Tag Archives: Fossil of the Week

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: An Early Cretaceous cobble-dwelling bryozoan

One of my formative experiences as a young paleontologist was working in the Faringdon Sponge Gravels (Lower Cretaceous, Upper Aptian) of south-central England while on my first research leave in 1985. (I was just a kid!) These gravels are extraordinarily … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: An Ordovician hardground with a bryozoan and borings — and an unexpected twist

The view above, one quite familiar to me, is of a carbonate hardground from the Upper Ordovician Corryville Formation exposed near Washington, Mason County, Kentucky. We are looking directly at the bedding plane of this limestone. The lumpy, spotted fossil … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A faulted oyster ball from the Middle Jurassic of Utah

I’m returning this week to one of my favorite fossil types: the ostreolith, popularly known as the “oyster ball”. These were lovingly described in a previous blog entry, so please click there to see how they were formed and some … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Silicified productid brachiopods from the Permian of West Texas

The three beauties above are productid brachiopods from the Road Canyon Formation (Middle Permian, Roadian, approximately 270 million years old) in the Glass Mountains of southwestern Texas. They are part of a series we’ve done on the silicified fauna of … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Silicified chonetid brachiopods from the Permian of West Texas

Above are four valves of the chonetid brachiopod Dyoros planiextensus Cooper and Grant, 1975. They are preserved by silicification and were recovered from a block of the Road Canyon Formation (Roadian Stage of the Guadalupian Series of the Permian System) … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A barnacle and sponge symbiosis from the Middle Jurassic of Israel

[Programing note: Wooster’s Fossil of the Week is now being released on Fridays to correspond with the popular Fossil Friday on Twitter and other platforms.] This week’s fossil is again from the Matmor Formation (Middle Jurassic, Callovian) of southern Israel. … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A silicified rhynchonellid brachiopod from the Permian of West Texas

Sometimes fossils can be more useful when broken than whole. Above is a much-abused rhynchonellid brachiopod from the Road Canyon Formation (Middle Permian, Roadian, about 270 million years old) found in the Glass Mountains of southwestern Texas. It is part … Continue reading

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

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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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A fragment of an asteroid (the sea star kind) from the Upper Cretaceous of Israel

This is not an important fossil — there is not enough preserved to put a name on it beyond Family Goniasteridae Forbes, 1841 (thanks, Dan Blake) — but it was a fun one to find. It also photographs well. This is … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: My favorite part of a crinoid (Middle Jurassic of Israel)

In April of this year I completed my 11th trip to southern Israel for fieldwork in the Mesozoic. My heart warmed every time I saw these robust plates of the crinoid Apiocrinities negevensis, which was reviewed in a previous blog … Continue reading

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