Tectonic evolution of Bakersfield arch, Kern County, California
The Bakersfield arch is a major westward-plunging structural bowing on the east side of the southern San Joaquin Valley, extending from Porterville on the north, approximately 55 mi south-southeast to the vicinity of Bear Mountain. It plunges south-southwest into the San Joaquin basin for approximately 16 mi. The arch is the site of several major oil fields which produced approximately 66 million bbl during 1984. Oil productions is from Tertiary and younger sandstone and siltstone, and from fractured basement rocks. Structural evolution of the Bakersfield arch began with the southwestward movement of the western US in response to plate-tectonic forces. This movement resulted in westerly (clockwise) rotation of the southern part of the Sierra Nevada batholith and the southwesterly projection of the Tehachapi Mountains granitic salient. The salient is bounded on the south by the left-lateral Garlock fault and on the northwest by the right-lateral White Wolf and Kern Canyon faults. Southwesterly pressure on the White Wolf-Kern Canyon fault pushed (wedged) the Greenhorn Mountains block of the Sierra Nevada batholith westward into the San Joaquin basin. The Greenhorn Mountains are the core of the Bakersfield arch. Movement on the Garlock fault to initiate Bakersfield arch growth probably began in the middle Miocene.
- OSTI ID:
- 6931195
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8604187-
- Journal Information:
- Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., Bull.; (United States), Vol. 70:4; Conference: American Association of Petroleum Geologist Pacific Section convention, Bakersfield, CA, USA, 16 Apr 1986
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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A delta-fed submarine ramp alternative to the canyon-fed depositional model of the Stevens submarine fan system, southeastern San Joaquin basin, Kern County, California
A delta-fed submarine ramp alternative to the canyon-fed depositional model of the Stevens submarine fan system, southeastern San Joaquin basin, Kern County, California
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FEDERAL REGION IX
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