A New Miocene Mammalian Fauna from the Caliente Mountains, California

Citation

Dougherty, Jack Francis (1939) A New Miocene Mammalian Fauna from the Caliente Mountains, California. Master's thesis, California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/MDWC-D826. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:03052010-150906804

Abstract

Fossil mammalian remains from the Caliente Mountain region, San Luis Obispo County, California, were first found by John B. Stevens in 1928 in red beds associated with basalt flows near Padrones Spring. The material, fragments of a merycodont jaw, was presented to the California Institute at that time. The importance of the Caliente Mountain marine section is emphasized by Reed and Hollister in their discussion of the Caliente Miocene. As recognized by Reed and Hollister, “The great difference in facies of these beds permits the determination of the interrelation of mammalian, mollusk, and foraminiferal zones, a task that is not easy in many districts.” The present study was undertaken, therefore, with a view to obtaining a mammalian fauna from the region and establishing its relationships to the Miocene molluscan and foraminiferal zones. It is hoped also that such a study might bring out more clearly the relationships of the invertebrate and vertebrate time scales for at least this stage of the Miocene.

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