Storms Expose Rare Fossils On Pacific Coast Beaches
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The storms that struck California this month has uncovered fossils on beaches and mountains along the Pacific Coast that date back anywhere from 5,000 to 10 million years.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports the heavy rain, wind and runoff eroded coastal bluffs and mountains and exposed the fossils.
A marine biologist found an extremely rare meglodon tooth on a Santa Cruz beach that could be 10 million years old. Meglodons were massive great white shark of its era.
Other finds include the tooth of an extinct animal that was similar to a hippopotamus, and a bison tooth that lived about 5,000 years ago.
One scientist says a blend of volcanic events, sea level fluctuations and geologic uplifting could have led to the discoveries of the fossils.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.