The basic stratigraphic and structural framework of Mount Diablo is described using a revised geologic map, gravity data, and aeromagnetic data. The mountain is made up of two distinct stratigraphic assemblages representing different depocenters that were juxtaposed by ~20 km of late Pliocene and Quaternary right-lateral offset on the Greenville-Diablo-Concord fault. Both assemblages are composed of Cretaceous and Cenozoic strata overlying a compound basement made up of the Franciscan and Great Valley complexes. The rocks are folded and faulted by late Neogene and Quaternary compressional structures related to both regional plate-boundary–normal compression and a restraining step in the strike-slip fault system. The core of the mountain is made up of uplifted basement rocks. Late Neogene and Quaternary deformation is overprinted on Paleogene extensional deformation that is evidenced at Mount Diablo by significant attenuation in the basement rocks and by an uptilted stepped graben structure on the northeast flank. Retrodeformation of the northeast flank suggests that late Early to early Late Cretaceous strata may have been deposited against and across a steeply west-dipping basement escarpment. The location of the mountain today was a depocenter through the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene and received shallow-marine deposits periodically into the late Miocene. Uplift of the mountain itself happened mostly in the Quaternary.
Citation Information
| Publication Year | 2021 |
|---|---|
| Title | Geologic framework of Mount Diablo, California |
| DOI | 10.1130/2021.1217(01) |
| Authors | Russell Graymer, Victoria Langenheim |
| Publication Type | Book Chapter |
| Publication Subtype | Book Chapter |
| Index ID | 70223441 |
| Record Source | USGS Publications Warehouse |
| USGS Organization | Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center |
Related Content
Geologic Mapping in the Southern Pacific Border and Sierras provinces, California
Related Content
- Science
Geologic Mapping in the Southern Pacific Border and Sierras provinces, California
This project uses geologic and geophysical mapping to build an earth-science framework for scientific investigations that include assessments of critical resources, such as groundwater, and of hazards, such as those resulting from earthquakes, in California west of and including the Sierra Nevada and Cascade arc. Questions of particular interest include: What are the geometries, slip rates, and... - Connect