DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BULLETIN

OF THE

UNITED STATES

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

ISTo. 33

WASHINGTON/

GOVERNMENT FEINTING OFFICE 

1886

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUKYET

J. W. POWELL, DIBECTOE

NOTES

ON THE

GEOLOGY

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

BY

J. S. DILLER

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1886
CONTENTS.

Page.

Letter of transmittal........................................................ 7

Introductory................................................................ 9

General topographic divisions of Northern California and Oregon............. 9

Character and distribution of the Carboniferous limestone.................... 10

Structure of the Sierra Nevada Range................................ ........ 12

Age of the faulting of the Sierra Nevada Range .............................. 15

Age of the auriferous slates.................................................. 16

General distribution of the metamorphic, volcanic, and Cretaceous rocks ...... 18

Relation of the Sierra, Coast, and Cascade Ranges ........................... 19

Conclusions................................................................. 21

Index ...................................................................... 23

(369) 6

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,

Washington, D. (7., January 4,1886.

SIR : Herewith I have the honor to transmit a paper by Mr. J. 8. 

Diller," Notes on the Geology of Northern California," and I recommend 

that it be published as a bulletin of the Geological Survey. During 

the last summer it was my privilege to go over a large part of the region 

to which his Notes refer, and I am entirely in accord with him so far as 

my opportunities for observation enabled me to judge. Mr. Diller's investigations have yielded valuable results, arid already go far towards 

the elucidation of some of the broader and primary geological problems 

which are presented to the north of the northern end of the Sierra Nevada. They have resulted also in the collection of a very large amount 

of detailed information of high value.

Very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant,

C. E. BUTTON, 

Captain of Ordnance, U. 8. A. 

The DIRECTOR OF THE U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

. (371) 7

GEOLOGY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

BY J. S. DLLLER.

INTRODUCTORY.

Under the general supervision of Capt. 0. E. Button, I have spent

three field seasons in Northern California and Oregon among those 

complex groups of mountain ridges and ranges whose relations to one 

another have frequently been a subject of discussion, and it is in the 

hope of throwing some light upon the structure and connection of these 

ranges that I desire to note a few observations.

A hasty reconnaissance of both slopes and of most of the prominent 

peaks of the Cascade Eange was followed by a more detailed examination of Mount Shasta and the neighboring elevations of the Coast and 

Sierra Nevada Eanges to a little beyond the fortieth parallel. The short 

but well denned volcanic ridge of Lassen's Peak appeared to afford an 

excellent field for studying some of the important problems of volcanology, and it was decided that this range, with the adjacent portions of 

the Sierra and Coast Eanges, should be subjected to careful investigation.

While tracing the southern limit of the lavas from this volcanic ridge 

a preliminary examination was made of the northern portion of the 

Sierra Nevada Eange. and the results are considered of sufficient importance to warrant their presentation in advance of a more detailed 

study. The stratigraphy of the region is very complicated; before it 

can be properly discussed it is necessary to consider not only the general topographical features of the country but also the character and 

distribution of the rocks whose position in the geologic series can be 

most readily determined by fossils.

GENERAL TOPOGRAPHIC DIVISIONS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND

OREGON.

The surface features of Northern California and Oregon may be 

grouped into two valleys and three mountain ranges. Concerning the 

extent of the Willamette and the Sacramento Valleys all agree, but the

(373) 9
10 GEOLOGY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. [BULL. 33.

limits between the Cascade, Coast, and Sierra Nevada Ranges have uofc 

been definitively ascertained. The southern eud of the Cascade Range 

is well defined at Mount Shasta, but the boundary between the Sierra 

and Coast Ranges is still a matter of discussion. For reasons hereafter 

given we will consider the northern end of the Sierra Nevada Range to 

be in the vicinity of the North Fork of Feather River, before reaching 

Lassen's Peak. From this point the elevation is continued'for about 

fifty miles on the trend of the Sierras in the Lasseii's Peak volcanic ridge, 

which terminates near Pitt River. . All else south and west of Mount 

Shasta belongs to the Coast Range. There appears to be a want of appropriateness in including the ridges east of the Sacramento liiver, 

about the headwaters of the McCloud, in the Coast Range, but it is evident that they are more closely related geologically to the Trinity and 

Scott Mountains of the Coast Range than to any portion of the Sierra 

Nevada Range. .

CHARACTER AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE.

The presence of a limestone of Carboniferous age on the McCloud 

River was made known many years ago by Dr. J. B. Trask. Prof. J. 

