Carl, a Scientist Emeritus with the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, is continuing a varied career that has included geologic mapping, geologic safety of nuclear power reactors, tectonic studies combining geology and geophysics, landslide hazards, and Quaternary stratigraphy and tectonics. He holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Earth Science from Stanford University.
Carl obtained a Ph.D. degree from Stanford University in 1967, having joined the U.S. Geological Survey full time in Menlo Park, CA, in 1963. He retired in 2004 and has continued in emeritus status in the Menlo Park, CA, office since. His work over the past 55 years, mostly in California, has involved geologic mapping; study of landslide, fault and earthquake hazards; management of a national research program on hazards to power reactors; investigation of crustal structure using deep reflection profiling; study of a deep Quaternary basin and its cyclic record of climate variation; and study of the Franciscan Complex and its tectonostratigraphic terranes.
Professional Experience
2004-present, Emeritus Research Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California
1979-2003, Research Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California
1974-1978, U.S. Geological Survey, Program Manager, Reactor Hazards Research Program
1963-1973, Research Geologist, US Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California
1963-field assistant to Director Tom Nolan, Eureka, Nevada, US Geological Survey
1961-1962, Teaching Assistant, Stanford University
1961-field assistant, Franciscan assemblage, California, U.S. Geological Survey
1960-Junior Geologist, Nevada, Shell Oil Company
1958-Junior Geologist, Socony Mobil Oil Company (Anaco, Venezuela)
1957-field assistant, South Dakota, U.S. Geological Survey
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., Earth Science, Stanford University, 1967
M.S., Earth Science, Stanford University, 1960
B. A., Geology, Dartmouth College, 1958
Affiliations and Memberships*
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Geological Society of America (Fellow)
Science and Products
Quaternary deposits of the 9-county San Francisco Bay Region: an areally continuous digital map database prepared from Knudsen and others (2000) and Witter and others (2006)
This digital map database provides an areally continuous representation of the Quaternary surficial deposits of the San Francisco Bay region merged from the database files from Knudsen and others (2000) and Witter and others (2006). The more detailed mapping by Witter and others (2006) of the inner part of the region (compiled at a scale of 1:24,000), is given precedence over the less detailed map
Deep (15-second) seismic reflection profiles CC-1 and CC-2 extending from the eastern California Coast Ranges across the Great Valley into the Sierran foothills at about latitude 37.25 Degrees N
This data release contains deep seismic reflection profiles CC-1 and CC-2, which extend eastward from within the California Coast Ranges across the Great Valley and into the Sierran foothills, with a combined east-west length of about 140 km at about the latitude of the town of Merced (37.25° north latitude). The records are processed to 15 seconds two-way time and thus extend deep into the lithos
Geologic and geophysical maps of the Stockton 30’ × 60’ quadrangle, California
This pamphlet and accompanying geologic and geophysical maps are the products of cooperative efforts by the California Geological Survey (CGS) and United States Geological Survey (USGS) to compile a comprehensive, digital representation of the bedrock geology, Quaternary surficial deposits, and potential-field anomalies within the boundaries of the Stockton 30’ × 60’ quadrangle. The Stockton 30’ ×
Three-Dimensional Geologic Map of the Hayward Fault Zone, San Francisco Bay Region, California
A three-dimensional (3D) geologic map of the Hayward Fault zone was created by integrating the results from geologic mapping, potential field geophysics, and seismology investigations. The map volume is 100 km long, 20 km wide, and extends to a depth of 12 km below sea level. The map volume is oriented northwest and is approximately bisected by the Hayward Fault. The complex geologic structure of
Geologic map of the San Francisco Bay region
The rocks and fossils of the San Francisco Bay region reveal that the geology there is the product of millions of years at the active western margin of North America. The result of this history is a complex mosaic of geologic materials and structures that form the landscape. A geologic map is one of the basic tools to understand the geology, geologic hazards, and geologic history of a region.With
Structure contour map of the top of the Oligocene to Middle Miocene Temblor Formation in the Kettleman Hills and Lost Hills areas, Fresno, Kings, and Kern counties, California
This structure contour map shows the general structural configuration of the Cenozoic section in the area surrounding Kettleman Hills and Lost Hills. It was compiled from electric well-log data available through April 1982 (Ammann Map Services, 1978; Petroleum Information Corporation, 1982; California Division of Oil and Gas, 1982) and from surface geology (Dibblee, 1971; 1973).
