Late Quaternary sediment-accumulation rates within the inner basins of the California Continental Borderland in support of geologic hazard evaluation

Special Paper of the Geological Society of America
By: , and 

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Abstract

An evaluation of the geologic hazards of the inner California Borderland requires determination of the timing for faulting and mass-movement episodes during the Holocene. Our effort focused on basin slopes and turbidite systems on the basin floors for the area between Santa Barbara and San Diego, California. Dating condensed sections on slopes adjacent to fault zones provides better control on fault history where high-resolution, seismic-reflection data can be used to correlate sediment between the core site and the fault zones. This study reports and interprets 147 radiocarbon dates from 43 U.S. Geological Survey piston cores as well as 11 dates from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1015 on the floor of Santa Monica Basin. One hundred nineteen dates from 39 of the piston cores have not previously been published. Core locations were selected for hazard evaluation, but despite the nonuniform distribution of sample locations, the dates obtained for the late Quaternary deposits are useful for documenting changes in sediment-accumulation rates during the past 30 ka. Cores from basins receiving substantial sediment from rivers, i.e., Santa Monica Basin and the Gulf of Santa Catalina, show a decrease in sediment supply during the middle Holocene, but during the late Holocene after sea level had reached the current highstand condition, rates then increased partly in response to an increase in El Ni??o-Southern Oscillation events during the past 3.5 ka. ?? 2009 The Geological Society of America.
Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Late Quaternary sediment-accumulation rates within the inner basins of the California Continental Borderland in support of geologic hazard evaluation
Series title Special Paper of the Geological Society of America
DOI 10.1130/2009.2454(2.6)
Issue 454
Year Published 2009
Language English
Larger Work Type Article
Larger Work Subtype Journal Article
Larger Work Title Special Paper of the Geological Society of America
First page 117
Last page 139
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