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.

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A large trepostome bryozoan on a nautiloid conch (Upper Ordovician of northern Kentucky)

Mark Wilson March 17, 2017

This massive trepostome bryozoan, a solid lump of biogenic calcite, was collected earlier this week on the latest Team Cincinnati field expedition into the treasure-filled Upper Ordovician underlying and surrounding that city. Wooster students Matt Shearer, Luke Kosowatz and I … Continue reading →
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Team Cincinnati heads home ahead of the storm (via Serpent Mound)

Mark Wilson March 13, 2017

Wooster, Ohio — Matthew, Mark and Luke (if only we had a John!) left the field a day early, hightailing it from Maysville, Kentucky, to Wooster today before a large storm system brought snow, ice and freezing rain (delightfully called … Continue reading →
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Team Cincinnati moves into Kentucky for additional fieldwork

Mark Wilson March 12, 2017

Maysville, Kentucky — It was another frigid morning under the clear, pitiless skies of the Cincinnati region, but Luke Kosowatz (’17) was in good spirits. He is collecting at our first stop of the day: an exposure of the Bellevue … Continue reading →
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Wooster Geologists launch Team Cincinnati 2017

Mark Wilson March 11, 2017

Harrison, Ohio — Our first fieldwork of the year started on this cold, cold March day in southeastern Indiana. (Note the white icicles on the outcrop.) Luke Kosowatz, Matt Shearer and I have begun our projects in the magnificent Cincinnatian … Continue reading →
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Dr. Rob Thieler delivers the 36th annual Richard G. Osgood, Jr., Memorial Lecture at Wooster

Mark Wilson March 2, 2017

One of the pleasures of being in the Geology Department at The College of Wooster is that we have the annual Richard G. Osgood, Jr., Memorial Lecture series. These presentations, given in honor of the late Professor Osgood, have significantly … Continue reading →
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Professors Greg Wiles and Meagen Pollock earn a field experience grant from the Keck Geology Consortium

Mark Wilson February 26, 2017

Wooster, Ohio — Two Wooster Geology Professors, Meagen Pollock and Greg Wiles, have a exciting new grant from the Keck Geology Consortium to fund a five-week research program for first-year and sophomore students interested in the Earth Sciences. The experience … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Peanut worms from the Silurian of Illinois

Mark Wilson February 2, 2017

This week’s fossils are a set of cool sipunculan worms from the Lockport Shale Member of the Racine Formation (Wenlockian, Silurian) of Blue Island, Illinois (which, it turns out, is not an island.). This is Lecthaylus gregarius Weller, 1925. (There … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Ammonite septa from the Upper Cretaceous of South Dakota

Mark Wilson January 26, 2017

This week we have an ammonite from the Pierre Shale (Upper Cretaceous, Campanian-Maastrichtian) of southwestern South Dakota. It was collected on a wonderful field expedition in June 2008 with my friend Paul Taylor (The Natural History Museum, London) and my … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: Revisiting a pair of hyoliths from the Middle Ordovician of Estonia

Mark Wilson January 19, 2017

We met these modest internal molds of the mysterious hyoliths about five years ago. With a dramatic new development in hyolith studies, they are worth seeing again. These fossils are internal molds (the sediment that filled the shell) of of … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: New review paper on architectural design of trace fossils

Mark Wilson January 12, 2017

Last year my friend Luis Buatois led a massive project to review essentially all trace fossil invertebrate ichnogenera (523!) to place them in a series architectural design categories (79). This is a new way to assess patterns of ichnodisparity (variability … Continue reading →
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