D. Whitney discovered one of the same age near Pence's Ranch, and 

also one in Genesee Valley, where it is associated with strata containing Mesozoic fossils. ] This is the only fossiliferous portion yet discovered in the paleozoic rocks of Northern California, and on this account 

it 'affords the most important means available for determining their 

stratigraphic relations. It is peculiar, however, in being a series of disconnected, sometimes widely separated, lenticular masses2 of various 

dimensions, instead of one continuous stratum. That this is really the 

case is clearly shown at a number .of places where it appears in the side 

of a canon, In the complete section it is seen to thin out and disappear 

in all directions. There are many of these limestone lenses in Northern California. I have examined nearly a score of them, and in more 

than half a dozen new localities have discovered fossils, which have 

been submitted to Mr. C. D. Walcott for identification. His results are 

given in the following list:

1 Geol. Surv. of California. Geology, vol. i, p. 308.

8 This peculiarity \vas noted by Prof. Whitney. Ibid, p. 210.

(374)
DILLER.] DISTRIBUTION OF CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE.

Fossils from the Carboniferous limestone of California. .

11

Localities. Fossils.

NORTHERN END OF SIERRA NEVADA RANGE.

Western base of Sierra Nevada Range, Butte County

1 inile northeast of Peace's Ranch .......... .....

W. Branch of North Fork of Feather River a ....

Canon of Chico Creek, 16-J miles east of Chico...

Middle portion of Sierra Nevada Range, Plumas 

County;

Divide between Yellow and Mosquito Creeks, 

south of Humbug Valley.

Eastern portion of Sierra Nevada Range, Plumas 

County.

1$ miles northeast of Taylorville................

1£ miles east of Hossellkus', Genesee Valley.....

BETWEEN LASSEN'S PEAK, VOLCANIC RANGE, AND 

MOUNT SHA8TA.

Cedar Creek, between Buzzards' Roost and Furnaceville, Shasta County.

Northeastern base of Grizzly Peak, Siskiyou 

County.

Fragments of crinoidal columns. 

Coral, probably Zaphrentis sp.? 

Fragments of crinoidal columns.

Fragments of crinoidal columns; 

Lithostrotion Whitneyi; Lophophyllum proliferum?; Spirifera 

sp.?

Fragments of crinoidal columns;

Bryozoans; Athyris subtilita. 

Fragments of crinoidal columns;

Athyris or Terebratula; Bellerophou sp.f

Fragments of crinoidal columns;

Diphyphyllnmsp.?; Spirifera sp.f;

Spiriferina cristata; Terebratula

sp.? 

Fusulina cylindrica; Productus

semireticulatus ; Productus cora; Athyris royssi.

a Professor Whitney reports other fossils from the same region. Geol. Surv. of Cal. Geology, vol. 

, p. 210.

Besides the fossils enumerated in the above list, a few were collected 

at other localities, but unfortunately these were lost before reaching the 

hands of a paleontologist. Along Soda Creek, a few miles northeast 

of Lower Soda Springs, near the boundary between Shasta and Siskiyou 

Counties, a fossiliferous limestone contains many branching and cylindrical forms very like the Fusilina in the limestone near Grizzly Peak. 

A most important outcrop of fossiliferous limestone occurs in the Coast 

Eange, west of Shasta Valley, along Willow Creek, neac Gazelle (Edsons'). At this locality, among other fossils, was found an excellent 

specimen of Liihostrotion, and I think there can be no doubt concerning 

the geological age of the strata inn which it occurs.

As is well known, there are many outcrops of limestone in the Sierra 

Nevada Range and northern portion of California, and every opportunity was embracecl to examine them for fossils in order to determine

(375)
12 GEOLOGY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. [HULL. 33.

their geological relations. In many places the rock is so metamorphosed as to obliterate all traces of organic remains, but there is good 

reason to hope that fossils will yet be discovered in new localities. Fortunately, the localities at which fossils have already been found are 

widely distributed in the central and eastern portion of the Coast Range 

as well as in the Sierra Nevada. In answer to my inquiries Mr. Walcott replies:

As far as I can determine from the specimens submitted, there is no reason to suppose the existence of any other than the Carboniferous horizon, although the limestone at Cedar Creek is probably low in the formation.

The evidence thus far adduced all points in the same direction, and 

gives strong support to the proposition that all the limestone among 

the metamorphic rocks of Northern California is of Carboniferous age.1

STRUCTURE OF THE SIERRA NEVADA RANGE.

,,' >. oci'WS-^ ' ' .

The Sierra Nevada Eange at its northern end has a width of about 

80 miles, extending from j the Sacramento Valley to Honey Lake. It 

has three distinct crests', which are characterized by long, gentle slopes 

to the southwestward and short abrupt ones in the opposite direction.

