20 BORAX OF DEATH VALLEY AND MOHAVE DESERT, [bill. 200. 
Panamint Valley. — Evidences of recent movement are also to be 
seen in Panamint Valley. Near the mouth of Wild Rose Canyon 
occur alkaline lake beds which have a thickness of 130 feet and an 
altitude above the bottom of the valley of about 1,000 feet. These 
were visible at only one point, presumably being generally covered 
by immense deposits of water-laid gravel several hundred feet in 
thickness. A similar deposit of gravel 500 feet in height occurs at 
Bellerat; it rises toward the east, and at the base of Telescope Moun- 
tain reaches an altitude of 1,000 feet above the valley floor. From 
the latter point wave-cut terraces extend south along the flank of the 
mountain for a distance of several miles. These shore lines and 
gravel deposits slope distinctly northward, while those at Wild Rose 
Carbon descend sharply toward the south. These facts seem to agree 
with the evidence already presented in showing that Panamint Moun- 
tain has recently been considerably elevated, at least at its extremi- 
ties, but they also seem to indicate that its middle part has remained 
stationary or has recently subsided. 
In this valley there is a small salt field, in the vicinity of Hot Spring, 
which is similar in appearance to that already described. The salt 
from this locality is said to excel that of Death Valley, but no tests 
were made and the report can not be verified. 
Owens Lake. — Owens Lake lies in the great valley at the eastern 
foot of the Sierra Nevada. That this valley has been occupied by a 
much more extensive lake than exists at present is readily shown by 
a belt of lake 4 sediments which extends from near Cerro Gordo Peak 
on the north, around the western flank of Coso Mountain, nearly as far 
as Little Owens Lake. Where they are crossed by the Darwin road 
these beds have a width of S or 10 miles. In composition they resem- 
ble the lake sediments of Funeral Mountain, except that the sandy 
portion is composed almost exclusively of debris from the coarse, 
gray granite which abounds in this region. As seen from the road, 
the uppermost beds are generally fine and wholly clastic, but near the 
lake an anticline brings to view sheets of black lava and great beds of 
volcanic tuff. Many of the finer beds show traces of alkaline constitu- 
ents, but no borax was seen. North of the Darwin road the hills seem 
to be composed largely of volcanic tufls. and they are capped by 
immense sheets of lava, which presumably have been extruded since 
the uplifting of the lake sediments. 
On the eastern margin of this belt the rocks are nearly horizontal, 
but near the lake the} T are bent into sharp folds whose axes extend 
in an approximately north-south direction. In the southern end of the 
basin the beds rest unconformably against the rocks on the east side 
of the valley, and they generally dip from 10° to 25° to the west, or 
against the Sierra Nevada. From the topography in this valley it 
seems probable that after the lake beds were flexed they were beveled 
down to a regular surface, in which the present topography is carved. 
