Trilobite Wilderness

Trilobite Wilderness is a protected desert landscape in California’s Marble Mountains, within Mojave Trails National Monument, valued both for Mojave habitat and an exceptional concentration of early Cambrian fossils. Its rocks were formed from sediments laid down in a shallow sea over Proterozoic granite, then later uplifted. The Latham Shale preserves especially abundant trilobites, with 12 species identified, while detached heads occur more often than complete specimens, suggesting the area may have been a molting ground. About 21 invertebrate species have been found here, including brachiopods, Anomalocaris appendages, and oncolites. The wilderness also supports bighorn sheep and desert tortoise.

California · United States