Diatomite Fossil Beds
Diatomite consists of the skeletal remains of single-cell aquatic plants known as diatoms. These deposits are remarkably uniform in composition, and accumulated in what was then a huge inland lake that covered much of western Nevada and reached up into southeastern Oregon as well. Diatomite is chalky and powdery in texture, and it fractures very easily. If you do find some well preserved fossils, be careful with them, it doesn't take much for your specimen to fall apart into a pile of dust.
Climbing up to the fossil beds might be a bit difficult because of the unstable talus covering the area, but what you find up at the outcrop is very interesting. Diatomite will break apart in layers, much like a shale, because it has been deposited in flat layers on the bottom of a marine environment. Inbetween many of these layers you are able to find plant leaf fossils, such as the ones pictured above. If you look long enough and hard enough you might be able to find fish fossils and other marine life fossils in the outcrop.
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