Structure plan of the southern Sierra Nevada, California

In the southern Sierra Nevada schist remnants, flow layers, joints, faults, and volcanoes combine into a regional pattern that seems to have persisted throughout recorded geological history. From this pattern it is deduced that, toward the southern end of the Sierra, north-northeast and northeast structures gained control over the prevailing northwest structure and swung the trend from southeast to southwest. This swing, expressed in the present topography, had been accomplished by the time the pluton was emplaced, and probably long before.