NSRhunter Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Hi everyone. I'm planning to hit the Ernst Quarries in Bakersfield pretty soon as one of my Christmas presents and was wondering what do ya'll suggest I bring there in terms of equipment and what's the best method to collect teeth( screening or digging)? Thanks your help is much appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Bring screens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 And serious digging tools Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsessed1 Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Here is my checklist for when I collect there. Hope it helps, Good Luck! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Coming from TX, you might find the "superfluous" whale verts to be of interest. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 I agree with Dan. Um, I mean, Uncle Siphuncle. Lots of great mammal bones in that stuff in addition to the shark teeth. ...obsessed1... nice check list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSRhunter Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 Thanks all for your tips! I would've packed lots of gear but my mom wanted this to be a surprise so I only found out when I reached California. I've been hearing that a lot of folks have been having good success screening out in the flats but I was wondering if digging in the wall would be okay too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Both are productive. The thing with the flats is that you don't know right away if it has been dug yet and if you are digging in someone else's throwaway dirt. Dig for a while... if you find nothing, move to another spot. In the wall, you know are digging virgin rock, but it might be harder work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSRhunter Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 Hmm okay thanks so much! I think I might try and dig in the flats for a while and sieve and if there's nothing in a few holes then I'll move to the wall I heard the Slow Curve teeth are beautiful but fragile so I think I might try either west quarry or east quarry. How far down is the tooth layer or is it varying? Thanks so much for all your patience and answers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 At least the rains will help soften things up a bit on the wall. I prefer sifting myself, but "to each he's own". It really doesn't require a whole lot of tools to get some good stuff there, you just need to hit the areas that haven't already been dug (which sometimes isn't the easiest to find). I hear they have been doing quite well in the push piles as of late. Much easier to dig, just shovel in and sift. It really all depends on how wet the conditions are when you are there. Follow the weather reports, if it's been raining the day before you might end up going to Slow Curve, which means you may have to pretty much be hammering the walls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSRhunter Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 Oh ok thanks so much for the info Yes I'm hoping after the rain there might be some teeth laying exposed ready to be picked up. Also how do you suggest digging while not breaking teeth? Or is that just almost inevitable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Inevitable, but the bigger chunks/shovelfuls you can extract, the better your chances of unbrokitude. Usually you don't get a choice of which quarry to go to... you go where they bring the group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSRhunter Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 Okay thank you so much for your patience and answers I'll post a trip report after I hunt. Thanks so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleoc Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 I found several good teeth (including a seal lion tooth) just wandering around surface collecting. I also found chunks that had been discarded or pushed off by the bulldozer that I broke open with a rock hammer. I made my best find this way. I was about to whack another block with my hammer and at the last second, I decided to turn it over to look at the other side. On the other side was this, which would have been smashed had I hit the block. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSRhunter Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Thanks all for your suggestions. I was able to make it out to the Ernst Quarries for only half a day due to my flight leaving the same day and due to the rain we had to hunt Slow Curve. But still it was a blast and I found so much amazing stuff including my absolute favorite find of the day a bright orangey red Fire Zone planus. My mom also found a 2 1/8 inch hastalis( broken ) Surface collecting. The bulk of my finds were surface due to the huge amount of rain that we had in the area for the past two weeks. We also managed to find 3 broken Hemipristis, what I think is an Allodesmus tooth, a partial cow shark tooth, and several whale vertebrae and other misc. bone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSRhunter Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 More Pictures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Glad you had a successful trip, even at only half a day. Makes me want to go back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSRhunter Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 Glad you had a successful trip, even at only half a day. Makes me want to go back. Thanks! And thank you for the suggestions they really helped Yes I'm itching to go back. It just amazes me how rich that bonebed is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izak_ Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 I found several good teeth (including a seal lion tooth) just wandering around surface collecting. I also found chunks that had been discarded or pushed off by the bulldozer that I broke open with a rock hammer. I made my best find this way. I was about to whack another block with my hammer and at the last second, I decided to turn it over to look at the other side. On the other side was this, which would have been smashed had I hit the block. A tooth through bone…. WOW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 A tooth through bone…. WOW That is just the way they came to rest in the bone bed. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I agree with auspex... coincidence, not predatory action Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Yes, in the STH bonebed you can dig out something as solid as a large whale vertebra but then see that it looks like someone took a heavy-duty carpenter's plane to one side of it shearing off the surface and some underlying bone. It's a matter of some degree of transport plus continuing actions within the sediment before final deposition and compaction (like items of varying solidity sliding past or smashing into each other in a cement mixer). I have seen some bones that look like they survived enormous pressures. Teeth are very sturdy but you can see that the one in matrix had taken on some mineralization as it neared the brink of shattering under the weight of overlying sediments and impact from neighboring bones. Yet, you can also find something as delicate as a Hexanchus tooth as complete as it was when it fell out of the animal's mouth. That is just the way they came to rest in the bone bed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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