devonmassyn Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 (edited) Hi there, Recently we discovered this fossil embedded in a rock on the shoreline in Southern California (Los Angeles County). It seems to vertebrae from something...any ideas? Edited January 27, 2015 by devonmassyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyc Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Can't help w/ id. But I'd sure find a way to bring that slab home! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cole Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 That is all kinds of awesome! Can't wait to hear what the experts have to say. I'm sure there is more inside the rock. This needs to be rescued! Cole~ Knowledge has three degrees-opinion, science, illumination. The means or instrument of the first is sense; of the second, dialectic; of the third, intuition. Plotinus 204 or 205 C.E., Egyptian Philosopher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Wow... you've got a fin there. I don't know the geology of the area, but it could be a seal or whale if it Miocene, which I think a lot of the CA coast is. If it is older it could be a marine reptile. Bobby....? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustPlainPetrified Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Oh WOW! As stated above, find a way to take the entire slab home. Way to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 I agree, these look more like flipper bones: for comparison Great find! Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaleoWilliam Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Nice find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truceburner Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Nice first post, Devon! Welcome to the forum. Cool find. This will be a fun thread to follow - thanks for sharing. Someone will be along soon to help solve the mystery. I'll be . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
izak_ Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 (edited) Wow. Just wow. That is AWESOME! It does look like fin bones, I agree. I am definitely following this topic! THIS ROCK 'DOES' NEED TO BE SAVED! Oh, BTW Welcome to TFF!!!! Edited January 28, 2015 by izak_ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowgirlfossils Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Great find!! Where is it located? Big county...closer to beach or desert? Would be good to pin down time period.... we are Ventura County... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Very nice! I would contact a museum with pictures in-hand and see if they have interest. ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devonmassyn Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Thanks for all the replies! I'll contact LA Natural History Museum to see if they have any interest. It's too large to move. It's located right on the shoreline in the Southern End of the county. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Wise choice.. this looks good enough to get the LACM involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhw Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 I live in So. Cal. also. Whale bone fossils in the rocks along the coast are not uncommon, but this one's a beauty! Does look more Cetacean than Pinniped to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plax Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 is that native rock or rip rap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devonmassyn Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 native rock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devonmassyn Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Heard back from NHMLA ... they are very interested in the specimen as the smaller bones look like the flipper bones of a dolphin, but the longer bones look like the flipper bones of a sea lion. I'll take them out to see it in a few weeks and i'll keep you posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plax Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 wow! our neogene rocks are never indurated like that. I took it for mesozoic limestone that had perhaps been quarried inland and used as rip rap to prevent erosion. Learn something new every day... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 wow! our neogene rocks are never indurated like that. I took it for mesozoic limestone that had perhaps been quarried inland and used as rip rap to prevent erosion. Learn something new every day... Many concretions (very well indurated) at Shark Tooth Hill have mammal bones in them. Yes, the primary STH matrix is pretty soft, but there are those concretions.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plax Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 understood, but that doesn't look like a concretion. I see laminated limestone but again this is only a guess and I have 0 experience with west coast fossils and fossiling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 It's a fossil pinniped - I've just emailed this along to Dr. Jorge Velez-Juarbe, the curator of marine mammals at NHMLA (but it looks like someone else has already done that). The elements to the top of the photo are probably pinniped metatarsals, whereas the string of articulated elements appears to be the caudal series of vertebrae of a pinniped, and are almost certainly associated. Plax: many of our units on the west coast have laterally extensive cemented horizons that erode out as large tabular slabs. Other sections of rock will have three-dimensionally isolated spherical concretions of the "classic" variety. Likewise, many of the marine rocks on the west coast are far thicker, and often jointed and more indurated with respect to the relatively thin packages of rock on the east coast. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plax Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 thanks Boesse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy jasper Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 If this was a human (that's what I x-rayed). Rt. hand AP (palm up) #1,2 (base of thumb and forefinger), then your little pinky (#5) may be near the thoracics. (see kyphosis). Please understand this is merely a guess. (and my 1st). Best of luck, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 If this was a human (that's what I x-rayed). Rt. hand AP (palm up) #1,2 (base of thumb and forefinger), then your little pinky (#5) may be near the thoracics. (see kyphosis). Please understand this is merely a guess. (and my 1st). Best of luck, I do not want to start an argument, but are you suggesting these are humanoid fossils? Or are you merely entertaining an observation of the similarities between the anatomy of the different species? ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Er, no, I hope he's not saying they're human fossils - hypothetically, based on his knowledge, that's what element they would be. But they're not: they're hindflipper elements and caudal vertebrae of an extinct seal or walrus. The lithology, preservation, and location are suggestive of rocks of the Monterey Formation, perhaps the Altamira Shale member, which is middle Miocene in age and produces articulated and associated skeletons of marine mammals. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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