| A seeker of fossil plants gets down to business. Here, the view is northeastward in the midst of the fossil-bearing middle Miocene Middlegate Formation, which produces 64 species of wonderfully preserved plant compressions and impressions. The thin to thick-bedded cream white to pale-brownish opaline shales split easily along their original planes of deposition to yield up a veritable treasure-trove of fossil leaves, winged seeds, twigs, acorn cups, seed pods, and conifer needles. |