The Marble Mountains are a mountain range in the Eastern

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

and within

Mojave Trails National Monument Mojave Trails National Monument is a large U.S. National Monument located in the state of California between Interstates 15 and 40. It partially surrounds the Mojave National Preserve. It was designated by President Barack Obama on February 12, ...

, in

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Geography

The Marble Mountains are located just north of

Cadiz, California Cadiz (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Cádiz'') is an unincorporated community in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It is located just south of the Marble Mountains (San Bernardino County), Marble Mountains near ...

, and are south of

Bristol Dry Lake Bristol Lake is a dry lake in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, northeast of Twentynine Palms. Bristol Lake is located southeast of Amboy, California, Amboy and U.S. Route 66 in California, U.S. Route 66, and is also south ...

and

Amboy, California Amboy is an unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, in California's Mojave Desert, west of Needles and east of Ludlow on historic Route 66. It is roughly northeast of Twentynine Palms. As of 2020, the town's business district stil ...

. The Old Woman Mountains are to the east, and Bullion Mountains to the west. The

Sheep Hole Mountains The Sheep Hole Mountains are a mountain range in the Mojave Desert, to the north of Joshua Tree National Park, in San Bernardino County, California. The mountains were once Chemehuevi hunting grounds. The mountain range lies between the Bullion ...

and

Twentynine Palms, California Twentynine Palms (also known as 29 Palms) is a city in San Bernardino County, California. Twentynine Palms serves as one of the entry points to Joshua Tree National Park. History Twentynine Palms was named for the palm trees found there in ...

are to the southeast.

Geology

The Marble Mountains contain excellent exposures of

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic matter, organic particles at Earth#Surface, Earth's surface, followed by cementation (geology), cementation. Sedimentati ...

rocks. The Marble Mountains Fossil Beds are the site of 550 million-year-old fossils of

trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the At ...

s, which were among the first animals on earth with eyes and skeletons

Wilderness

Established in 1994 by the U.S. Congress, the Trilobite Wilderness encompasses the Marble Mountain range. The 37,308 acre

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

is managed by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

.Trilobite Wilderness
- Wilderness Connect

External links

Trilobite Wilderness
- BLM

References

Mountain ranges of the Mojave Desert Mountain ranges of San Bernardino County, California Mojave Trails National Monument Wilderness areas of California {{SanBernardinoCountyCA-geo-stub

Geography

Geology

Wilderness

See also

External links

References