Anderson.] 



Point Reyes Peninsula. 



147 



The second ridge that deserves notice is one made conspicuous 

 by its isolation rather than by its elevation. It is at the southwest 

 angle of the field. Its greatest height is about 600 feet, and 

 embraces a limb of the syncline of Miocene strata resting upon the 

 granitic axis. The cliffs facing the south are almost entirely of 

 granite, above which the sedimentary beds rise in a few prominent 

 points. The general level of this ridge is about that of the next 

 topographic feature to be described, though it can hardly be classed 

 together with it. 



Terraces. — Remnants of two terraces are more or less clearly 

 visible, chiefly west of the principal granite ridge. The higher of 

 these terraces which is much less perfectly preserved than the 

 other is to be traced mainly in a system of rounded hill-tops the 

 general elevation of which is about 600 or 700 feet. They are 

 most satisfactorily seen from the north or south, and are in two 

 groups, the larger of which is immediately east of Drake's Bay, 

 the other farther to the north. The form of these hills is one that 

 is peculiar to the much-faulted and differently-weathering Miocene 

 sediments of the coastal border. The summits are broadly rounded, 

 the lower slopes are steep, and the hills are separated by long 

 V-shaped canons. 



The lower terrace is much more striking in its uniformity and 

 extent. It is one of the clear records of a disturbance very widely 

 felt along the coast north and south. Its general level is about 

 200 feet or a little more, though its central portion is somewhat 

 lower. This terrace is almost continuous with that of Duxbury 

 Point, and is the one mentioned by Professor Lawson 1 as the wave- 

 cut terrace of Point Reyes. It is deeply incised both by narrow 

 canons descending from the higher ridges, and by the long finger- 

 like extensions of Drake's Estero, forming a system of lagoons. 

 The central portion of this terrace, in the immediate vicinity of 

 this estero, seems to have suffered a local sagging which has left 

 the land to the westward at a much lower lever than that of the 

 terrace proper. 



Shore-lines. — With the exception of the long sandy beach on 



'Bull. Dept. Geol. Univ. Cal., Vol. 1, p. 245. 



