BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 

 Vol. 16, pp. 75-so February 27. 1905 



HANGING VALLEYS 



BY ISRAEL C. RUSSELL 



{Read before the Society December SO, 1904.) 

 CONTENTS 



Page 



Definition of term " hanging valley " 75 



Classification 76 



Enumeration of species 76 



Stream-formed hanging valleys 77 



Ocean-formed hanging valleys 77 



Diastrophic hanging valleys 78 



Glacier-formed hanging valleys 78 



Most common type of hanging valleys 81 



Chief characteristics 81 



Discussion as to origin 82 



Detailed study of Kieger Creek canyon as a type 83 



Relation of pre-Glacial erosion to hanging valleys 87 



Further discussion of origin of glaciated hanging valleys 87 



Evidence derived from study of Bloody and Lundy canyons 88 



Conclusions 90 



Definition of Term " Hanging Valley " 



The topographic features to which attention is here chiefly invited 

 have been defined by G. K. Gilbert* as follows : 



"A hanging valley is a small U-shaped tributary to a larger valley, the floor of 

 the smaller being considerably higher at the junction than the floor of the larger. 

 Many of them are short, high-grade troughs, heading in cirques; some are mere 

 cirques, without troughs — spoon-bowl hollows, high on the walls of main valleys. 

 They are associated with other evidences of glacial sculpture, and the elevation 

 of their floors is believed to result, as a rule, from the unequal erosion of valleys 

 by glaciers of unequal size." 



As stated by T. C. Chamberlin and R. D. Salisbury ,f " when the lower 



*G. K. Gilbert: "Glaciers and glaciation." Harriman Alaska Expedition, vol. iii, New York, 

 1904, pp. 114-115. 

 t Geology, vol. i, New York, 1904, p. 155. 



XI— Bum.. Geoi,. Soc. Am., Vol. 16, 1904 (75) 



