Tag Archives: hardgrounds

New paper: “Chemical composition of carbonate hardground cements as reconstructive tools for Phanerozoic pore fluids”

My friend Paul Taylor and I are junior authors on a paper that has just appeared in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (“G-Cubed”) as an in press accepted manuscript. We’ll be the first to admit that it is a bit … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Echinoderm holdfasts from the Upper Cambrian of Montana

The white buttons above are echinoderm holdfasts from the Snowy Range Formation (Upper Cambrian) of Carbon County, southern Montana. They and their hardground substrate were well described back in the day by Brett et al. (1983). We have these specimens … Continue reading

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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: An Upper Ordovician cave-dwelling bryozoan fauna and its exposed equivalents

This week’s fossils were the subject of a presentation at the 2015 Larwood Symposium of the International Bryozoology Association in Thurso, Scotland, last month. Caroline Buttler, Head of Palaeontology at the National Museum Wales, Cardiff, brilliantly gave our talk describing … Continue reading

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Return to the Ora Formation

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL–The last location Wooster Geologists in Israel visited today was on the southern edge of the Makhtesh Ramon structure (N 30.58209°, E 34.89375°). Here are excellent exposures of the Ora Formation (Upper Cretaceous, Turonian). This curious feature was … Continue reading

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The Ora Formation: A future student project?

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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Stony bryozoans get their day

KIEL, GERMANY–The first day of the International Bryozoology Association meeting is traditionally devoted to workshops where participants can listen to experts on a particular group, technique or idea and then ask questions, work out exercises, or study specimens. I went … Continue reading

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Another beautiful fossil hard substrate

GREENVILLE, ALABAMA — I have a soft spot for hard places.  (Always wanted to say that!)  Much of my career has been spent studying marine hard substrates and the communities that have evolved on and in them.  These include rocks, … Continue reading

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The joy of thin-sections

WOOSTER, OHIO–Bitterly cold Ohio days are perfect for geological lab work, especially with thin-sections under a warm microscope accompanied by a music-filled iPod. The next best thing to fieldwork. A thin-section is a slice of polished rock glued to a … Continue reading

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Wooster Geologist in Ohio!

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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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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