Tag Archives: Cretaceous

Field reconnaissance in the northern Negev of Israel

Mark Wilson July 1, 2013 2:20 pm

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–This morning Team Israel 2013 met our friend Yoav Avni, a geologist with the Geological Survey of Israel (GSI), and we traveled north to our field localities. We did a survey of the sites so that we could … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Mosasaurid teeth from the Cretaceous of Morocco

Mark Wilson June 30, 2013 1:04 am

These impressive teeth are from the mosasaurid Prognathodon and were found in the Upper Cretaceous phosphorites near Khouribga, Morocco. They are not actually a matching set — I just arranged them to look fearsome. (Prognathodon lutigi from the Upper Cretaceous … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A sawfish rostral tooth from the Upper Cretaceous of Morocco

Mark Wilson June 16, 2013 1:00 am

More fossil fish teeth this week. This impressive, barbed tooth is from the ancient chondrichthyan sawfish Onchopristis numidus (Haug, 1905). It was found in the Tegana Formation (Cenomanian, Upper Cretaceous) near Kem Kem, Morocco (and is yet another contribution from … Continue reading →

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A visit to the Natural History Museum of Utah

Mark Wilson May 29, 2013 7:01 pm

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH–On the last full day of our Utah trip, we toured the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City. It is in a spectacular place against the red rocks of the Wasatch Mountains and looking … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Sea urchin bites from the Upper Cretaceous of southern Israel

Mark Wilson February 10, 2013 1:16 am

What you see above is a bit of oyster shell with some curious small gouges in it. The oyster is Ilymatogyra (Afrogyra) africana (Lamarck, 1801) from the En Yorqe’am Formation (Cenomanian) exposed in Hamakhtesh Hagadol, southern Israel. The deep scratches … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Shark teeth! (Upper Cretaceous of Israel)

Mark Wilson December 2, 2012 1:37 am

This week’s set of exquisite fossils is presented in honor of Andrew Retzler (’11) who has just had his Senior Independent Study thesis at Wooster published in the journal Cretaceous Research: “Chondrichthyans from the Menuha Formation (Late Cretaceous: Santonian–Early Campanian) … Continue reading →

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

Mark Wilson 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’s Fossil of the Week: a long and skinny bryozoan (Upper Cretaceous of Wyoming and South Dakota, USA)

Mark Wilson June 17, 2012 1:35 am

Please say hello to Pierrella larsoni Wilson & Taylor 2012 — a new genus and species of ctenostome bryozoan from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) Pierre Shale of Wyoming and South Dakota. I imagine it as a graceful little thing spreading … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: a very large clam (Upper Cretaceous of South Dakota, USA)

Mark Wilson June 3, 2012 1:31 am

Our version above of the bivalve Inoceramus is actually rather small compared to how big it can get. The record holder is a specimen 187 centimeters in diameter (over six feet) in the Geological Museum of Copenhagen. This Wooster Inoceramus … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Intricate networks of tiny holes (clionaid sponge borings)

Mark Wilson May 13, 2012 1:28 am

The most effective agents of marine bioerosion today are among the simplest of animals: clionaid sponges. The traces they make in carbonate substrates are spherical chambers connected by short tunnels, as shown above in a modern example excavated in an … Continue reading →

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