Late Quaternary Deformation in the Inverted Santa Maria Basin, CA: Documenting and Quantifying Active Folding from Syn-Tectonic Deposits

Ian McGregor, & Nate W. Onderdonk

Published August 6, 2018, SCEC Contribution #8291, 2018 SCEC Annual Meeting Poster #247

The Santa Maria area is an inverted basin in southern California with several kilometers of shortening deforming and uplifting deep-water basin rocks. Abundant subsurface data from active oil fields document total shortening and near-surface structures, but does not include the Late Quaternary history and whether these structures are still active. Minimal constraints on the amount and rate of Quaternary shortening prevents accurate estimates of regional seismic hazards for the local population and the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant 40 km to the north. Conflicting structural models have been proposed for the deformation present and a quantitative description of fold growth is needed to determine which structural models best describe recent deformation. Careful documentation of late Quaternary deformation within the Santa Maria basin, in terms of amount, timing, and style of fold growth, would provide information imperative for evaluating earthquake risk and regional tectonic models.

Key Words
fault-related-folding, growth stratigraphy, luminescence dating,

Citation
McGregor, I., & Onderdonk, N. W. (2018, 08). Late Quaternary Deformation in the Inverted Santa Maria Basin, CA: Documenting and Quantifying Active Folding from Syn-Tectonic Deposits. Poster Presentation at 2018 SCEC Annual Meeting.

Related Projects & Working Groups
Earthquake Geology