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Fossil Hunting Vacation on the Scotia Bluffs
Popular with fossil collectors, rock hounds and geology buffs are the Scotia Bluffs that surround Rio Dell, a few miles to the south of Fortuna. Tall out-crops of shales, sandstone and mudstone are rich in fossils-marine animals deposited in an ancient bay 15 million years ago. The out-crops hold mostly specimens of mollusks (bivalves and gastropods), but other fossils have been found including some plants, turtles, sand dollars, starfish and agatized whale bone. On the southeast side of the Rio Dell/Scotia bridge there is an access point to the abandoned railroad tracks that lead to the bluffs.
In the area of the railroad bridge, big pelecypod mollusks that resemble the Shell Oil Company logo, can be found in the mudstone.
Enjoy Fossil Hunting Adventure!!
Whole specimens can be up to 9 inches across. Across the railroad bridge is an area that produces sand dollars and concretions which contain mollusks and other fossils.
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More Fossil Hunting Adventure at Pilot Point
Another popular fossil hunting spot is Pilot Point approximately 50 miles north of Fortuna, near Moonstone Beach. An exposure of fossil coquina on a steep and eroding cliff is productive of intact gastropods, other mollusks, sand dollars, huge barnacles, and the occasional mammal fossils including seal teeth. You can find fossils in the sand below the cliff and in the cliff face itself. |
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