View in NW direction. The Carson Valley (1450 m asl.) in the foreground is separated from the tectonically uplifted block of the Carson Range by a more than 1000 m high step. The Lake Tahoe, 500 m deep, occupies the basin between the Carson Range and the main crest of the Sierra Nevada. It was not only shaped by tectonic forces, but also by the Pleistocene glaciers.