Vou. III] ANDERSON—NEOCENE DEPOSITS OF KERN RIVER 95 
Then, as will be shown presently, there is reason to regard 
the whole collection of fossiliferous beds as representing the 
whole of the Temblor group, though it is not proved that 
some part of the series has not been carried away. 
THE KERN RIVER GROUP 
The uppermost group of the Neocene, as far as known, is 
almost without fossils, and consists of sandy beds, alternating 
aggregates of sands and clays, and, toward the top, beds of 
gravel. These beds are well exposed in outcrop one or two 
miles east of the Kern River oil-field, and along Cottonwood 
Creek, and southward, and on the Caliente, and also north of 
the Poso stage-station on the road to Granite. Beds of gravel 
and conglomerate, and frequently large boulders, are charac- 
teristic of this group. Some of the boulders near Cottonwood 
and Caliente creeks are above a ton in weight. 
The upper part of the group is usually gray in color, but 
the larger part has a characteristic pale greenish or sometimes 
yellow color, though it often contains thin strata of chocolate- 
brown sand or clay. 
The entire group bears evidence of being a terrigenous 
rather than an organic deposit, as far as known from its out- 
‘crops and from the well-records of the Kern River district. 
What it may be beneath the valley floor can only be surmised, 
though very likely its organic component becomes more pro- 
nounced, and the detrital is reduced. 
The thickness of the group varies somewhat in different 
parts of the area, though in general it is under 2000 feet. To 
the north of the Kern River estimates have generally resulted 
in placing it near 1260 feet. South of Cottonwood Creek a 
partial section was measured which had a thickness of over 
1100 feet, and on Caliente Creek a calculation based upon the 
average dip showed a thickness of something more than 1500 
feet. Its thickness is naturally greater in the western part of 
the area than in the eastern, where it has usually suffered from 
denudation. 
The group often exhibits sudden alternations of condition, 
changing quickly from clays, shales, etc., to coarse gravels 
and boulders. Some of the boulders of granitic rock are so 
