GLACIATION IN THE TELLURIDE QUADRANGLE, 
COLORADO 
ALLEN DAVID HOLE 
Earlham College, Richmond, Ind. 
levered h UL 
VALLEY OF BRIDAL VEIL CREEK 
In elevation this valley ranges from 10,300 feet at the point 
where Bridal Veil Creek falls into the cirquelike head of the San 
Miguel valley, to a little more than 13,500 feet, the elevation of the 
highest peaks on its margin. Above 12,000 feet in elevation it is a 
broad, flat-bottomed basin a mile or more in width, bounded by 
cliff walls rising for the most part not more than 200 or 300 feet in 
height. On this broad, flattened bottom a number of small lakes 
and ponds occur, lying in rock basins. 
Throughout the extreme southwestern part, rock ridges and 
knobs with rounded surface give character to the topography. 
Some of the ridges are as much as 50 to 75 feet in height; for the 
most part, however, the relief is not so great. Some of the rounded 
surfaces show striae; but in the great majority of cases the general 
rounded surface is either roughened by unequal erosion or is 
covered with a layer of small angular fragments, which, in the case 
of the igneous rocks of this region, easily results from change of 
temperature. The weathering accomplished since the disappear- 
ance of the ice has produced enough soil to support a flora which in 
the summer months gives a more or less pronounced green color to 
much of the bottom of the basin. 
The south-central part of the basin has a series of tributaries 
draining numerous small lakes, and flowing north of east to the main 
stream. Each of these tributaries occupies a level respectively 
higher than the one next in order to the north, producing in the 
bottom of the valley the appearance of a series of terraces extending 
in a direction slightly south of west to north of east. 
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