Budgeting postglacial sedimentation history on the Santa Cruz, California mid-continental shelf

High-resolution seismic reflection profiling and surface texture mapping of the central California continental shelf, reveal a prominent subsurface reflector interpreted as a low stand erosion surface and an overlying mudbelt that covers 421 km² of the mid-shelf in depths of 40-90 m. Radiometric and sedimentologic analyses of samples from vibracores taken along the seaward edge of the mudbelt show that initial deposition above the pre-Holocene erosion surface began ca. 14.5 ka. These data and model results of sea-level history, tectonics, and the Monterey Bay littoral sediment budget support the notion that the entire midshelf deposit was formed during the postglacial transgression. An alternative explanation, that