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 (and Mineral) of the Week: Marcasite worm burrows from Bolivia

Here’s a type of fossil I’ve never seen: worm burrow casts made entirely of the mineral marcasite. These come from the George Chambers (’79) gift collection, so we know only that they were found in Bolivia. Despite the lack of … Continue reading
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Return to the Pliocene at Altavilla Milicia, Sicily

Our last stop of the day on the IBA field trip was to a classic fossil locality on the north coast of Sicily about an hour east of Palermo. These are fine sandstones and marls preserving a diverse array of … Continue reading
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A Phoenician island city and its lagoon

MILAZZO, SICILY, ITALY–The pre-conference field trip of the International Bryozoology Association has now almost completely circled Sicily. We are in the far northeastern corner of the island on a rocky cape jutting into the sea towards mainland Italy. The drive … Continue reading
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The ancient Greek city of Selinunte

MARSALA, SICILY, ITALY–During the afternoon the field party of the International Bryozoology Association drove south out of the Sicilian mountains back to the southern coast to visit the ruins of an entire Greek city founded in the 7th Century BCE … Continue reading
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The ancient Greek city of Selinunte

MARSALA, SICILY, ITALY–During the afternoon the field party of the International Bryozoology Association drove south out of the Sicilian mountains back to the southern coast to visit the ruins of an entire Greek city founded in the 7th Century BCE … Continue reading
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A surprising bit of Permian in central Sicily

MARSALA, SICILY, ITALY–This morning the pre-conference field trip of the International Bryozoology Association headed into the mountains of central Sicily. The roads were steep and windy, as one would imagine, and the views of mountainsides, villages and fields spectacular. We … Continue reading
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Pliocene marls white as snow in southern Sicily

SCIACCA, SICILY, ITALY–Our last stop of the day on this International Bryozoology Association pre-conference field trip was to a massive outcrop of foraminiferan-rich marls known as the Trubi. A view of the cliffs with the sun setting behind them is … Continue reading
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A cultural day in southern Sicily

SCIACCA, SICILY, ITALY–Most major conference geological field trips have a portion devoted to the culture and history of the region being explored. You can imagine the delights of this nature possible on a Mediterranean island. Today we started with the … Continue reading
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A cultural day in southern Sicily

SCIACCA, SICILY, ITALY–Most major conference geological field trips have a portion devoted to the culture and history of the region being explored. You can imagine the delights of this nature possible on a Mediterranean island. Today we started with the … Continue reading
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A familiar hydrozoan with a beautiful name

SCIACCA, SICILY, ITALY–Far too late today for more than a short post. For the first time I met in real life an animal I speak about in my Invertebrate Paleontology course: the colonial hydrozoan Velella velella. We found thousands of … Continue reading
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