The western crest, to which Claremont Hill belongs, is near the middle of the range and attains an altitude of about 7,000 feet From this 

point the long, gentle slope extends to the Sacramento Valley at an 

elevation less than 300 feet above the sea. It is more or less undulating arid^deeply canoned by numerous streams. From Claremont Hill 

the sjope is abrupt towards American Valley, which at Quincy has an 

altitude of 3,375 feet. Continuing to the eastward the slope again rises 

more gently to 7^300 feet, the middle crest, in which Hough's Mountain 

is>a prominent feature, and then descends steeply to Indian Valley at 

an elevation of about 3,500 feet. Further on the topography is irregular, but becomes an even slope, rising to 6,000 feet in the summit of the

-"eastern crest, the bold escarpment overlooking Honey Lake. The outline of the Sierra Nevada Range, as seen in cross-section, is such as to 

at once suggest that, like the Basin Province,2 it is composed of tilted 

orographic blocks, which are separated from one another by faults. The 

fact that Indian Valley and American Valley, which are the depressions between the crests of the range, were occupied by lakes during 

the Quaternary or later times greatly heightens the analogy; but to 

either establish or disprove the hypothesis suggested by the topography

_ 1 Prof. J. D. Whitney, many years ago, thought it probable that all the limestone 

of the Sierra Nevada Range is of the same (Carboniferous) age.. Geol. Surv. Cal.

 Geology, vol. i, p. 3JJ8; also, Aurif. Gravels, p. 41.

 As far as I am aware the only limestones in} California which are not of Carboniferous age are the Quaternary calcareous tufas of the Great Basin and one of the Knoxville beds, referred to by Mr. Becker in his Notes on the Stratigraphy of California. 

U. 8. Geol. Surv. Bull. No.. 19, p. 9. - 

"Geol. of the Uinta Mts., by J. W. Powell, p. 7.

(376)
DILLEB.] STRUCTURE OF SIERRA NEVADA RANGE. 13

it is necessary to examine the stratigraphy of the several masses. For 

convenience in this discussion, the 

three blocks will be designated 

western, middle, and eastern, respectively, according to geographical position.

The older strata, of which the 

range is in large part composed, are 

highly inclined and considerably 

metamorphosed. Near the western 

base of the mountain, as far as I 7

have observed, the slates and limeStones are usually inclined at an 

angle greater than 65° to the eastward, i. e., towards the mass of the 

range, and if we accept without 

qualification their present order of 

superposition as the order of age, 

we should be. obliged to admit that 

from the western base towards the 

middle of the range the strata are § 

successively newer. There are good 3- 

reasons, however, for supposing 3 

that instead of being newer they ^ 

are either of approximately the g 

same age or older, and that their o 

present position is due to an overthrow. The only fossiliferous strata { 

which have been recognized among co 

the metamorphic rocks in the north 3 

end of the western block occur near 5> 

its western base in the canon of ^ 

.Chico Creek, along West Branch, £ 

and at Pence's Eanch, where the > 

highly tilted limestone beds con- g 

tain small crinoid stems and other j| 

fossils of Carboniferous age. It is .m 

a significant fact that a large portion of the auriferous slates lie east 

of the known outcrops of Carboniferous limestone. The broad belt of 

metamorphic strata upon the western slope of Claremont Hill is succeeded to the eastward by a mass 

of granite, which forms the western 

crest of the range.

(377)

s 3"

g

f

. I

f

135
14 GEOLOGY OF NOKTHERN CALIFORNIA. [BULL. 33.

If now we pass over the middle block of the range to the eastern one, 

which, lying between Indian Valley and Honey Lake, culminates in 

Thompson's Peak, we shall find a corresponding arrangement. The 

lower western portion of the block is made up of highly tilted strata, 

among which occur the limestones, shale, and sandstone containing fossils of the Carboniferous and Mesozoic ages. 1 To the eastward is exposed a mass of stratified old volcanic tufas, highly metamorphosed, 

and succeeded by granite, which forms the greater portion of the block. 

The inclination of the strata, although variable in degree and direction, 

is generally westward at a high angle, and in this respect differs from 

the position of the strata in the western block.

The middle block, lying between American and Indian Valleys and 

culminating in Hough's Mountain, is narrower and the strata are less 

disturbed than anywhere else in the northern portion of the range. The 

bold escarpment which faces Indian Valley exposes several thousand 

feet of apparently conformable slates, the position of which is very uniform for that region. Their strike is parallel to the face of the escarpment, and the dip generally less than 50° to the westward, plunging 

beneath American Valley. Near the western foot of the middle block 

in American Valley a limestone occurs which has been used quite extensively for lime. Unfortunately, I have not had an opportunity to examine this locality for fossils, but from the facts that it occurs near 

the suppressed western limit of the block, as does the known Carboniferous of the other two blocks, and is approximately on the strike of a 

limestone which outcrops further northward and contains Lithostrotion 

with other Carboniferous fossils, it appears to be highly probable that 

it also is of the same age.

