Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-25T09:52:03.618Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Magnetic Stratigraphy and a Test for Block Rotation of Sedimentary Rocks within the San Andreas Fault Zone, Mecca Hills, Southeastern California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Shih-Bin R. Chang ,
Clarence R. Allen  and
Joseph L. Kirschvink
Shih-Bin R. Chang
Affiliation:
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125
Clarence R. Allen
Affiliation:
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125
Joseph L. Kirschvink
Affiliation:
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A 500-m section of the Palm Spring Formation in the southern Mecca Hills, located within the San Andreas fault zone in southeastern California, has been paleomagnetically sampled to determine possible tectonic rotation in this area and to establish time-stratigraphic control. This work was partly stimulated by the fact that 80 km farther south, previous studies demonstrated 35° of postdepositional rotation in the Palm Spring Formation of the Vallecito-Fish Creek basin east of the Elsinore fault. Several lines of evidence suggest that hematite is the main magnetic carrier of the Mecca Hills samples. Large anhedral hematite grains observed in magnetic extracts and a positive fold test imply a detrital origin of the remanence. The polarity reversal patterns, together with earlier vertebrate paleontologic studies, restrict the time span for deposition of this unit to the middle-late Matuyama chron (2.0–0.75 myr ago), thus of uppermost Pliocene and early Pleistocene age. Characteristic directions of best least-squares fit for 73 samples suggest little or no overall rotation, despite the severe late Quaternary tectonic activity demonstrated by the intense deformation of these strata.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , January 1987 , pp. 30 - 40
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aquirre, P. Pasini, A., (1985). The Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary Episodes 8, 116–120 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Babcock, E.A., (1974). Geology of the northeast margin of the Salton Trough, Salton Sea, California Geological Society of America Bulletin 85, 321–332 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, S.R. Kirschvink, J.L., (1985). Possible biogenic magnetite fossils from Miocene marine clay of Crete Kirschvink, J.L. Jones, D.S. McFadden, B.J. Magnetite Biomineralization and Magnetoreception of Organisms Plenum New York 647–669 Google Scholar
Cisowski, S., (1981). Interacting vs. non-interacting single domain behavior in natural and synthetic samples Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 26, 56–62 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowell, J.C., (1975). Geologic sketch of the Orocopia Mountains, southeastern California California Division of Mines Special Report 118, 99–110 Google Scholar
Cunningham, G.D., (1984). Geology and paleoecology of the Palm Spring Formation at the Plio-Pleistocene boundary: Vallecito-Fish Creek basin, Anza-Borrego Desert, southern California Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 16, 219 Google Scholar
Dalrymple, G.B., (1980). K-Ar ages of the Friant Pumice member of the Turlock Lake Formation, the Bishop Tuff, and the tuff of Reds Meadow, central California Isochron/West 28, 3–5 Google Scholar
Dibblee, T.W. Jr. (1954). Geology of the Imperial Valley region, California California Division of Mines Bulletin 170, 21–28 (Chap. II) Google Scholar
Downs, T. White, J.A., (1968). A vertebrate faunal succession in superposed sediments from late Pleistocene to middle Pliocene in California Proceedings, 12th International Geological Congress Academic Press New York 41–47 Section 10, Prague Google Scholar
Fisher, R.A., (1953). Dispersion on a sphere Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series A 217, 295–305 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammond, S.R. Seyb, S.M. Theyer, F., (1979). Geomagnetic polarity transitions in two oriented sediment cores from the northwest Pacific Earth and Planetary Science Letters 44, 167–175 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harland, W.B. Cox, A.V. Llewllyn, P.G. Pickton, C.A.G. Smith, A.G. Walters, R., (1982). A Geologic Time Scale Cambridge Univ. Press London/New York Google Scholar
