Paleomagnetic investigation of late Quaternary sediments of south San Francisco Bay, California

Open-File Report 77-457
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Abstract

Paleomagnetic inclinations of the Late Quaternary sediments of South San Francisco Bay were determined from bore hole samples collected near Dumbarton Bridge. The sediments consist of estuarine muds and nonmarine sand deposits, floored by bedrock of the Mesozoic Franciscan Formation. - Beneath Dumbarton Bridge the entire sedimentary fill is normally polarized; therefore, the fill postdates the Brunhes-Matayama polarity reversal (700,000 y. B.P.). Magnetic time lines such as the Mono Lake excursion (24,000 y. B.P.) and the reversed Blake event (110,000 y B.P.) were not found in this bore hole. In addition to Holocene and modern deposits of San Francisco Bay, an older estuarine unit occurs in the stratigraphic section. The older unit was deposited during a period of high sea level, tentatively correlated with the Sangamon interglacial period. Because evidence of the Blake event is not present in the older estuarine unit, the proposed age of this unit could not be confirmed. Although the Holocene estuarine deposits of South San Francisco Bay carry stable remanent magnetization, a reliable record of geomagnetic secular variation could not be recovered because the water-saturated sdiment was deformed by drilling.

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Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Paleomagnetic investigation of late Quaternary sediments of south San Francisco Bay, California
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 77-457
DOI 10.3133/ofr77457
Year Published 1977
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Description 13 p.
Country United States
State California
Other Geospatial San Francisco Bay
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