Raymond L. Ethington
Professor Emeritus
education: University of Iowa, 1958
interest: Paleontology and Biostratigraphy

email: EthingtonR@missouri.edu
office: 100 Geological Sciences Bldg.
phone: 573-882-6470
fax: 573-882-5458

Research

Ray Ethington's research addresses the taxonomy and biostratigraphy of Lower and Middle Ordovician conodonts in the central and western United States. Continuing projects involve the faunas of the Arbuckle Group in southern Oklahoma, the Manitou Formation in central Colorado, The Prairie du Chien Group in the Upper Mississippi Valley region, the graptolite facies in the core of the Ouachita Mountains in west-central Arkansas, and the type are of the Ibexian and Whiterockian Series in western Utah and central Nevada.

Current work includes documentation of the stratigraphic distribution of conodonts in the type area of the Whiterockian Series in the Great Basin and global correlation of the succession of graptolites and conodonts in the Whiterockian strata of the Roberts Mountains, central Nevada. Other projects now actively pursued [in collaborations with colleagues from the United States, Germany, and Sweden] include a monographic discussion of the conodont genus Clavohamulus Furnish; redefinition and paleogeographic interpretation of Reutterodus borealis Repetski based on occurrences in North America, Australia and Argentina; description of the whole-animal apparatus of Oneotodus variabilis Lindström; and description of an evolutionary precursor of Tripodus laevis Bradshaw based on specimens collected near St. Petersburg, Russia, and in the central Great Basin (USA).

Student projects include a sedimentologic, ecologic, and biostratigraphic study of condonts from the Gasconade Dolomite (Early Ibexian) of west-central Missouri, a biostratigraphic report on conodonts from the Womble and Big Fork Formations (Whiterockian) of the Ouachita Mountains in west-central Arkansas, and a community-ecology study of Pennsylvanian brachiopods and related faunal elements in central Missouri.

Ray Ethington recently completed seven years as the executive officer of the Pander Society, the international association of conodont paleontologists. He is a past-President of SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) and also served five years as the President of the SEPM Foundation. Ray was the recipient of the Pander Society Medal in March of 1998.

Selected Publications

Kwang-Soo Seo, Ha-Young Lee, and R.L. Ethington, 1994, Early Ordovician conodonts from the Dumugol Formation in the Baegunsan Syncline, eastern Yeongweol and Samcheog areas, Kangweon-Do, Korea: J. Paleont. v. 68, p. 599-616.

Ethington, R.L., Finney S.C., Miller J.F., Ross, Jr., R.J., and Valdes-Camin C., 1995, Pre-meeting Trip - Central Great Basin Transect, p. 1-50 in J.D. Cooper (ed.), Ordovician of the Great Basin Fieldtrip Guidebook and Volume for the Seventh International Symposium on the Ordovician System. Pacific Section, SEPM, Fullerton, California, Book 78.

Myrow, P.M., Ethington, R.L., and Miller, J.F., 1995, Cambro-Ordovician proximal shelf deposits of Colorado, p. 275-380, in J.D. Cooper, M.L. Droser, and S.C. Finney (eds.), Ordovician Odyssey. Short Papers for the Seventh International Symposium on the OrdovicianSystem, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, June 1995. Pacific Section SEPM, Fullerton, California, Book 77.

Ross, R. J., Jr., and Ethington, R.L., 1992, North American Whiterock Series suited for global correlation, p. 153-170 in B.D. Webby and J.R. Laurie (eds.), Global Perspectives on Ordovician Geology (Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on the Ordovician System, University of Sydney, Australia, 15-19 July 1991). A. A.Balkema, Rotterdam.

Ross, R.J., Jr., Hintze, L.F. Ethington, R.L., Miller, J.F., Taylor, M.E., and Repetski, J.E., 1997, The Ibexinan, lowermost series in the North American Ordovician. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. 1579:1-50.

Last Modified: winter 2008