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Come along on a cyber-adventure and visit a famous and scientifically important fossil locality on California's Mojave Desert--the widespread and often badlands-forming Manix Formation, a sedimentary deposit of clays, silts and sands that accumulated in late Pleistocene Lake Manix some 450 to 18 thousand years ago; today, the Manix Formation yields a wonderful diversity of paleontologically significant Pleistocene remains: ostracodes (a minute bivalve crustacean), freshwater gastropods, freshwater pelecypods, fish bones from the Tui Mojave Chub and Three-spine stickleback, a western pond turtle, and nearly 50 species of mammals and birds, most of which have also been recovered from the world-famous late Pleistocene La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California. So, step back in time to a lush late Pleistocene landscape of water and green and abundant animal life, a place where mammoths, dire wolves and scimitar cats once thrived in what is today a place of true desert. Please note, though, that collecting fossils of any kind--vertebrate or invertebrate--from the Upper Pleistocene Manix Formation is not allowed, except by special permit from the Bureau of Land Management; such a special use permit is issued only to qualified scientists with a degree from either an accredited university or a museum. And now for the obligatory words of caution. Endemic to the Mojave Desert of California, including the Las Vegas, Nevada, region by the way, is Valley Fever. This is a potentially serious illness called, scientifically, Coccidioidomycosis, or "coccy" for short; it's caused by the inhalation of an infectious airborne fungus whose spores lie dormant in the uncultivated, harsh alkaline soils of the Mojave Desert. When an unsuspecting and susceptible individual breaths the spores into his or her lungs, the fungus springs to life, as it prefers the moist, dark recesses of the human lungs (cats, dogs, rodents and even snakes, among other vertebrates, are also susceptible to "coccy") to multiply and be happy. Most cases of active Valley Fever resemble a minor touch of the flu, though the majority of those exposed show absolutely no symptoms of any kind of illness; it is important to note, of course, that in rather rare instances Valley Fever can progress to a severe and serious infection, causing high fever, chills, unending fatigue, rapid weight loss, inflammation of the joints, meningitis, pneumonia and even death. Every fossil prospector who chooses to visit the Mojave Desert must be fully aware of the risks involved. |
| Please Note: This site is best viewed with the following configurations: monitor screen size--15 or 17 inches (a few of the fossil images will likely overlap the width of the screen on a 13 inch monitor); 32 bit true color (everything will appear washed-out in 16 bit High Color mode); resolution--1024 by 768 pixels (minimum acceptable resolution--800 by 600 pixels); Internet Explorer 5.0 and above, or Netscape 4.7 and above. Also, folks using AOL's home-brewed browser must get out of the default "Compressed Graphics" mode, which causes images to appear blurry and degraded in quality. To remedy this, in AOL 7.0 at least, go to Settings at the top of the screen and click on Preferences; choose the option Internet Properties (WWW) and click on Web Graphics up at the top right; now, check the option "Never Compress Graphics" and click "OK"; close down AOL and restart your computer. |
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Several folks to happily thank |
Late Pleistocene geography |
Visit ancient Lake Manix |
A collection of Manix images |
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Artistic renderings of critters |
Excavating A Fossil Camel Bone It walked the ancient shores |
The entire listing of fossils |
Fossil Birds Of Manix Lake |
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Another virtual perspective |
Explore the Pleistocene Epoch |
Visit my other fossil pages |
Contact me in cyberspace |
| Please Note that all of the fossils shown here were collected before the Bureau of Land Management placed the Manix Formation into a special Area Of Critical Environmental Concern; today, one must first secure a special use permit from the BLM to collect fossils from the Manix Formation. |
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Fossil Fish Bones (Tui Mojave Chub)
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Fossil Freshwater Mollusks
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Fossil Mammal Bones
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Fossil Bird Bones
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