It is hard to believe that millions of years ago the area we were standing in was covered by the tropical waters of the Gulf of California. This ancient sea extended north all the way to present day Palm Springs.
As we ventured into the Domelands area of the Coyote Mountains Wilderness, any doubts we had were quickly put to rest .
The area is rich with fossilized shells, ancient reefs and petrified sand dunes that seem strangely out of place in this hot, dry environment.
We spent some time exploring the million year old reefs, vowing to come back at some later date to explore the maze of narrow canyons and caves.
Ancient Sea Shells – Domelands Anza Borrego
She sells sea shells by the Seashore Desert
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- Exploring some of the side canyons. Certain areas were embedded with sea shells
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- Bottom of a Sea Biscuit fossil
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- Mary prevents a large rock from teetering over
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- Wind Caves in the Coyote Mountains Wilderness
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- Million year old sea shells embedded in rock
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- Some sections of rock were made up of thousands of crushed shells
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- Exploring side canyons in the Coyote Mountains Wilderness
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- Exploring a narrow canyon in the Domelands
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- Embedded sea shell
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- Ancient Sea Shells – Domelands Anza Borrego
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- We were not sure if this was part of an ancient reef.
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- She sells Sea Shells by the Desert
Great books on fossils and geology of the Anza Borrego Desert