Geology Underfoot in Southern California

ISBN-13: 9780878426980

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Mountain Press

Publication Date: 04-15-2020

Pages: 308

Product Dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

Arthur Gibbs Sylvester was born, raised, and educated in southern California. After earning his BA in liberal arts at Pomona College and PhD in geology at UCLA, he joined a team of Shell Development Company research geologists to study the tectonic history of the Pacific margin of the United States. UC Santa Barbara lured him from Shell to teach courses in structural geology, field geology, and petrology. He led more than 300 field trips in southern California for student, industrial, and professional geologists. After retiring from active teaching in 2003, he and Libby O'Black Gans coauthored Roadside Geology of Southern California. Robert P. Sharp (1911-2004) cowrote the first edition of this book when he was a professor emeritus at the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech), where he taught generations of geology students, leading them on field trips across the state. He was an expert in sand dune physics and also planetary sciences. He received the Penrose Medal from the Geological Society of America, its highest honor, in 1977. Allen F. Glazner, a former student of Bob Sharp's and his coauthor on the first edition, received in PhD in geology form UCLA and is currently professor emeritus of geology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A native Californian, he has conducted geological research in the Sierra Nevada and the Mojave Desert since his undergraduate days at Pomona College. He is also the coauthor of "Geology Underfoot in Death Valley and Owens Valley" and "Geology Underfoot in Yosemite." Elizabeth O'Black Gans, Libby to most, earned a BS in geology from UC Santa Barbara, where she was introduced to plenty of awesome southern California geology, as well as to the art of map making. Shortly after graduation, Libby started Gans Illustrations and began working on maps and scientific illustrations for publication. and was the first digital artist for the Dibblee Geology Foundation. Libby illustrated and co-authored "Roadside Geology of Southern California" in 2016.

Table of Contents

Preface to the First Edition vii

Preface to the Second Edition viii

An Important Note to Readers ix

The Big Picture 1

Vignettes

1 San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and the Cristianitos Fault 15

Decommissioned and Inactive

2 Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve 25

A Migrating Shoreline

3 San Onofre Breccia at Aliso Beach County Park 35

A Vanished Landmass

4 Ventura Avenue Anticline 45

An Oily, Growing Fold

5 Santa Barbara Harbor 55

Perils of Tampering with Nature

6 Guadalupe Dunes 65

An Ice Age Sand Lobe

7 Morro Rock and Other Knobs 77

Roots of Ancient Volcanoes

8 San Simeon Beach Pebbles 85

Sampling the Mysterious Franciscan Formation

9 The Wintrier Narrows 91

A Boon to Communication

10 Wheeler Ridge 97

Gaps across a Rising Fold

11 Cajon Pass 103

San Andreas Fault Paves the Way for I-15

12 Red Rock Canyon 117

Finding Faults in a Geologist's Training Ground

13 Rainbow Basin 131

Geologic Laboratory along the Calico Fault

14 Amboy and Pisgah Craters 147

Young Volcanoes in the Mojave Desert

15 Pleistocene Lake Manix 165

Flamingos in the Desert

16 The Blackhawk Landslide 173

Eighty Seconds of Catastrophe

17 Kelso Dunes 185

A Huge File of Living Sand

18 Mitchell Caverns 195

A California Rarity

19 The San Andreas Fault North of the San Gabriel Mountains 207

The Elephant in the Room

20 Devils Punchbowl Natural Area 221

A Noble Fold Caught between Faults

21 St. Francis Dam 231

Disaster at Midnight, 12-13 March 1928

Glossary 240

References Cited and Further Reading 248

Index 260