Tag Archives: fossils

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Predatory trace from the Upper Cretaceous of southwestern France

Mark Wilson September 15, 2017 12:01 am

One hole in a shell is unremarkable. Several in a repeating pattern is a story. Above is a right valve (exterior) of the oyster Pycnodonte vesicularis from the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) of southwestern France. It was collected during our fantastic … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A rudist clam from the Upper Cretaceous of southwestern France

Mark Wilson September 8, 2017 12:01 am

When we picked up this beautiful fossil in southwestern France this summer, Paul Taylor immediately predicted it would become a Wooster Fossil of the Week. Macy Conrad (’18), Paul and I were on our wonderful expedition in the Type Campanian … Continue reading →

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Unknown fossils for the Invertebrate Paleontology class at Wooster

Mark Wilson September 1, 2017 12:01 am

I start my Invertebrate Paleontology classes with an unknown fossil given to each student. I pick something I have enough examples of so that everyone gets the same species. As their first assignment, the students are asked to identify their … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Oysters from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) of southwestern France

Mark Wilson August 22, 2017 12:01 am

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week returns from its summer hiatus. It is appropriate, then, to feature as our first fossil of the new season an oyster species prominent in our summer research. This is Pycnodonte vesicularis (Lamarck, 1806), a very … Continue reading →

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Meanwhile, what are the Wooster Paleontologists up to?

Mark Wilson July 19, 2017 10:57 am

Wooster, Ohio — The igneous petrology team has a thorough and entertaining report about their activities in the Wooster geology labs this summer. It has encouraged the summer paleontologists (that would be me and Macy Conrad ’18) to give a … Continue reading →

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French oysters. Aged to perfection.

Mark Wilson June 30, 2017 12:10 pm

Wooster, Ohio — After our glorious fieldwork in France earlier this month, the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) oysters Macy Conrad (’18), Paul Taylor (Natural History Museum, London), and I collected are now in our cozy Wooster Paleontology Lab. Now the less … Continue reading →

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Revisiting the Gironde Estuary for our last day of fieldwork in southwestern France

Mark Wilson June 7, 2017 6:07 am

La Barde, France — Today Paul Taylor, Macy Conrad (’18) and I had our last fieldwork in France for this expedition. We returned to sites along the eastern shore of the Gironde Estuary to study the Biron Formation (Campanian, Upper … Continue reading →

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A day of rocks and churches in southwestern France

Mark Wilson June 6, 2017 6:06 am

La Barde, France — This is our second-to-last day in southwestern France on this research expedition. Macy Conrad (’18), Paul Taylor (Natural History Museum, London) and I are continuing our study of sclerobionts on Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) oysters. I know … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologists get to work in southwestern France

Mark Wilson June 4, 2017 6:04 am

La Barde, France — After a day of almost solid rain, we woke up the next morning to brilliant weather in southwestern France. Macy, Paul and I drove to the small town of Archiac, where we collected a bag full … Continue reading →

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A day of geology on the coast of southwestern France

Mark Wilson June 2, 2017 6:02 am

La Barde, France — Today we traveled west to the Gironde Estuary on the southwest coast to continue our survey of Campanian fossils. It looks like we will be working on the sclerobionts found with the extensive Pycnodonte oyster beds. … Continue reading →

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