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.

A wet cave and the Mighty Mississippi River

Rochester, Minnesota — Since Team Minnesota efficiently finished its fieldwork yesterday, we have two days before the students fly out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. The good weather has given us a gift of time, so we’re using it like … Continue reading →
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Team Minnesota finishes its work (in Iowa, funny enough)

Rochester, Minnesota — We returned to Decorah, Iowa, today to measure and sample the Decorah Shale (Upper Ordovician) in its type locality. It was much drier here than on our last attempt! Above is the gray Decorah Shale topped by … Continue reading →
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Paleontological fieldwork in southeastern Minnesota

Rochester, Minnesota — It was a good day for fossil collecting on the Minnesota prairie. Above you see a handful of articulated orthid brachiopods collected by Nikki Bell at the Shop Quarry exposure near Rochester. Shop Quarry (N 43.97232°, W … Continue reading →
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The work begins

Rochester, Minnesota — Today we started collecting specimens and data for the Team Minnesota student Independent Study projects. We began with a long drive south to Decorah, Iowa, to measure a thick section of our Upper Ordovician target units at … Continue reading →
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Wooster Geologists tramping through the brush of southern Minnesota

Rochester, Minnesota — The middle of the summer is not the best time to do fieldwork in southern Minnesota. The thick and diverse plants make each journey to an abandoned quarry wall or roadcut a jungly adventure. It doesn’t help … Continue reading →
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Team Minnesota visits the Upper Ordovician of Iowa

Rochester, Minnesota — Team Minnesota traveled south today to visit exposures of our three favorite formations: the Platteville Limestone, Decorah Shale, and Cummingsville Limestone. Where best to see the Decorah Shale than in Decorah, Iowa? Above the crew is scattered … Continue reading →
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Team Minnesota Assembles!

Rochester, Minnesota — The first Team Minnesota of Wooster Geologists has now gathered for its work in this beautiful state. Above from the left is Rachel Wetzel (’17), Dean Thomas (’17), Nick Wiesenberg (Geological Technician), Nikki Bell (’17) and Etienne … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A new Late Ordovician bryozoan from Oklahoma

I am very pleased to introduce a new bryozoan genus and species recently described in the First View section of the Journal of Paleontology. Paul Taylor (Natural History Museum, London) and I present: “A new runner-like cyclostome bryozoan from the … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A bored rhynchonellid brachiopod from the Middle Jurassic of France

Another beautiful brachiopod this week from our friend Mr. Clive Champion in England. His donations to our collections have considerably enriched our teaching program, especially for brachiopods! This specimen is the rhynchonellid Kutchirhynchia morieri (Davidson, 1852) from the Middle Jurassic … Continue reading →
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Wooster Geologist at Argonne National Laboratory

Editor’s note: The following post is from guest blogger Clara Deck (’17) about her research experience this summer with an internship at one of the world’s most prominent laboratories. She is working on an important climate change project involving the … Continue reading →
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