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GEOLOGY OF THE SIERRA NEVADA. 



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Section III. — The Geology of the Sierra Nevada. 



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The name Sierra Nevada, which is simply the Spanish for Snowy Range, 

 has become fixed upon two chains of mountains, one in southern Spain, the 

 other in California. The latter is, however, by far the most interesting and 

 extensive of the two thus designated. Indeed, it may be asserted with truth 

 that the California!! chain is excelled by few mountain ranges in the world 

 in the variety and interest of its physical features. To the geologist espe- 

 cially it offers problems for investigation of a quite peculiar character, the 

 nature of some of which it is, in good part, the object of the present volume 

 to point out. Far inferior as a whole to the Alps in complexity of structure, 

 and wanting as it is, in some of those accessories which need to be present in 

 order that the height of the picturesque and beautiful may be reached, the 

 Sierra Nevada still has features of its own, which will always command atten- 

 tion and cause travellers for pleasure as well as for scientific instruction to 

 turn their footsteps in its direction. What the Californian Sierra especially 

 lacks, to enahle it to rival the Alps, is the glacial masses descending with 

 their majestic flow from the higher doAvn to the lower portions of the chain. 

 Where these are ahsent, it is impossible to have that variety of scenery 

 which is offered by the Alps. Moreover, the element of vegetation, which 

 enters so conspicuously into the general effect produced by mountain 

 scenery, is decidedly inferior in the Sierra Nevada when considered from the 

 point of view of the picturesque. The grassy slopes above the forests, whict 

 have given their name to the Swiss range (die Alpen), are entirely wanting in 

 the Sierra, where the arboreal vegetation extends nearly up to the summits, 

 or on the higher ranges ceases at once, only to be succeeded by bare slopes 

 and cliffs of rock, to which a few straggling and distorted clumps of trrcs 

 attach themselves at points where they can find shelter and a foot-hold. 

 There is also a certain monotony in the forests of the Sierra, in spite of the 

 great size and beauty of the individual trees; the Coniferous predominate 

 so greatly over the other kinds, that in a distant view they seem to have the 

 entire monopoly of the surface ; and, grand as the pines and firs may be 

 each tree being examined by itself, or impressive as the forest may appear 

 to one merely looking at it as a, forest, the foliage is loo monotonous and 

 sombre to give the variety which the cultivated eye demands in a panoramic 

 mountain view. As contrasted with the Eocky Mountains, on the other hand, 

 the Sierra Nevada greatly excels, both in the variety and grandeur of its 

 scenery, and in the scientific interest challenged by its geological features. 



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