232 



University of California Publications. 



[Geology 



Below the lower limit of glaciation — the 7,000-foot contour — it 

 assumes a strongly consequent character, becoming V-shaped 

 and taking on a grade of 500 feet to the mile. It is therefore 

 evident, as an observational fact, that a valley of strongly 

 marked individuality has been carved out coincident with the 

 length of the ice stream, and that its evolution has been inde- 

 pendent of lithologic control, inasmuch as its distinctive features 

 are found equally well developed in firm unweathered granite, 

 and across the strike of slates as well as along their upturned 

 edges. 



The Little Kern River is bordered by high hanging valleys 

 in its upper region, but immediately below the lower limit of 

 glaciation, the lateral streams are in complete accordance, 

 notably the Shotgun and the Rifle. To sum up, the hanging 

 valleys do not show any systematic arrangement such as would 

 be produced by selective or differential erosion, or by faulting, 

 but are inseparably associated with the evidences of glacial oc- 

 cupation. 



The lateral valleys consist of a series of irregular steps, the 

 successive treads of which are usually occupied by rock-rimmed 

 lakelets. These lakes do not owe their origin to morainal dams, 

 but All basins eroded out of the solid granite. Their depth is 

 small, perhaps never exceeding 30 feet. Some few have become 

 silted up, giving rise to beautiful parks through which the 

 mountain streams wind leisurely. The uppermost lake always 

 occupies the circular basin of the amphitheatre at the crest of the 

 range ; the succeeding lakes are separated by differences in alti- 

 tude of several hundred feet, and are invariably situated at the 

 foot of the abrupt changes of elevation. The tarns are not con- 

 fined exclusively to the granitic rocks, but occur also upon the 

 sedimentary rocks. 



In a number of instances cirques have been evolved partly in 

 granite and partly in the sedimentary series, notably at Monarch 

 Lakes, Crystal Lake, Silver Lake, the lakes S.W. of Florence 

 Peak, White Chief and at Eagle Lake, and it is a noteworthy 

 fact that in each case the symmetry of the amphitheatre has in no 

 way been impaired or diminished. (See Plate 28.) A curious 



