ordovician of Kentucky

This year Caroline Buttler (Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales) and I had a great project describing a cave-dwelling fauna in the Upper Ordovician of northern Kentucky. We hope that work will appear soon in the … Continue reading

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A “Dry Summer” in Wooster?

I moved to Wooster at the very end of July.  Since that time, I’ve heard a frequent refrain that “it’s been a dry summer”.  Being a climate scientist, and knowing that everyone (including me) likes to complain about the weather, I … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A terebratulid brachiopod from the Upper Cretaceous of southwestern France

Yes, we’ve had a run of French Cretaceous fossils here. This is because we’re in the midst of a major project stemming from summer fieldwork in the Type Campanian of southwestern France. The fossils are delicious, and they are before … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: An oyster reef from the Middle Jurassic of southwestern Utah

It was a pleasure to pull this massive specimen out of the cabinets, where it had been sitting for more than 20 years. It is a small reef of the oyster Liostrea strigilecula (White, 1877) from the Carmel Formation (Middle Jurassic) … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Chaetetids from the Upper Carboniferous of Liaoning Province, North China

Three years ago I had a short and painful trip to China to meet my new colleague and friend Yongli Zhang (Department of Geology, Northeastern University, Shenyang). The China part was great; the pain was from an unfortunately-timed kidney stone … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Predatory trace from the Upper Cretaceous of southwestern France

One hole in a shell is unremarkable. Several in a repeating pattern is a story. Above is a right valve (exterior) of the oyster Pycnodonte vesicularis from the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) of southwestern France. It was collected during our fantastic … Continue reading

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Wildfires in Montana

Windy, warm, and dry is a good recipe for wildfires, and that has been the norm for Montana this year.  For example, from June 1 through September 4, Missoula received 2.07 inches of precipitation, less than half its average rainfall … Continue reading

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The annual Wooster Paleontology field trip to the Upper Ordovician (Fall 2017 version)

It’s not that I haven’t loved all my Invertebrate Paleontology classes, but the students this year are special because there are only ten of them. Lately I’ve had up to thirty students per class which is great for many reasons, … Continue reading

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