The recurrence of the same fossWiferous strata in a cross-section of the

Sierra Nevada Range in exactly analogous.topographic and stratigraphic positions confirms the hypothesis suggested by its profile, that 

the northern end of Jhe Sierra Nevada Range is made up of three orographic blocks separated from one aaother and from those of the Great 

Basin by profound faults, and shows that the Basin Range structure extends as far west as the Sacramento Valley. Mr. G. K. Gilbert8 several 

years ago pointed out the characteristic features in the structure of the 

Sierra Nevada Eange,3 although Prof. Joseph Le Conte4 had previously 

called attention to a profound fault along its eastern base in the vicinity 

of Owen's Lake. By far the greater portion of the range appears to be 

formed of one great orographic block, which is continuous with the west1 This locality was first noted by Prof. J. D. Whitney. Geological Survey of California, vol. i, pp. 308,309.

8 Science, March 23, 1883, p. 195.

3 Maj. J. W. Powell and Capt. C.E. Button had independently arrived at essentially 

the same conclusion as Mr. Gilbert.

4 Am. Jour. Sci., vol. xvi, p. 101.

(378)
XHUAR.] FAULTING OF SIERRA NEVADA RANGE. 15

ern block of the range at its northern termination. Its long gentle slope 

westward is expressed in the drainage lines, and its eastern crest is the 

divide between the Great Basin and the Pacific. Almost throughout 

its whole extent, the Sierra Nevada faults are impassable to important 

streams, but at the northern end of the range, where the number of 

fault blocks is increased, the forks of Feather Eiver cross two of the lines 

of great displacement. These streams, like nearly all of those that flow 

down the. western slope, are in deep canons. That of the North Fork of 

Feather Eiver where it crosses the western fault has a depth of 4,000 

feet, affording an excellent section of the folded strata, and its terraces 

indicate the character of the uplifting in forming the mountain range. 

Structurally the Sierra is like the Great Basin Kange, differing chiefly 

in the magnitude and in the present elevation of the blocks. Like the 

orographie blocks of the Great Basin area, they are composed of plicated

strata, the folding of which, as has been pointed out by a number of 

observers, took place long before the faulting that gave birth to the 

peculiar features of the ranges. It is important to remember the fact 

that at the time, the strata of which the Sierra Nevada Eange is composed were folded, i. e., about the limits between the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods,'the Sierra Nevada Eange was not differentiated from 

the continental mass of the Great Basin region, and it was not until a 

very much later period that this separation occurred. 

i ' . .- . _ 

AGE OF THE FAULTING OF THE SIERRA NEVADA RANGE.

The age of the faulting which originated the Sierra Nevada as a distinct range has not yet been definitely determined, but the recency of 

the dislocations can scarcely be questioned. This is clearly shown by 

the fact that tlie amount of erosion upon the fault escarpments has been 

very slight. As in the Great Basin, the faults in the northern portion 

of the Sierra Nevada Eange have given rise to lakes upon the depressed 

border of the blocks, but whether these lakes existed during the Quaternary period or are more recent has not yet been ascertained. At the 

present time the lakes have entirely disappeared, and their beds are 

the most fertile lands of the whole region. That the displacements are 

comparatively recent is indicated also by their relation to the lavas. It 

appears that the dislocations along the eastern side of the two lateral 

blocks of the range have extended into the lavas of the great volcanic 

field about Lassen's Peak, and if the age of the fractured lavas can be 

determined the period of the Sierra displacements can be more nearly 

ascertained. While it is possible that the faulting may have continued 

through a long period, it is evident that most of the movement occurred 

since the great volcanic effusions in that region. According to Profs. 

J. D. Whitney J and Joseph Le Conte 2 these took place among the clos1 Amer. Jour. ScL, Sept., 1864; also, Auriferous Gravels, p. 74. 

*Amer. Jour. Sci., vol. xix, p. 188.

(379}
16 GEOLOGY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. [BWLL. 33.

ing events of the Pliocene 1 or the beginning of the Quaternary, and as 

far as my observations have extended I have no reason to differ materially from this conclusion. The faulting of the Sierra probably commenced about that time, and, if we may accept small earthquakes as 

evidence, it is still in progress.2

AGE OF THE AURIFEROUS SLATES.

