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 Fossils of the Week: Chaetetids from the Upper Carboniferous of Liaoning Province, North China

Mark Wilson June 12, 2015

Three years ago I had a short and painful trip to China to meet my new colleague and friend Yongli Zhang (Department of Geology, Northeastern University, Shenyang). The China part was great; the pain was from an unfortunately-timed kidney stone … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A chaetetid demosponge from the Upper Carboniferous of southern Nevada

Mark Wilson June 5, 2015

I collected this lump of a specimen during my dissertation research in the Bird Spring Formation (Carboniferous-Permian) of southern Nevada. It was found in a richly-fossiliferous Upper Carboniferous (Moscovian) portion near Mountain Springs Pass, which is about 40 km southwest … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: Petrified conifer wood

Mark Wilson May 29, 2015

This is one of the most beautiful fossils in Wooster’s teaching collections. It is a polished section of petrified wood. It has vibrant colors and exquisite detail, as you’re about to see. Unfortunately any label that accompanied this specimen disappeared … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossils of the Week: A Silurian encrinite from southwestern Ohio

Mark Wilson May 22, 2015

The above rock was collected on our Sedimentology & Stratigraphy class field trip last month. It is an average piece of weathered Brassfield Formation (Early Silurian, Llandovery) from Oakes Quarry Park near Fairborn, Ohio (N 39.81472°, W 83.99471°). It is … Continue reading →
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Wooster Geologists (and a Wooster Chemist) visit Brown’s Lake Bog

Mark Wilson May 21, 2015

I was privileged today to visit Brown’s Lake Bog, a Nature Conservancy preserve, with Greg Wiles, Nick Wiesenberg, and Kim Carter (Chemistry ’16). Greg and Nick have been here many times with students and colleagues, including some epic sessions of … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A ptilodictyine bryozoan from the Silurian of Ohio

Mark Wilson May 15, 2015

The fossil above was found by Luke Kosowatz (’17) on our Sedimentology & Stratigraphy class field trip last month. We were measuring and sampling the Brassfield Formation (Early Silurian, Llandovery) near Fairborn, Ohio, and Luke pulled this beauty out of … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A Jurassic coral with beekite preservation from southern Israel

Mark Wilson May 8, 2015

This week’s fossil is again in honor of Annette Hilton (’17), now retired as my Sophomore Research Assistant this year. She has been assessing with great skill a large and diverse collection of scleractinian corals from the Matmor Formation in … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: How to make brilliant acetate peels, with a Jurassic coral example

Mark Wilson May 1, 2015

My retiring Sophomore Research student, Annette Hilton (’17), is excellent at making acetate peels. These peels, like the one above she made from a mysterious Callovian (Middle Jurassic) coral, show fine internal details of calcareous fossils and rocks. This is … Continue reading →
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Wooster’s Fossil of the Week: A twisted scleractinian coral from the Middle Jurassic of southern Israel

Mark Wilson April 24, 2015

Another exquisite little coral this week from the collection of Matmor Formation (Middle Jurassic, southern Israel) corals Annette Hilton (’17) and I are working through. We believe this is Epistreptophyllum Milaschewitsch, 1876. It is a solitary (although more on that … Continue reading →
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A beautiful day for Wooster Geologists in the Silurian of Ohio

Mark Wilson April 18, 2015

FAIRBORN, OHIO–It’s field trip season at last for the Wooster Geologists. Several geology classes have now been out in Ohio, taking advantage of windows of spectacular weather. Today was one of those days for 25 students in the Sedimentology & … Continue reading →
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