Hays, W.H., (1957). Geology of the Central Mecca Hills, Riverside County, California Ph.D. thesis Yale University Google Scholar
Johnson, N.M. Officer, L.B. Opdyke, N.D. Woodward, G.D. Zeitler, P.K. Lindsay, E.H., (1983). Rates of late Cenozoic tectonics in the Vallecito-Fish Creek basin, western Imperial Valley, California Geology 11, 664–667 2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirschvink, J.L., (1980). The least-squares line and plane and the analysis of the paleomagnetic data: Examples from Siberia and Morroco Geophyical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 62, 699–718 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirschvink, J.L., (1982). Biogenic ferrimagnetism: A new biomagnetism Williamson, S. Biomagnetism: An Interdisciplinary Approach 472–492 Google Scholar
Lindsay, E.H. Opdyke, N.D. Johnson, N.M., (1984). Blancan-Hamphillian land mammal ages and late Cenozoic mammal dispersal events Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 12, 445–488 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowrie, R. Heller, F., (1982). Magnetic properties of marine limestones Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics 20, 171–192 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mankinen, E.A. Dalrymple, G.B., (1979). Revised geomagnetic polarity time scale for the interval 0–5 Ma Journal of Geophysical Research 84, 615–626 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McElhinny, M.W., (1973). Paleomagnetism and Plate Tectonics Cambridge Univ. Press London/New York Google Scholar
Merriam, R. Bandy, O.L., (1965). Source of upper Cenozoic sediments in Colorado delta region Journal of Sedimentology 35, 911–916 Google Scholar
Merriam, R. Bischoff, J.L., (1975). Bishop Ash: A widespread volcanic ash extended to Southern California Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 45, 207–211 Google Scholar
Muffler, L.J.P. Doe, B.R., (1968). Composition and mean age of detritus of the Colorado River Delta in the Salton Trough, southeastern California Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 38, 384–399 Google Scholar
Opdyke, N.D. Lindsay, E.H. Johnson, N.M. Downs, T., (1977). The paleomagnetism and magnetic polarity stratigraphy of the mammal-bearing section of Anzo-Borrego State Park. California Quaternary Research 7, 316–329 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ozdemir, N.D. Banerjee, S.K., (1981). An experimental study of magnetic viscosity in synthetic monodomain titanomagnetite: Implications for the magnetization of the ocean crust Journal of Geophysical Research 88, 6523–6539 Google Scholar
Proctor, R.J., (1968). Geology of the Desert Hot Springs-Upper Coachella Valley Area, California California Division of Mines Special Report 94 Google Scholar
Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M. Bowman, H.R. Meyer, C.E. Russell, P.C. Woodward, M.J. McCoy, G. Rowe, J.J. Jr. Baedecker, P.A. Asaro, F. Michael, H., (1984). Chemical Analyses, Correlation, and Ages of Upper Pliocene and Pleistocene Ash Layers of East-Central and Southern California United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 1293 Google Scholar
Seeber, L. Bogen, N.L., (1985). Block rotation along the southern San Jacinto fault zone. EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 66, 953 Google Scholar
Steiner, M.B., (1983). Detrital remanent magnetization in hematite Journal of Geophysical Research 88, 6523–6539 Google Scholar
Sylvester, A.G. Smith, R.R., (1976). Tectonic transpression and basement-controlled deformation in San Andreas fault zone, Salton Trough, California American Association Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 60, 2081–2102 Google Scholar
Verosub, K.L., (1977). Depositional and postdepositional processes in the magnetization of sediments Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics 15, 129–144 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ware, G.C., (1958). Geology of a Portion of the Mecca Hills, Riverside County, California M. S. thesis University of California Los Angeles Google Scholar
Weldon, R.J. II (1985). The Late Cenozoic Geology of Cajon Pass: Implications for Tectonics and Sedimentation along the San Andreas Fault Ph. D. thesis California Institute Technology Google Scholar
Woodring, W.P., (1931). Distribution and age of the Tertiary deposits of the Colorado Desert Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 148, 1–25 Google Scholar