“A trove of 5- to 10-million-year-old fossils of prehistoric species was discovered” last summer in California by a water district forest ranger, the utility announced last week.
“Among the fossils were samples of species including a two-tusked mastodon, a four-tusked gomphothere, rhinoceros, camel, horse, fish, bird, tortoise, and tapir. The EBMUD said others are still to be identified,” a local TV station reported on Friday, May 21, 2021 (story here).
While on routine patrol, the ranger spotted petrified wood sticking out of the ground, and further investigation revealed a forest of more than 600 petrified trees.
Digging by paleontologists then uncovered the fossilized remains of large animals that once roamed the area, which is in the Sierra foothills east of Stockton.
The river area near where the fossils were found is figured prominently in the California Gold Rush, and is now a popular recreation area. The fossils have been there for millions of years, undisturbed until the ranger found the site. Now, the public is being kept away to prevent scavenging and site destruction.
The concentration of fossils “point to the area once being made up of multiple river channels with an abundant and diverse grassland and forested ecosystem,” the utility said. The EBMUD said new research also suggests the Sierra Nevada “began to rise tens of millions of years ago, and these fossils represent a significant bookmark in that story millions of years in the making.”
For more photos, see the Daily Mail story here.
Photo: Mastodon tusks from the site