The Fossil Falls is a marvelous geological formation, located in the Coso Range of California U.S. The actual truth is that Fossil Falls is a bit of a misleading place because neither fossils nor a waterfall here.
This is an amazing place developed with rocks made out of lava, because of volcanic activity in the mountain ranges, along with meltwater of glaciers in the nearby Sierra Nevada. The glaciers melting causes the creation of fall in summer.
This is a fantastic place for hiking and crazing rock activities. Therefore a natural walk through polished lava formations consists of 36 miles formed by the interaction of rushing water from the Owens River. The Fossil Fall flowed at a much higher rate in prehistoric times, when lave poured from adjacent volcanoes somewhere 20,000 years ago.
Therefore result in the surreal, convoluted gorge of shiny, sculpted black lava and a little trail leads to the falls, which you can witness from above or, for a nearer look; follow a trail to prudently descend the falls (hold onto children’s hands as footing can be very tricky.
The Sierra Nevada glaciers melted during the last ice age, creating large lakes, including Owen Lake & River, which traveled to Indian Wells Valley. However, volcanic activity diverted several times and falls were formed upon the river forced to divert its course over a basalt flow, reshaping and furnishing the rock into unique shapes.
Moreover, the entire lava flows at Fossil Falls are basaltic and occurred between 4,000 to 10,000 years ago. The erosional features are generally called potholes and it is speculated that Red Hill cast out granitic detritus, fell into Fossil Falls and water accelerates as it moves past the rocks. The high velocity was enough to catch the granitic rocks from Red Hill and spiral them downwards in multiple vortices, drilling them into the basalt, and sediments would get trapped and continue to circularly erode the holes.
Therefore, Fossil falls actually being downstream from where it is positioned today and moved upstream as waterfalls classically do. Native American lived camping along the dry river, and their harvested resources and hunted large animals were forced to leave in arid conditions. But as time passes, the conditions come back to normal climate, they started to return back to the area.
Flakes of obsidian can be found in the area, for the Native Americans would camp near Fossil Falls and chip obsidian from the Coso Mountains to form their tools. The Fossil Falls Archeological District is on the National Register of Historic Places. Fossil Falls is protected as an area of Critical Environmental Concern by the Bureau of Land Management. Native American artifacts may not be removed from the area.
