Author Archives: Mark Wilson

Sure, I could have picked a pristine shell from our collection, but I like the rugged character of this one. It is the terebratulid brachiopod Coenothyris oweni Feldman, 2002, from the lower Saharonim Formation (Middle Triassic) of Har Devanim, southern … Continue reading →
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Visitors often bring rocks and fossils to the Geology Department for identification. We love to solve the puzzles (or at least make the attempt), and our new friends appreciate names and ages for their treasures. (Usually. We’ve disappointed more than … Continue reading →
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Visitors often bring rocks and fossils to the Geology Department for identification. We love to solve the puzzles (or at least make the attempt), and our new friends appreciate names and ages for their treasures. (Usually. We’ve disappointed more than … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

Visitors often bring rocks and fossils to the Geology Department for identification. We love to solve the puzzles (or at least make the attempt), and our new friends appreciate names and ages for their treasures. (Usually. We’ve disappointed more than … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

Most people have seen this fossil fish type. Geologists, in fact, have probably seen Knightia eocaena Jordan, 1907, thousands of times. It is present in nearly every gift shop that sells fossils, usually as small plaques or glued to refrigerator … Continue reading →
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WOOSTER, OHIO–One of the early spring pleasures of a geologist in the Upper Midwest is finally getting outside and scouting the field trips for the semester. Today we had bright sun and temperatures in the 50s (I know — I’m … Continue reading →
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WOOSTER, OHIO–We were honored this week when Dr. Michael E. Mann, one of the world’s foremost climate-change experts and a leader in the efforts to educate the public about anthropogenic effects on the atmosphere, came to Wooster as part of … Continue reading →
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This small oyster is not in itself unusual. In fact, it is one of the most common fossils in the Jurassic of western Europe: Praeexogyra acuminata (Sowerby, 1816). It may be better known by its older name: Ostrea acuminata. Local … Continue reading →
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BRYN MAWR, PENNSYLVANIA–While visiting my friends and colleagues Katherine and Pedro Marenco at Bryn Mawr College, I visited the nearby Valley Forge National Historical Park. Everyone will remember, of course that this is the place outside Philadelphia that the Continental … Continue reading →
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The above is one of my favorite “fossils”, a commercially-available cast of the lower jawbone of Gigantopithecus blacki, a giant extinct ape. It was produced from an actual Pleistocene fossil found in a cave near Liucheng, Guangxi, in southern China. … Continue reading →
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