Part VI. Fish Fauna from the Diatomaceous Earth Deposits at Lompoc, California

Abstract

The well-known marine Miocene deposits of almost pure diatomaceous earth at Lompoc in the Santa Maria Basin, California, are among the largest of their kind. Quarrying in these sediments for more than 30 years has disclosed megafossils, the majority of which are fish fossils. In earlier years the number of well-preserved specimens collected was much greater than it is today, since all the work was done with handpicks. At present much of it is accomplished with machinery, and handpicks are used to some extent in only one quarry. Two dozen or more specimens are uncovered now in a year, considerably less than that obtained in former years. A large percentage of this material is made available for scientific study. Many specimens were given to the late Doctor David Starr Jordan and deposited in the collections of Stanford University. Jordan and his assistants were able to select desirable specimens among the large number available at that time at the plant. The Stanford Museum collection contains approximately 250 numbered specimens indicative of the large variety of species known to occur at Lompoc. Not all the fish fossils seen by Jordan are preserved in the collection. After Jordan’s death no further materials were systematically collected by scientists at Lompoc. Quantities of material were given away to the public since that time. Many specimens were framed and sent to customers for publicity purposes. No record of this material exists.