Structure contour map of the tops of the Kreyenhagen Formation and Cretaceous strata in the Coalinga area, Fresno and Kings counties, California
This structure contour map, originally compiled during a study of the 1983 Coalinga earthquakes, shows the general structural configuration of the upper several kilometers of section in the Coalinga area. It was compiled by using electric well-log data available through April 1982 (Ammann Map Services, 1978; Petroleum Information Corporation, 1982; California Division of Oil and Gas, 1982) and sur
Preliminary map showing recency of faulting in coastal southern California
No abstract available.
Filter Total Items: 69
Comment on ‘New insights on Franciscan Complex geology, architecture, depositional age, and provenance for the western Mt. Tamalpais area, Marin County, California’ by Bero et al. (2020)
Serious errors and inconsistencies in the article undermine many of its interpretations to the point that principal conclusions are not valid. Much dependence is placed on the maximum depositional age (Dmax) of sandstone units based on zircon analysis of 10 samples, but calculation of those Dmax values is flawed, and their use confuses maximum with actual depositional ages and makes age distinctio
Authors
Russell Graymer, Trevor A. Dumitru, Robert J. McLaughlin, Carl M. Wentworth
The Evergreen basin and the role of the Silver Creek fault in the San Andreas fault system, San Francisco Bay region, California
The Evergreen basin is a 40-km-long, 8-km-wide Cenozoic sedimentary basin that lies mostly concealed beneath the northeastern margin of the Santa Clara Valley near the south end of San Francisco Bay (California, USA). The basin is bounded on the northeast by the strike-slip Hayward fault and an approximately parallel subsurface fault that is structurally overlain by a set of west-verging reverse-o
Authors
Robert C. Jachens, Carl M. Wentworth, Russell W. Graymer, Robert Williams, David A. Ponce, Edward A. Mankinen, William J. Stephenson, Victoria E. Langenheim
Paleomagnetic record determined in cores from deep research wells in the Quaternary Santa Clara basin, California
Paleomagnetic study of cores from six deep wells provides an independent temporal framework for much of the alluvial stratigraphy of the Quaternary basin beneath the Santa Clara Valley. This stratigraphy consists of 8 upward-fining cycles in the upper 300 m of section and an underlying 150 m or more of largely fine-grained sediment. The eight cycles have been correlated with the marine oxygen isot
Authors
Edward A. Mankinen, Carl M. Wentworth
Physical subdivision and description of the water-bearing sediments of the Santa Clara Valley, California
A thick Quaternary alluvial section fills a sedimentary basin beneath the Santa Clara Valley, California, located within the San Andreas Fault system at the south end of San Francisco Bay. This section consists of an upper sequence about 1,000 feet thick containing eight sedimentary cycles and a lower fine-grained unit as thick as several hundred feet. Together these constitute the Quaternary Sant
Authors
Carl M. Wentworth, Robert C. Jachens, Robert A. Williams, John C. Tinsley, Randall T. Hanson
A summary of the late Cenozoic stratigraphic and tectonic history of the Santa Clara Valley, California
The late Cenozoic stratigraphic and tectonic history of the Santa Clara Valley illustrates the dynamic nature of the North American–Pacific plate boundary and its effect on basin and landscape development. Prior to early Miocene time, the area that became Santa Clara Valley consisted of eroding Franciscan complex basement structurally interleaved in places with Coast Range ophiolite and Mesozoic G
Authors
Victoria E. Langenheim, Robert C. Jachens, Carl M. Wentworth, Russell W. Graymer, Richard G. Stanley, Robert J. McLaughlin, Robert W. Simpson, Robert A. Williams, D. W. Andersen, David A. Ponce
Structural superposition in fault systems bounding Santa Clara Valley, California
Santa Clara Valley is bounded on the southwest and northeast by active strike-slip and reverse-oblique faults of the San Andreas fault system. On both sides of the valley, these faults are superposed on older normal and/or right-lateral normal oblique faults. The older faults comprised early components of the San Andreas fault system as it formed in the wake of the northward passage of the Mendoci
Authors
Russell W. Graymer, Richard G. Stanley, David A. Ponce, Robert C. Jachens, Robert W. Simpson, Carl M. Wentworth
Previously unrecognized regional structure of the Coastal Belt of the Franciscan Complex, northern California, revealed by magnetic data
