Tag Archives: Ohio

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: a trilobite burrow (Upper Ordovician of Ohio)

mwilson May 27, 2012 1:43 am

This is one of my favorite trace fossils. Rusophycus pudicum Hall, 1852, is its formal name. It was made by a trilobite digging down into the seafloor sediment back during the Ordovician Period in what is now southern Ohio. It … Continue reading →

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Now this is field trip weather

mwilson May 1, 2012 3:30 pm

WOOSTER, OHIO–It is now difficult to believe that we were measuring stratigraphic sections in a sleety thunderstorm on Saturday. Today the Tuesday lab of my Sedimentology & Stratigraphy course visited a local outcrop of the Logan Formation (Lower Carboniferous) to … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: the classic bioclaustration (Upper Ordovician of Ohio)

mwilson April 29, 2012 1:52 am

We’re looking at two fossils above. One is the bryozoan Peronopora, the major skeletal structure. The second is the odd series of scalloped holes in its surface. These are a trace fossil called Catellocaula vallata Palmer and Wilson 1988. They … Continue reading →

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A very damp field trip

mwilson April 28, 2012 6:17 pm

FAIRBORN, OHIO–I actually used to brag about the great weather on my class field trips. The hubris! Today Shelley Judge and I took our combined Sedimentology & Stratigraphy and Structural Geology classes to Oakes Park Quarry near Dayton for a … Continue reading →

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Wet and Cold Wooster Geologists in the Silurian of Central Ohio

mwilson April 21, 2012 4:26 pm

DAYTON, OHIO–It was 37°F and raining this morning as three stalwart Wooster Geology students and I worked in a muddy quarry near Fairborn, Ohio (N 39.81472°, W 83.99471°). Our task was to scout out a beautiful exposure of the Brassfield … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A scale tree root in its own soil (Upper Carboniferous of Ohio)

mwilson April 15, 2012 1:48 am

Last week a local man, Larry Stauffer, brought in the above fossil for identification and then kindly donated it to the department. It is part of the root system of Lepidodendron, the “scale tree” of the Carboniferous Period. What is … Continue reading →

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Sand and Gravel in the Holmesville Moraine

gwiles April 13, 2012 10:39 pm

The College of Wooster Geomorphology class set out to explore the Holmesville Moraine, a 20 minute drive south of Wooster straight down the Killbuck River Valley. It was a beautiful day, except for the rain. The first stop was Holmesville … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A spiriferinid brachiopod (Logan Formation, Lower Carboniferous, Ohio)

mwilson April 1, 2012 1:59 am

This brachiopod is one of the most common in the Logan Formation of Wooster, Ohio, so our students know it well from outcrops in Spangler Park and the occasional excavations in town. Four specimens of Syringothyris Winchell 1863 are visible … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: An asteroid trace fossil from the Devonian of northeastern Ohio

mwilson February 12, 2012 1:31 am

It is pretty obvious what made this excellent trace fossil: an asteroid echinoderm. (The term “asteroid” sounds odd here, but it is the technical term for a typical sea star.) The above is Asteriacites stelliformis Osgood, 1970, from the Chagrin … Continue reading →

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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A mysterious sponge (Late Ordovician of Ohio)

mwilson February 5, 2012 1:48 am

I’ve been collecting and studying fossils from the Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati region for three decades now, but I’ve never seen another specimen like the one pictured above. An amateur collector, Howard Freeland, generously donated this rock to Wooster … Continue reading →

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