PHYSIOGRAPHIC EVIDENCES OF RECENT UPLIFT 37 



and chasms still contain shingle, but annual plants and even shrubs grow 

 in it, often rising up against and shadowing dead barnacles that still 

 cling to the walls of the chasm — a new life springing up in the habitat 

 of the old. Some caves have been made entirely dry, some only half dry, 

 the tide still rising into their lower portions. One enormous cave, on the 

 south side of Haenke island, rises twice as high above high tide as it 

 did before the uplift, which was here about 18 feet. Waves still enter its 

 mouth, but now never rise high enough to reach the back of the cave. 

 Scores of similar cases were observed in association with the elevated 

 rock benches, and in various places. 



ELEVATED BEACHES 



Tying bench to bench and foreland to foreland, at appropriate levels, 

 are the perfectly preserved sand, gravel, and boulder beaches of the lower 

 stand of the land (see plates 14 and 15). Excepting near stream 

 mouths, they are all in the form of pocket beaches, for on this straight 

 coast, with rocky shores, limited supply of rock fragments, and deep 

 water offshore, bars and spits have not usually been developed. These ele- 

 vated beaches vary in perfection of preservation with their height above 

 present tide, position in relation to drainage from the land, and the 

 effectiveness of present wave attack. Some are as perfectly preserved as if 

 they were merely beaches exposed at low tide. An excellent illustration 

 of such a beach lies south of Turner glacier, where there was an elevation 

 of 37 feet (see plate 11, figure 1) ; and the attack of the waves in the six 

 years of its exposure has merely trimmed its front into a cliff, revealing 

 an excellent beach section of cross-bedded sand. 



Some beaches reveal a mere gravel veneer on a rock floor, and are 

 hoisted so high that the waves can not reach the gravel, but are now 

 working on the rock basement. Others are cut back by the waves and 

 deeply gullied, and bid fair to speedy destruction. Still others are almost 

 continuous with the present beach, being separated by only a slight notch 

 (see plate 15, figure 1) ; and many are actually continuous with the 

 present beach (see plate 15, figure 2), the boundary between the two 

 being merely a line of drifted seaweed or a storm beach, below which 

 grasses and shrubs do not grow. In such places the width of combined 

 old and new beach is often remarkable (see plate 15, figure 2), being 

 in one place fully a hundred yards. 



Vegetation grows freely upon these elevated beaches (see plate 11, 

 figure 1), but this will be discussed later. They make splendid camp 

 sites and excellent highways for shore travel, especially at high tide. It 

 is possible to travel on beach and bench for miles, in several parts of the 



