Tag Archives: fossils

Wooster paleontologist at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology

DRUMHELLER, ALBERTA, CANADA–The last activity for our IPREP group this summer was a guided visit to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. David Lloyd, a paleontological technician at the museum, gave us a fantastic “behind the scenes” tour of the … Continue reading

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Wooster geologist at Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Canada

LAKE LOUISE, ALBERTA–On our free day the IPREP study group (this apparently means “International Paleontological Research Exchange Program”) drove to the spectacular Lake Louise in Banff National Park for a hike up the valley to the “Plain of Six Glaciers”. … Continue reading

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Middle Cambrian stromatolites high in the Canadian Rockies

FIELD, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA–Our study group was fortunate to meet Whitey Hagadorn (Amherst College and Denver Museum of Natural History) and Sally Walker (University of Georgia) for a hike to an exposure of stromatolites in the Pika Formation (Middle Cambrian) … Continue reading

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Mt. Stephen Trilobite Beds (Middle Cambrian)

FIELD, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA–After a very steep and long climb, our little field party visited another restricted quarry of famous Middle Cambrian fossils: the Mt. Stephens Trilobite Beds. Charles Walcott also collected from this site when he was working on … Continue reading

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The wondrous Burgess Shale

FIELD, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA–I stepped on Paleontological Holy Ground when I visited the Burgess Shale earlier this week. It is often cited as the most important fossil locality ever. I felt the historical as well as the scientific vibrations in … Continue reading

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The Walcott Quarry of the Burgess Shale on a beautiful day

FIELD, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA–We have a small group of seven people for this expedition organized by Matthew James of Sonoma State University in California. Everyone is from California except me (although I was invited through my California roots). Our guide … Continue reading

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Wooster geologist at the Burgess Shale

FIELD, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA–I’ve been waiting to write those words! More later when I get better wireless access. The summary: my colleagues and I successfully made the long hike to the Walcott Quarry of the famous Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale … Continue reading

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Operation Fossil Find (Top Secret and Classified)

Gunnison Plateau, Utah. July 26. Phil and Bill both left Utah a few days ago, with Phil flying to visit family in Colorado and Bill continuing his WooCorps job. So, I have a few days to myself to do some … Continue reading

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The wonder of natural history museums

TALLINN, ESTONIA–Scientific museums preserve specimens and information from generations of researchers, collectors and students. The interiors of a typical paleontological museum contains windowless rooms filled almost to the ceiling with cabinets, each with dozens of drawers containing carefully labeled and … Continue reading

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Estonian Independent Study fieldwork completed!

KURESSAARE, SAAREMAA, ESTONIA–Today in a cold drizzle we measured the last section and bagged the last sample for our field projects. Tomorrow we leave the beautiful island of Saaremaa and drive to Tallinn. The next day we will study fossils … Continue reading

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