The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that researchers discovered two sites at a high school where fossils including saber-toothed salmon and megalodons were found. The sites contain an 8.7-million-year-old Miocene bone bed and a 120,000-year-old Pleistocene shell bed, the researchers wrote. The Guardian.
The footage, published by the American press, shows the vertebrae and ribs of an extinct species of dolphin, the jawbone of a saber-toothed salmon, and the fossils of hundreds of vertebrae of small fish.
Prehistoric Discoveries! During a renovation project at San Pedro High School, millions of prehistoric fossils dating back 9 million years were discovered. 🦴🔎
Fossils found beneath the campus include whales, fish, and megalodon sharks! 🦈 https://t.co/nIMfkq4NE9 pic.twitter.com/H8ARX7fcI9
– ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) September 11, 2024
Richard Biehl, a geologist at California State University, told the Los Angeles Times that researchers are studying the chemical and mineral composition of the fossils. The Miocene fossils were covered in diatomite, a sedimentary rock made up of the fossilized skeletal remains of single-celled aquatic algae, Biehl said. According to Biehl, the diatomaceous earth suggests that the area was once rich in algae, which supported a rich ecosystem of diverse marine life.
“All of this evidence will help future researchers piece together what the ecosystem looked like about nine million years ago,” added Wayne Bischoff, director of cultural resources at Invicom.
“There was an undersea channel that was moving material from the shallows down into the depths, and there was volcanic activity nearby,” said Austin Hendy, assistant curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. “It was a huge surprise to everyone when they started digging these trenches to uncover these fish fossils.”
Follow the index on Facebook too!
