| Western Transverse Ranges | |
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Erosion works so strongly at this sun-facing slope that large areas of bare rock emerge, looking like stretch marks. Here the uptilted beds of Eocene marine rock easily allow rainwater and snowmelt between the strata, loosening the layers. At the same time the daily sun and nightly chill impose cycles of stress, both from heating-and-cooling and from wetting-and-drying. And when gravity adds its pull on the steep slope, the mountainside is easily persuaded to crumble. The result is almost a canyon wall, showing chevron or flatiron shapes.
Parts of the Santa Ynez range are rising at 5 millimeters per year, among the fastest uplift rates in the world.
All photos (c) 2003 Andrew Alden, licensed to About.com, Inc.
Erosion carves rock flatirons in the Santa Ynez Mountains. View west.
