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 day’s excursion into the Middle Devonian of western New York

Mark Wilson August 7, 2015

LOCKPORT, NEW YORK (August 7, 2015) — Today Andrej Ernst and I were able to join Brian Bade and his friends on a collecting trip up Buffalo Creek in Erie County, New York. Our goal was simply to look for … Continue reading →
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Into the Niagara Gorge

Mark Wilson August 6, 2015

LOCKPORT, NEW YORK (August 6, 2015) — It holds one of the strongest river currents in the world, the gorge of the Niagara River below Niagara Falls. That tremendous flow has cut a deep canyon through the Silurian rocks of … Continue reading →
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Wooster Geologist in New York

Mark Wilson August 5, 2015

LOCKPORT, NEW YORK (August 5, 2015) — What looks like an ordinary commercial quarry above is actually quite unusual. It is an excavation done entirely by amateur paleontologists (“citizen scientists”) to collect and preserve fossils from the Rochester Shale (Upper … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A conulariid revisited (Lower Carboniferous of Indiana)

Mark Wilson July 31, 2015

This summer I’ve been updating some of the photos I placed in the Wikipedia system (check them out here, if you like; free to use for any purpose). I was especially anxious to replace a low-resolution image I had made … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A calcareous sponge from the Lower Cretaceous of England

Mark Wilson July 24, 2015

One of my favorite fossil localities is a gravel pit in Oxfordshire, England. Gravel pits are not usually good for fossil collecting given their coarse nature and high-energy deposition, but the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) Faringdon Sponge Gravels are special. They … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A coiled nautiloid from the Middle Devonian of Ohio

Mark Wilson July 17, 2015

The above fossil is a nautiloid cut in cross-section, showing the large body chamber at the bottom and behind it to the left and above the phragmocone, or chambered portion of the conch (shell). It is a species of Goldringia … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A small lobster from the Lower Cretaceous of North Yorkshire, England

Mark Wilson July 10, 2015

Mae Kemsley (’16) found this little beauty during her Independent Study fieldwork last month on the Speeton Cliffs of North Yorkshire. It is Meyeria ornata (Phillips, 1829), a decapod of the lobster variety, from the Speeton Clay. It is relatively … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: An Upper Ordovician cave-dwelling bryozoan fauna and its exposed equivalents

Mark Wilson July 3, 2015

This week’s fossils were the subject of a presentation at the 2015 Larwood Symposium of the International Bryozoology Association in Thurso, Scotland, last month. Caroline Buttler, Head of Palaeontology at the National Museum Wales, Cardiff, brilliantly gave our talk describing … Continue reading →
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Link to posts from Wooster Geologists in the United Kingdom in June 2015

Mark Wilson June 29, 2015

I spent 25 days in England, Scotland and Wales this month, 12 of them with these two happy Senior Independent Study students, Mae Kemsley (’16) and Meredith Mann (’16) — dubbed “Team Yorkshire”. We had to delay our blog posts … Continue reading →
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Last day of fieldwork in England: A working quarry and another great unconformity

Mark Wilson June 29, 2015

BRISTOL, ENGLAND (June 26, 2015) — Tim Palmer has a professional interest in building stones, and a passion for sorting out their characteristics and historical uses. He thus has many contacts in the stone industry, from architects to quarry managers. … Continue reading →
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