Category Archives: Uncategorized

Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: A Silurian encrinite from southwestern Ohio

The above rock was collected on our Sedimentology & Stratigraphy class field trip last month. It is an average piece of weathered Brassfield Formation (Early Silurian, Llandovery) from Oakes Quarry Park near Fairborn, Ohio (N 39.81472°, W 83.99471°). It is … Continue reading

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Wooster Geologists (and a Wooster Chemist) visit Brown’s Lake Bog

I was privileged today to visit Brown’s Lake Bog, a Nature Conservancy preserve, with Greg Wiles, Nick Wiesenberg, and Kim Carter (Chemistry ’16). Greg and Nick have been here many times with students and colleagues, including some epic sessions of … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A ptilodictyine bryozoan from the Silurian of Ohio

The fossil above was found by Luke Kosowatz (’17) on our Sedimentology & Stratigraphy class field trip last month. We were measuring and sampling the Brassfield Formation (Early Silurian, Llandovery) near Fairborn, Ohio, and Luke pulled this beauty out of … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A Jurassic coral with beekite preservation from southern Israel

This week’s fossil is again in honor of Annette Hilton (’17), now retired as my Sophomore Research Assistant this year. She has been assessing with great skill a large and diverse collection of scleractinian corals from the Matmor Formation in … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: How to make brilliant acetate peels, with a Jurassic coral example

My retiring Sophomore Research student, Annette Hilton (’17), is excellent at making acetate peels. These peels, like the one above she made from a mysterious Callovian (Middle Jurassic) coral, show fine internal details of calcareous fossils and rocks. This is … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A twisted scleractinian coral from the Middle Jurassic of southern Israel

Another exquisite little coral this week from the collection of Matmor Formation (Middle Jurassic, southern Israel) corals Annette Hilton (’17) and I are working through. We believe this is Epistreptophyllum Milaschewitsch, 1876. It is a solitary (although more on that … Continue reading

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Flipping the Classroom with Meteorite Impacts

Our introductory courses don’t have labs, but that doesn’t stop our students from having hands-on experiences. Today, students in the Geology of Natural Hazards investigated the relationship between impact craters and projectile properties (size, mass, velocity) by experimenting with a tray of … Continue reading

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A beautiful day for Wooster Geologists in the Silurian of Ohio

FAIRBORN, OHIO–It’s field trip season at last for the Wooster Geologists. Several geology classes have now been out in Ohio, taking advantage of windows of spectacular weather. Today was one of those days for 25 students in the Sedimentology & … Continue reading

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Geomorphology at Fern Valley and along the Little Killbuck

The group at Fern Valley. Gaging Wilkin Run and measuring water levels in wells. We are fortunate to be able to monitor the streamflow, climate and geomorphic changes along Wilkin Run. Thanks again to Betty and David Wilkin for donating … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A tectonically-deformed Early Cambrian trilobite from southeastern California

This wonderful trilobite was found last month by Olivia Brown (’15), a student on the Wooster Geology Department’s glorious field trip to the Mojave Desert. Olivia collected it at Emigrant Pass in the Nopah Range of Inyo County, southeastern California. … Continue reading

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