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Showing results for tags 'Bakersfield'.
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I had few more oddballs. As always your input is appreciated. Here's the first one.
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Hello all! A few weeks ago, @caldigger generously sent me some micromatrix from Sharktooth Hill/Bakersfield in California (Miocene in age), and there is one little fossil that is kind of weird - hopefully someone can help me identify it! It's smooth on one side and has sharp bumps on the other side - please feel free to let me know what you think it might be. If better pictures are required, we'll have to wait until I get some sunlight up here in Mississauga - hopefully soon! Thanks in advance! Monica View of the bumpy side: View of the smooth side: View of the bumps:
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I came across this piece today when going through some matrix that I had received from Doren @caldigger. Anyone have an ID on this piece? I never came across one in the past. Thanks in advance. @MarcoSr
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I and others have been finding these in the matrix I've been collecting about a mile East of the Ernst Quarry in Bakersfield, California. Mid. Miocene, Temblor Formation. I have never found them from the Sharktooth Hill matrix I used to collect. Items all average about 3mm in diameter. Some sort of dermal denticle or fish scale? I hope the phone picture is adequate. Any ideas?
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Public invert fossil collecting sites in Bakersfield area?
Wendell Ricketts posted a topic in Questions & Answers
Dear FFers: I’ll be in Bakersfield for the week before Christmas, spending some time looking for shark teeth on the hill and doing some research and reporting for Fossil News magazine. I was wondering whether anyone would be willing to share me any information about publicly accessible invert sites within an hour or so of there. I have a vague memory of reading that there were some road cuts with freshwater and marine mollusks, but I’ve no specific information. I was also wondering whether it was still possible to get permission from Chevron to visit the Kettleman Hills site. Does anyone know? I’d be up for a collecting buddy, too, if anyone’s available during that busy week! Wendell -
Going through my recent find from Sharktooth Hill I came across this one that was very different from any others I've seen from there. Possible bramble shark? Not many options that look like this. Your thoughts on it are appreciated! Picture isn't the greatest, but I'm hoping it's distinctive enough.
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- bakersfield
- round mountain silt
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Sharktooth Hill Trip Report Part 1 – building the sifting table Hi everyone, After my first trip to Sharktooth Hill in June, I was hooked. I immediately started making plans to return and, this time I’d come better prepared. This forum has provided an amazing source of ideas and helpful people and inspired me to build a sifting table for my next trip to STH. A huge thanks to those who have helped me by answering questions, providing pictures and ideas, and helping me troubleshoot. I gathered as much info as I could and then tried to combine all the best ideas into one contraption to fit my needs. I’m excited to try this beast out next week! It’s big! The screen is 37.5” x 21” and the table stands about 4 feet tall but I will lower it if the height proves too high to load easily. I don’t want to sacrifice “wobbly-ness” though, because I’m hoping that’s going to do a lot of the sifting work for me. Plus, my son and I are 6’5” and 6’4” so a tall table should be ok. I used SCH 40 PVC and the 2 rectangular bases are glued while the 4 legs are removable to allow for compact storage/transport. In limited testing everything stayed together but I’ll bring some PVC glue with me in case I need to solidify it in the field. I'll also bring my PVC cutter for “disassembly” for the way home if need be. The bottom tier is ¼” mesh and has 6 “T” brackets to make sure it stays on top of the PVC frame. I bolted on a handle to allow it to be shaken one- or two-handed. There are no pointy parts on the inside (trying to avoid bleeding as much as I did on my last visit to STH). The top tier is ½” mesh and sits inside the bottom tier. Corner braces in the bottom tier (see above) allow the upper tier to sit low enough that it won’t dislodge but high enough that the contents can move freely across the bottom mesh. Initially I was disappointed that the large size and my inability to “tighten” that mesh caused it to sag noticeably once it was loaded up with soil. I remedied this with the addition of an adjustable bracket along the midpoint. But then when I put the top tier inside the bottom tier I realized I’d created a teeter-totter (doh!) and had to chisel out a groove on each side to allow it to fit in there. I’m very excited to go give it a try and I hope you all find this pre-trip report interesting. I’m happy to answer any questions and/or accept suggestions for improvement. And thanks again to all the helpful people on this forum whose previous pictures, design notes, and conversations encouraged me to attempt this (and make this post). I’ll send a follow up trip report after I get home. Cheers!
