The style of late Cenozoic deformation at the eastern front of the California Coast Ranges

Tectonics
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Abstract

The 1983 Coalinga earthquake occurred at the eastern boundary of the California Coast Ranges in response to northeast directed thrusting. Such movements over the past 2 Ma have produced Coalinga anticline by folding above the blind eastern tip of the Coalinga thrust zone. The 600-km length of the Coast Ranges boundary shares a common structural setting that involves westward upturn of Cenozoic and Cretaceous strata at the eastern front of the Coast Ranges and a major, southwest facing step in the basement surface beneath the western Great Valley. Like Coalinga anticline, Pliocene and Quaternary folding and faulting along the rest of the boundary also result from northeast–southwest compression acting nearly perpendicular to the strike of the San Andreas fault. We suggest that much of this deformation is related to active thrusts beneath the eastern Coast Ranges. The step in the basement surface beneath the Great Valley seems to have controlled the distribution of this deformation and the shape of the Coast Ranges boundary.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title The style of late Cenozoic deformation at the eastern front of the California Coast Ranges
Series title Tectonics
DOI 10.1029/TC008i002p00237
Volume 8
Issue 2
Publication Date July 26, 2010
Year Published 1989
Language English
Publisher American Geophysical Union
Contributing office(s) Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center
Description 10 p.
First page 237
Last page 246
Country United States
State California
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