484 



SAMUEL WEIDMAN 



some of the valleys that lie on the flanks of the Wichita Mountains 

 Hke that of Honey Creek in the Arbuckle Mountains, appear to 

 have the distinctly U-shaped form which is typical of glaciated 

 valleys. A probable example of a U-shaped valley in the eastern 

 part of the Wichita Mountains appears to be that of the gorge of 

 Canyon Creek, in Sec. 2, T. 4 N., R. 13 W. 



The suggestion has been made that the grooved granites owe 

 their origin to wave action of some sort. Indeed, in so far as expla- 

 nations of these features have been offered, some form of water wave 

 work has usually been suggested. The writer, however, can find no 

 reference in literature to features of this sort made by water waves. 



Fig. 14. — View showing inclined grooving 



On the other hand the grooved and fluted granites bear a marked 

 resemblance to the work of ice erosion, such as the rock scorings of 

 various kinds described by T. C. Chamberlin^ from the Pleistocene 

 glaciation. 



If the grooved granites are relics of ancient glaciation, the ques- 

 tion naturally arises as to what has protected them from Permo- 

 Carboniferous times to the present. As already stated the fluted 

 surfaces appear only on the lower slopes of the mountains in a zone 

 now occupied by the remnants of a coarse boulder conglomerate of 

 Permo-Carboniferous age that once filled the intermontane valleys. 

 The grooved granites are seen only where recent removal of the 

 conglomerate by stream erosion has exposed them to view. 



' T. C. Chamberlin, "Rock Scorings of the Great Ice Invasions," U.S. Geol. Sur- 

 vey, yth Annual Report, 1886, pp. 155-248. 



