Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Gleiwitz Incident completes the grim prologue

Mark Wilson June 18, 2014 11:44 pm

(It is the nature of this blog that our most recent entries are at the top, making it a bit awkward to read what is here the third part of a trilogy of posts today. You might want to start … Continue reading →

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Geology and nationalism at Góra Świętej Anny

Mark Wilson June 18, 2014 10:25 pm

Geology, of course, is so much our fundamental basis for being that we rarely think about it. Occasionally, though, particular geological circumstances play direct roles in history. Today as I was visiting Góra Świętej Anny with my geologist friends I … Continue reading →

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The Triassic limestones at Góra Świętej Anny, Poland

Mark Wilson June 18, 2014 2:27 pm

SOSNOWIEC, POLAND — My friends Michał Zatoń and Tomasz Borszcz took me on a very pleasant day trip to Góra Świętej Anny in southwestern Poland about an hour’s drive northwest from Sosnowiec. This is a place of considerable geological and … Continue reading →

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A new Polish colleague (and cool dinosaur model)

Mark Wilson June 17, 2014 12:57 pm

SOSNOWIEC, POLAND — The above full-scale model of Tyrannosaurus rex is one of my favorite dinosaur reconstructions. It sits in front of the Earth Sciences Building at the University of Silesia. Since it is outside the lighting is always dramatic, … Continue reading →

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Research begins in southern Poland

Mark Wilson June 16, 2014 4:49 pm

SOSNOWIEC, POLAND — On this beautiful day I began research at the University of Silesia with Michał Zatoń and Tomasz Borszcz in this impressive building. (It is reportedly the tallest Earth Science building in the world, although the Chinese are on … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A geopetal structure in a boring from the Middle Jurassic of Israel

Mark Wilson June 15, 2014 1:25 am

We have a very simple trace and body fossil combination this week that provides a stratigraphic and structural geologic tool. Above is a bit of scleractinian coral from the Matmor Formation (Middle Jurassic, Callovian) of Makhtesh Gadol in southern Israel. … Continue reading →

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Science fluorishes even on long train trips

Mark Wilson June 15, 2014 1:12 am

SOSNOWIEC, POLAND — Today my friend and colleague Tomasz Borszcz and I had a ten-hour train trip from Sopot to Sosnowiec in southern Poland. Our destination was the University of Silesia to meet with Michał Zatoń for research. I didn’t see … Continue reading →

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A day in Gdansk

Mark Wilson June 14, 2014 4:40 pm

  SOPOT, POLAND — It was a rainy, windy, cold day in northern Poland, but our able leader Piotr Kuklinski organized an enjoyable educational field trip to the ancient city of Gdansk, once known primarily by its German name, Danzig. … Continue reading →

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Visiting an aquarium and historic ships in Gdynia, Poland

Mark Wilson June 13, 2014 3:31 pm

SOPOT, POLAND — After lunch today the Larwood 2014 meeting participants had an excellent field trip to the aquarium in Gdynia on the Baltic coast (above). This aquarium has a diverse and interesting collection, but for me the two historic … Continue reading →

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The last presentations of the 2014 Larwood Meeting, including a sober reminder for paleontologists

Mark Wilson June 13, 2014 2:33 pm

SOPOT, POLAND — This morning we had the final set of talks at Larwood 2014. Out of all the presentations, the one that struck me the most was by Paul Taylor and Andrea Waeschenbach entitled “Molecular phylogeny and the adequacy … Continue reading →

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