Tag Archives: fossils

Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Nummulitid foraminiferans (Eocene of the United Arab Emirates)

Mark Wilson July 3, 2011 6:14 am

The Great Pyramids of Egypt are made primarily of a yellowish limestone. About 40% of that limestone is made of the fossil type pictured above. These are foraminiferans (single-celled organisms with shells) that lived by the countless billions during the … Continue reading →

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Quarry time on Hiiumaa

Mark Wilson July 1, 2011 10:00 am

KÄINA, ESTONIA–Rachel, Nick and I worked today in our lonely quarry on Hiiumaa measuring and describing this section of Lower Silurian (Llandovery, Rhuddanian) rocks and fossils. This is the fieldwork for Rachel’s Senior Independent Study.

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A second new Senior Independent Study project begins in Estonia

Mark Wilson June 30, 2011 10:51 am

KÄINA, ESTONIA–Today we moved our geological investigations from Saaremaa to the island to the north: Hiiumaa. Our friend Olev Vinn of Tartu University then led us to an abandoned quarry in the Hilliste Formation (Lower Silurian). This made Rachel Matt … Continue reading →

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Saaremaa Silurian stromatolites studied

Mark Wilson June 29, 2011 8:22 am

KURESSAARE, ESTONIA–Our fieldwork today at the Soeginina Cliff locality ended with an examination of a sequence of stromatolites near the top of the exposed Ludlow section. Stromatolites are layers of sediment accumulated by photosynthetic cyanobacteria. They are the earliest fossils … Continue reading →

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Independent Study fieldwork begins in Estonia … with a little unexpected canine companionship

Mark Wilson June 28, 2011 2:05 pm

KURESSAARE, ESTONIA–Nick Fedorchuk began his fieldwork today at the Soeginina Cliff site we visited two days ago. The first thing we did was scout out the best place to measure the most complete section possible, and then we started the … Continue reading →

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An intricate Silurian stromatoporoid reef on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia

Mark Wilson June 27, 2011 1:39 pm

KURESSAARE, ESTONIA–Stromatoporoids are extinct calcareous sponges that were very common in shallow water environments of the Silurian. They are especially abundant in the middle Silurian of the Baltic Region. Today we visited a site called Katri Cliff where a reef … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Tiny little oysters (Lower Paleocene of Mississippi)

Mark Wilson June 26, 2011 1:45 am

This week’s fossils are by no means rare — last year Megan Innis and I picked up dozens of them at a muddy outcrop near Starkville, Mississippi, on our Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary expedition (click “Alabama” and “Mississippi” in the tags to … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologists return to Estonia

Mark Wilson June 25, 2011 2:40 pm

KURESSAARE, ESTONIA–Yesterday afternoon three Wooster geologists met in the Tallinn, Estonia, airport within an hour after flying from three different countries. (Thank you, travel agent Suzanne Easterling!) We rented a car and then drove through impressive rainstorms westwards to the … Continue reading →

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A delightful day in the Jurassic of Polish Silesia

Mark Wilson June 22, 2011 2:58 pm

SOSNOWIEC, POLAND–It could not have been a better day for field work: warm with a light, cooling breeze and plenty of leafy green shade. Our team consisted of me and three Polish scientists: Michał Zatoń and Wojciech Krawczyński (I work … Continue reading →

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Quality time with a Polish microscope

Mark Wilson June 21, 2011 5:06 pm

SOSNOWIEC, POLAND–A day in the lab with my colleague Michał Zatoń at the University of Silesia. We sorted through two very different paleontological problems with a microscope and a lot of hand waving. The first task was to come up … Continue reading →

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