Structural controls on submarine-fan geometry and internal architecture: upper La Jolla fan system, offshore Southern California
La Jolla fan, offshore of San Diego, California, is a well-studied example of submarine-fan sedimentation, yet the internal architecture of the fan has remained poorly known. High-resolution seismic data, recorded in a 1 by 2 mi (1.6 by 3.3 km) grid, over much of the fan, allow better understanding of upper and middle fan features and processes, and of structural controls on fan sedimentation. Three bathymetrically prominent conduits supply sediment to the upper La Jolla fan system from stream and nearshore littoral drift-cell sources. La Jolla canyon (and contiguous La Jolla fan valley) is the main feeder to the fan. Seismic profiling data confirm the previously reported erosional character of the channel and constructional nature of flanking levees. These data also reveal that the position of the channel is controlled by the geometry of a buried, hard-rock structure. Seismic data demonstrate that the La Jolla fan system comprises a complex interleaved set of sediment wedges derived from multiple sources and woven around the wrench tectonic fabric of uplifts and basins of the southern California borderland. Thus, La Jolla fan system presents an expansion from the simple radial growth pattern of fan sedimentation to a complex fan system built of a number of smaller interwoven radial growth components. Despite these complexities, lithofacies patterns are in part predictable for the La Jolla fan system. Faultbounded uplifts form long-lived barriers to sediment dispersal and enhance channel development along their flanks. Multistory channel complexes, detectable seismically, commonly occur in these structurally controlled positions adjacent to wrench related uplifts.
- Research Organization:
- Stanford Univ., Dept. of Earth Sciences and Geology, Stanford, CA
- OSTI ID:
- 6887263
- Journal Information:
- Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States), Vol. 67:1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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