Category Archives: ScotBlogs Contributed

One hole in a shell is unremarkable. Several in a repeating pattern is a story. Above is a right valve (exterior) of the oyster Pycnodonte vesicularis from the Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) of southwestern France. It was collected during our fantastic … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

Windy, warm, and dry is a good recipe for wildfires, and that has been the norm for Montana this year.  For example, from June 1 through September 4, Missoula received 2.07 inches of precipitation, less than half its average rainfall … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

It’s not that I haven’t loved all my Invertebrate Paleontology classes, but the students this year are special because there are only ten of them. Lately I’ve had up to thirty students per class which is great for many reasons, … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

When we picked up this beautiful fossil in southwestern France this summer, Paul Taylor immediately predicted it would become a Wooster Fossil of the Week. Macy Conrad (’18), Paul and I were on our wonderful expedition in the Type Campanian … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

There is a fantastic castle in the sky, built in free fall, brick-by-brick. It derives its energy from sunlight and recycles its water. Sealed against a vacuum, its inhabitants float and glide through its passageways as the sun rises and … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

I start my Invertebrate Paleontology classes with an unknown fossil given to each student. I pick something I have enough examples of so that everyone gets the same species. As their first assignment, the students are asked to identify their … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

Wooster, OH – GeoClub met for the first time in the 2017-2018 academic year, allowing us to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. It was our good fortune to host a special guest, Jesse Davenport, a 2011 … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

The Thirty-First Annual Report of the Geology Department is now available online with this link. Our Administrative Coordinator Patrice Reeder has once again done a magnificent job putting this document together, with amazing attention to detail and an artistic eye … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

Wooster’s Fossil of the Week returns from its summer hiatus. It is appropriate, then, to feature as our first fossil of the new season an oyster species prominent in our summer research. This is Pycnodonte vesicularis (Lamarck, 1806), a very … Continue reading →
Continue reading →

We visited many museums while in London and one of the most impressive was the Natural History Museum.  The original building was completed and opened to the public in 1881. The Darwin Centre in particular holds millions of preserved specimens, … Continue reading →
Continue reading →