Pleistocene+Fossils

Local Earth History:

The day before spring break I learned from Ranger Lorna that our local park has fossils. Because of this we hiked back to some strata of the Pleistocene Epoch in the Pinto Basin. Below are photos of what we observed. (We hope to return and visit these items again in the fall.)

Pleistocene = Camels, dire wolves, and giant sloths oh my.

How does one determine if an item on the ground is a fossil or not?

Lesson being imparted: Fossils shouldn't be unburried. If the fossil is in or studk to the ground it should not be moved. Information about a fossil is lost if they are detached from the ground. Buried fossils must remain so. If totally loose fossils are picked up, they should be returned to their exact original position.

In the picture above I was identifying this specimen "in situ" to ascertain if it was a fossil. My wife and I learned from a ranger in Dinosaur provincial park how to identify fossil bone. We learned that the tongue will tightly stick to fossil bone due to its structure. This technigue is slightly reminiscent of touching ones tongue to subfreezing metal without the loss of skin.

Above: All-terrain Pleistocene exploration vehicles with sippy cup holders. Draft parents for support and propulsion not included, but the smell of draft animals comes with use.

Our search end here in the Pinto Basin.

Some of the first petrified bone chips we found.

The roundish shape on the right side of this fossil kind of look the end of a bone.



This felt like stone, but I wasn't about to lick it. I couldn't get Deb to lick it either.













Turtle shell would be my guess.

Not a fossil. Might be a fulgurite. Not a fossil. Possibly fulgurites. Possibly someones marker.

lear Crystal observed. Little cutie.

Rock formations that bring climbers. http://www.nps.gov/jotr/naturescience/geologicformations.htm http://digital-desert.com/joshua-tree-national-park/rockpiles.html []