Reconstruction of Submarine Canyon Systems Associated with Proto-Stockton Arch During Late Cretaceous: ABSTRACT

Abstract

A hypothetical depositional model of the middle Great Valley gas fields of California includes the area from the Southwest Vernalis gas field in the south (T3S) to the Nicolaus gas field in the north (T12N). The model assumes that (1) the early Campanian Dobbins Shale Member was deposited at or near the shelf/slope break, and (2) the absence of the Dobbins Shale Member indicates scouring processes of active submarine canyon systems. A striking correlation exists between the proposed distribution of the Dobbins Shale Member scour channels and the position of river systems operating today in the valley. The model distinguishes six submarine canyon systems: (1) Feather River/Nicolaus, (2) American River/Florin, (3) Cosumnes River/Poppy Ridge, (4) Mokelumne River/Lodi, (5) Calaveras delta/Mulligan Hill, and (6) Stanislaus River/East Collegeville. The model implies that an extensive delta system was associated with the Calaveras River during deposition of the Dobbins Shale Member, before its erosive exit southwest of the Mulligan Hill gas field, just east of the Los Medanos, Concord, and Willow Pass fields. The presence of possible equivalents of the Dobbins Shale Member of this latter area suggests an early Campanian highland, the proto-Stockton arch. Subsequent Forbes Formation deposition appears to involve apronlike drapesmore » or overlaps of the early Campanian canyons. However, during deposition of the Kione Formation, the canyon systems were reactivated, and canyon scour predominated, matching the scour patterns of the Dobbins Shale Member. From these ancestral canyons, younger canyons could have evolved easily.« less