Author Archives: Mark Wilson

About Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson is a Professor of Geology at The College of Wooster. He specializes in invertebrate paleontology, carbonate sedimentology, and stratigraphy. He also is an expert on pseudoscience, especially creationism.

A new paper on crinoids from the Wooster Shale (Lower Carboniferous, Tournaisian) of northeastern Ohio

My wonderful Ohio State colleague Bill Ausich and I have a new paper in the Journal of Paleontology. It just appeared this morning online. It is Open Access, but let me know if you want a pdf and can’t get … Continue reading → Continue reading

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An IS student gathering at the end of a busy school year

This afternoon Gloria and I hosted my Junior and Senior Independent Study students for a dessert reception in our home. We haven’t done this since 2019, and it is the first time we joined the juniors and seniors. It was … Continue reading &… Continue reading

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Wooster Junior Independent Study students shine with their project poster presentations

The College of Wooster has a required Independent Study system for all students, and it is a marvelous program. Each student, usually in the spring semester of their junior year, signs up for the Junior Independent Study course. It is … Continue … Continue reading

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Fossil of the Week: A thoroughly bored bivalve from Florida

The Fossil of the Week series is no longer weekly, and the gnarly specimen above is not actually a fossil, but the brand is so embedded in this blog that I’m still using it for occasional contributions. Like the specimen … Continue reading → Continue reading

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Fossils of the Week

The Fossil of the Week series is no longer weekly, and the beautiful specimen above is not actually a fossil, but the brand is so embedded in this blog that I’m going to use it! My friend Al Curran, an … Continue reading → Continue reading

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A new paper on the Middle Jurassic paleoecology of southern Israel

I am delighted to announce that a new paper has appeared in the journal Lethaia on Middle Jurassic paleoecology in southern Israel. The senior author is Yael Leshno Afriat, and it was part of her PhD dissertation at Hebrew University … Continue r… Continue reading

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Review paper on the fossil record of symbiotic organisms in bryozoans has just been published

Olev Vinn, Andrej Ernst, and I have been working for years on various case studies of symbiotic endobionts (organisms that live within the skeletons of others) in the fossil record. This week our data-rich review paper has been published in … Con… Continue reading

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A new paper on symbiosis between brachiopods and bryozoans in the Late Ordovician of Estonia

I’m pleased to announce another paper has appeared from our ongoing Estonian-German-American collaboration on symbiosis in the fossil record. The beautiful specimen above is the trepostome bryozoan Esthoniopora subsphaerica growing around a biocl… Continue reading

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The delightful Fall 2022 Paleoecology class at Wooster

I was so impressed with the post by Professor Greg Wiles about his Fall 2022 Geomorphology class that I decided to highlight the Fall 2022 Paleoecology class as well. It was a great group of students, and we did an … Continue reading → Continue reading

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Paleoecology field trip to the Upper Ordovician of eastern Indiana: Haven’t done this for awhile!

Richmond, Indiana — Today Nick Wiesenberg (our invaluable geological technician), Brianna Lyman (my excellent Teaching Assistant), and I took the 15 students in the Paleoecology course to the fossiliferous Upper Ordovician of eastern Indiana. It&… Continue reading

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