Los Angeles Basin

An aerial view of the Los Angeles Basin in the Peninsular Ranges in Southern California in June 2014

The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an anomalous group of east-west trending chains of mountains collectively known as the Transverse Ranges. The present basin is a coastal lowland area, whose floor is marked by elongate low ridges and groups of hills that is located on the edge of the Pacific Plate.[1] The Los Angeles Basin, along with the Santa Barbara Channel, the Ventura Basin, the San Fernando Valley, and the San Gabriel Basin, lies within the greater Southern California region.[2] The majority of the jurisdictional land area of the city of Los Angeles physically lies within this basin.

On the north, northeast, and east, the lowland basin is bound by the Santa Monica Mountains and Puente, Elysian, and Repetto hills.[3] To the southeast, the basin is bordered by the Santa Ana Mountains and the San Joaquin Hills.[3] The western boundary of the basin is marked by the Continental Borderland and is part of the onshore portion. The California borderland is characterized by northwest trending offshore ridges and basins.[4] The Los Angeles Basin is notable for its great structural relief and complexity in relation to its geologic youth and small size for its prolific oil production.[3] Yerkes et al. identify five major stages of the basin's evolution, which began in the Upper Cretaceous and ended in the Pleistocene. This basin can be classified as an irregular pull-apart basin accompanied by rotational tectonics during the post-early Miocene.[5][6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference AAPG 1973 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Yeats, Robert (2004). "Tectonics of the San Gabriel Basin and surroundings, Southern California". Geological Society of America. 116 (9): 1158–1182. Bibcode:2004GSAB..116.1158Y. doi:10.1130/b25346.1.
  3. ^ a b c Yerkes, R.; McCulloch, T.; Schoellhamer, J.; Vedder, J. (1965). Geology of the Los Angeles Basin, California-an Introduction (PDF). Geological Professional Survey Paper 420-A. Washington, D.C.: US Geological Survey. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 26, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  4. ^ Bilodeau, William; Bilodeau, Sally; Gath, Eldon; Oborne, Mark; Proctor, Richard (May 2007). "Geology of Los Angeles, United States of America". Environmental & Engineering Geoscience. XIII (2): 99–160. doi:10.2113/gseegeosci.13.2.99.
  5. ^ Biddle, Kevin (May 30, 1990). "The Los Angeles Basin: An Overview". American Association of Petroleum Geologists, A Memoir. 52: 5–24.
  6. ^ Crouch, James; Suppe, Jonh (November 1993). "Late Cenozoic Tectonic Evolution of the Los Angeles Basin and Inner California Borderland: A Model for Core Complex-Like Crustal Extension". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 105 (11): 1415–1435. Bibcode:1993GSAB..105.1415C. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1993)105<1415:LCTEOT>2.3.CO;2.