Page 7 - 1915, Springs of CA.

SPRINGS OF CALIFORNIA.

By GERALD A. WARING.

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF CALIFORNIA.
NATURAL DIVISIONS.
As a basis for the discussion of springs and spring waters of Cali-
fornia a brief outline of the physical features of the State is here
presented, together with a few notes on the character of the rocks
and their structure. Such an outline will in a measure serve to
explain the topographic and geologic maps (Pis. I and II, in packet)
and will indicate in a general way the relations of the facts shown on
these maps to the various springs.
Five main physiographic provinces may be recognized in the
State: (1) The Coast Ranges, (2) the Great Central Valley, (3) the
lava-covered region of the northeast, (4) the Sierra Nevada, and (5)
the southeastern desert region. Not all of these provinces are dis-
tinctly separated from one another; neither do they consist entirely
of marked topographic or structural features; but they form fairly
well-defined natural divisions that are convenient in discussing the
general features of the State.

COAST RANGES.
The term "Coast Ranges" is used in the present paper to designate
the system of mountain ranges between the Great Valley and the
Pacific, to which the term "Coast Range" has been applied, with
different limitations, by several geologists.1 In general, these ranges
lie approximately parallel to the coast, but in the areas of more com-
plex structure a few trend in other directions. To the ridges or
groups that make up the system many names have been applied.
The range in the extreme northwestern part of the State, forming the
divide between the Smith and Klamath River basins and the bound-
ary between Del Norte and Siskiyou counties, is called the Siskiyou
Mountains, and the mountains that extend eastward along the course
of Klamath River are also considered a part of the Siskiyou MOUD-

1 See Fairbanks, H. W., Review of our knowledge of the California Coast Ranges: Geol. Soc. America
Bull., vol. 6, pp. 73-75,1894. Lawson has used the term "Coastal system" in speaking of the main por-
tions of the Coast Ranges, in the report of the California Earthquake Investigation Commission (The Cali-
fornia earthquake of Apr. 18,1906, vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 5).
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