Geology and geologic history: Overview of the geology of the San Francisco Bay region

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Edited by: A. Kenneth Johnson and Greg W. Bartow

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Abstract

The geology of San Francisco and the surrounding northern and central California area has played a pivotal role in the development of our understanding of Earth processes, especially the process of tectonic accretion at a continental margin and the development of transform plate margins. The Franciscan Complex, which underlies most (or perhaps all) of the City and County of San Francisco, is widely considered the "type" accretionary complex. More regionally, the Sierra Nevada, Great Valley, and Coast Ranges are often used as an illustration of the arc-forearc-accretionary prism geometry of a continental convergent margin, and the San Andreas Fault, just offshore to the west of San Francisco, serves as the prototype transform plate margin, although as illustrated below the actual geometry and geologic history is more complicated.

Study Area

Publication type Book chapter
Publication Subtype Book Chapter
Title Geology and geologic history: Overview of the geology of the San Francisco Bay region
Year Published 2018
Language English
Publisher Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists
Contributing office(s) Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Description 38 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Title Geology of San Francisco, California; Geology of the cities of the world series
First page 30
Last page 67
Country United States
State California
City San Francisco
Other Geospatial San Francisco Bay
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