There is considerable difference of opinion concerning the age of 

the auriferous slates, but there is no good reason whatever for dissenting from the view generally accepted that at least a portion of the 

auriferous slates are Mesozoic. The fact that the Carboniferous limestone 

is intimately associated with the gold-bearing slates about the northern 

end of the Sierra Nevada Eange suggests that a portion of these may

1 In the neighborhood of Pence's Ranch the auriferous gravels are distinctly overlaid by stratified deposits which Professor Whitney regarded as Upper Pliocene (Geol. 

Surv. of Gal., vol. i, p. 211). A few imperfect leaf impressions were collected from 

these strata and submitted to Prof. L. F. Ward for examination. One of the specimens has been doubtfully determined as Cinnamomum or Paliurus, and Professor 

Ward remarks, " If it were certain thatthe specimen is either Cinnamomum or Paliurus, I should say that it could scarcely have come from a higher horizon than the 

Miocene and more likely from a lower. But the specimen may possibly represent a 

Populus unlike any modern form. At any rate I would not have been surprised at 

j ust such a collection from the Eocene or Laramie Group." That the strata containing 

the leaf impressions overlie the auriferous gravels at the Cherokee mine near Pence's 

Ranch there can be no question. Professor Whitney showed that the auriferous 

gravels probably represent the whole of the Tertiary (Aurif. Gravels, p. 283), and may 

it not be possible that the old stream bed of the Cherokee mine is Eocene or Miocene ? 

In the same vicinity the Tertiary strata overlie the rocks of the Chico Group, and the 

two series of strata are almost, if not altogether, conformable. Dr. C. A. White, who 

visited the region lately, is of the impression that the strata referred to are not older 

than the Upper Pliocene. All that can be definitely stated at present concerning the

strata containing the loaf impressions is that they are more recent than strata known 

to belong to the Chico Group, and that their flora, as far as Professor Ward can judge 

from the few imperfect specimens at hand, has a pre-Pliocene aspect. The great volcanic outburst in the vicinity of Lassen's Peak succeeded the deposition of these strata 

of questionable age, probably occurring, as stated above, about the close of the Pliocene.

2 Small earthquake shocks are frequently felt about the northern end of the Sierra 

Nevada Range, especially in the vicinity of the fault scarps. Prof. Joseph Le Conte 

(Am. Jour. Sci., vol. xvi, p. 101) regarded the Inyo earthquake in 1872 as almost certainly due to a slight readjustment along the eastern fault of the Sierra near Owen's 

Lake. Some unpublished observations by I. C. Russell and W J McGee show that 

there has been actual post-Quaternary displacement near the eastern base of the 

Sierra.

There is evidence of a slight post-Quaternary elevation of the Lasseu's Peak volcanic 

ridge along an interesting monoclinal fold which marks the limit between the Piedmont region of the range and the Sacramento Valley, a few miles east of Red Bluff. 

The displacement is less than a hundred feet and the latest yet discovered in that 

region, but does not properly belong to movements of the Sierra Nevada Range, as the 

fold runs out to the southward before reaching the limit of the volcanic tufas.

 ;3SO)
ZWLLBR.J AGE OF AURIFEROUS SLATES. 17

belong to Paleozoic or older formations. 1 The lenticular character of 

the limestone and the complex plications of the strata among which it 

occurs render it very difficult to determine in most cases, without fossils, 

whether the slates are above or below the limestone. I have already 

suggested that it appears to be a somewhat significant fact that a large 

portion of the auriferous slates lie east of the known outcrops of the 

Carboniferous limestone near the western base of the range. The folding of the strata brought them at many places into an approximately 

vertical position. At the time of the subsequent faulting the eastern 

edge of the largest block was so elevated as to make the strata which 

were formerly vertical dip steeply to the eastward, and in this manner 

strata upon the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Kange may have 

been made to overlie more recent ones nearer its base. This explanation is suggested simply to show that the present eastern inclination of 

the strata upon the western slope of the range does not militate against

the view that a portion of the auriferous slates are more ancient than 

the Carboniferous limestone.

Mr. Clarence King2 called attention to the great thickness of Paleozoic 

littoral deposits of the Great Basin region and inferred the existence of 

a large land mass further westward from which these sediments were 

derived. Prof. Joseph Le Conte has argued that upon the marginal 

sea-bottom bordering the western shore of this ancient Paleozoic and 

Mesozoic land were laid down a great accumulation of sediments, out of 

which the Sierra Nevada Kange has been formed.3 It was, therefore, 

with great interest that I examined the eastern escarpments of the 

great fault-blocks of the Sierra Nevada Eange, in the hope of being able 

to demonstrate the presence or absence of a considerable thickness of 

strata older than the Carboniferous limestone.4 The stratified rocks of 

the eastern and western blocks of the Sierra Nevada Eange are highly 

contorted, and the eastern escarpments are formed of granite, but in the 

middle block, lying between American and Indian Valleys, the strata, 

although tilted, are not so profoundly plicated. The bold escarpment 

facing Indian Valley, as has already been stated, exposes thousands of 

feet of apparently conformable auriferous slates which dip steeply westward beneath the supposed Carboniferous limestone of American Valley. 

