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University of California. 



[Vol. 3. 



feet, and deposited a terminal moraine, which is the most south- 

 erly trace of glaciation in the bottom of the canon. Its altitude 

 is about 6600 feet above sea level. The moraine is small but 

 distinct, and within it are two other smaller morainic ridges. 

 The terminal moraine is V-shaped in ground plan, with a sharp 

 point extending up the kerncol and a slight concavity on the 

 outer side, particularly on the east limb of the V, due to the 

 attempt of the ice to adjust itself to the configuration of the 

 slopes of the kerncol. The length of the moraine, along both 

 limbs of the V, is less than a quarter of a mile, and its height, 

 on an average, may be placed at 25 feet. The area of its cross 

 section is about 120 square yards. Taking 400 yards as a liberal 

 estimate of its length, the total volume of the moraine is in round 

 numbers 50,000 cubic yards. This is a small dump for so large 

 a glacier as that occupying Kern Canon for 24 miles of its length, 

 and seems to indicate that the ice front maintained itself at this 

 point for but a short period of time. The eastern limb of the 

 moraine mantles the northern end of the kernbut, which ends to 

 the north at the mouth of Coyote Creek, and abundant morainic 

 material is found on the west of the ridge and on both of its 

 slopes, to an altitude of nearly 100 feet above the moraine within 

 the kerncol. The upstream extension of the west limb of the 

 moraine has been partly washed away by Coyote Creek and partly 

 buried in its debris cone. 



The situation of the moraine is rather remarkable. It is dis- 

 tinctly on one side of the valley and is situated for the most part 

 at an altitude of about 150 feet above the Kern River. One 

 might naturally suppose that such a terminal moraine would 

 span the canon and be more or less symmetrically disposed with 

 reference to its median line. It seems clear, however, that the 

 snout of the glacier, at the time of the most southerly extension 

 of the latter, was not more than half as wide as the canon, and 

 that the ice stream hugged the west wall. This may be explained 

 either by a deflection of the ice stream or by an excessive ablation 

 of its eastern side. There are no features in the valley which 

 seem competent to have deflected the glacier, and there are two 

 conditions which would have contributed to a relatively excessive 

 ablation of its eastern side. The first of these is the sheer sur- 



