archaeocetology is the study of primitive/extinct whales. i was talking with a fellow traveler the other day who told me of his previous work in the field of marine paleontology. he spoke of an area off the coast of florida, somewhere south of the tampa bay area. somewhere, at depths sufficiently shallow as to allow diving, is the relict streambed of a river flooded during the sea level rise at the end of the pleistocene. collected in this channel are layers of fossiliferous stone. most pertinent to this post are the deposits which yield the silicified remains of the ancestors of todays cetaceans. as a former scuba enthusiast, and recent convert to the rockhound way, i am fully intrigued by these salty tales.