These strata are so slightly metamorphosed as to encourage the hope 

of finding fossils in them, and I was greatly disappointed in having to

1 Note snr la Ge"ologie de la Californie, par M. Jules Marcou. Bull, de la Soc. ge"ol. 

de France, 3me s., tome xi, p. 407. 

* Geol. Exp. of the Fortieth Parallel. Syst. Geol., vol. i, p. 534.

3 Am. Jour. Sci., Ill, vol. iv, p. 460, and vol. xvi, p. 103.

4 Professor Whitney remarks that the age of the bed rock series can be set down 

with certainty as being nowhere more recent than Jurassic, and that it is.not impossible but quite improbable that any portion of the metamorphic belt of the Sierra 

may prove to be older than the Carboniferous (Aurif. Gravels, p. 314). Mr. George 

F. Becker noted sandstones below and probably older than the Carboniferous limestone of the McCloud River (U. S. Geol. Surv. Bull. 19, p. 21).

Bull. 33 2 (381)
18 GEOLOGY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. [ HULL. 33.

. give up a brief but fruitless search. Nevertheless, the stratigraphic relations are such as to render it very probable that at this point there is 

a great thickness of Paleozoic strata exposed and that a large part of 

the gold-bearing slates are older than the Carboniferous limestone.1

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE METAMORPHIC, VOLCANIC, AND CRETACEOUS ROCKS.

There are in Northern California two large areas of metamorphosed 

Mesozoic and Paleozoic rocks. The one occupies the northwestern 

 corner of the State, entering from Oregon and extending as far southeast as Pitt Eiver; this area is insular in its relation to later forma, 

tions. The other is of continental dimensions, stretching into California 

from Nevada, and embraces the whole region of the Sierra Nevada 

^ Eange. The great faults of this range run out in the vicinity of the 

^North Fork of Feather Eiver, apparently vanishing through short monoulinal folds where the platform of ancient metamorphic rocks is gradually depressed northwesterly, and disappears beneath the lavas of the 

great volcanic field. Continuing in the same direction, these rocks reappear upon the surface near Pitt Eiver, and form the insular area to 

which reference has already been made. Concerning the depth of the 

depression in the metamorphic rocks between the two areas now exposed we have but little knowledge; however, there is no reason as far 

as I am aware for supposing it to be very great.

Following the trend of the Sierra Nevada Eange northward from the 

North Fork of Feather Eiver to Pitt Eiver we find a volcanic ridge 

made up of numerous adjoining cones, among which Lassen's Peak is 

most prominent. This ridge has been designated Lassen's Peak volcanic 

ridge, and is composed almost exclusively of accumulated lavas rising

to an average elevation of over 5,000 feet, with several peaks above 

8,000 feet in altitude. The numerous craters of various magnitudes are 

irregularly distributed, aud no definite relation to the lines of great displacement in the Sierra Nevada Eange is apparent. In fact, as has already been shown, the great faulting occurred towards the close of the 

period of greatest volcanic activity. To the north and northeastward of 

this volcanic range the recent lavas stretch far into Oregon, Idaho, and 

Washington Territory. 

Mr. Becker and others have called attention to the great uncon1 Professor Whitney refers to the fossils found in Genesee Valley in demonstrating 

that a large part of the auriferous slates are Mesozoic (Aurif. Grav., p; 309). These 

slates in Hough's Mountain ridge, upon the southwestern side of Indian Valley, are regarded by miners as the " home of the mother ledge" of that country, and being apparently older than the Mesozoic strata containing the fossils are separated from them 

by a profound displacement.

Dr. White asserts that the auriferous slate series is known to include strata of Carboniferous age and some that are apparently older. Notes on the Mesozoic and Cenozoio Paleontology of California, U. S. G.!?. Bull. No. 15, p. 25.

