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Purisima Formation (3-7 Ma), Santa Cruz, CA: One piece doesn’t match the rest
Slow_BS posted a topic in Fossil ID
Hi there, I have a collection of Santa Cruz, CA shell hash, from the Purisima Formation. It’s pretty much all non-mineralized mollusks, I think. I received a new piece that seems to be from the same formation (it was a gift from the heir of the original collector who lived in Monterey - the other side of the bay from the formation). The fossiliferous pieces inside this one have a totally different structure - much more of a radial/flakey look. I circled it in red in the first picture, and it’s the only rock in pics 3-6. I’d love to here if anyone has any thoughts on whether the new piece is Purisima, and what the white portions may have been. Thanks for reading!- 14 replies
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I'm thinking this a whale bone, maybe a humerus? Found in Mendocino, California. Thanks for your help!
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- california
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I found this about 8 years ago in a dried up creek bed behind my house in the hills of Hayward, California in the San Francisco bay area, USA. We dug it out of some dry but soft sediment and I assumed I found a fungus/mushroom of some sort but now Im not so sure. I am a hobby collector and love it no matter what it is but I would love to have an actual identification. Thanks!
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My kids founds this fossil in Capitola, as part of the Purisima formation. Curious if it's something obvious enough for you pros out there?
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A member of my monthly bug chat group is trying to figure out what this might be and I offered to post it here to get some ideas. It was dug from a hillside in San Pedro, where clams and crabs were also found. My best guess is the formation is Pleistocene Palos Verdes Sand. They have shown it to the ichthyology sections of the LA County Natural History Museum and seem to have ruled out it came from a fish. My best guess is maybe some sort of coprolite? However, its huge and I also wouldn't rule out some sort of human made artifact.
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Hello! one of my coworkers brought in this fossil since they knew I was interested in that sorta thing and when I first saw it my mind went to coral but they said it was from California and was told it was a Mammoth molar, so I had to change my theory. While I know it is not a Mammoth molar it definitely has a tooth like structure, and in my opinion, could look like a heavily worn down Mastodon molar but I wanted someone who is an expert in this field/ knows more information than me to help with the identification. I didn't get to measure it exactly but my rough estimate was around 13cm
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Looking for advice about shark tooth hill! TIA
PrehistoricWonders posted a topic in Questions & Answers
Hey everyone! Going to STH somewhat soon, I plan on going to Ernst quarries(or if anyone has any other sites they’d recommend), and was wondering if there were any tips anyone could give me, since This will be my first time. Also, are there safety instructions they give you when you get there?- 2 replies
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This is a piece of late Miocene palm “wood” from Orinda, California. Not a true wood; it is part of the Palmoxylon form genus. Palm wood can rarely be attributed to a palm species identified by foliage or fruit such as Sabal. It was found in a landslide area on top of sedimentary interbeds of the Moraga Formation and the younger lacustrine Siesta Formation sediments. Volcanic rocks and possible spring deposits are nearby. Fossilized palm roots, reeds and petrified wood occur in the area. This piece and others found in the area represent the youngest palm fossils found in Northern California. Cretaceous and Eocene palm fossils are found in Northern California and to the north in Oregon and Alaska. Drying and cooling conditions in the Miocene pushed palms further south where they are found in the Dove Spring Formation near Rosemond, the Barstow Formation near Calico and the Bopesta Formation in the Tehachapi Mountains. The silicified layered coatings on the wood may be spring deposits or stromatolites. Possible hot spring deposits are nearby. This 120 mm long piece looks ordinary until you see a few spectacularly preserved 1 mm fibrovascular bundles with cells and vascular structures visible through a microscope. Photo 1: sharpened photo of 1 mm fibrovascular bundle. Photo 2: labeled fibrovascular bundle; photo not sharpened. 1: vascular tissue. 2: a bundle cap with sclerenchyma cells. 3: sclerenchyma cells. 4: manmade fiber. 5: fibrous bundle. 6: fibrovascular bundle. 7: space for phloem (not preserved) that transport food. 8: xylem vessels that transport water. 9: parenchyma cells groundmass. Photo 3: fibrovascular bundle; photo not sharpened. Photo 4: detail of area 1 in photo 5. Arrow points to best fibrovascular bundle in photos 1-3. Photo 5: side with best fibrovascular bundles. Area 1 detailed in photo 4. Area 2 is a silicified possible spring deposit or stromatolite. Photo 6: other side of photo 5. Area 1 is area of dark fibrovascular bundles. Area 2 is the silicified deposits. Photo 7: 3/4 view showing thickness and white silica coating. Photo 8: exterior with arrows pointing to elongated fibers typical of Palmoxylon. References Good labeled palm fibrovascular bundles in: Steur, Hans. FOSSIELE PLANTEN webpage: https://steurh.home.xs4all.nl/engpalm/epalm08.html Viney, M. (2008). The Virtual Petrified Wood Museum, http://petrifiedwoodmuseum.org Palmoxlylon localities: Ture, Joseph A. (Date?). Fossil Palms in Principes, Vol. 11, International Palm Society, p 54. https://palms.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/v11n2p54-71.pdf Good paper on Northern California Pliocene and now Miocene floras. No mention of palmoxylon in the San Francisco Bay/ Northern California area. Dorf, Erling and Irma E. Webber "Studies of the Pliocene Palaeobotany of California"Contributions to Palaeontology. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication No. 412 (1933) https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.271485/page/n1/mode/2up
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This piece of arkosic sandstone from the late Eocene Coldwater formation north of Santa Paula, CA, has a few marine species traces. It would be great if anyone could ID the bivalves, but what really seems different is the set of chevrons I've pointed to in the top photo. Maybe it's just two bivalves wedged together to look like one? Appreciate the help!
