408 



University of California Publications. 



[Geology 



canon but on the east side with downthrow to the east. The 

 trough thus formed was not as deep as the canon when the dislo- 

 cation occurred. Again by erosional modification of the purely 

 diastrophic features the present forms would be evolved. In this 

 case the notches in the ridge between the older erosional canon 

 and the new diastrophic trough would be antecedent to the dislo- 

 cation and would correspond to the affluents of the Kern. In 

 making a choice between these two diastrophic hypotheses the 

 facts which have been narrated in the earlier part of this paper 

 seem clearly to limit us to the second. It has been shown that 

 from the south end of Walker Basin through Havilah Valley, 

 and Hot Springs Valley on the same line as that on which the 

 Middle Kern flows, there has been a very notable downthrow 

 to the east and an uplift to the west along a north and south 

 fault. It would seem necessary, therefore, if we resort to fault- 

 ing to account for these remarkable geomorphic features of the 

 canon of the Middle Kern that we must adopt the fault hypo- 

 thesis which gives us the same downthrow. By doing this, more- 

 over, the series of ridges and buttes which adorn the east side 

 of the canon of the Kern consists with and is the perfect analogue 

 of the median ridge of Hot Springs Valley from the genetic 

 point of view. The same considerations which favor this 

 hypothesis as against the one which postulates downthrow to 

 the west on a fault on the west side of the canon are adverse 

 to the first hypothesis considered, viz : the evolution of the trough 

 or defile by purely erosional processes along a rift developed 

 within the canon but without dislocation. The fault line along 

 which the country was downthrown to the east from "Walker 

 Basin to Kernville would pass straight up the canon of the 

 Middle Kern and there seems to be no good reason for doubting 

 that the peculiar features of the canon are just as much the 

 result of that faulting as are the equally remarkable features 

 described to the south of Kernville. 



The question now arises : Is the occurrence of a fault within 

 the canon of the Kern and strictly coincident with it in direction 

 more than a coincidence? In view of the observations made on 

 the Upper Kern* it is clear that it is not merely a coincidence. 



* Op. cit. 



