Paleontological Resources of Monterey County, California, 2001

This point shapefile depicts paleontological resources within Monterey County, California. Fossils provide important evidence to help determine what happened in Earth history and when it happened. Today the animals and plants that live in the ocean are very different from those that live on land, and the animals and plants that live in one part of the ocean or on one part of the land are very different from those in other parts. Similarly, fossil animals and plants from different environments are different. It becomes a challenge to recognize rocks of the same age when one rock was deposited on land and another was deposited in the deep ocean. Scientists must study the fossils from a variety of environments to build a complete picture of the animals and plants that were living at a particular time in the past (Edwards and Pojeta, 1999). Because fossils are so useful to science, they need to be considered a resource and properly managed. The purpose of this database is to provide information on the type of fossil and the location so that these fossils may be preserved for science. This layer is presented in the WGS84 coordinate system for web display purposes. Downloadable data are provided in native coordinate system or projection.