Author Archives: Mark Wilson

About Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson is an emeritus 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.

Into a bit of the Czech Cretaceous

Beroun, Czech Republic — Today the International Bryozoology Association pre-conference field party visited a fascinating quarry near Chrtníky, Czech Republic. Ordovician diabase is mined here for road gravel and other industrial uses. This rock was uplifted and exposed during the … Continue reading
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A new paper has appeared: A rugose coral – bryozoan association from the Lower Devonian of NW Spain.

I’m proud to be an author with my two Spanish colleagues, Consuelo Sendino and Juan Luis Suárez Andrés, of a paper just out in the latest issue of Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (we call it “Palaeo-cubed”). I’ll let the abstract tell … Continue reading
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A Wooster Geologist at Austerlitz and other Czech places

Olomouc, Czech Republic –At our very first site, Holubice in the Czech Republic, the Miocene celliporid bryozoans are like baseballs. The site is in the middle of a vineyard, with the fossils eroding out of the loose sediment at our … Continue reading
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Wooster Geologist in Slovakia and Austria

Mikulov, Czech Republic — We have been very fortunate with the weather on our long IBA field excursion. Dazzling sunlit days and relatively cool evenings. Above is our first stop of the day — the Sandberg site with Miocene fossils … Continue reading
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Wooster Geologist in the High Tatras Mountains of northern Slovakia

Bratislava, Slovakia — Today our continuing IBA field trip adventure started in the High Tatra Mountains at this spectacular glacial lake called Štrbské pleso. This is  very popular ski destination in central Europe. The sharp mountain peaks are granitic. Another … Continue reading
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Dundee Falls: A beautiful waterfall in northeastern Ohio

Dundee, Ohio — One of the joys of summer for a geologist is the time to take short trips in the neighborhood to explore nature. This afternoon Greg Wiles, Nick Wiesenberg, Greg’s adventurous dog Arrow, and I drove about 45 … Continue reading
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New paper on crinoids of the Kalana Lagerstätte (Early Silurian) of central Estonia

Bill Ausich (The Ohio State University), Oive Tinn (University of Tartu) have a paper that has just appeared: Ausich, W.I., Wilson, M.A. and Tinn, O. 2019. Kalana Lagerstätte crinoids: Early Silurian (Llandovery) of central Estonia. Journal of Paleontology doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2019.27 It … Continue reading
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New paper: Borings from the Silurian of Sweden — possibly the oldest deep-boring bivalves

It was a delight to be a junior member of the team that produced this recent paper: Claussen, A.L., Munnecke, A., Wilson, M.A. and Oswald, I. 2019. The oldest deep boring bivalves? Evidence from the Silurian of Gotland (Sweden). Facies … Continue reading
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Making Intellectual Connections: An education steeped in liberal arts forms excellent preparation for an environmental career

Dr. Wilson suggested I contribute to the blog following my February 2019 presentation on Environmental Challenges Facing the Department of Defense.  So I have worked up the following missive.  If the audience, especially students and recent graduates, find it of … Continue reading
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Birthplace of the Sandusky River

I’ve long appreciated river confluences where two flows join to make a third, “new” river. The most impressive confluence I’ve visited is where the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda Rivers meet to produce the iconic Ganges at Devprayag, India. (The second image … Continue reading
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