FIORDS AND HANGING VALLEYS 



the coast, and are in detail characterized by short turns, 

 it may be assumed that they are independent of strike. 

 In the case of strike fiords, erosion may have been favored 

 by the presence of weak rocks, but the erosion of trans- 

 verse fiords had no such aid. Our best opportunities for 

 direct observation were of fiords that either probably or 

 possibly follow the strike, and the discrimination of 

 aqueous and glacial erosion, or the problem of the amount 

 of glacial excavation, is thus complicated by a factor in- 

 volving much uncertainty. 



Discovery Passage and Johnstone Strait, separating 



FIG. 69. HANGING VALLEY ON VANCOUVER ISLAND. 



Photographed from Johnstone Strait. In the distance, an ice-rounded summit. 



part of Vancouver Island from various minor islands and 

 the mainland, constitute a well recognized fiord for 70 

 miles. With little exception, its walls of rock are steep 

 at the water's edge and for some distance above and be- 

 low. The central depth of water ranges from less than 



