84 CAL/FORAVA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. [Proc. 30 Ser. 



terraces. Behind this hill for more than 20 miles to the 

 north and east lie the great plains of Los Angeles, which 

 drain into Santa Pedro Bay, but not into Santa Monica. 



The northeastern shore of this bight for 15 miles is a 

 sandy beach, with rolling, grass-covered sand-hills or ridges, 

 reaching 200 feet above the sea. The northwestern shore 

 is the western end of the Santa Monica Mountains, which 

 reach over 3,400 feet elevation and come sharply to the 

 coast-line, which is deeply cut by arroyos. 



Three submerged valleys reach into this bight : two toward 

 the plains, the third to the rocky head of Point Dume, or 

 rather to the mouth of the Canada Zuma, i % miles west of 

 Dume. 



5. The Redondo Submerged Valley. 



From the deepest part of Santa Monica Bay the plateau 

 of 50 fathoms extends seaward 10 miles, but at Point Vin- 

 cente it is barely a mile off the rocky shore, and 400 fathoms 

 is then reached in two miles, and very deep water fronts the 

 south face of San Pedro Hill. 



Through this plateau the Redondo submerged valley 

 penetrates in a general E. NE. direction and heads six miles 

 north of Point Vincente, somewhat transverse to the direc- 

 tion of San Pedro Hill, and two miles north of its NW. angle. 

 It is a deep, narrow valley, 7^ miles long inside the general 

 lOO-fathom curve, and its greatest depth, so far as sounded, 

 is 300 fathoms. It heads square on the beach towards the 

 Redondo Hotel. The 25-fathom curve reaches within 200 

 yards of the beach and the lOO-fathom curve is within 

 iy2 miles. At the 225-fathom sounding the slope is 900 

 feet in 2600. 



Throughout the valley the bottom is soft green mud, 

 which reaches into 25 or 30 fathoms, when fine sand and 

 gravel are found. 



There are several curious features about this submerged 

 valley: An oil well exists at the northern part in about 75 

 fathoms of water; and just north of the head, inside the 



