Having almost finished at the locality in the bay we headed inland, to look at additional exposures of the early Miocene Isidro Formation. We went to an area called Mesa El Aguaje. There we could see the Isidro Formation (the light colored units) overlain by the volcanics of the Esperanza Basalt (the dark colored rock over the Isidro).
Its hard to decide where to look for fossils when there are such extensive outcrop. So we decided to go along a dry riverbed, where on the sides we could see the exposures of the Isidro. At one point we saw some bones, so we started to dig.
Our efforts paid well, we found a fragment of mysticete jaw and part of a pinniped forelimb and many shark teeth. If you click on the picture for the larger version you can see where we were digging.
For now we're done at this locality as we still have to go to La Purísima to look for the type locality of
Dioplotherium allisoni. So, stay tuned!!
For past entries of this series:
Dispatches from the field: Baja California, Pt. 1
Dispatches from the field: Baja California, Pt. 2
Dispatches from the field: Baja California, Pt. 3
Dispatches from the field: Baja California, Pt. 3.5
Fieldwork in Baja California was made possible through an NSF EAR grant to D. P. Domning & L. G. Barnes. The text in these posts reflect my own opinion and not those of the granting agency or institutions to which I’m affiliated.
1 comment:
That's a cute little pinniped radius! I hope to see more pictures when some of this material is prepared! How exciting - Baja has really produced some interesting and beautiful fossils in the past. It's good to see someone doing more fieldwork there.
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