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University of California Publications. [Geology 



feet above it, or 4086 feet above sea level. From this summit the 

 observer looking north obtains a fine view of the profile of Breck- 

 enbridge Mountain, and of Walker Basin, both very remarkable 

 geomorphic features. Breekenbridge Mountain is an asymmetric 

 ridge, the general trend of which is north and south, and which 

 lies immediately to the west of Walker Basin. The summit is 

 probably about 6500 feet above sea level. Its western slope is 

 exceedingly gentle and descends uniformly toward the great 

 valley in the latitude of Bakersfield. Its eastern side is a very 

 precipitous mountain front overlooking Walker Basin. The mere 

 inspection of the profile suggests immediately that the mountain 

 is a tilted orographic block and that its eastern front is a fault- 

 scarp. This suggestion is confirmed by its relation to Walker 

 Basin. The latter is a triangular shaped valley having an area 

 of ten or eleven square miles. One side of the triangle is the 

 base of the steep eastern face of Breekenbridge Mountain, and 

 the other two sides converge in a narrow canon at a point about 

 four miles to the east of the mountain base. The valley bottom 

 is wholly alluviated with a nearly flat slope to the west. It 

 stands at an altitude of about 3300 feet above sea level. It is 

 in entire geomorphic discordance with the erosional features of 

 the surrounding mountains. On all sides are narrow high-grade 

 canons and gorges. The outlet of the basin itself is a narrow 

 gorge, which lies between the south end of Breekenbridge Moun- 

 tain and the ridge over which the road passes from Caliente. 

 This geomorphic discordance with the erosional features of the 

 region can only be explained as the result of an acute deforma- 

 tion, such as would be produced by uplift of an orographic block 

 along a fault parallel to the east front of Breekenbridge Moun- 

 tain. 



The route to Kernville follows the east side of this great 

 mountain scarp from the southwest corner of Walker Basin to 

 Hot Springs Valley, a distance of fifteen miles with a bearing 

 a little east of north. From the northwest corner of Walker 

 Basin the road ascends about 1000 feet to cross a divide which 

 connects the lower portion of the Breekenbridge scarp with the 

 mountains to the east and separates Walker Basin from a much 

 narrower depression in which Havilah is situated. This is a 



