Tag Archives: fossils

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A scleractinian coral (Middle Jurassic of Israel)

Mark Wilson May 15, 2011 1:20 am

In advance of my next field trip to Israel (watch this space!), our highlighted fossil this week is the scleractinian coral Microsolena, a genus named by the French naturalist Jean Vincent Félix Lamouroux in 1821. The specimen above was collected … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s “Fossil” of the Week: The most famous pseudofossil ever (Proterozoic of Canada)

Mark Wilson May 8, 2011 1:51 am

This week’s specimen is a piece of obscure paleontological history, although it represents a “fossil” that was for a short time one of the most prominent in the world. In 1864, the uber-geologist Charles Lyell claimed it was “one of … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Hyoliths (Middle Ordovician of Estonia)

Mark Wilson May 1, 2011 1:30 am

The fossils above are about as simple as fossils can be. They are internal molds (sediment-fills) of conical shells that were made of the carbonate mineral aragonite.  The aragonite shells dissolved away after death and burial, leaving the cemented sediment … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Oyster balls! (Middle Jurassic of Utah)

Mark Wilson April 17, 2011 1:45 am

The technical term is ostreolith, but “oyster ball” is much more descriptive. These fossils are found by the thousands in the Carmel Formation (Middle Jurassic) in southwestern Utah. As far as I know, this is the only place they’ve ever … Continue reading →

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Paleoecological Reconstruction of the Menuha Formation (Upper Cretaceous, Santonian), Makhtesh Ramon Region, Southern Israel (Senior Independent Study Thesis by Andrew Retzler)

Mark Wilson April 11, 2011 1:34 pm

Editor’s note: Senior Independent Study (I.S.) is a year-long program at The College of Wooster in which each student completes a research project and thesis with a faculty mentor.  We particularly enjoy I.S. in the Geology Department because there are … Continue reading →

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A Paleoenvironmental Analysis of the Zichor Formation in the Cretaceous of Southern Israel (Senior Independent Study Thesis by Micah Risacher)

Mark Wilson April 11, 2011 9:52 am

Editor’s note: Senior Independent Study (I.S.) is a year-long program at The College of Wooster in which each student completes a research project and thesis with a faculty mentor.  We particularly enjoy I.S. in the Geology Department because there are … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Reef-forming brachiopods (Middle Permian of southwestern Texas)

Mark Wilson April 10, 2011 1:28 am

In my early days of teaching paleontology I had an enthusiastic trading program with colleagues around the country. I would supply fine fossils from the Upper Ordovician of southern Ohio for what I considered exotic specimens from elsewhere. In one … Continue reading →

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Bioerosion on oysters across the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary in Alabama and Mississippi (USA) (Senior Independent Study Thesis by Megan Innis)

Mark Wilson April 8, 2011 2:59 pm

Editor’s note: Senior Independent Study (I.S.) is a year-long program at The College of Wooster in which each student completes a research project and thesis with a faculty mentor.  We particularly enjoy I.S. in the Geology Department because there are … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A little brachiopod gets a name (Middle Jurassic of southern Israel)

Mark Wilson April 3, 2011 1:28 am

Moorellina negevensis Krawczyński & Wilson 2011; 1a – general view of the dorsal valve interior; 1b – oblique view showing brachial cavities and cardinalia. This week our fossil star is a new brachiopod species a Polish colleague (Cezary Krawczyński — … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A woolly mammoth tooth (Late Pleistocene of Holmes County, Ohio)

Mark Wilson March 27, 2011 1:30 am

Since we had a mastodon tooth as our last Fossil of the Week, paleontological symmetry demands we have a mammoth tooth this week. The fossil above also comes from the productive bogs of Holmes County a few miles south of … Continue reading →

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