UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS 



BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 



GEOLOGY 



Vol. 4, No. 16, pp. 397-409 ANDREW C. LAWSON, Editor 



THE GEOMORPHIC FEATURES OF THE 

 MIDDLE KERN. 



BY 



Andrew C. Lawson. 



Two years ago the writer published a paper* descriptive of 

 the genesis of the salient features of the Upper Kern Basin, in 

 which one of the most interesting points was the recognition of 

 a great rift which had determined the course of the Kern Canon. 

 The rift was traced as far as the southern end of the Trout 

 Meadows defile which was the limit of the writer's field observa- 

 tions. With the object of extending those observations, the 

 writer last summer made a somewhat hurried trip through the 

 middle Kern Canon in the hope of discovering evidence of the 

 prolongation of the rift to the south of the junction of the Little 

 Kern with the Kern River. The most convenient approach to 

 this portion of the mountains is by the wagon road from Caliente 

 at the southern end of the Great Valley, by way of Walker 

 Basin, Havilah, and Hot Springs Valley to Kernville, and thence 

 up the Kern Canon by a saddle trail to the mouth of the Little 

 Kern. On this route of travel certain observations were made 

 which it is here desired to record. From Caliente, altitude 128(5 

 feet, the road follows the terraced canon of Caliente Creek for 

 a few miles with a very gentle grade and then climbs up to the 

 left in the steep-grade canon of Oyler Creek to a summit, on the 

 north side of which there is a rapid descent to Walker Basin. 

 The summit is ten miles distant from Caliente and about 28(X)t 



* Geomorphogeny of the Upper Kern Basin. Bull. Dept. Geol. Univ. 

 Cal., Vol. 3, No. 15. 

 t Aneroid. 



