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Hello All, This is my first time posting here, so I hope I'm doing this right. I did my best to crop the pictures I have and hope I've included what's needed. During our annual Thanksgiving trip, a friend of mine found what appears to be a large whale vertebrae on 11/26/22 in the Monterey Bay Area, between Seacliff Beach and New Brighton Beach in Aptos. Based on the known sea mammals that pass through these parts and a quick Google search, it looks to be a Humpback vertebrate, but there’s also the Blue Whale, Gray Whale, Fin Whale and Killer Whale. My guess is a Humpback, but that's just a hunch. It was found about 8-10” under the sand, just after high tide. At first, he thought it might be a tree stump or part of an anchor. It was pretty far up the beach, closer to the walkway than the beach water. The surrounding sand was damp and the bone still needs to dry since it’s been under water/wet sand for who knows how long(?). There is a gift shop nearby and they have fossilized bones, including one that’s a humpback vertebrae and it’s a lot smaller than the one found. It did say in the visitors center that these fossils have been found in the area that date back 2-5 million years. It seems improbable in my mind that this found one is anywhere near that old, but I’m a complete newbie to this. Thankfully, this forum looks like the ideal place to ask these questions. Is there a way to tell either how old or large the whale was, based off this information? Also, is there a particular method used to dry these out and get it back to its natural ivory color? I read that leaving it in the sun will bleach it, but I’m assuming that takes a while to do. Here are the measurements and pictures. If more specific pictures need to be added, let me know and I'll have them snap what's needed. Widest point: ~21” (side to side) Diameter of center: ~13.5-14” (one side is a little wider than the other) Depth: ~9.5-10” Thank you all in advance, Jason

I found this on a beach near Monterey Bay. (First image) At first I thought it was a rusted metal piece of something. But then I looked more closely, and I wonder whether it is a stigmaria, possibly from a lycophyte. The second image is a closeup of a portion of the first image. On the other side, I peeled away an overlying layer and exposed 5 more of the possible stigmara. (Third image) They appear somewhat hexagonal, though you may not be able to see it in the image. Finally, the fourth image is a closeup of one of the protrusions on the third image. There appears to be a pattern of tiny divots on it.

Below is a very interesting talk about tsunamis and how they are created. One quite interesting point that came up during the lecture and questions is that asteroid and meteorite impact are quite ineffective at creating tsunamis and the tsunamis threat from them has been greatly overestimated and the impact tsunamis shown in popular films is quite overexaggerated. Unusual Sources of Tsunamis From Krakatoa to Monterey Bay USGS 2017 January Evening Public Lecture, Eric Geist by Eric Geist, USGS Research Geophysicist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSHBvb_QHrU Other very interesting USGS talks include: The Giant Cascadia Earthquake of January 26, 1700 July Evening Public Lecture 2015 Justin Rubinstein, USGS Research Geophysicist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiojgMBQPBM Underwater Secrets of the Hayward Fault Zone: Integrated 3D imaging to understand earthquake hazards USGS 2017 May Evening Public Lecture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaQVGOg6YMM The Cascadia talk discusses how subfossil trees were used to date the age of the last Cascadia Earthquake and tsunami. Yours, Paul H.