Re-Located To Paso Robles, Ca From Va & I'm Looking For Fossil Friends

[ToothHunter76]

I just moved to the central coast of California and I am looking for people to fossil hunt with. I have already been playing at the beaches collecting jade and other interesting minerals but I am ready to get back to my true passion. Finding rocks that used to be something else

If there is anyone locally that would like to have a fossil hunting buddy or if someone knows a local fossil hunting group that they could point me in the direction of it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[siteseer]

ToothHunter76,

Welcome to California. I have a couple of fossil sea urchins that were collected by a geologist a few decades ago, so I don't know the present situation with the localities, but as a starting point in your prospecting, consider the following:

"Hwy 58 (road to Santa Margarita) west of Santa Margarita, San Luis Obispo County, CA." I have a large Astrodapsis (3-inch diameter, big for the genus) from there. It is orange against an offwhite matrix that is a well-cemented sandstone with larger particles in it like a conglomerate but with pebbles no bigger than a pea. I saw some Astrodapsis like this for sale at shows in southern California in the 90's.

"Pine Mountain, east of Hwy 33, road from Ventura to Cuyama Valley, south of Pine Mountain summit." Late Miocene Santa Margarita Fm. small sea urchins of the species Astrodapsis tumidus.

You might consult this for more localities:

Hall, C.A. 1962

Evolution of the Echinoid Genus Astrodapsis. Calif. Univ. Pub. Geol. Sci. Bull., Vol. 40, No.2.

I know that pub is at the USGS in Menlo Park (just north of Palo Alto). It would be worth it to you to do some further research there.

Good luck.

[hunterdoug]

I just moved to the central coast of California and I am looking for people to fossil hunt with. I have already been playing at the beaches collecting jade and other interesting minerals but I am ready to get back to my true passion. Finding rocks that used to be something else

If there is anyone locally that would like to have a fossil hunting buddy or if someone knows a local fossil hunting group that they could point me in the direction of it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hi, I'm also looking for someone to fossil hunt with in Northern California, let me know if you want to set something up anytime, thanks, Doug