2003 Seattle Annual Meeting (November 2–5, 2003)

Paper No. 13
Presentation Time: 8:00 AM-12:00 PM

STYLE AND TIMING OF DEFORMATION IN THE NORTHERN TEMBLOR RANGE, SOUTHWESTERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA


JOHNSON, Michael, Department of Physics and Geology, California State Univ, Bakersfield, 9001 Stockdale Highway, Bakersfield, CA 93309 and BRADY, Robert, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Univ of Calgary, ES 11S, 2500 University Drive, NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada, michael_johnson@firstclass1.csubak.edu

New mapping within the northern Temblor Range, California, shows that transpressional deformation since 3.5-4 Ma may be only the latest in a series of episodes that have produced the southwestern San Joaquin Valley compressional belt. This mapping has revealed the presence of mid-Miocene normal faults that are subparallel to the trend of both the range and the San Andreas Fault, suggesting an extensional regime at ~10-15 Ma. Balanced cross-section construction, constrained by new mapping and well log data, combined with helium dating, will yield a clearer picture of the kinematics of deformation in the Temblor and adjacent ranges. Structural detail not evident in currently published maps can be used to constrain the style of the most recent deformation event and provide information about the number and style of older events in the ranges adjacent to the San Andreas Fault, in particular, it may support the occurrence of an Eocene-Oligocene deformation event in the northern part of the Temblor Range. Once the kinematic evolution of these ranges is constrained, it will be used to test various dynamic models of transpressional deformation.