Hanging Valleys

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Hanging Valleys BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA V o l. 16, pp. 75-90 F e b r u a r y 27, 1905 HANGING VALLEYS BY ISRAEL C. BUSSELL {Read before the Society December SO, 1904) CONTENTS Page Definition of term “ hanging valley ”........................................................................... 75 Classification......................................................... ........................................................... 76 Enumeration of species............................................................................................. 76 Stream-formed hanging vajleys............................................................................... 77 Ocean-formed hanging valleys................................................................................. 77 Diastrophic hanging valleys..................................................................................... 78 Glacier-formed hanging valleys............................................................................. 78 Most common type of hanging valleys......................................................................... 81 Chief characteristics................................................................................................... 81 Discussion as to origin............................................................................................... 82 Detailed study o f Kieger Creek canyon as a type.............................................. 83 Relation of pre-Glacial erosion to hanging valleys.......................................... 87 Further discussion of origin of glaciated hanging valleys.............................. 87 Evidence derived from study of Bloody and Lundy canyons........................ 88 Conclusions.......................................................................................................................... 90 D e f i n i t i o n o f T e e m “ H a n g in g V a l l e y ” The topographic features to which attention is here chiefly invited have been defined by G. K. Gilbert* as follows: “A hanging valley is a small U-shaped tributary to a larger valley, the floor of the smaller being considerably higher at the junction than the floor of the larger. Many of them are short, high-grade troughs, heading in cirques; some are mere cirques, without troughs—spoon-bowl hollows, high on the walls of main valleys. They are associated with other evidences of glacial sculpture, and the elevation of their floors is believed to result, as a rule, from the unequal erosion of valleys by glaciers of unequal size.” As stated by T. C. Chamberlin and R. D. Salisbury,! “ when the lower *G. K. Gilbert: “ Glaciers and glaciation.” Harriman Alaska Expedition, vol. iii> New York, 1904, pp. 114-115. t Geology, vol. i, New York, 1904, p. 155. XI— B ull. Geol. Soc. A m ., V o l . 16, 1904 (75) Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/16/1/75/3412018/BUL16-0075.pdf by guest on 03 October 2021 7 6 I. C. RUSSELL— HANGING VALLEYS end of a tributary valley is distinctly above the level of its main the former is called a “ hanging valley.” * The first of these definitions restricts the term defined to the valleys of formerly glaciated regions, and ascribes to them a single mode of origin. As I hope to show in the following pages, a discordance in gradient between a main valley and its tributaries is not strictly con­ fined to glaciated regions, and may result from one of several processes. For my present purpose, therefore, it is necessary to give a more com­ prehensive meaning to the term hanging valley than is done in the first definition referred to. The second definition is more general than the one framed by Gilbert, and does not imply mode of origin, but can per­ haps be amplified in order to make it more graphic. Provisionally and as used in this paper the generic term hanging valley maybe understood to include any valley or valley-like depression the bottom of which is not in even adjustment with the bottom of the lower depression with which it unites and into which it drains, the passage from one to the other being by means of a slope of greater declivity than the gradient of the tributary valley, and in most instances precipitous—that is, hanging valleys are in striking contrast to the con­ ditions normal to mature steam-eroded valley systems, in which, as was long since pointed out by Playfair, the branches of the system at their mouths are nicely adjusted to the level of the lower valley with which they unite. The definition just presented takes account of present topographic conditions only, without reference to the manner in which the discord­ ance in gradients referred to came about. In attempting to define “ species ” under the hanging valley “ genus ’’ mode of origin may be taken as the leading criteria, and more or less conspicuous differences in hanging valleys produced by the same agency suggest the recognition of “ varieties.” C lassification ENUMERATION OF SPECIES Our present knowledge of hanging valleys seems to warrant their pro­ ♦The nature and mode of origin of hanging valleys has been discussed by W. M. Davis in an article entitled “ Glacial erosion in France, Switzerland, and Norway,” in Boston Society of Nat­ ural History Proceedings, vol. 29,1900, pp. 273-321. To the bibliography presented in this paper the following titles of subsequent publications treating of hanging valleys may be added : W. O. Crosby: “ The hanging valleys of Georgetown, Colorado.” Technology Quarterly, vol. xvi, 1903, pp. 41-50. Ralph S. Tarr: “ Hanging valleys in the Finger Lake region of central New York.” American Geologist, vol. xxxiii, 1904, pp. 271-291. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/16/1/75/3412018/BUL16-0075.pdf by guest on 03 October 2021 CLASSIFICATION 7 7 visional classification under four species, namely, stream-formed, ocean- formed, diastrophic, and glacier-formed. STREAM-FORMED HANGING VALLEYS During the development of a river system a master stream may deepen its valley more rapidly than certain of its tributaries are able to keep pace, as has been explained by W. M. Davis and others, and the tribu­ tary valleys become discordant in gradient in reference to the main valley with which they unite. The various ways in which such a result is produced are well understood and need not be reviewed at this time. An example of a hanging valley due to stream erosion was recently pointed out to me by M. S. W. Jefferson, near Ypsilanti, Michigan. In this instance the Huron river, in deepening its channel, left a long narrow point of land projecting from one side of its valley, and on the surface of this cape-like projection and transverse to it is a segment of an old chan­ nel made by the Huron when flowing about 40 feet higher than now. This fragment of an abandoned stream channel is now a hanging valley, and at each of its ends there is a precipitous descent to the present flood- plain of the stream that eroded it. On the border of the Huron valley, about 5 miles east of Ypsilanti, as described by Isaiah Bowman,* there is a locality where the Huron river in broadening its valley cuts into the upper portion of one of its own tributaries. In this instance the portion of the tributary valley which was “ captured ” and the neighboring portion of the abandoned segment of the same valley respectively, were left “ hanging ” in reference to the valley of the Huron, and illustrate a process by which a conspicuous discrepancy between the bottom of a main valley and the bottom of a tributary valley may be brought about. Each of the examples just cited may, as it seems, be logically classified as varieties of hanging valleys due to stream erosion. OCEAN-FORMED HANGING VALLEYS When a valley, and particularly one with a steep gradient, is tributary to the ocean, and a landward migration of the ocean shore occurs through the action of waves and currents, the distal end of the valley and its bordering uplands, may be removed, leaving its abbreviated up­ stream portion opening in the face of a sea cliff and its draining stream, if one is present, discharging by means of a cataract into the sea. The portion of a valley thus truncated would have the characteristic topo­ graphic features of a hanging valley, and might be of stream or glacial “A typical case of stream capture in Michigan.” Jour. Geol., vol. xii, 1904, pp. 326-334. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/16/1/75/3412018/BUL16-0075.pdf by guest on 03 October 2021 7 8 I. C. RUSSELL— HANGING VALLEYS origin or have resulted from the combined action of these two and pos­ sibly also of other agencies. Examples of valleys which have been abbreviated in the manner just referred to and left suspended above the ocean are present on Unalaska island and open to the sea several hundred feet above its level.* Other similar examples might be cited, but it is evident that whenever a sea cliff recedes at a more rapid rate than streams, or glaciers, on the adjacent land can deepen their channels and at their mouths maintain a position at sealevel, hanging valleys must result. DIASTROPHIC HANGING VALLEYS A fault may cut across a valley so as to produce a steep descent in its bed, and thus cause one of its segments to become a longitudinal hang­ ing valley in reference to the next lower segment. An example in line with this suggestion has been described by W. 0. Crosby f near George­ town Colorado. If a region with stream eroded or other valleys becomes broken by faults so as to
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