Vou. III] ANDERSON—NEOCENE DEPOSITS OF KERN RIVER 113 
THE QUATERNARY GRAVELS 
The next collection of strata following that of the Kern 
River group is found in the alluvial gravels and _ terrace- 
deposits of the Kern River area. These deposits have all been 
formed during an epoch of subsidence, if not submergence, 
such as is known to have taken place generally over the whole 
Coast region during the late Quaternary. The horizontal 
position of these deposits across the truncated edges of the 
Kern River group, and the trenching of the latter prior to the 
epoch of alluviation, as shown along Caliente Creek, mark an 
intervening epoch of land conditions and of denudation. Quite 
similar facts are to be seen along the base of the Mt. Diablo 
Range in which the Tulare deposits are involved, which have 
been shown to be of Pliocene age. 
An attempt was made in a former paper’ to correlate the 
post-Pliocene deposits about the southern end of the Great 
Valley, and to suggest their relation to the terracing as well 
as to the previous interval of land elevation and denudation. 
The interpretation here given to the Quaternary terracing 
and older alluvial gravel-deposits in the Kern River area, is 
that they represent an epoch of subsidence in late Quaternary 
time, following the epoch of elevation which attended glacial 
conditions. In other words, these features of the Quaternary 
period are classed with those of the Champlain epoch in gen- 
eral. 
EcoNOMIC GEOLOGY 
It is not the purpose of this paper to deal specially or exten- 
sively with the economic features of the district, yet in passing 
a few notes may be included for the benefit of those who may 
desire them. _ 
The chief economic product is, of course, petroleum, though 
others are at least possible in the not distant future. As far 
as known the petroleum deposits of commercial value are con- 
fined to the Kern River group, and therein have a stratigraphic 
range of 300 to 600 feet, though unproductive beds of oil-sand 
are found both above and below. At any one point the produc- 
tive sands rarely exceed 400 feet in thickness, and they are 
1 Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., 4th Ser., v. 3, pp. 1-40. 