(382)
DILLEK.I RELATION OF SIERRA, COAST, AND-CASCADE RANGES. 19

formity between the rocks of the Chico Group and those upon which 

they rest. The geography of our western coast during the deposition 

and plication of the older strata is a matter concerning which we have 

as yet but little knowledge. Its development is first distinctly outlined 

in the rocks of the Chico epoch, These rocks are generally fossiliferous, 

and their identification is a matter of no great difficulty. They are exposed at many points along the western base of the northern portion of 

the Sierras, and. are either horizontal or dip away from the mountain at 

a very low angle. In the latitude of Oroville the rocks of this group 

rise to an elevation of 800 feet above the sea. Further northward, along 

Chico Creek, they reach 1,700 feet, and continuing in the same direction 

the elevation becomes greater. Two miles east of Montgomery Creek, 

on the road from Bedding to Burney Valley, they have an elevation of. 

ovef 2,400 feet. At this point they are coarse deposits, evidently formed 

near a shore which lay a short distance to the northwest ill the vicinity 

of Pitt Eiver. They dip eastward, disappearing beneath the Lassen's 

Peak volcanic ridge, and very probably connect beneath the great lava 

fields with the rocks of the same age in Shasta Valley and Crooked River 

in Oregon east of the Cascade Range.1 In.the northwest part of Shasta 

Valley, besides the fossiliferous sandstone, there are coarse shore deposits of the same age cliuging upon the sides of the Scott Mountains 

and reaching far up towards their summits. The distribution of the 

rocks of the Chico Group clearly indicates that during the Chico epoch 

the northwestern portion of California, with the adjacent part of Oregon, 

embracing the Trinity, Salmon, Scott, Siskiyou, and other mountain 

ridges of the Coast Range, was a large island, separated from the still 

larger continental land mass of the same strata in the Great Basin and 

Sierra region by a wide strait now bridged over by the Lassen's Peak 

volcanic ridge.

RELATION OF THE SIERRA, COAST, AND CASCADE RANGES.

The geography of the western coast during the Chico epoch enables 

us to define sharply the limits between the Sierra Kevada and the Coast 

Ranges. The former has been from its inception joined to the continental 

land, while the latter embraces all the ridges developed out of the cretacean island, and the Lassen's Peak volcanic ridge separates them. 

Both ranges contain plicated Paleozoic as well as Mesozoic strata. The 

Coast Range received Targe tertiary additions not represented in the 

Sierras, but, on the other hand, the latter was differentiated from a continental mass by the development of a peculiar structure not yet recognized in the Coast Range. The relation between the Coast and the 

Cascade Ranges is not so sharply defined, but when we consider their

1 Mr? Eugene Ricksecker, a topographer of the Geological Survey, informs me that 

he observed a number of fossils where a well had been recently dug a short distance 

north, of Rhett Lake, Oregon, and it is possible that the locality may afford fossilg of 

the Chico group.

(383)
20 GEOLOGY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

widely diverse modes of origin their limitation is not a matter of so 

great difficulty. South of the Eogue Kiver Valley the cretacean island 

lay completely west of the position now occupied by the Cascade Eange. 

To the northward its extension is but partially known. Near the summit of the Cascade Kange, upon its western slope, about half a dozen 

miles from Mount Hood, is a large mass of coarsely crystalline eruptive 

rock, closely related to the gabbros. A similar rock occurs near the 

western base of the range, 8 miles east of Lebanon, and Mr. Becker 1 

has said that east of Eoseberg granite and metamorphic rocks occur 

about the headwaters of the Uinpqua. Such rocks make up the Coast 

Eange west of Mount Shasta, and it may be that they form an elevated 

foundation for a considerable portion of the Cascade Eange between the 

headwaters of Eogue Eiver and Mount Hood, but this is rendered less 

probable by the complete section along the Columbia Eiver, where the 

range is cut across nearly to the sea level, showing, according to Le 

Coute,2 that it is composed almost wholly of modern la,vas resting upon 

undisturbed strata of Miocene age. The excellent section of the southern portion of the range afforded by the Klamath Eiver shows, at least 

as far as I have observed, that it is made up at that point3 completely 

of recent eruptive rocks.

Between the Siskiyou Mountains and the Cascade Eange, in Southern 

Oregon, as Whitney has shown,* the Cretaceous strata of the narrow 

belt are highly tilted. They dip eastward beneath that portion of the 

Cascade Eange, as do those of Shasta Valley as well, and probably connect with the rocks of the same age east of the Cascade Eange. The 

apparently complete absence of older rocks in the Klamath Eiver canon 

through the Cascade Eange and the relation of the Cretaceous strata on 

both sides of the range indicate clearly that the region now occupied by 

the southern portion of the Cascade Eange was beneath the sea during

the Chico epoch. As far as is definitely known the Cascade Range was 

not represented by a ridge of older metamorphic rocks which were 

folded and upheaved at the same time with the Sierra and older portion 

of the Coast Eange, and is entirely distinct from them in structure and 

origin. On the contrary, however, the region occupied by it as well as 

the short range north of Lassen's Peak are but parts of the great volcanic field that occupies the area which during the Chico epoch was one 

of depression between the island and the continent.1

1 U. S. Geol. Surv. Bail. No. 19, p. 20.

3 Amer. Jour. Sci., Ill, vol. vii, pp. 167,259.

3 Two miles below Shovel Creek, on the left bank of the Klamath River, by the 

road from Yreka, Cal., to Linkville, Oreg., in a ledge of gray rock which in the 

field I regarded as one of the metamorphic slates, but under the microscope it is seen 

to be a lava.

