Miocene Kern:
When an Ocean Covered the County
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During a good part of the Miocene Epoch of the Tertiary Period, which lasted approximately eighteen million yearsf(rom roughly 23,000,000 years ago to about five million years ago), the area Kern County occupies today was under the sea. Microscopic marine organisms lived and died for millions of years, sinking to the bottom after death. They were covered by later sediments, and over time heat converted their soft parts into drops of oil. The diatomaceous shale in which their oil is trapped now lies below other layers of rock, including sand, gravel, and clay deposited by streams and rivers after Kern County emerged as dry land.
For further information see the Geology of the McKittrick Tar Pits by the San Joaquin Geological Society (1998). More extensive exploration of the fossils and geology of the Miocene Epoch in Kern can begin at the U.C., Berkeley website starting with Localities of the Miocene: The Monterey Formation of California.
The Kern County Virtual History Tour continues with Ice Age Kern.
Miocene Kern | Ice Age Kern | Indian Kern | Spanish Kern | Mexican Kern
First Settlers | Kern Created | 1870's | Land & Water | Bakersfield & Oil
1900-1930 | 1930-1945 | 1945-1960 | 1960-1990 | Present & Future
Return to the EDUC 799A, History of Kern County, Home Page
Last Modified on January 17, 1999 by Al Clark