September 9, 2010
This multi-day trip took us to the Mojave Desert and Nopah Range in San Bernardino and Inyo Counties, with the Paleontology class taught by Matt James. It was a fantastic trip where we looked for fossils and assessed rock formations, as well as taking in some of the local sights. This post covers our first full day in the desert.
The previous day was spent driving down to Southern California, and then up a winding road through the darkness to our home for the next couple of days: the Yucca Bajada Campground (part of the Sweeney Granite Desert Studies Center). When we awoke on September 9th, we finally got to see the desert in daylight. Magnificent.
Our first full day of the trip was spent in the the Marble Mountains, which are well-known for Lower Cambrian formations, including the Latham Shale Lagerstätte, containing 500 million year old Olenelloid Trilobite fossils and numerous Brachiopods. We hiked up into the hills a bit, and then went to work with pickaxes.
At the first area we sampled, I found a brachiopod near the “overhang.” After we moved to another area, I was pretty successful, finding several Trilobite specimens of various quality. Some were found right out in the open, but many others were found by breaking apart shale, which would split lengthwise to reveal fossils. Most of the specimens were found in “float.” I also spent some time digging shale out of a rock face, but didn’t find any significant fossils that way. We also found some rocks packed with Oncolites, layered structures formed by cyanobacterial growth.
After a physically taxing day in the Marble Mountains, we spent the evening relaxing back at the campground.
We didn’t see a lot of wildlife today, but some of plant species seen include: Creosote, Mojave Yucca, Desert Holly, Desert Broom, and Beavertail Pricklypear.
Let me know what you think!