Morphology of central California continental margin, revealed by long-range side-scan sonar (GLORIA)

Conference · Fri Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1985 · Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5866476

Gardner, J V; McCulloch, D S; Eittreim, S L; Masson, D G

Leg 2 of the 4-leg USGS EEZ-SCAN 84 program used GLORIA long-range side-scan sonar to survey the region from Pt. Conception to just south of Pt. Arena, from the shelf break to the 200-nmi coverage. The overlapping digital sonographs were slant-range and anamorphically corrected, and a photomosaic of the sonographs was constructed at a scale of 1:375,000 (1 in. = 11.1 km). The underlying bed rock appears to be an important control in shaping the morphology of this margin. Several faults have sea-floor expression and lie subparallel to the margin. The density of canyons and gullies on the slope varies from south to north, probably because of variations in the characteristics of the bed rock. The slope west of San Francisco is the most dissected segment of the central California slope. Monterey Fan is covered by large-scale bed forms (5-15 m amplitude and 1.5-2.0 km wavelength) over much of its surface. Monterey channel crosses southwestward across the fan, but abruptly turns south along a 40-km long surface fault that coincides with a well-mapped meander loop. The channel loops to the north then turns southward crossing the entire Monterey Fan, at its distal reaches, changes to a broad, braided pattern. Major slumps on the margin have long (> 30 km) scarps, some have slump folds, and one has a debris-flow deposit that can be acoustically traced for more than 75 km. Seventeen new seamounts were mapped. Taney Seamounts are large, rimmed, calderas with diameters of about 15 km each; these appear to be very large explosive or summit-collapse features.

• Research Organization: Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA
• OSTI ID: 5866476
• Report Number(s): CONF-850322-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States) Journal Volume: 69:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
CALIFORNIA
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CONTINENTAL SLOPE
FEDERAL REGION IX
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
NORTH AMERICA
RANGE FINDERS
SEISMIC SURVEYS
SONAR
SURVEYS
USA