Marble Mountain Trilobites in San Bernardino County, CA

[Ori]

Yesterday I went on a day trip with a friend to the Marble Mountains to look for trilobites. I started driving at 5am and I felt like a kid on the way to disneyland!

 

Sunrise over the santa ana mountains:

 

I got to the Marble Mountains at around 9:30, but had a bit of trouble finding the right location. My friend's 4WD got stuck in the sand for a brief scary minute, but eventually we made it to the site! 

 

 

We spent the first hour walking around and looking at discarded shale pieces and the oncolites in the chambless formation. The first shale we saw was in the Cadiz layer, so we spent a good few hours digging there with only a few poorly preserved fragments to be found. Another person showed up and was digging below us, in the layer I now know is the latham shale. We moved lower down and after clearing the loose debris and chiseling away chunks of limestone we had so much shale to go through! It was amazing, some layers had so many cephalons in them! Here are some of my favorites:

 

There were also some really neat dendrites:

 

I also found this, and I'm not sure what it is. Maybe a genal spine?

 

It was so cool to find these animals from the cambrian - I can't wait to go back!

 

mojave sunset

 

 

[doushantuo]

Good reporting, Ori.

Pretty nice photography.

[Isotelus2883]

The unknown is a partial thoracic segment.

[Ori]

52 minutes ago, Isotelus2883 said:

The unknown is a partial thoracic segment.

Oh awesome!

[Crusty_Crab]

@Ori There is a key to identifying the species of trilobites from the cephalons in the Marble Mountains locality that I can provide. This was prepared by a student as part of their unpublished senior thesis at the University of California, Riverside. You (or anyone else) can send me a PM if you're interested. 

[Sjfriend]

Nice report. It is a fun spot to find the first time. Almost got stuck in the sand once myself (made wrong turn in my Mustang lol). There are some layers that have quite the number of cephalons.

 

I wish the shale split better lol.