Cenozoic evolution of San Joaquin basin, California

Conference · Tue Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1988 · AAPG Bull.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6639355

Bartow, J A

The Neogene San Joaquin basin in the southern part of the 700-km long Great Valley of California is a successor to a late Mesozoic and earliest Tertiary forearc basin. The transition from forearc basin to the more restricted Neogene marine basin occurred principally during the Paleogene as the plate tectonic setting changed from oblique convergence to normal convergence, and finally to the initiation of tangential (transform) movement near the end of the Oligocene. Regional-scale tectonic events that affected the basin include: (1) clockwise rotation of the southernmost Sierra Nevada, and large-scale en echelon folding in the southern Diablo Range, both perhaps related to Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary right slip on the proto-San-Andreas fault; (2) regional uplift of southern California in the Oligocene that resulted from the subduction of the Pacific-Farallon spreading ridge: (3) extensional tectonism in the Basin and Range province, particularly in the Miocene; (4) wrench tectonism adjacent to the San Andreas fault in the Neogene; (5) northeastward emplacement of a wedge of the Franciscan complex at the west side of the Sierran block, with associated deep-seated thrusting in the late Cenozoic; and (6) the accelerated uplift of the Sierra Nevada beginning in the late Miocene. Neogene basin history was controlled principally by the tectonic effects of the northwestward migration of the Mendocino triple junction along the California continental margin and by the subsequent wrench tectonism associated with the San Andreas fault system. East-west compression in the basin, resulting from extension in the Basin and Range province was an important contributing factor to crustal shortening at the west side of the valley. Analysis of the sedimentary history of the basin, which was controlled to some extent by eustatic sea level change, enables reconstruction of the basin paleogeography through the Cenozoic.

• Research Organization: Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6639355
• Report Number(s): CONF-8804144-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG Bull.; (United States) Journal Volume: 72:3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
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CALIFORNIA
CENOZOIC ERA
FEDERAL REGION IX
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
NORTH AMERICA
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
TECTONICS
TERTIARY PERIOD
USA