TERRESTRIAL DEPOSITS OF OWENS VALLEY 727 



conglomerates must be as old as the early Quaternary. The hill 

 on which they occur is far from the Coso Mountains and separated 

 from them by numerous valleys, similar hills, and more lake beds. 

 The lake beds are then pre-Quaternary, probably Pliocene, and 

 correlated with the similar beds in Waucobi Canyon. No fossils 

 were found here. 



OLDER DEPOSITS AT THE FOOT OF THE INYO MOUNTAINS 



Bearing in mind the main characteristics of the deposits 

 described above, and accepting the idea of their lacustrine origin, 

 as we are apparently forced to do, we can proceed to a description 



Fig. 17. — Low hills of old deposits surrounded by present-day fans, northeast of 

 Mt. Whitney station. 



and interpretation of the older deposits of terrestrial material at 

 disconnected points along the foot of the Inyo Mountains. 



Distribution as indication of age. — At several places, most notably 

 northeast of Mt. Whitney station and east of Citrus, hills of ter- 

 restrial material rise 100 ft. above fans which are now in process 

 of making about them. The materials of the hills differ from those 

 of the fans in texture, and in the fact that they are cemented. 



Along the west face of the mountains immediately northeast 

 of Mt. Whitney station, an exceptional series of events is recorded 

 by the nature and relations of the alluvial deposits. Two hills, 

 100 ft. or more in height, occur half a mile apart, and half a mile 

 from the foot of the mountains. Between and around these hills 

 the lower surface is covered with the typical alluvium of the region. 

 The hills themselves are of gravel and sand. Evidently a great 



