Ant Hill-Bakersfield, CA
Sat. 10am
This will be a co-op field trip Conejo
Gem & Mineral Club, Tri-clubs, and CFMS
Our December field trip will be to the Ant Hill area, near Bakersfield
California. Come out for a fun day of digging for shark teeth fossils, the
weather should be nice, cool. The dig site is a walk of 500 yards over semi
flat ground, then up a hill 100 yards. Once there most of the time you'll be
digging in small area. This time of the year there is always the chance of
rain, bring the necessary clothing. If it is raining, we won’t be digging.
When: December, 2010, Saturday, 10am-3pm.
Distance: Ant Hill is 136 miles from my house in Thousand Oaks, drive
time 2 to 2.5 hours.
Tools: Rock pick/hammer, gad pry bar, hand sledge, sifter, large pry
bar, shovel, pick, eye protection, newspaper to wrap your fossils in,
collecting bags, wide brimmed hat, suntan lotion, lots of water, lunch, There
is no shade morning, afternoon, and it can be hot, but it will probably be
cool, so dress accordingly, layers. I would recommend a day pack, to put your
tools in. It’s a bit of a walk and it will be easier carrying your
gear.
Material to Collect: Shark teeth fossils, many types, sizes, from the
Miocene Epoch 10-15 millions years ago. There are
other fossils, bone fragments, teeth to be found. The fossils are found
in a layer about 3', you will see the exposed holes from previous digs. They
are in a semi soft clay that you will dig out the biggest pieces you can, then
carefully break apart to find the fossils. I usually use a gad pry bar to dig
out bigger pieces of the clay, about golf ball to baseball size or so, If I see
any sign of a shark tooth or fossil, I’ll wrap it into newspaper and later I
will use dental tools or dremel motor tool to remove
the clay to reveal the tooth. I keep some of the teeth still in the matrix, it
makes a nice display. The
main thing is patience when working with fossils.
Contact: Robert Sankovich 805-494-7734 home,
rmsorca@adelphia.net Mike
Miller 805-498-9586 rockfmdr@aol.com
CFMS: Adam Dean 909-489-4899 theagatehunter@verizon.net
Shep Koss 661-248-0411 freudonetoo@yahoo.com