The document provides information on various geographic and historical locations in Eastern California, including Mormon Rocks, Cinder Hill, Fossil Falls, Diaz Lake, Mono Lake, Convict Lake, and Manzanar internment camp. Key details include how Mormon Rocks was formed by sediment deposition and faulting, Cinder Hill is a cinder cone volcano, Fossil Falls features show erosion by water flow, Diaz Lake was created by an earthquake, Mono Lake has changing shorelines due to water diversion, and Manzanar housed interned Japanese-Americans in WWII.

1. A savage journey into the heart of
Eastern California

2. A perilous examination of the San Andreas Fault.

3.  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.

4.  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.

5.  The Final Chapter
The 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.

6. From which there were no survivors.
Well, there were a few.
Ok, everyone survived.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. Try going over these in a barrel.

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

11.  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

12.  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.

13.  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.

14.  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.

15.  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.

16. The clams…
The clams…

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. Visitors check in…
Look around, and then check out.

20. 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.

21. Alluvial Fan

22. The lowest it’s been since…

23. This is Mono Lake.
The two islands in
the lake are Negit
Island (a volcano)
and Paoha Island (a
result of volcanic
activity).

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. Where someone probably knows what you did last summer.
It’s fishing. You went fishing.

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

30. 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.

31. Not the Western, Northern, or Southern.

32. 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.

33. Part of the dark history of the United States

34. 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.