Old Mines of Southern California: Desert-Mountain-Coastal Areas Including the Calico-Salton Sea Colorado River Districts and Southern CountiesFairbanks, Harold W. (Harold Wellman)
History
Old Mines of Southern California: Desert-Mountain-Coastal Areas Including the Calico-Salton Sea Colorado River Districts and Southern Counties
Fairbanks, Harold W. (Harold Wellman)
Geology -- California, Southern; Mines and mineral resources -- California, Southern
everywhere presents bluffs on its southern side, with deep gulches
between them. Toward the northeast and east there is a gentle slope. A
large part is coarsely vesicular; dense massive portions are mixed
irregularly in places with the vesicular. The lava table-lands lie
nearly 2,000 feet above De Luz Valley. This abrupt escarpment extends
east as far as the lava does, though less marked. There has either been
an enormous erosion in the region lying south, or a great fault
elevating the plateau. A detached portion of the lava plateau caps the
hills west of Murrieta, extending in a north and south line for a
distance of 2 miles. Whether these detached portions all had their
source in one great flow and have been separated by erosion, or were
formed from different sources, was not fully determined. It seems
probable, however, that the main portions did belong to one flow, from
the fact that they have a uniform slope and are underlaid by similar
sandstone, which may once have been the bed of a stream.
The range of mountains lying west of the valley which extends from
Temecula to Elsinore, also has the appearance of having been elevated by
a fault. From the entrance to the Temecula Cañon, northward past
Elsinore, and along the eastern base of the Santa Ana Mountains, these
abrupt escarpments and indications of a fault become more pronounced.
The eastern part of the Santa Rosa plateau, with its lava fields, forms
the southern end of the escarpment. The valley in which are located the
towns of Temecula, Murrieta, and Wildomar, rises gradually toward the
east. The western portion is very fertile. Artesian water is found at
Murrieta. The eastern portion, which rises toward the granite mountains,
is more gravelly, while east of Temescal there is a stretch of many
miles of these dry gravel hills, probably of Quaternary age. The town of
Temecula has an elevation of 1,000 feet. Immediately west and north of
the cañon there arise hills of metamorphic rocks, having an elevation of
1,800 feet. They are covered with dense brush on their eastern slopes,
but contain some fertile valleys to the west. For several miles the rock
is almost wholly metamorphic. It extends south to the cañon and north to
the lava plateau. It is chiefly a fine, dark mica schist; strike
indistinct but north 60° west, to east and west, dip vertical. On the
west it changes to a quartzite. Dikes of granite cut this rock; one is
noticeable for several miles by its more pronounced croppings over the
hills.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account