Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
Paleontology Photo by Ernie Cowan - Anza Borrego Photography Institute
Paleontology Photo by Ernie Cowan - Anza Borrego Photography Institute
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1 MYA LATE SPRING
| The Setting The Current Environment The Animals The Fossils |
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| In our final paleolandscape, artist John Francis depicts the drier brushy savanna with Lake Borrego, the streams and riparian forest in the background. The mountains are being uplifted and a rain shadow is forming. For a more detailed description of the history of paleontology and geology in the Anza-Borrego State Park see, "Fossil Treasures of the Anza Borrego Desert", George T Jefferson and Lowell Lindsay, editors, Sunbelt Publications, San Diego California, 2006. |
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| The Setting What the rocks tell us: Tufa Deposited along lake margins From mineral rich alkaline water Marks the shoreline of Lake Borrego Biotite Mica rich mineral Erodes into flat thin fragile sheets Presence in sediments indicates local rock source Volcanic Ash Can dated using radiometric methods Closely spaced ash layers are in the Borrego Badlands Bishop Ash is dated at 0.78 ma |
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| Current Environment From the ABDSP Visitors Center overlook, the Santa Rosa Mountains and Font's Point have been lifted up, changing the Borrego Valley.
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| The Animals In our paleolandscape we see: 1. Red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) 2. Southern Mammoth, extinct (Mammuthus meridionalis) 3. Columbian Mammoth, extinct (Mammuthus columbi) 4. Llama, extinct (Hemiauchenia sp.) 6. Wolf coyote (Canis priscolatrans) 7. Coachwhip snake (Masticophis flagellum) 8. California quail (Callipepla californica) 9. Rattlesnake (Crotalus sp.) 10. Ground squirrel (Spermophilus sp.) 11. Scott's horse, extinct (Equus scotti) 12. Crowned leopard lizard (Gambelia corona) 13. Mohave Yucca (Yucca schidigera) |
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The Fossils
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