| That reddish-brown limestone at top of image is the same "small" patch one sees at the base of the mountain from Towne Pass, Death Valley National Park, Inyo County, California. It's roughly three quarters of a mile from the parking spot at Towne Pass along State Route 190. The rubble accumulation here is composed of limestone chunks weathered out from exposures of the Lower Mississippian Tin Mountain Limestone higher up the slopes. Here can be observed numerous quality invertebrate animal fossils--including corals, brachiopods, crinoids, and bryozoans. Before Death Valley became a national park in 1994, the locality existed outside of Death Valley National Monument on Bureau of Land Management (BLM)-administered public lands and was wide open for hobby collecting of reasonable amounts of common invertebrate fossils. This photograph, by the way, was originally snapped with a Minolta 35mm camera. |