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On The Importance Of Stratigraphic Control For Vertebrate Fossil Sites In Channel Islands National Park, California, Usa: Examples From New Mammuthus Finds On San Miguel Island, Jeffrey S. Pigati, Daniel R. Muhs, John P. Mcgeehin

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Quaternary vertebrate fossils, most notably mammoth remains, are relatively common on the northern Channel Islands of California. Well-preserved cranial, dental, and appendicular elements of Mammuthus exilis (pygmy mammoth) and Mammuthus columbi (Columbian mammoth) have been recovered from hundreds of localities on the islands during the past half-century or more. Despite this paleontological wealth, the geologic context of the fossils is described in the published literature only briefly or not at all, which has hampered the interpretation of associated 14C ages and reconstruction of past environmental conditions. We recently discovered a partial tusk, several large bones, and a tooth enamel plate …