5.7" Fossil Sea Lion (Allodesmus) Lower Jaw Section - Bakersfield, CA

Fossil Sea Lion (Allodesmus) Lower Jaw Section - Bakersfield, CA #143892

This is a 5.7" long Allodesmus kernensis mandible (lower jaw - right side) section from Shark Tooth Hill near Kern County, California. It still contains the original canine tooth within the jaw. There are repaired cracks through both the jaw and tooth. Allodesmus is an extinct genus of pinniped (Sea Lion) from the Miocene.

It comes with an acrylic display stand.

Sharktooth Hill is located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Bakersfield, California. It represents an exposure of the Temblor Formation, a middle-Miocene marine deposit. 15 million years ago the sea levels were substantially higher, and central California was covered by what is known as the Temblor Sea.

Two highly fossiliferous bone beds in the formation were created when fossils originally deposited at the bottom of the sea eroded out of the rocks, were concentrated by ocean currents, and subsequently reburied. Because the fossils in these bone beds are reworked, only isolated teeth and bones are found in these beds.

Today, the original Sharktooth Hill is a National Natural Landmark, but private property surrounding it contains operational pay-to-dig fossil quarries.