Magnetic anomalies provide surprising structural detail within the previously undivided Coastal Belt, the westernmost, youngest, and least-metamorphosed part of the Franciscan Complex of northern California. Although the Coastal Belt consists almost entirely of arkosic graywacke and shale of mainly Eocene age, new detailed aeromagnetic data show that it is pervasively marked by long, narrow, and r
Authors
Victoria E. Langenheim, Robert C. Jachens, Carl M. Wentworth, Robert J. McLaughlin
Digital geologic map of the Redding 1° x 2° quadrangle, Shasta, Tehama, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties, California
The Redding 1° x 2° quadrangle in northwestern California transects the Franciscan Complex and southern Klamath Mountains province as well as parts of the Great Valley Complex, northern Great Valley, and southernmost Cascades volcanic province. The tectonostratigraphic terranes of the Klamath province represent slices of oceanic crust, island arcs, and overlying sediment that range largely from Pa
Authors
Luis A. Fraticelli, John P. Albers, William P. Irwin, Milton C. Jr. Blake, Carl M. Wentworth
Fault geometry and cumulative offsets in the central Coast Ranges, California: Evidence for northward increasing slip along the San Gregorio-San Simeon-Hosgri fault
Estimates of the dip, depth extent, and amount of cumulative displacement along the major faults in the central California Coast Ranges are controversial. We use detailed aeromagnetic data to estimate these parameters for the San Gregorio–San Simeon–Hosgri and other faults. The recently acquired aeromagnetic data provide an areally consistent data set that crosses the onshore-offshore transition w
Authors
V. E. Langenheim, R.C. Jachens, R. W. Graymer, J.P. Colgan, C. M. Wentworth, R. G. Stanley
The Cedars ultramafic mass, Sonoma County, California
The Cedars ultramafic mass is a mantle fragment that consists of partially serpentinized spinel harzburgite and dunite. Compositional layering and a chromite lineation define a penetrative metamorphic foliation that almost certainly formed in the upper mantle. Although detailed petrofabric and mineral chemistry are presently lacking, it seems reasonable that the Cedars peridotite represents a slic
Authors
M. Clark Blake, Edgar H. Bailey, Carl M. Wentworth
The Quaternary Silver Creek Fault Beneath the Santa Clara Valley, California
The northwest-trending Silver Creek Fault is a 40-km-long strike-slip fault in the eastern Santa Clara Valley, California, that has exhibited different behaviors within a changing San Andreas Fault system over the past 10-15 Ma. Quaternary alluvium several hundred meters thick that buries the northern half of the Silver Creek Fault, and that has been sampled by drilling and imaged in a detailed se
Authors
Carl M. Wentworth, Robert A. Williams, Robert C. Jachens, Russell W. Graymer, William J. Stephenson
The Mt. Lewis fault zone: Tectonic implications for eastern San Francisco Bay
No abstract available
Authors
Janet Watt, David A. Ponce, Robert W. Simpson, Russell W. Graymer, Robert C. Jachens, Carl M. Wentworth
Science and Products
- Data
Quaternary deposits of the 9-county San Francisco Bay Region: an areally continuous digital map database prepared from Knudsen and others (2000) and Witter and others (2006)
This digital map database provides an areally continuous representation of the Quaternary surficial deposits of the San Francisco Bay region merged from the database files from Knudsen and others (2000) and Witter and others (2006). The more detailed mapping by Witter and others (2006) of the inner part of the region (compiled at a scale of 1:24,000), is given precedence over the less detailed mapDeep (15-second) seismic reflection profiles CC-1 and CC-2 extending from the eastern California Coast Ranges across the Great Valley into the Sierran foothills at about latitude 37.25 Degrees N
This data release contains deep seismic reflection profiles CC-1 and CC-2, which extend eastward from within the California Coast Ranges across the Great Valley and into the Sierran foothills, with a combined east-west length of about 140 km at about the latitude of the town of Merced (37.25° north latitude). The records are processed to 15 seconds two-way time and thus extend deep into the lithos - Maps
Geologic and geophysical maps of the Stockton 30’ × 60’ quadrangle, California
This pamphlet and accompanying geologic and geophysical maps are the products of cooperative efforts by the California Geological Survey (CGS) and United States Geological Survey (USGS) to compile a comprehensive, digital representation of the bedrock geology, Quaternary surficial deposits, and potential-field anomalies within the boundaries of the Stockton 30’ × 60’ quadrangle. The Stockton 30’ ×Three-Dimensional Geologic Map of the Hayward Fault Zone, San Francisco Bay Region, California
