1. Landform Processes
Plate Tectonics
The Rock Cycle
CA’s Geologic History

7. Extrusive igneous rock: basaltic lava flow, Fossil Falls, Basin & Range

8. Intrusive igneous rock: granite; outcroppings in Castle Crags

9. Metamorphic Rock; White-Inyo Mountains; very old rock ( + billion years)

10. Sedimentary rock; Eagle Rock, Topanga State Park; 25 mya; uplift, folding, faulting have put it at an angle

11. Older, darker metamorphic rock on top of younger, lighter colored granite that lifted it; Convict Lake, Sierras.

12. Pre-Cambrian Era 4.6 bill – 570 mya
Paleozoic Era 570 mya – 250 mya
Mesozoic Era 250 mya – 65 mya
Cenozoic Era 65 mya - present

13. Granite escarpment of eastern Sierras with Alabama Hills in foreground
Granite escarpment of eastern Sierras with Alabama Hills in foreground. Uplifted Sierra peaks, downfaulted valleys (Owens, Death) during Cenozoic era.

14. Granite in Mojave National Preserve
Granite in Mojave National Preserve. Plutons exposed after erosion and weathering.

15. Northern CA: Cascades, Modoc
Eastern Sierras, Basin & Range
Imperial Valley
Sonoma, Clear Lake

17. Geothermal activity, Modoc Plateau

18. Shasta Peak

19. Long Valley Caldera, Mammoth Lakes, man-made Lake Crowley now, erupted 700,000 years ago

20. Devil’s Postpile, andesitic lava flow, 600,000 years ago, while cooling, cracked into near-perfect six-sided columns.

22. Weathering
Chemical
Mechanical
Differential weathering

23. Alabama Hills: differential weathering, igneous rock

24. Santa Monica Mountains: differential weathering of sedimentary rock

25. Spheroidal weathering, Topanga State Park

26. Mechanical, chemical weathering: Alabama Hills

27. Mass Wasting
Soil creep
Liquefaction
Landslides

28. Mass Wasting

29. La Conchita Landslide, 1995 La Conchita Landslide, 2005

30. Coastal Landforms
Marine terraces
Sea stacks

31. Sonoma County coast: sea stacks.

32. Sea stack isolated by marine terracing.

33. Marine Terracing

34. Aeolian Landforms
Wind Erosion and Deposition
Coastal and Desert Dunes

35. Death Valley: aeolian ripples, dunes (perpendicular to wind direction)

36. Glacial Landforms Alpine glaciation
Erosional: cirques, horns, aretes, tarns, u-shaped valleys, hanging valleys
Depositional: glacial till, moraines

37. Yosemite, u-shaped valley, alpine glaciation, hanging valley

38. Glacial lateral moraine: Sierra Nevadas

39. Alpine glaciation: cirque; Tioga Pass Route 120

40. Horns, aretes; Lone Pine peak

41. Horns, glacial polish, Yosemite

42. Fluvial Geomorphology
Erosion & Deposition
River Courses
Arid Landforms
Alluvial Fans
Bajadas
Playas

43. Steep, stream-cut canyon, Whipple Mountains

44. Alluvial fan, Panamint Valley

45. Bajada