Lawson.] 



The Upper Kern Basin. 



357 



Forest by way of Timber Gap. The crest of these lateral 

 moraines is at least 500 feet above the bottom of the canon, and 

 it is probable that the glacier reached the canon of the Middle 

 Fork of the Kaweah, although there is no evidence of glaciation 

 in the latter below the mouth of Buck's Canon. 



Another large glacier descended the main Middle Fork and 

 left similar, but even higher, lateral moraines, flanking the canon 

 sides above the confluence of Cliff Creek. This glacier had its 

 main supply of ice in the cirque below Lion Rock at the extreme 

 head of the Middle Fork, but was probably joined by some, if 

 not all, of the glaciers which occupied the great troughs between 

 Lion Rock and Cliff Creek. Three of these troughs are shown 

 in Plate 45 b. There is a large but shallow cirque at the head of 

 Buck's Caiiou at the crest of the divide between the Middle and 

 Marble Forks of the Kaweah. The ice stream which flowed from 

 this cirque deposited abundant morainic material not far below 

 the cirque but did not apparently reach more than half way to 

 the Middle Fork. Other smaller cirques occur about this crest 

 in the vicinity of Tharp's Peak, and an extensive one, of a flat 

 and shallow character, lies to the north of the divide, and is 

 drained by a branch of the Marble Fork. 



This brief sketch of the extent and general character of the 

 glaciation of the region has perhaps its chief merit in the fact 

 that it places on record the southward limit of the glaciation of 

 the High Sierra, and indicates clearly that it was entirely of an 

 Alpine type. The western limit is also indicated pretty definitely 

 for those portions of the mountains south of Lat. 36° 40', and 

 maybe stated to be Long. 118° 40' west. The eastern limit is 

 estimated to be within three or four miles of the scarp line of the 

 Sierra crest for the same latitude. The lower hypsometric limit 

 is in the canon of the Kern at an altitude of 6450 feet above sea 

 level. The distribution of the glaciers is shown in Plate 31. 



Cirques. — One of the interesting features of the glaciation of 

 the high mountains which encircle the basin of the Upper Kern 

 is the support which it affords to the doctrine of the glacial 

 destruction of mountain crests as formulated by W. D. Johuson,* 



* Science, New Series, Vol. IX, pp. 112-113. The first formulation of this 

 doctrine by Mr. Johnson was in the form of an address to the Geological Section of 

 the Science Association of the University of California, at Berkeley, Sept. 27, 1892. 



