December 13, 2012

The relative age of the Yakutat and Pinnacle series is the weakest point in the history sketched above. The facts on which it rests are as follows : At Pinnacle pass the sandstones and shales forming the southern wall belong to the Yakutat system and are much disturbed, while the northern wall; or the heaved side of the fault, is composed of the rocks of the Pinnacle system, inclined northward at an angle of 30 or 40. North of this fault-scarp, in the foothills of Mount Owen, sandstones and shales, seemingly identical with those of the Yakutat system, again occur, although their direct connection with the rocks south of Pinnacle pass was not observed, owing to the snow that obscured the outcrops. Again at Dome pass a similar relation seems evident, but cannot be directly established. The immediate foothills of Mounts Augusta, Malaspina, and St. Elias are also of sandstone, lithologically the same as the Yakutat series. The conclusion that the Yakutat system is younger than the Pinnacle-pass rocks was reached in the field after many other hypotheses had been tried and found wanting, and to my mind it explains all the observations made. Even should the supposed relations of the two series under discussion be reversed, it would still be true that a very large part of the rocks of the St. Elias region were deposited since the appearance of living species of mollusks and plants, and that the prevailing structure of the region was imposed at a still later date. This will appear more clearly after examining the structure of the region. The rock forming several thousand feet of the upper portion of the St. Elias range is a schist in which the planes of bedding are preserved. The dip of the strata is northeastward, and has exerted a decided influence on the weathering of the mountain crests. As the opportunities for examining this formation were unsatisfactory, a detailed account of it will not now be attempted.

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