Geology of the Dry Canyon Area in the Eastern Section of the Ventura Basin, California

Author: Martin, Joseph Stewart

Year: 1947

Degree: Master's thesis

Advisor: Jahns, Richard H.

Committee Member: Unknown, Unknown

Option: Geology

DOI: 10.7907/1AY6-7Y04

Abstract

The Dry Canyon area is located in the eastern section of the Ventura Basin in northwestern Los Angeles County California.

The following problems confronted the writer in this area: (1) the relationships between the marine and the non-marine sediments of the basin (2) the general stratigraphy (3) the faulting along the base of the Sierra Pelona mountain, range which borders the basin on the north.

Three Tertiary sedimentary formations are exposed in the area. The Saugus and the Mint Canyon are non-marine formations. The third formation is the Modelo which is the only marine strata exposed north of the Santa Clara River in this section of the Ventura Basin.

There is an unconformity between each pair of formations. The unconformity between the Modelo and the Mint Canyon is the most distinct.

The Modelo is much thicker in this area than the Modelo section further east in the basins, but the Mint Canyon is about half as thick as it is to the east.

There is moderate folding in the area. A major anticline, in which the stratigraphic sequence is exposed, plunges to the west from Haskell Canyon. The general of the axes of the folds in the sediments is in an east-west direction.

There is a rift zone along the basin edge of the Sierra Pelona Ridge which borders the area to the north. The faults in this zone range in dip from 20 to almost 90 degrees. The fault is normal in character and consists of a series of faults and is not a single fault.

The fault has cut off several thousand feet of the Mint Canyon formation and older sedimentary formations.

Files