Formation · Neogene
Bone Valley Formation
Miocene unit, Florida
The Bone Valley Formation of central Florida is the phosphate district that produced the finest megalodon teeth in the world, glossy tan-and-blue enamel with intact bourlettes, along with Hemipristis, tiger and mako teeth, dugong ribs, horse and sloth material. Because the deposit reworks older sediments, a Bone Valley label is a locality, not a precise age. Genuine mine-fresh teeth are increasingly scarce, and prices for 5-inch-plus Bone Valley megs are among the highest of any locality, which makes repaired tips and re-bourletted teeth common; look for colour breaks at the root-crown junction under UV.
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Region | Florida |
| Age | Miocene |
| Age range | ~12–5 Ma |
| Group | Hawthorn Group |
| Macrostrat rank | Mbr· Macrostrat |
| Macrostrat age | 14.5–4.03 Ma· Macrostrat |
| Lithology | phosphorite, clay, sand· Macrostrat |
| Environment | marine, deltaic indet.· Macrostrat |
| Macrostrat columns | 1 column(s) sampled from 3 unit(s)· Macrostrat |
| Members (Macrostrat) | Bone Valley· Macrostrat |
| PBDB collections | 50 collections, 355 occurrences· Paleobiology Database |
Collecting and legality
Bone Valley is the phosphate mining district around Mulberry and Bartow; the mines are private and closed to the public, so nearly all material in trade is old collection stock from the 1960s–1990s or spoil piles accessed by invitation. Florida requires a Vertebrate Fossil Permit ($5/year) for vertebrate fossils from state lands and waters, but not from private land.
Lithology and setting
Phosphatic sands, clays and gravels reworked from the Hawthorn Group during Miocene–Pliocene sea-level changes, so faunas of different ages are mixed.
Commonly recorded taxa (PBDB)
Genera most often recorded from this unit in the Paleobiology Database (first 200 occurrences): Cormohipparion (18), Nannippus (14), Calippus (13), Neohipparion (13), Pomatodelphis (10), Pseudhipparion (10), Borophagus (9), Dinohippus (7), Enhydritherium (6), Desmathyus (5), Hexameryx (5), Phocidae (5), Mammut (4), Odontoceti (4), Epicyon (3).
Source: Paleobiology Database
Collecting rules
Elsewhere
- Macrostrat: 6939
- macrostratConcept: 553
- PBDB: strata:Bone Valley
- Wikidata: Q17986008
- Macrostrat stratigraphic name
- PBDB occurrences for this unit
- Wikipedia: Bone Valley Formation
- Mindat: Bone Valley Formation
Cite this article
Stratum Study. "Bone Valley Formation" (Formation). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19. https://stratum.black/study/formations/bone-valley-formation. Accessed 2026-09-20.
@misc{stratum-bone-valley-formation,
title = {Bone Valley Formation},
author = {{Stratum Study}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/formations/bone-valley-formation}},
year = {2026},
note = {Formation article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19; sources: stratum, macrostrat, pbdb, wikidata, commons. Accessed 2026-09-20.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.