Author Archives: Mark Wilson

This year Caroline Buttler (Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales) and I had a great project describing a cave-dwelling fauna in the Upper Ordovician of northern Kentucky. We hope that work will appear soon in the … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

Yes, we’ve had a run of French Cretaceous fossils here. This is because we’re in the midst of a major project stemming from summer fieldwork in the Type Campanian of southwestern France. The fossils are delicious, and they are before … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

It was a pleasure to pull this massive specimen out of the cabinets, where it had been sitting for more than 20 years. It is a small reef of the oyster Liostrea strigilecula (White, 1877) from the Carmel Formation (Middle Jurassic) … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

One hole in a shell is unremarkable. Several in a repeating pattern is a story. Above is a right valve (exterior) of the oyster Pycnodonte vesicularis from the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) of southwestern France. It was collected during our fantastic … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

It’s not that I haven’t loved all my Invertebrate Paleontology classes, but the students this year are special because there are only ten of them. Lately I’ve had up to thirty students per class which is great for many reasons, … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

When we picked up this beautiful fossil in southwestern France this summer, Paul Taylor immediately predicted it would become a Wooster Fossil of the Week. Macy Conrad (’18), Paul and I were on our wonderful expedition in the Type Campanian … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

I start my Invertebrate Paleontology classes with an unknown fossil given to each student. I pick something I have enough examples of so that everyone gets the same species. As their first assignment, the students are asked to identify their … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

The Thirty-First Annual Report of the Geology Department is now available online with this link. Our Administrative Coordinator Patrice Reeder has once again done a magnificent job putting this document together, with amazing attention to detail and an artistic eye … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week returns from its summer hiatus. It is appropriate, then, to feature as our first fossil of the new season an oyster species prominent in our summer research. This is Pycnodonte vesicularis (Lamarck, 1806), a very … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

Professor Fred Cropp taught geology at Wooster from 1964 to 1997. He was an extraordinary teacher and, in his own words, “a cheerleader for geology”. Many, many Wooster students became geologists in response to his enthusiasm, energy and spirit. I … Continue reading →
Continue reading →