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- bakersfield
- ernst quarry
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From the album: Cenozoic Sharks
Colorful Cosmopolitodus planus from Bakersfield, California -
From the album: Cenozoic Sharks
Colorful Bakersfield, California Cosmopolitodus planus -
Hello, I returned from Sharktooth Hill (Bakersfield) with a bunch of bone fragments that seem to be mostly whale ribs and unidentifiable fragments. But I did have a few pieces that seemed distinctive enough that I thought someone more knowledgeable than me might be able to recognize. The third one from the top looks very similar to something another member posted (though not identified) - one side looks exactly like driftwood (is this known form STH?) but the other side very different, as shown in the pics. Someday I hope to be on the help-delivering side of the equation in this forum. Until then, much gratitude!
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Hello, Going through some teeth from Sharktooth Hill (Bakersfield) I found one tooth among my "C. planus" teeth that didn't look like the others. I'm wondering if it is natural variation, from a different part of the jaw, or from another species altogether. It has the characteristic curve of a C. planus upper, but is quite a bit narrower than all the others I collected. The pics attached show a "typical" C. planus on the left and the tooth in question on the right. Thanks!
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Hello, I'm new to this but hoping to get more involved. I went to the world-famous Sharktooth Hill (Bakersfield CA) last week and it did not disappoint! I am now trying to ID the ~150 teeth we found but I'm not very good at it (yet?). I did a bunch of the easier ones and had some on-site help from more knowledgeable collectors that was great. Lots of unknowns still, though. If anyone could offer any tips for how to go about IDing these teeth, that would be awesome (ex. Carcharhinus spp. Vs Negaprion? Or Isurus/Carcharodon planus Vs hastalis?) I also suspect I have some Isurus oxyrinchus/desori but not sure how to distinguish them from the rest. So, please feel free to point out what you think any of the pictured teeth are, and/or what features I should look for to get better at this. I can send additional angles of anything that might be helpful, as needed. Thanks in advance!
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I would like to try to prep a whale vertebra I found, but I have a few questions before diving into the preservation part. My questions come in 2 parts: Paraloid suggestions and matrix removal questions. Paraloid: For something this big, should I attempt to find a container and dunk the whole thing in the paraloid solution, or should I use a brush to go around the whole surface? Any suggestions for the ratio of paraloid to acetone? 1:10? 1:20? I've read different ratios thrown around, but I'm not sure what is best for which situation. Matrix removal: There is a large section of material on the under side of the vertebra that I'm unsure about removing. This rectangular section seems to be much harder than the rest of easily removable soil. Even though it transitions from reddish to tan in color, it is all the same hardness. Should I even attempt to remove it, or just leave it? It's clearly not part of the original vertebra, but I'm not sure what it even is. Thanks a lot for any help and/or suggestions! Fossil ID post with additional pictures:
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After posting ID questions on a couple of STH whale bones that were mostly unidentifiable, I decided I'd post images of the one whale fossil I have that seems like a slam dunk ulna (Aside from an easily ID'd ear bone.). It may be debatable as to which specific family category, but at least its location on the whale is pretty certain, right? Too bad it's a partial, but it's all I have. It looks a lot like one that is called Tiphyocetus temblorensis in an image from the California Academy of Sciences. Tiphyocetus Temblorensis Even the mottled coloring is similar. As I mentioned, this specimen is from Bakersfield, Shark Tooth Hill area specifically. While people may have seen a fair number of these, I thought it was cool enough to post an image or two of. And, people will be happy to know, I don't entertain any thoughts of its being part of a whale jaw. In fact, I'm over-jawed about having this one. Cheers.
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Hello all my fellow fossil lovers! This is my first post on here for a while, I've been lurking around and admiring everyones finds. But y'all have motivated me to actually get out and start hunting! I will be driving up with my girlfriend from Los Angeles to Ernst Quarries in Bakersfield, CA on March 28th. For people who may not be familiar, this is part of the infamous Shark Tooth Hill, dated to the Miocene at 12-15 mya. It is a pay-to-dig site, and not too bad at $40 for a full day of digging. Is anyone on here planning on going that day or have been recently? How does the quarry look like after all the rain we have been having? Does anyone have any tips on what extra tools that are helpful to bring? From what I have read on here, a Pickaxe is helpful for exposing the bonebed. I will also be purchasing my first Estwing Geologic Hammer (the 22 oz with pick end) for the occasion and also to celebrate finishing my semester of Paleontology. Some brushes are also helpful for cleaning up the teeth in matrix too. Anything else that is suggested? Please feel free to share your Ernst Quarry experiences and advice, if you do feel so inclined I will update the thread with pictures of the results - hopefully we will be able to find some goodies
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And so I return with another question about a particular, probably cetacean, bone. In my last adventure, we ascertained that a piece of bone, with cylindrical resemblances, was from a rib. With how little curve it had along it's length, I suspect it was from a large creature. I also have another interestingly shaped/textured bone fossil from the same general, Miocene, area in Bakersfield. As you can see, the glued specimen is a bit over 150mm in length, and sits about 70mm wide(tall?). One side is very flat along the length of the piece. Since it has what appear to be termination points, I figure that a general ID for body position might be possible. This is where I again go to thinking a possible jaw part. Like perhaps the rear portion of a mysticete lower jaw? I know, there I go again. As I said, the texture is not smooth like the rib I was given. It's got a lot of bumps and shallow crags around the curved portions. Thanks ahead of time for any input on possible ID. Cheers.
