Lawson.] 



The Upper Kern Basin. 



341 



These facts, then, are adverse to the supposition that the 

 kernbuts are local slipped blocks. We have, moreover, a diffi- 

 culty in picturing to our minds the dropping of such blocks into 

 a rift without some similar process taking place on either side 

 of them. 



If, on the other hand, we regard them as portions of a long 

 slip, which locally have been retarded in the downward move- 

 ment, then the anomalies of the cahou profile in the intervals 

 between them would be explained. This supposition is supported 

 farther by the fact that the profile of the canon drawn through 

 the kernbuts is, in spite of the anomalous character of these 

 features, much more nearly the profile of the typical V-shaped 

 canon than is the profile for the intervals between them. The 

 wide portions of the canon below the limit of glaciation are, on 

 this supposition, interpreted as portions of the slope of a V-shaped 

 canon which have slipped out of sight. 



The multiple character of several of the kernbuts indicates 

 that several slip planes were developed in the settling mass. The 

 notched or serrate profile of these further indicates that the down 

 throw on these slip planes was to the west and the slips therefore 

 probably hade toward the west wall of the canon. For if they 

 haded to the east, and the downthrow was in that direction, we 

 should have quite a different profile due to a series of fault steps, 

 each tread of which should slope toward the east. 



Final Statement of Hypothesis. — It thus appears probable that 

 the kernbuts are remnants of the west slope of a V-shaped canon 

 of stream erosion, which have been isolated by the intervening 

 portions dropping out of sight, between a main rift on the west 

 side of the canon and an auxiliary slip more centrally situated. 

 The kernbuts have themselves been affected by the same slipping 

 process but to a less degree, and, in those cases where they are 

 multiple, there have been several auxiliary slip planes converging 

 upon the main rift, towards which successive wedges slipped in 

 the course of the adjustment of the mass. The west slope of the 

 kerncols is thus the modified original slope of the canon prior to 

 the disturbance, while the east slope is a fault scarp; and the 

 floor of the kerncol is the more or less aggraded notch or trough 

 formed by the intersection of these two surfaces. 