A three-dimensional (3D) geologic map of the Hayward Fault zone was created by integrating the results from geologic mapping, potential field geophysics, and seismology investigations. The map volume is 100 km long, 20 km wide, and extends to a depth of 12 km below sea level. The map volume is oriented northwest and is approximately bisected by the Hayward Fault. The complex geologic structure ofGeologic map of the San Francisco Bay region
The rocks and fossils of the San Francisco Bay region reveal that the geology there is the product of millions of years at the active western margin of North America. The result of this history is a complex mosaic of geologic materials and structures that form the landscape. A geologic map is one of the basic tools to understand the geology, geologic hazards, and geologic history of a region.WithStructure contour map of the top of the Oligocene to Middle Miocene Temblor Formation in the Kettleman Hills and Lost Hills areas, Fresno, Kings, and Kern counties, California
This structure contour map shows the general structural configuration of the Cenozoic section in the area surrounding Kettleman Hills and Lost Hills. It was compiled from electric well-log data available through April 1982 (Ammann Map Services, 1978; Petroleum Information Corporation, 1982; California Division of Oil and Gas, 1982) and from surface geology (Dibblee, 1971; 1973).Structure contour map of the tops of the Kreyenhagen Formation and Cretaceous strata in the Coalinga area, Fresno and Kings counties, California
This structure contour map, originally compiled during a study of the 1983 Coalinga earthquakes, shows the general structural configuration of the upper several kilometers of section in the Coalinga area. It was compiled by using electric well-log data available through April 1982 (Ammann Map Services, 1978; Petroleum Information Corporation, 1982; California Division of Oil and Gas, 1982) and surPreliminary map showing recency of faulting in coastal southern California
No abstract available. - Publications
Filter Total Items: 69
Comment on ‘New insights on Franciscan Complex geology, architecture, depositional age, and provenance for the western Mt. Tamalpais area, Marin County, California’ by Bero et al. (2020)
Serious errors and inconsistencies in the article undermine many of its interpretations to the point that principal conclusions are not valid. Much dependence is placed on the maximum depositional age (Dmax) of sandstone units based on zircon analysis of 10 samples, but calculation of those Dmax values is flawed, and their use confuses maximum with actual depositional ages and makes age distinctioAuthorsRussell Graymer, Trevor A. Dumitru, Robert J. McLaughlin, Carl M. WentworthThe Evergreen basin and the role of the Silver Creek fault in the San Andreas fault system, San Francisco Bay region, California
The Evergreen basin is a 40-km-long, 8-km-wide Cenozoic sedimentary basin that lies mostly concealed beneath the northeastern margin of the Santa Clara Valley near the south end of San Francisco Bay (California, USA). The basin is bounded on the northeast by the strike-slip Hayward fault and an approximately parallel subsurface fault that is structurally overlain by a set of west-verging reverse-oAuthorsRobert C. Jachens, Carl M. Wentworth, Russell W. Graymer, Robert Williams, David A. Ponce, Edward A. Mankinen, William J. Stephenson, Victoria E. LangenheimPaleomagnetic record determined in cores from deep research wells in the Quaternary Santa Clara basin, California
Paleomagnetic study of cores from six deep wells provides an independent temporal framework for much of the alluvial stratigraphy of the Quaternary basin beneath the Santa Clara Valley. This stratigraphy consists of 8 upward-fining cycles in the upper 300 m of section and an underlying 150 m or more of largely fine-grained sediment. The eight cycles have been correlated with the marine oxygen isotAuthorsEdward A. Mankinen, Carl M. WentworthPhysical subdivision and description of the water-bearing sediments of the Santa Clara Valley, California
A thick Quaternary alluvial section fills a sedimentary basin beneath the Santa Clara Valley, California, located within the San Andreas Fault system at the south end of San Francisco Bay. This section consists of an upper sequence about 1,000 feet thick containing eight sedimentary cycles and a lower fine-grained unit as thick as several hundred feet. Together these constitute the Quaternary SantAuthorsCarl M. Wentworth, Robert C. Jachens, Robert A. Williams, John C. Tinsley, Randall T. HansonA summary of the late Cenozoic stratigraphic and tectonic history of the Santa Clara Valley, California
