Vol. 4] 



Lawson. — Features of the Middle Kern. 



409 



For the Upper Kern the conclusion was reached that the canon 

 had been controlled as to its course by a rift line antedating the 

 canon and that at a later period faulting had occurred along 

 this rift with partial engulfraent of a narrow orographic block 

 or wedge. The Middle Kern lies along the southward projection 

 of this rift line through the Trout Meadows defile, and there 

 seems little room for doubt but that its course, like that of the 

 Upper Kern, was determined primarily by a great north-south 

 crustal rift. At a later period when the canon had been deeply 

 incised the region was deformed and dislocation was effected 

 along the general line of the rift. 



University of California, 

 April, 1906. 



