Tag Archives: Fossil of the Week

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Bryozoan bored and bryozoan boring in the Upper Ordovician of Indiana

Mark Wilson March 16, 2014 1:21 am

This week and next we will highlight fossils collected during our brief and successful expedition to the Upper Ordovician (Cincinnatian) of Indiana (with Coleman Fitch ’15) and Kentucky (with William Harrison ’15). We found what we needed to pursue some … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A whale ear bone (Neogene)

Mark Wilson March 9, 2014 1:48 am

This is another fossil that has sat in a display case for decades in Scovel before I really examined it. Unlike last week’s specimen, though, it has no identifying label on its reverse. This is always a serious disappointment for … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: An agate-replaced coral from the Oligocene-Miocene of Florida

Mark Wilson March 2, 2014 1:42 am

I long thought of this beautiful specimen as more rock than fossil. It is a scleractinian coral that has had its outer skeleton replaced by the silicate material agate and its interior skeleton completely hollowed out. The result is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: An interlocking rugose and tabulate coral (Devonian of Michigan)

Mark Wilson February 23, 2014 1:21 am

This beautifully polished fossil looks like half of an antique bowling ball. Normally I hate polished fossils because the external details have been erased, but in this case the smooth surface reveals details about the organisms and their relationship. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A tubeworm-encrusted parasitic gastropod (Silurian of Indiana)

Mark Wilson February 16, 2014 1:26 am

Last week three Wooster geology students and I visited Ken Karns, an enthusiastic citizen scientist who has developed an extraordinary fossil collection in his home in Lancaster, Ohio. Ken is a man of prodigious energies and skills as he not … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Bioclaustration-boring structures in bryozoans from the Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati region

Mark Wilson February 9, 2014 1:36 am

Another bioerosion mystery from those fascinating Upper Ordovician rocks around Cincinnati. Above you see a flat, bifoliate trepostome bryozoan (probably Peronopora) with pock holes scattered across its surface. At first you may think, after reading so many blog posts here, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Mysterious borings in brachiopods from the Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati region

Mark Wilson February 2, 2014 1:19 am

Above is a well-used brachiopod from the Upper Ordovician of northern Kentucky (C/W-152; Petersburg-Bullittsville Road, Boone County; Bellevue Member of the Grant Lake Formation). It experienced several events on the ancient seafloor during its short time of exposure. Let’s put … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Trace fossils making ghostly shells (Upper Cretaceous of Mississippi)

Mark Wilson January 26, 2014 1:03 am

The unusual fossil above was collected by Megan Innis (’11) and myself in Mississippi during a May 2010 paleontological expedition with Caroline Sogot and Paul Taylor of The Natural History Museum, London. That splendid trip has contributed already to one … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A crinoid-rich Lower Carboniferous siderite concretion (part III — those crinoids had company)

Mark Wilson January 19, 2014 1:04 am

The last installment of our analysis of a Lower Carboniferous fossiliferous siderite concretion given to the department by Sam Root. In part I we looked at the crinoid stems and calices on the outside and discuss the formation of siderite … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A crinoid-rich Lower Carboniferous siderite concretion (part II — the inside story)

Mark Wilson January 12, 2014 1:55 am

  Last week’s specimen was a Lower Carboniferous fossiliferous siderite concretion from an unknown location, but likely from the Wooster area. It was donated to the department by Emeritus Geology Professor Sam Root. The concretion has beautiful crinoids preserved in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 8 Comments