Lawson. 1 



Geology of Carmelo Bay. 



55 



cayed or rotton. The stretch of shore here cited is very exposed, 

 and wave action is vigorous continuously. There are no streams 

 yielding detritus which might be used by the waves in the battery 

 process. In this feature of the present strand, then, we have good 

 evidence of the duration for several centuries past of a practically 

 constant relation of sea and land as they now are. How many cen- 

 turies have been required to carve out of the coastal slope a terrace 

 one-seventh of a mile wide, it is difficult even to guess, so little do 

 we know of the rate of the action. But it has nearly all been done 

 since the occupancy of the coast by the Indians, if we are to judge 

 by the layer of refuse shells which they have left on the White 

 Rocks (stacks) at Point Pinos. 



Interesting results might be obtained as to the relative duration 

 of the present strand, and that next above it, at about 25 or 30 feet, 

 by a critical measurement of the width of the latter from the base 

 of its cliffs out to a depth of six feet below its low tide. If one may 

 form a judgment without such critical measurements, the two ter- 

 races do not differ greatly, and, being developed under similar con- 

 ditions, probably represent equal durations of wave action. 



luter-terrace Disturbances. — That certain local movements have 

 affected some of the older terrace formations before the accumula- 

 tion of the later formations is evidenced in a number of ways. 

 None of these disturbances appear to be of more than minor impor- 

 tance. The earliest evidence of disturbance is that which is sug- 

 gested by the dip of the beds of the pre-volcanic portion of the ancient 

 delta of the San Jose. These are slightly coherent conglomeritic 

 sandstones, dipping seaward at an angle of about 30 , and locally the 

 sheet of lava which reposes on these sandstones has the same dip. 

 The dip is believed to be greater than the angle of repose of deposits 

 upon the edge of a delta. The disturbance does not appear to affect 

 the post-volcanic portion of the delta, though this cannot be cer- 

 tainly affirmed ; it certainly does not affect the terraces which have 

 been scored on its slopes. It is therefore probable that the dis- 

 turbance took place shortly after the extravasation and consolida- 

 tion of the lava sheet. 



The second evidence of disturbance has already been alluded to. 

 In the ravine traversed by the seventeen-mile pleasure drive, the 



