Invertebrate Paleontology at The College of Wooster (Teaching & Research)

Pliocene snail from Cyprus (see Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 213: 103-118; 1999 - pdf).

Paleontology is the study of ancient organisms, and Invertebrate Paleontology is the study of ancient invertebrates, typically defined as any organisms without backbones, excluding plants and all those pesky bacteria. The study of invertebrate fossils has long been a strong component of the Wooster geology curriculum; many paleontologists found their start in the discipline here. The first paleontologist on Wooster's faculty was Richard Liebe, who taught here from 1961 through 1967. Dr. Liebe's specialty was the systematics and biostratigraphy of conodonts. Richard Osgood was the paleontologist at Wooster from 1967 until his death in 1981. He achieved international recognition for his pioneering work on invertebrate trace fossils, particularly those in the Lower and Middle Paleozoic. Since 1981 Wooster's paleontologist has been Mark Wilson, who specializes in the evolution and paleoecology of hard substrate faunas, with additional interests in early carbonate diagenesis and Pleistocene sea-level dynamics. The Invertebrate Paleontology and History of Life courses at Wooster have websites of their own. Please also visit our Paleontology, Sedimentology & Stratigraphy Independent Study webpage.

Emiliann Griffin ('07) sampling a Pleistocene coral reef on Great Inagua, The Bahamas (see Lethaia 31: 241-250; 1998 - pdf).

Jurassic hardground in cross-section with thick layer of oysters; southern Utah (see Ichnos 3: 79-87; 1994).

Local Paleontology

Wooster is in an excellent place for invertebrate paleontologists. The local rocks are Mississippian and Pennsylvanian in age. The Mississippian units are primarily deltaic and shoreface sands and muds, often rich in brachiopods, crinoids, bivalves and conulariids. The Pennsylvanian section is cyclothemic, with alternating thin sandstones, siltstones, shales, limestones and coals. Their invertebrate fossils include different sorts of brachiopods, crinoids and bivalves, along with the occasional trilobite. The local Pennsylvanian also has abundant plant fossils, particularly sphenopsid and lycopsid trees and ferns. The Pennsylvanian limestones are rich in conodonts, which are small tooth-like phosphatic fossils useful for biostratigraphy.

Approximately two hours south (and also two hours north) of Wooster are outcrops of Devonian limestones and shales. These rocks have abundant brachiopods, bivalves and gastropods, with the occasional large stromatoporoid, a relative of sponges. One of the most interesting Devonian fossils in Ohio is the clam-like rostroconch, which is sometimes found in large numbers. Rostroconchs are the only extinct class of mollusks.

Ohio's star attraction for invertebrate paleontologists is the world-class exposure of Silurian and Ordovician limestones and shales near Cincinnati. Some of these outcrops are so complete that they have been named type sections for international stratigraphy. Their fossils are extraordinarily abundant and diverse, including brachiopods, bivalves, gastropods, bryozoans, crinoids, trilobites, and numerous other groups considered rare everywhere else. Wooster is just a three-hour drive from the best of these rocks. Our paleontology and sedimentology & stratigraphy courses often visit the Cincinnati region for field trips.

Predatory borings in a Devonian hederellid colony from Ontario (see Geology 34: 565-568; 2006 - pdf).

Cross-section of a Jurassic ostreolith from southern Utah (see Palaios 13: 70-78; 1998 - pdf).

Student Research in Invertebrate Paleontology at Wooster

The Independent Study program provides a superb framework for student paleontological research at Wooster. Our students routinely work in all the geological systems of Ohio, and the surrounding states of Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky. We have easy access to these rocks and fossils, and a well-equipped laboratory at Wooster in which to work. The paleontological facilities at Wooster include standard rock saws and grinders, along with Nikon microscopes, digitial imaging systems, and fossil preparation tools. We also have extensive research collections, particularly for carbonate hardgrounds, ancient bioerosion, Ordovician invertebrates, and Jurassic limestones and fossils.

Wooster students often study invertebrate paleontology far from Ohio. Through various grants, both within Wooster and from the outside, Wooster paleontology students have worked in California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Minnesota, and Iowa, as well as in Israel, the Bahamas, eastern Canada, Cyprus, England, Wales, France, and Poland. You will note on our research and bibliography pages that Wooster students are commonly co-authors on scientific publications.

Allison Mione ('05) with a magnificent exposure of the trace fossil Thalassinoides on the sole of a Middle Jurassic limestone in the Negev Desert of southern Israel (see Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 54: 171-178; 2005 - pdf).

Sedimentology and Stratigraphy at Wooster

Geology 250 (Invertebrate Paleontology) course webpage

Geology 100 (History of Life) course page
Mark Wilson's research page

Middle Jurassic fossils from the Matmor Formation exposed in the Negev Desert of southern Israel.