The late Cenozoic stratigraphic and tectonic history of the Santa Clara Valley illustrates the dynamic nature of the North American–Pacific plate boundary and its effect on basin and landscape development. Prior to early Miocene time, the area that became Santa Clara Valley consisted of eroding Franciscan complex basement structurally interleaved in places with Coast Range ophiolite and Mesozoic GAuthorsVictoria E. Langenheim, Robert C. Jachens, Carl M. Wentworth, Russell W. Graymer, Richard G. Stanley, Robert J. McLaughlin, Robert W. Simpson, Robert A. Williams, D. W. Andersen, David A. PonceStructural superposition in fault systems bounding Santa Clara Valley, California
Santa Clara Valley is bounded on the southwest and northeast by active strike-slip and reverse-oblique faults of the San Andreas fault system. On both sides of the valley, these faults are superposed on older normal and/or right-lateral normal oblique faults. The older faults comprised early components of the San Andreas fault system as it formed in the wake of the northward passage of the MendociAuthorsRussell W. Graymer, Richard G. Stanley, David A. Ponce, Robert C. Jachens, Robert W. Simpson, Carl M. WentworthPreviously unrecognized regional structure of the Coastal Belt of the Franciscan Complex, northern California, revealed by magnetic data
Magnetic anomalies provide surprising structural detail within the previously undivided Coastal Belt, the westernmost, youngest, and least-metamorphosed part of the Franciscan Complex of northern California. Although the Coastal Belt consists almost entirely of arkosic graywacke and shale of mainly Eocene age, new detailed aeromagnetic data show that it is pervasively marked by long, narrow, and rAuthorsVictoria E. Langenheim, Robert C. Jachens, Carl M. Wentworth, Robert J. McLaughlinDigital geologic map of the Redding 1° x 2° quadrangle, Shasta, Tehama, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties, California
The Redding 1° x 2° quadrangle in northwestern California transects the Franciscan Complex and southern Klamath Mountains province as well as parts of the Great Valley Complex, northern Great Valley, and southernmost Cascades volcanic province. The tectonostratigraphic terranes of the Klamath province represent slices of oceanic crust, island arcs, and overlying sediment that range largely from PaAuthorsLuis A. Fraticelli, John P. Albers, William P. Irwin, Milton C. Jr. Blake, Carl M. WentworthFault geometry and cumulative offsets in the central Coast Ranges, California: Evidence for northward increasing slip along the San Gregorio-San Simeon-Hosgri fault
Estimates of the dip, depth extent, and amount of cumulative displacement along the major faults in the central California Coast Ranges are controversial. We use detailed aeromagnetic data to estimate these parameters for the San Gregorio–San Simeon–Hosgri and other faults. The recently acquired aeromagnetic data provide an areally consistent data set that crosses the onshore-offshore transition wAuthorsV. E. Langenheim, R.C. Jachens, R. W. Graymer, J.P. Colgan, C. M. Wentworth, R. G. StanleyThe Cedars ultramafic mass, Sonoma County, California
The Cedars ultramafic mass is a mantle fragment that consists of partially serpentinized spinel harzburgite and dunite. Compositional layering and a chromite lineation define a penetrative metamorphic foliation that almost certainly formed in the upper mantle. Although detailed petrofabric and mineral chemistry are presently lacking, it seems reasonable that the Cedars peridotite represents a slicAuthorsM. Clark Blake, Edgar H. Bailey, Carl M. WentworthThe Quaternary Silver Creek Fault Beneath the Santa Clara Valley, California
The northwest-trending Silver Creek Fault is a 40-km-long strike-slip fault in the eastern Santa Clara Valley, California, that has exhibited different behaviors within a changing San Andreas Fault system over the past 10-15 Ma. Quaternary alluvium several hundred meters thick that buries the northern half of the Silver Creek Fault, and that has been sampled by drilling and imaged in a detailed seAuthorsCarl M. Wentworth, Robert A. Williams, Robert C. Jachens, Russell W. Graymer, William J. StephensonThe Mt. Lewis fault zone: Tectonic implications for eastern San Francisco Bay
No abstract availableAuthorsJanet Watt, David A. Ponce, Robert W. Simpson, Russell W. Graymer, Robert C. Jachens, Carl M. Wentworth
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government