4 Geol. Surv. of Cal., vol. i, page 354.

"See Dr. White's remarks, "Notes on the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Paleontology of 

California," U. S. G. S. Bull. No. 15, p. 31.

(384)
01LLBB.] RESUME. 21

CONCLUSIONS.

The points to which it is desired to call especial attention may be 

briefly summarized as follows: .

It appears that all the limestone among the metamorphic rocks of the 

Coast and Sierra Nevada Eanges is of Carboniferous age.

The northern portion of the Sierra Nevada Eange, like that of the 

Great Basin, is composed of tilted orographic blocks separated from one 

another by great faults.

The greater portion of the range is formed by one of these blocks, 

with a short abrupt slope towards the Great Basin and a long gentle 

slope in the opposite direction.

The displacements by which the Sierra Nevada Eange was separated 

from the Great Basin land mass probably began about the close of the

Tertiary, and may be yet in progress.

A large portion of the auriferous slate series is apparently older than 

the Carboniferous limestone.

During the Chico epoch a large part of the region now occupied by 

the Coast Eange was an island separated by a wide strait from the continental mass to which the Sierra Nevada Eange belonged, which strait 

has since been filled by the lavas of the Lassen's Peak volcanic ridge.

As far as is definitely known, the Cascade Eange was not represented 

by a ridge of metamorphic rocks corresponding to the Sierra and Coast 

Eanges, but belongs rather to the great volcanic field which now occupies the area once depressed between the cretacean island and the 

continent.

ADDENDUM.

While completing the survey of the Lassen's Peak volcanic belt during the field season of 1886, much additional evidence was obtained 

supporting the views expressed in this paper. Geologically considered, Lassen's Peak belongs to the Cascade Eange, and several of the 

foregoing assertions should be somewhat extended. .

Mr. Walcott has examined a few fossils from Willow Creek, a locality 

referred to on page 11. He identified the following forms: Lithostrotion mamillare, Terebratula, Pleurotomaria, Orthoceras, Zaphrentis, 

Favosites, and crinoidal columns.

Some fossils recently collected near Ehett Lake do not belong to the 

Chico group but to a much later horizon.

OCTOBER 14,1886.

(385)

INDEX.

Page.

American Valley, age of limestone in ........................................ 14

Auriferous slates, age of..................................................... 16

California, area of metamorphosed Mesozoic and Paleozoic rocks in Northern.. 18

California and Oregon, topographic division of Northern ..................... 9

Cascade Range, boundaries of............................................... 10

relation of, to Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges........................... 19

Chico Creek, fossils in cafion of.............................................. 13

identification of fossiliferous rocks of ...... .............................. 19

Coast Range, boundaries of.'................................................. 10

relation of, to Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges ........................ 19

Button, C. E., letter of transmittal by........................... ...... ...... 7

Great Basin Range, similarity in structure of, to Sierra Nevada Range........ 15

King, Clarence, cited on littoral deposits of the Great Basin Region........... 17

Lassen's Peak volcanic ridge, importance of ................ ................. 9

fossils from ............................................................. 11

character of............................................................. 18

Le Conte, Joseph, cited on formation of Sierra Nevada Range ................ 17

Mount Shasta, fossils from................................................... 11

Pence's Ranch, fossils at .................................................... 13

Resume"....'................................................................. 21

Sierra Nevada Range, fossils from............................................ 1-1

structure of............................................................. 12

age of faulting of ....................................................... 15

* relation of, to Coast and Cascade Ranges ................................ 19

Volcanic Range, fossils from................................................. 11

Walcott, C. D., identification of fossils by ................................... 10

on fossils from Sierra Nevada Range..................................... 12

Ward, L. F., determination of fossil leaves by............................ . 16

Whitney, J. D., cited on fossiliferous limestone of California.................. 10

(387)

o
[Bulletin No. 34.]

The publications of the United States Geological Survey are issued in accordance with the statute, 

approved March 3,1879, -which declares that 

" The publications of the Geological Survey shall consist of the annual report of operations, geological 

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