Places like the Hell Creek Formation in Montana and the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles echo famous prehistoric discoveries. But at the bottom of a sinkhole near the small Florida town of Bell in Gilchrist County lies the richest Early Miocene vertebrate fossil locality in the world, known as Thomas
of an unidentified species discovered in the clay sediment
Contrary to previous evidence, a new Florida Museum of Natural History study shows the Isthmus of Panama was most likely formed by the Central American Peninsula colliding slowly with the South American continent through tectonic plate movement over millions of years. The study, co-authored by Fl
Jones (left) and Bruce MacFadden examine fossils and sediment
Our 2009 volunteer fossil dig was at the famous Miocene site Thomas Farm in rural Gilchrist County, Florida. It ran from October 24 through November 24. Despite a couple of rained-out days near the end which limited us to 18 working days, we had a great response from the public, with 115 different p
resulted in an estimated four tons of fossil-bearing sediment
Miami residents dodging sea-water spewing manhole covers take note: You’re not the first Floridians to deal with climate change. That honor belongs to the state’s earliest residents, some of whom faced the problem 2,000 years ago and quickly learned how to adapt, a new University of Florida s
Ayvaz, and researcher Paulette McFadden collect a sediment
Shell is thick, strongly inflated, and with a low spire. Sculpture consists of widely spaced axial (parallel to growth lines) grooves. Umbilicus is very wide, but partly obscured by the callus (lobe shape). Size: 25-35 mm. Ecology: inhabits shallow-offshore marine (10-100 m) waters, plowing thro
marine (10-100 m) waters, plowing through sand near sediment
Researchers picking through the contents of fossil clams from a Sarasota County quarry found dozens of tiny glass beads, likely the calling cards of an ancient meteorite. Analysis of the beads suggests they are microtektites, particles that form when the explosive impact of an extraterrestrial ob
They pried open fossil clams, washing the sediment
Day One: Saturday, February 10th My first visit at the Montbrook site began with clearing out clay deposits that settled inside of the site after a heavy rain a few weeks ago. The rain delayed the process of recovering a large elephant jawbone; therefore it was essential to continue with this proje
The sediment surrounding this site contains substances
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated 190 miles of streams and rivers in Florida and Georgia as critical habitat for a rare species of freshwater mussel once thought to be extinct. The new ruling, which went into effect Aug. 2, outlines protective measures for the Suwannee moccasinshell,
find them, biologists have to slowly sift through sediment
Evidence from a study led by the Florida Museum of Natural History confirms that the carnivorous, seven-foot-tall „terror bird“ likely arrived in North America from South America several million years before a land bridge connected the two continents. Previously, scientists assumed the 330-pound, fl
rivers age, flowing water incises down into underlying sediment
By Gary Morgan | PCP PIRE Principal Investigator The PCP PIRE team includes a large number of paleontologists, geologists and biologists whose interests span a wide variety of disciplines. One of the more obscure of these disciplines is the study of small vertebrates, also called microvertebrat
The remaining sediment concentrate is dried in the
