Ice age Glacier on Jean Peak?

General Palm Springs area.

Ice age Glacier on Jean Peak?

Postby whitebark » Fri Sep 13, 2013 7:31 pm

Unlike on Mt. San Gorgonio, no definite evidence of ice-age glaciers has been found on Mt. San Jacinto, but perhaps geologists have not looked carefully enough. The north face of Jacinto probably had some permanent ice, but the face is so steep that no large glacier could have formed there. The next most likely spot for a glacier to have formed is the northeast slope on Jean Peak. The trail from Round Valley to the MSJ's summit passes right by the base of this bowl. Perhaps a hiker knowledgeable in geology could examine this area carefully for moraines or other glacial features.

Another possible location for a glacier is the north face of Marion Mountain.

Here's a aerial picture of the Jean Peak NE basin:


Image


Unfortunately it is snow covered which hides some features. No moraines clearly stand out in the pictures although an area of a big boulders at the bottom of the bowl hint at something...

Here is an abstract for a paper about s. calif glaciers, dating from 1959:

The deposits of 7 valley glaciers have been mapped in the San Gorgonio area of the San Bernardino Mountains in southern California. These ice bodies headed at elevations between 10,300 and 11,300 ft., the lowest elevation attained was 8700 ft., and lengths were 0.5 to 1.7 mi. Dry Lake glacier was the largest. It covered 0.84 sq. mi. on the N. slope of San Gorgonio Mountain. The principal products of glaciation are cirques and huge terminal embankments of coarse angular debris up to 700 ft. high. Sharp-crested end moraines, typical recessional loops, and a number of other relations indicate that these embankments were formed by glaciers rather than as rock glaciers or debris flows. Two separate episodes of glaciation are recognized; both are considered Wisconsin. Features previously attributed to glaciers in the San Gabriel Mountains were restudied. It is concluded that this range escaped glaciation in the Wisconsin and probably all earlier Pleistocene stages . San Jacinto Peak may have been glaciated, but definite proof has not yet been found.
Last edited by whitebark on Sun Sep 15, 2013 3:43 pm, edited 8 times in total.
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Postby Perry » Fri Sep 13, 2013 10:02 pm

Makes sense. The snow seems to stay there for a long time after a normal winter. Could a glacier have pulled the giant boulders off Jean Peak and dumped them in the level area?
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Postby cynthia23 » Sun Sep 15, 2013 1:13 pm

The previous ranger (Eric Hansen) told me there was a glacier on MSJ/Jean. I was asking about the cause of some of the rock formations there. This conversation took place about seven years ago so I don't remember details, but he asserted it as if it were a well-known fact, not his speculation. Perhaps there is some other more recent scientific papers out there on this topic.
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Postby whitebark » Sun Sep 15, 2013 3:30 pm

Hi Cynthia,
If there were any other papers about glaciers on MSJ, Google sure can't find them. I wonder where the ranger got his info?
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Postby cynthia23 » Sun Sep 15, 2013 6:03 pm

Unfortunately, I don't know more, and Ranger Hansen retired and I believe moved to Oregon. But you might try asking the current head ranger. If you find out more, let us know.
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