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Greetings, all. Recently a friend gave me a rather large chunk of fossil bone from the Shark Tooth Hill area of Bakersfield. While originally we thought it might be a rib bone, I now think that it being so straight for the length it is, as well as the larger radius, that it might be a piece of a jawbone. Perhaps a partial jaw of a Miocene baleen. Mysticete? Perhaps there's no way to tell? Any opinions are appreciated. Thanks ahead of time. Cheers.
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Hello, found this tooth in the Round Mountain Silt formation in Bakersfield this weekend. The tooth had serrations, but they are worn down. At first I thought the tooth was a small meg, or a large hemi. Upon closer inspection it does not seem to fit either of those species well. The root is not consistent with that of a meg nor a hemi. Now I am thinking it could be some kind of Requiem shark. What do you guys think?
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First time on the forum. Went to Bakersfield with my family and my sister’s family for 2 days. Found a bunch of shark teeth including a Benedini.
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From the album: Pisces
Up to 21mm. From the Miocene at Sharktooth Hill, Bakersfield, California. Trade with Fossil-Hound. -
For your viewing pleasure I present one hundred cleaned and placed shark, pinniped, Cetacean, and ray teeth from Bakersfield. Tomorrow I’ll glue them to the back board with epoxy and have a label created at the very bottom. FYI @digit @Malcolmt @caldigger @Kurt Komoda @SailingAlongToo @WhodamanHD
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- bakersfield
- isurus hastalis
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Here is a tooth I have had for several years, not really knowing how to label. Found in Ernst East Quarry, Bakersfield, California ( mid. Miocene, approx. 15mya) I have read some topics on Physogaleus contortus symphseal mistaken for the Megachasma teeth, but this one doesn't seem to fall into that category. As you can see it has a huge root compared to the crown, zero serrations and in fact doesn't even have what you may call a "cutting blade" at all ( crown is oblong). 20mm from base of root to tip of crown. Crown is 8mm wide, 13mm long. I would like to finally label thus guy and am seeking your expertise on the matter. Thank you in advance for any enlightenment you may offer. @MarcoSr @Al Dente @siteseer
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Hi everyone, I was going through some tiny teeth from a recent trip to Ernst quarries (Bakersfield; round mountain silt; ~ 15 mya) and came across this intriguing little tooth. It is ~11 mm and serrated on both sides. Is this a tiny meg or just wishful thinking?
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Last week I had the opportunity to go on a Bakersfield dig for Miocene shark and mammal fossils with @caldigger @Kurt Komoda and @MrR We had a good time. While there I found a tooth that I'm not exactly sure of. I believe it's a toothed cetacean (whale) and am leaning towards a Sperm Whale but am not sure. Any ideas? The tip of the crown is busted but most of the tooth is intact. Please help me identify this one.
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Hello. I'm going to be driving out to the west coast this week and I've really been wanting to visit the Ernst Quarries for the first time. On the website, apparently you need to reserve a spot, so I'm looking at October 18th and 19th, which show as available on the calendar. I submitted a request, but my firewall tried to block the the next page that occurred after submitting it. I'm pretty sure it went through, but I was paranoid, so I also texted the number on the site asking about the reservation. That was on Monday, October 8th. I haven't heard anything back. Is this normal? There's an email address, but I don't want to be a pest. It's just that I'm booking a hotel in Bakersfield for those days, so I'm kind of nervous that I'll find out too late that I can't get in. Also, if I do get in, I've never done this kind of digging for fossils. I did watch a couple Youtube vids, though!
