Лос-Анджелес алқабының геологиялық құрылымы

Sedimentary basin located along the coast of southern California

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. 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. To the southeast, the basin is bordered by the Santa Ana Mountains and the San Joaquin Hills. 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.

Before the formation of the basin, the area that encompasses the Los Angeles basin began above ground. A rapid transgression and regression of the shoreline moved the area to a shallow marine environment. Tectonic instability coupled with volcanic activity in rapidly subsiding areas during the Middle Miocene set the stage for the modern basin. The basin formed in a submarine environment and was later brought back above sea level when the rate of subsidence slowed. There is much discussion in the literature about the geologic time boundaries when each basin forming event took place. While exact ages may not be clear, Yerkes et al. (1965) provided a general timeline to categorize the sequence of depositional events in the LA Basin's evolution and they are as follows:

During pre Turonian, metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rocks are present that serve as the two major basement rock units for the LA Basin. Large scale movement along the Newport–Inglewood zone juxtaposed the two bedrock units along the east and west margins.

The central part of the basin continued to experience sediment deposition through the Pleistocene from flooding and erosional debris from the surrounding mountains and Puente Hills. This infill was responsible for the final retreat of the shoreline from the basin. Deposition in the Holocene is characterized by non marine gravel, sand and silt. The unit consists of 3 parts: First is a basal marine conglomeratic sandstone, followed by a dominantly basaltic middle layer of multiple submarine lava flows and tuffs. The youngest part of this unit is a sedimentary breccia, conglomerate, sandstone, and a siltstone. The earliest deposits of the Topanga Group appear to reflect the continuation of a shift in shoreline that can be seen in both the Sespe and Vaqueros formations. Eruptions from one or more of volcanic centers locally and temporarily interrupted sedimentation. The Puente Formation is a deep marine formation that is characterized by pro delta sediments and an overlapping fan system. While this formation has distinguishable beds, there are many shale, sandstone, and mudstone beds that have normal amounts of silica. The Repetto is the older of the two members and is composed of interbedded fine to coarse grained siltstone, mudstone, and sandstone. The Pico Member is mostly made of massive siltstones and sandstones interbedded with minor silty sandstones. During this subduction event, two smaller plates, the Monterey and Juan de Fuca plates, also began to subduct underneath the North American plate. Around 20Ma, the Monterey plate attached to and followed the motion of the Pacific plate. Later, subduction of the Pacific Monterey ceased and the plate margin was converted to a transform boundary. The North America/Pacific Monterey transform boundary began to move north and created crustal extension. This rifting was accompanied with the rotation of the western Transverse Ranges. This rotation is responsible for the placement and northwest southeast orientation of the LA Basin. Early in the Miocene, before deposition of the Topanga, high heat flow and transtension caused the extension of the basin. As the crust thinned, the basin began to subside from isostatic pressure as a result of large amounts of sediment deposition. Because the basin lies on the boundary of the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges, this basin experiences both compressional and strike slip tectonics. During the early Pliocene, also identified as the "Basin Disruption" phase, deformation and folding occurred as a result of fault movement and a slight rotation event. While movement along the San Andreas Fault is responsible for the placement of the basin, it is the Whittier and Newport–Inglewood faults that have dictated the seismic behavior within the basin.

The Los Angeles basin is still active tectonically and the region continues to experience earthquakes as a result. Due to the number of faults and fault splays, seismic activity is not concentrated in one particular area. It is located in the southwest portion of the basin and is a strike slip margin. There are several oil fields that run parallel to this fault.