Tag Archives: fossils

First Wooster poster presentation of the 2009 GSA annual meeting

mwilson October 18, 2009 11:20 pm

Elyssa Belding Krivicich (’09) and Sophie Lehman (’08) cheerfully presenting their poster on Jurassic marine paleoecology in Israel at the Geological Society of America meeting in Portland.

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Conservation Paleobiology Short Course

mwilson October 18, 2009 12:43 pm

PORTLAND, OREGON–The Paleontological Society has a free short course program it runs on the day before the GSA meeting officially begins. When I began my career the topics were always about some taxonomic group such as “Brachiopods”, “Mollusks”, “Plants” and … Continue reading →

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A Bit of Vertebrate Paleontology

mwilson September 9, 2009 8:13 am

MAKHTESH RAMON, ISRAEL–On my last day of fieldwork Yoav took me to some wonderfully complex exposures of Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks just north of Makhtesh Ramon. They tell a story of the origins of the Makhtesh anticlinal structure, especially the … Continue reading →

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Wading in the Jurassic Sea

mwilson September 9, 2009 8:07 am
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Jurassic Cryptic Marine Ecosystems

mwilson September 8, 2009 12:03 pm
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Wandering in the Wilderness (Literally)

mwilson September 7, 2009 1:08 pm

MAKHTESH GADOL, ISRAEL–Today I mapped exposures of a particular fossiliferous unit in the Matmor Formation. It meant climbing up and down steep hills bent over the ground scanning for fossils. It is a remarkable skill we humans have for visually … Continue reading →

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Ammonite Identified

mwilson September 6, 2009 1:46 pm

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL–I don’t really think the readers of this blog have been anxiously waiting to hear the taxonomic identification of the ammonite I found in the Matmor Formation last week.  It is worth a note, though, to briefly describe how … Continue reading →

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A Most Unusual Clam from the Triassic of Israel

mwilson September 5, 2009 3:48 pm

MAKHTESH RAMON, ISRAEL–The Triassic was a time of unusual evolutionary innovations.  The Permian extinctions immediately before the Triassic may have wiped out up to 95% of marine animal species, so the survivors had considerable “empty niche space” to fill as … Continue reading →

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A Jurassic Ammonite Up Close

mwilson September 3, 2009 2:24 pm

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–I can’t help but show off the ammonite I found today in the middle of the Matmor Formation (Goldberg Subunit 51) at Makhtesh Gadol.  These photos are the best I could do on a kitchen sink with overhead … Continue reading →

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Tools of My Trade (At Least for Today)

mwilson September 3, 2009 10:21 am

MAKHTESH GADOL, ISRAEL–The fieldwork could not have been better, although if you watched me all day in the desert sunlight you would have thought otherwise. After I hiked up into the Matmor Hills to find the right horizon, I spent … Continue reading →

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