This view is from a pass between Titanothere Canyon and Titus Canyon (looking west into the headwaters of Titus Canyon). The Titus Canyon Formation (consisting of conglomerate, tuffaceous sandstones, and volcanic tuff and ash deposits of Oligocene age) crops out throughout the upper headwater regions of both Titus and Titanothere canyons (Reynolds, 1976). Weathering and erosion in the softer Tertiary-age rocks proceeds much faster than the denser, harder, more ancient rocks down the canyons. As a result, headwater erosion of in both formed a large bowl-shaped basins high on the eastern flank of the Grapevine Mountains, even though the canyons both drain westward through the mountain range into Death Valley. |