Record. xxxix 



Air. Charles M. Gill presented ''A Possible Explana- 

 tion of the 'Inferno' at Fern Lake near Estes Park, 

 Colorado." 



The "Inferno" lies on the shore of Fern Lake, fourteen miles south- 

 east of Estes Park, Colorado, and at the head of the canyon of the Big 

 Thompson River. 



The feature in question consists of a mass of rock fragments, four 

 hundred feet in length and sixty in breadth, arranged so as to form an 

 elongated oval depression. The rim consists of granite masses from 

 four to twelve feet in diameter. The size of the boulders grades down 

 to a diameter of about a foot at the bottom of the pit twenty feet below. 



The topography of the entire region is glacial. The basin of Fern 

 Lake is glacially scooped, and a moraine has raised the basin rim on 

 the northeast side. 



The hypothesis consists of three parts: — 



1st. That the source of the material is the cliffs above the formation. 

 This is borne out by the identity of the granites and the scarred cliff. 



2nd. That the fall of material was probably due to earthquake. In 

 the canyon below and in the foot of the cliffs in this region are other 

 rock masses of about the same degree of weathering. 



3rd. That the peculiar arrangement of the rocks results from the 

 fall of the mass upon a shallow glacier then filling the lake basin. 

 When the ice melted near the cliff base, other masses were released. 

 Upon the complete melting the larger fragments are found at the outer 

 edge as is usual in glacial kettle holes. 



The degree of weathering is comparable with that of glaciated sur- 

 faces of the same granite in this region. 



The absence of even a trace of vulcanism precludes it as a cause. 



Professor F. E. Nipher made some remarks on the 

 effect of wind on the magnetic needle. 



Apeil 7, 1913. 



President Engler in the chair; attendance 69. 

 The following donations to the Museum and Library- 

 were announced: 



H. M. Whelpley . .Section of a fossil tree trunk from the Petrified For- 

 est, Arizona. 

 Otto Widmann A pamphlet on the birds of Estes Park. 



Dr. G. 0. James gave an illustrated lecture on "How 

 Worlds are Formed." 

 Dr. James discussed: 



1st. Laplace's theory of the formation of the Solar System. 

 2nd. See's capture theory of the Planetary Systems. 



