Tag Archives: fossils

A delightful day in the Jurassic of Polish Silesia

mwilson 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

mwilson 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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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A chain coral (Silurian of Ohio)

mwilson June 19, 2011 1:58 am

For some reason the Fossil of the Week I’ve had the most comments about is the Ordovician honeycomb coral from Indiana. It has an unexpected polygonal symmetry reflected in many other geological materials like desiccation cracks and columnar basalt. So … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A strange little echinoderm (Ordovician of Russia)

mwilson June 12, 2011 1:44 am

This small fossil was completely new to me when I found it during my research trip to the Ordovician of Russia in the Fall of 2009.  A side view is shown on the left of this conical skeleton, and the … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Coated snails! (Middle Jurassic of France)

mwilson June 5, 2011 1:02 am

In 1988 I had my first visit to France, hosted by my English friend Tim Palmer. We explored Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) limestones in Normandy tracking looking at hardgrounds and other hard substrates. Along the way we stopped in a quarry … Continue reading →

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Mishash, b’gosh

mwilson May 29, 2011 1:55 pm

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–Today Will and I drove south, east and north to meet Dr. Yael Edelmen-Furstenburg of the Geological Survey of Israel. She gave us a most excellent tour of the Mishash (pronounced ME-shawsh) Formation (Campanian, Upper Cretaceous) in the … Continue reading →

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A wall of Cretaceous ammonites

mwilson May 28, 2011 3:11 pm

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–On our way back from Eilat this afternoon, Will and I took a short hike to see the “Ammonite Wall” on the southern outside beds of Makhtesh Ramon. It is an impressive tilted array of large ammonites in … Continue reading →

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Cobbling together a Late Cretaceous story

mwilson May 27, 2011 10:08 am

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–This morning Will and I finished our work with the Zihor/Menuha boundary cobbles. We drove to the southern side of Makhtesh Ramon (pictured above) to see the same units we examined 25 kilometers to the north in Wadi … Continue reading →

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The Ora Formation: A future student project?

mwilson May 27, 2011 9:34 am

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–I’ve always enjoyed seeing the Ora Formation, which is exposed only in Makhtesh Ramon and to the south. It is early Late Turonian in age, so it is part of the Upper Cretaceous and about 90 million years … Continue reading →

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It is always a good day if there are sclerobionts in it

mwilson May 26, 2011 9:10 am

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–Sclerobionts are organisms that live on or in a hard substrate. Paul Taylor and I coined the term in 2002, so I use it as often as I can. Maybe someday more than six people will know what … Continue reading →

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