Tag Archives: Sicily

A Phoenician island city and its lagoon

MILAZZO, SICILY, ITALY–The pre-conference field trip of the International Bryozoology Association has now almost completely circled Sicily. We are in the far northeastern corner of the island on a rocky cape jutting into the sea towards mainland Italy. The drive … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The ancient Greek city of Selinunte

MARSALA, SICILY, ITALY–During the afternoon the field party of the International Bryozoology Association drove south out of the Sicilian mountains back to the southern coast to visit the ruins of an entire Greek city founded in the 7th Century BCE … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

A surprising bit of Permian in central Sicily

MARSALA, SICILY, ITALY–This morning the pre-conference field trip of the International Bryozoology Association headed into the mountains of central Sicily. The roads were steep and windy, as one would imagine, and the views of mountainsides, villages and fields spectacular. We … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Pliocene marls white as snow in southern Sicily

SCIACCA, SICILY, ITALY–Our last stop of the day on this International Bryozoology Association pre-conference field trip was to a massive outcrop of foraminiferan-rich marls known as the Trubi. A view of the cliffs with the sun setting behind them is … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

A cultural day in southern Sicily

SCIACCA, SICILY, ITALY–Most major conference geological field trips have a portion devoted to the culture and history of the region being explored. You can imagine the delights of this nature possible on a Mediterranean island. Today we started with the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

A familiar hydrozoan with a beautiful name

SCIACCA, SICILY, ITALY–Far too late today for more than a short post. For the first time I met in real life an animal I speak about in my Invertebrate Paleontology course: the colonial hydrozoan Velella velella. We found thousands of … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

A Sicilian rocky coast

NOTO, SICILY, ITALY–Our last stop of the day on this International Bryozoology Association field trip was on the southeastern coast of Sicily just north of Syracuse at Scala Greca. There are several very small bays here which have been used … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A shelly bonanza from the Pleistocene of Sicily

NOTO, SICILY, ITALY–Our second stop of the day on this International Bryozoology Association field trip was in an unimpressive ditch (above) near Megara. But, of course, there is paleontological gold here: an assemblage of extremely well-preserved marine fossils. Colleague Andrej … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Spectacular shrimp burrows from the Miocene of Sicily

NOTO, SICILY, ITALY–The first stop on our International Bryozoology Association field trip today was a newly-opened quarry near Cugni di Rio in the dry southeastern countryside of Sicily, a view of which is above. New quarries are always interesting to … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Sicilian fossils at last!

CATANIA, SICILY, ITALY–After lunch our International Bryozoology Association field trip actually collected fossil bryozoans. We visited a quarry exposure of Lower Pleistocene cemented marls rich in the bryozoan Celleporaria palmata (Michelin), along with many other species. These were apparently from … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment