ATV Shell Reef, Ocotillo Wells SVRA, California

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Shell Reef is located within Ocotillo Wells Recreation Area and can be reached by a dirt road from Ocotillo Wells via the Shell Reef "Expressway" dirt road.. Hard to believe, but about 4 million years ago, this desert was covered by a sea. At the top of Shell Reef one can see the proof: a five-foot thick layer of fossilized shells that projects at an angle. This hard “coquina” resists erosion so well it has preserved this ridge and a window to the past. Park beneath the reef and examine the soil. You will find not rock or sand but fragments of fossilized oyster shells. Look closer and you will find entire shells and even pieces of the reef which have fallen down the slope. The reef is estimated to be 4 million years old! It was pushed out of an ancient sea during a time of tremendous upheaval when the distant mountain ranges where formed. The northern part of the hill is not fenced in.

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