ABSTRACT: Post-Eocene Movement on the Coast Range Thrust, Northern Sacramento Valley, California

Vincent Ramirez

Subsurface structure mapping with more than 600 wells and 200 miles of seismic data in a portion of the northern Sacramento basin and surface geologic mapping in the Rumsey Hills area to the west indicates that Upper Cretaceous strata along the western edge of the basin are doubled in thickness along thrust faults. These east-dipping detachments are part of the Coast Range thrust fault system. Eocene strata crop out in the fault zone and indicate that considerable post-Eocene movement occurred. Cretaceous movement on these faults can be surmised but not proven from reconstructions. Similarly, analysis from five subsurface structure maps to the east shows that deformation there also is post-Eocene; only minor Upper Cretaceous deformation can be discerned. Underthrusting of Franciscan accretionary rocks best accounts for the development of these faults and a western high along the basin margin.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91003©1990 AAPG Annual Convention, San Francisco, California, June 3-6, 1990