Tag Archives: fossils

Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction of the Late Silurian (Pridoli) Äigu Beds of Saaremaa Island, Estonia (Senior Independent Study Thesis by Palmer Shonk)

mwilson February 15, 2010 8:56 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 Geologist in Ohio!

mwilson December 16, 2009 1:51 pm

CAESAR CREEK STATE PARK, OHIO–I’ve definitely extended my field season as far as possible.  (And what a season it has been.)  My last fieldwork at the end of this research leave was in Ohio, about three hours south of Wooster.  … Continue reading →

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Mysterious out-of-place rocks in the Ordovician of Kentucky

mwilson December 15, 2009 10:41 pm

MAYSVILLE, KENTUCKY–Our short geological expedition to northern Kentucky today was to look at some odd blocks of limestone that sit suspended in the sediments as if they were dropped in while the sequence was accumulating. These rocks are bored by … Continue reading →

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Wooster Geologist in Kentucky

mwilson December 15, 2009 10:12 pm

MAYSVILLE, KENTUCKY–Today I visited the University of Cincinnati for a meeting of Aaron House’s thesis committee, on which I serve.  (Aaron is a 2004 geology graduate from The College of Wooster.)  It all went very well and soon after Aaron … Continue reading →

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A very bored Permian brachiopod

mwilson November 15, 2009 11:29 am

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS–I never get tired of that too-obvious joke. I found the above productid brachiopod on the last outcrop of our little Texas expedition. It has been drilled by barnacles, which leave a distinctive slit-shaped hole with a tiny … Continue reading →

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Two West Texas outcrops: which looks more inviting?

mwilson November 15, 2009 11:27 am

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS–The upper one is the base of the Valera Formation on US Highway 84 (N31.88196°, W99.47115°) and the lower one is the lower Bead Mountain Formation on Route 6 near Albany; both are Permian and both have delicious … Continue reading →

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The puzzle of gypsum

mwilson November 15, 2009 11:25 am

Our Permian sections on this Texas trip have had thick beds of gypsum only a meter or three beneath our fossiliferous limestones and shales. Gypsum (calcium sulfate) is an evaporite mineral, indicating when the Permian shallow sea in this case … Continue reading →

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A new family of fossil clams from the Triassic of Israel

mwilson November 15, 2009 8:46 am

The latest issue of the journal Palaeontology has an article describing a new family of large clams from the Triassic of southern Israel. The authors include Allison Mione (’05), who pursued this project as part of her geology Independent Study. … Continue reading →

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A West Texas outcrop

mwilson November 13, 2009 10:18 pm

BROWNWOOD, TEXAS–It was nearly a five hour drive from College Station, Texas, through the Hill Country to our first Permian exposure in West Texas. (We passed, by the way, through Killeen and Fort Hood.) It was worth the trip for … Continue reading →

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First Wooster talk at the 2009 GSA meeting

mwilson October 19, 2009 12:27 am

PORTLAND, OREGON–By now I’ve given over 35 talks at annual Geological Society of America meetings, but I still get as nervous as I did as a graduate student. The cavernous room, the high quality of the previous presentations, the people … Continue reading →

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