Hilario Camacho¹, Cathy J. Busby¹, Ben Kneller²
(1) Department of Geological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
(2) Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

Abstract: A 90- degree turn on the interpretation of the classical turbidite locality at San Clemente State Beach, California

The turbidite system at San Clemente State Park has been used by industry and academy alike as a field laboratory. The stratigraphic sequence exposed in the cliffs along the beach has been used as an analog for the type of reservoir present in most of the oil fields in Los Angeles Basin. We interpret the turbidite system at San Clemente State Park to represent the fill of a single non-fan channel that aggraded vertically, based on the construction of a detailed photomosaic, measured sections, three dimensional facies distribution, new paleocurrent data, and the description of previously undescribed outcrops in the area. The channel was cut into a low gradient slope (less than 1°). Our new paleocurrent measurements indicate and average transport direction of 321°, in contrast with earlier interpretations that assume a transport direction perpendicular to this. We propose that the deepwater Gollum Channel System (off Ireland-England) is a modern analog to the turbidite system at San Clemente State Park. The lateral and vertical facies changes are not due to lobe progradation or lateral channel migration as proposed by previous workers but rather reflects changes between axial and marginal facies within a single channel.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90914©2000 AAPG Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana