Also known as 45/1 site, Monocline Ridge assemblage (non-marine)

Where: Fresno County, California (36.5° N, 120.6° W: paleocoordinates 35.8° N, 115.9° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: Temblor Formation, Early/Lower Barstovian to Early/Lower Barstovian (16.3 - 12.5 Ma)

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; sandstone

Size class: macrofossils

Reposited in the UCMP

Collection methods: bulk, quarrying, surface (in situ), sieve

• From Zaborsky 2004: "The entire length of the bonebed was divided into one (1) meter segments (approximately 3.3’), numbered from west to east. Because initial testing of the bonebed indicated that it was more than a meter wide in some places, each meter segment of length was divided into a northeast square meter ‘A’ and a southwest square meter ‘B’.

•Probing of fill at the east end of the pad revealed the original east edge of the hill, as indicated by buried rooted vegetation. Systematic excavation of the bonebed began at that end and proceeded westward. The original plan was fashioned in the manner of excavations typical of fairly flat-lying strata. The 6” (15.2 cm) depth would be excavated in three 2” (5.1 cm) deep intervals. Many of the larger bones penetrated all three artificial intervals because of the dip of the strata, and that approach soon was found to be infeasible. The more natural approach was to work through bedding planes, and thus excavation of a square meter was executed from north to south or vice-versa. Positions of identifiable fossils were mapped, one meter square per page. Orientations of long bones and flat bones were determined with a Brunton compass and recorded. Well- defined stratigraphic contacts, presence or absence of clay pebbles, and presence of caliche and opal were also recorded.

•Digital photographs were taken of important features and of excavated and swept quarry floors. Each identifiable fossil was assigned a number and placed in an appropriate container (plastic film canister, ziplock bag, etc.) with that number (Figure 3). Cyanoacrilate was the primary preservative used during the excavation. White glue was employed for hardening of some large and porous blocks of sediment. When dense

•accumulations of bones were encountered, they were removed in plaster jackets and later dismantled elsewhere in order to minimize the time spent on the pad. A gasoline- powered electric generator was employed to power a diamond saw and an air compressor and pneumatic jackhammer when necessary. The sediments excavated from each square were saved in plastic containers. Each container bore the number of the square, and these were set aside for future screening and picking."

Primary reference: T. S. Kelly and J. D. Stewart. 2008. New Records of Middle and Late Miocene Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla From the Western Border of the San Joaquin Valley, Diablo Range, Fresno County, California. Contributions to Science, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County 516:1-29 [J. Marcot/J. Marcot]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 156738: authorized by Jonathan Marcot, entered by Jonathan Marcot on 30.05.2014

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)