Lawson.] 



The Upper Kern Basin . 



333 



Upper Lake. The crest of a low, rocky island appearing- above 

 the delta of the lake appears to be an extension of the same 

 ridge, the direction of elongation of the two being in line. To 

 the southeast of the south end of the first, or 400-foot ridge, and 

 so situated between it and the second or 150-foot ridge, is a third 

 ridge, having the same characters as the two described but much 

 smaller in size. A typical kerncol separates it on the west from 

 the southern end of the main ridge, while on the east it slopes 

 down to the kerncol situated between the two larger ridges. 



Still another kind of multiple kernbut is one in which the 

 constituent ridges are arranged not en echelon, or overlapping, 

 but in succession, one in front of another. This is exemplified 

 by the kernbut which separates Upper and Lower Lakes. When 

 this buttress is viewed from the north end of Upper Lake its 

 profile is distinctly serrate, there being not less than three, and 

 possibly four, ridges with corresponding kerncols. The altitude 

 of these decreases regularly to the east. The lowest ridge of the 

 series has an altitude of about 300 feet above the Kern, and on 

 the stream side presents a precipitous cliff, with many slightly 

 dislodged spauls of rock of large size. There is no talus at the 

 foot of the cliff, and it is so steep that one can pass on foot, 

 between its base and the river, only by risky and difficult climb- 

 ing. To the west of this ridge the lowest kerncol is a defile 

 having an altitude of perhaps 200 feet above the river and is 

 followed by the river trail. 



About two miles below Lower Lake is still another multiple 

 kernbut with two ridges and two kerncols. It is like the others 

 described above and is on the same side of the canon, but, being 

 on a smaller scale, it is a much less prominent feature in the 

 landscape. Another obscure feature of this kind occurs at the 

 foot of the west wall, about a mile north of Coyote Creek, near 

 the north end of the western limb of the terminal moraine which 

 there spans the floor of the canon. 



Possible Explanations. — These kernbuts can apparently only 

 be explained on the hypothesis that they are vast spauls of the 

 west wall that have been detached from it in some way by a 

 process of rifting. Other hypotheses may be temporarily enter- 

 tained with respect to their origin, but they have only to be 



