The foot-long geology rock hammer gives perspective to a characteristic outcrop of rather massive sandstones in the Middle Eocene Ione Formation, Ione Basin, observed in the neighborhood of The Discovery site--so-named because that's the specific locality where I first found fossil plants in the Ione Basin back on July 21, 1991. This particular geologic exposure is unfossiliferous, but does show quite nicely a common kind of rock lithology one often encounters in the Ione Formation of the Ione Basin. Image taken on March 11, 2004.

Please note: All fossil localities in the Ione Formation of Amador County, California, presently occur on private property; explicit permission from the land owners must be secured before collecting fossils there.