A savage journey into the heart of

Eastern California

A perilous examination of the San Andreas Fault.

The Journey Begins…

Mormon Rocks was

formed by millions of

years’ worth of

sediment washing

off of the

surrounding

mountains into the

lake bed and

becoming

compacted under

more and more

sediment. In 1857,

a magnitude 8.0

earthquake forced

the rocks up out of

the ground.

Part 2: The Sequel

Mormon Rocks is

composed of

Sandstone formed by

the years and years

of water flow carrying

debris from the

surrounding

mountains. In the

granular structure,

you can see striations

of different year’s

water flow and the

different particles that

came with it.

The Final ChapterThe San Andreas

Fault is a Strike-

Slip fault, meaning

that instead of

colliding with

another plate, the

two plates are

sliding along one

another. The fault

line itself is located

in the dry stream

bed, along where

you can see the

sudden vertical side

of the hill.

From which there were no survivors.Well, there were a few.

Ok, everyone survived.

Cinder Hill is a cinder cone volcano, one of the most common volcanic forms in the world. They are

created from lava fragments (cinders) being ejected from a hole, and they compact and form a dome

when the cinders fall back to the ground.

The lava flows near Cinder Hills are made from lava that flowed from the Coso Volcanic range that

was later cooled and shaped by glaciers that passed through and carved out the landscape.

Try going over these in a barrel.

This is a dry stream bed that once flowed over Fossil Falls. The river bed is the Owens River Bed.

When the Owens River still had water in it, the river was diverted many times due to volcanic activity of the surrounding Cinder Hill and Coso Volcanic Range. Fossil Falls was formed when the river was diverted over a deposit of Basalt. The water flow eroded and polished the rocks into the shiny surfaces we see today

Metate Holes formed in the falls when a pebble would get caught in the river bed. The water flow would swirl the pebble around and around, eroding the river bed and creating the Metate Holes. Later, Native Americans would use the Metate Holes as a natural mortar and pestle to grind things.

Scattered all around Fossil Falls are small shards of Obsidian. This area used to be the place where Native Americans would carve arrowheads from the large chunks of Obsidian they would find around due to the volcanic activity. When they would carve the arrowheads, smaller pieces would chip off of the main piece that were too small to use, so they were left on the ground.

They had no idea it was a warning…

This is called a petroglyph. A

petroglyph is a picture that

serves as a message to people

who would come after whoever

was here before. This petroglyph

was created by the Coso Native

Americans who occupied the

valley for many years.

Go ahead, ring the bell…

This house ring was set

up by the Native

Americans in the area

who would build a semi-

permanent home for

certain months, then

pack it up and move to

another area for other

months.

The clams…

The clams…

Diaz Lake was created

by the 1872 Lone Pine

Earthquake. The

earthquake occurred

along the Lone Pine

Fault and caused the

once dry ranch area to

sink 20 feet and fill with

water, creating a sag

pond.

The Lone Pine Fault is

the site of the 1872

earthquake that created

Diaz Lake. The Lake

was once a ranch

owned by the Diaz

family, but once the

earthquake sunk the

lake and it filled with

water, the land could no

longer be used as a

ranch.

Visitors check in…

Look around, and then check out.

Mt. Whitney is named

after Josiah Whitney,

a man hired by

railroad companies

building the

Transcontinental

Railroad to survey the

area and report the

elevations of the

mountains. It is the

highest peak in both

California and the

continental United

States.

Alluvial Fan

The lowest it’s been since…

This is Mono Lake.

The two islands in

the lake are Negit

Island (a volcano)

and Paoha Island (a

result of volcanic

activity).

The highest shoreline

was the level of the lake

millions of years ago.

The second highest

shoreline is where the

lake was before it was

diverted to supply Los

Angeles with water. The

lowest shoreline (the

present) is where the

water has risen to after

hitting its lowest point in

1962.

The Tufa Formations

are petrified springs.

When the water level

was higher, the salt

water would mix with

calcium carbonate in the

fresh water springs that

were in the lake. The

salt and calcium

carbonate formed the

Tufa which were

exposed when the water

level dropped.

Where someone probably knows what you did last summer.

It’s fishing. You went fishing.

I’m not even going to add anything. Not necessary.

Convict lake was formed

by a glacier passing

through this section of the

Sierra Nevadas. In this

picture, the oldest rock

formations in the Sierra

Nevadas is also visible. It

is the first part of the

mountain range to have

begun coming out of the

ground when the range

was first being formed.

Not the Western, Northern, or Southern.

This is one of many of the posters

placed around the US informing the

Japanese-American citizens that they

were about to be rounded up and put

into internment camps. I chose this

poster (and the accompanying exhibit)

because it fascinates me that we could

be so against the atrocities that

happened in Germany, yet do the same

thing to our own citizens.

Part of the dark history of the United States

Manzanar was an internment camp for Japanese-American citizens of the United

States during World War Two. It is one of many that existed and this site still

stands as a testament to the things that seemingly rational and civilized people will

do during wartime.