The evolution of a symmetric pair of quasistreamwise vortical structures extracted from the two‐point correlation tensor of turbulent channel flow data by a linear stochastic estimation procedure is studied through direct numerical simulation. It is observed that an &OHgr;‐shaped hairpin vortex is formed quickly from this initial structure. Sufficiently strong hairpin vortices are observed to generate a hierarchy of secondary hairpin vortices, and the mechanism of their creation closely resembles the formation of the primary hairpin vortex. New streamwise vortices are also generated, and this process provides a means for a few vortical disturbances of adequate strength to reproduce themselves and eventually populate the near‐wall layer. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.