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I have here fossils from Southern California. There's no other info on them. It was an impulse buy, and they weren't a tonne of money. They looked canid to me, but I'm not sure what they are. If anyone knows, I'd appreciate the advice. Largest is around 1 1/2" Thank you, Bellamy
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I have been looking into a new fossil site exposing the Bay Point Formation in San Diego, CA. I want to see if it would be legal for me to go collecting there, as it looks like it could be a good exposure. The signs around it say that it is a "Natural Park commissioned by the City of San Diego." I couldn't find anything on Natural Park fossil laws when I looked them up. Does anyone know of the regulations of them?
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While out on a trilobite hunt several years ago in the Marble Mountains, San Bernardino Cty, CA, I found these two pieces on the surface in the region of a Latham shale exposure, so I think they would have belonged to the Chambless shale, which is in fact exposed as a bluff above the surface. Here's one: Here's the other: I'm not sure about these. They might not even be organic or in the same genus if organic. The source field might be a zone with Chambless and Zabriskie quartzite mixed. So there's a chance they're inorganic, I guess. However, on the same surface/field we found a lot of fossiliferous rock that included oncolites, which are definitely known to be in the Chambless. What do you think?
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- california
- cambrian
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Hello! Here are several photos of a fossilized colony of some sort of worm, or so it appears to me. Please excuse the remnants of clear nail polish I used years ago to increase contrast before I knew better. I came across this in Santa Paula canyon about 2 miles northwest of highway 150 where it turns west at Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, CA. It had washed down decades ago from probably a Matilija Formation exposure. The matrix grain seems quite fine and the rock is very heavy. Although I've been up and down the creek countless times, I've never seen the source bed. Eocene oysters, clams and echinoderms have been collected in the canyon. Thanks for your help.
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While visiting family in Arizona and California I was able to figure out where the Marble Mountains trilobite quarry was located. It's not that far off the road system so I figured I'd give it a look see on my drive from central Arizona to Northern California. The location is only about 25 miles out of my way so why not. On my drive north I only had a few hours so this stop was mostly a fact finding trip. The view from the car windshield. The Marble Mountains are the lower hills to the left of center. The quarry area is just to the left of the gap between hills Ok, word of notice...... I DO NOT recommend driving a mustang here. I know my car and have driven many places I shouldn't hehehe. I had to stop about 1/4 mile from the site. Don't need a 4x4 but a little ground clearance is a big help. The road is a bit rocky but that is to be expected. It's about 1.5 miles from pavement to parking area. The site is just below the gray outcrop just to the left of the mountain gap. I arrived just before sunset and found some locals already at the site (you can just make out their truck in middle photo). They gave me some pointers on what to look for as they were leaving and I set to work. For the first hour I was mostly just wondering around seeing what I could see. There were no obvious recent diggings so I was gonna have to do some digging myself. Went back to the car, grabbed a headlight and went to search in the dark. After about 3 hours I packed up and left to continue my drive north. 5 days later I was on my way south back to Arizona. I stopped for a full day of digging this time. Kinda got the basics of the site during this stop. Then back on my way. A week later I was able to slip away for a full 3 day trip just to dig. I was able to spend some quality time on site. It is not a site that you can really hit well in a short time. to be continued......
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I purchased this large gastropod fossil at a rock and mineral show back in 1991. The location is from Capitola, California, USA and I believe that it may be Pliocene in age. Any help in identifying it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
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Found this in New Melones lake in Angeles Camp California. The lake was very low and we found a few fossils. Is this common here? How old is it? I’m pretty sure it’s an Ammonite. The last pic is some sort of fin or wing maybe? It’s only 3 inches long. Thanks in advance.
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Can anyone identify this piece? Supposedly a fossil and from southern california, but I don't have it in hand so all I know. Ruler is in inches. Thanks!
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It's been awhile since I have posted here. Found on beach in San Francisco. Area has Merced deposit fossils, mostly marine sediments Pliocene-Pleistocene. I am assuming it's a bivalve of some sort. I have found similar fossils at this location. The unusual thing about this one is it has symmetrical grooves on both sides on one end. I will first post pictures to give an overview of the fossil and in the comments will post the area with the "grooves". I am having trouble attaching files. will try attaching in comments.
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I found this fossil in Thousand Oaks, Ventura County, California, USA. It was partially uncovered in soil located near the lowest point in a small canyon, definitely wouldn't call it a river bottom, but more like a seasonal drainage. Loose clay soil type. As you can see in the photos, it is a pretty substantial chunk of rock, with a smooth, enamel-like surface on the "top" that also appears to have (or previously had) protrusions like might be expected on a molar tooth. From a brief novice-level search effort, it looks somewhat similar to some mastodon molar images I was able to find online, but definitely not a confident match. The fact that the top surface is enamel-like is the reason that I'd guess it's some kind of tooth, otherwise it also loosely resembles some plant bulbs or root structures like ginger, turmeric, fennel, etc.
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Went for a walk down the shoreline in Huntington Beach, California the day after a storm and found this. I have a video of it on my instagram, is there a way to get it here so that it shall pass admin gates? Sorry for the crappy close up of the conical shaped shell at the bottom.
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Multiple new walruses described in this paper. https://phys.org/news/2020-11-paleontologists-uncover-species-extinct-walruses.html
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