Vou. III] ANDERSON—NEOCENE DEPOSITS OF KERN RIVER 75 
He has made extensive and interesting collections in the Tem- 
blor beds at the base of the Neocene, and has made important 
donations of fossils to the California Academy of Sciences. 
Mr. Ochsner and Mr. Buwalda each spent a considerable 
time studying the stratigraphy of the field, and making collec- 
tions, the results of which have all been turned over to the 
Academy. 
The identification of the fossil plants obtained from this 
field, in so far as identification has been secured, was made 
by Dr. Willis L. Jepson of the University of California. 
It is proper also to mention in this connection the generous 
and co-operative attitude of Professor E. T. Dumble, Consult- 
ing Geologist of the Southern Pacific Company. 
And lastly, the friendly interest taken in this work through- 
out by Dr. J. Perrin Smith, Dr. John C. Merriam, and Dr. 
Andrew C. Lawson, has been encouraging and gratifying ina 
high degree. 
GENERAL STATEMENT 
One of the most striking features of the geology of the 
Great Valley of California is the relative lack of Cretaceous 
and Tertiary strata on its eastern border. Considering its 
synclinal structure, and the great display of strata along its 
western border, which range through all the periods from 
Cretaceous to Pleistocene, it is remarkable that there are so 
few occurrences of similar formations along the foot-hills of 
the Sierra Nevada. Certainly the streams coming into the 
valley, or basin, from the east during these successive periods 
must have contributed greatly to contemporaneous deposits; 
or rather, the quantity of detritus entering from the east 
could not have been small, and, under the assumed conditions 
of grade, would presumably be commensurate with the time- 
duration and the areas denuded. Naturally, therefore, larger 
collections of strata would be expected on the eastern than on 
the western border of the valley, and their absence is all the 
more surprising. 
If thick deposits of strata were ever formed along the 
eastern border, but little evidence of them is visible. The 
basement rocks of pre-Cretaceous age usually come well down 
