Geologic maps of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California

Miscellaneous Field Studies Map 1401
By:

Links

Abstract

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the arm of the San Francisco Bay estuary that reaches into the Central Valley of California, differs from typical coastal-plain deltas in three important respects.  First, rather than meeting the ocean individually and directly, all major waterways of this delta discharge via a single constricted outlet into a chain of estuarine bays and straits.  Second, in the most common vertical sequence of deposits, peat and mud deposited in tidal marshes and swamps (tidal wetlands) directly overlie alluvium or eolian sand, a sequence recording a landward spread of tidal environments rather than the seaward migration of fluvial environments that is typical of coastal-plain deltas (Cosby, 1941, p. 43; Thompson, 1957, p. 12; Shlemon and Begg, 1975, p. 259; Atwater and Belknap, 1980).  Finally, intensive human use has led to a peculiar set of conflicts involving rights to water and responsibilities for flood-control levees (Kockelman and other, 1982).

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Geologic maps of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California
Series title Miscellaneous Field Studies Map
Series number 1401
DOI 10.3133/mf1401
Year Published 1982
Language English
Publisher U.S. Government Printing Office
Publisher location Washington, D.C.
Description Pamphlet: 15 p.; 21 Sheets
Country United States
State California
Other Geospatial Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Scale 24000
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details