Geology: Inyo County, containing many elevation extremes, has the highest summit in the continental US (Mt. Whitney), and the lowest area in the Northern Hemisphere (Badwater Basin). The canyon is especially perfect for fossil hunting because it drains the water from a large portion of the Inyo Mountains, causing the water to cut a canyon and expose layers of fossils.
Paleontology: Well preserved Paleozoic invertebrate fossils, some 485 to 415 million years old, can be found in the canyon.
Blue Green Algae is commonly found.
So are horn coral.
Works Cited (Highly Recommended to Find More Information) :
“Paleozoic Era Fossils at Mazourka Canyon, Inyo County, California”, http://inyo2.coffeecup.com/mazourkacanyon/mazourka.html
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Hey there! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I truly enjoy reading through your blog posts. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same topics? Thanks for your time!
Absolutely! You can find more fossil databases here:
https://californiafossils.org/learn/
Hi there, do you have any futher info on fossil locations within the canyon itself? In particular the graptolites? We went once and struck out, looking at the geology it didn’t seem right… we’re looking to head out soon (if not snowed in) and check out another area (just before the road gets onto Badger Flat). Any tips would be much appreciated, thanks!