Back

Pasadena orogeny

Geography of Southern California

Pasadena orogeny is a mountain building event in the Western United States. Conventionally it refers to the formation of mountains in mainly Southern California during the Pleistocene and lasting until the present day; originally it referred to the uplift of the San Gabriel Mountains.

The Pasadena orogeny is a major Late Quaternary[1]-modern event[2] of mountain formation,[1] which took place in the middle or perhaps late Pleistocene[3] or to the present-day.[4] It is also known as the "Coast Ranges orogeny"[3] or considered to be part of the Cascadian orogeny[5] or Alpide Orogeny.[6] Finally, the term "Pasadena orogeny" is sometimes applied to all very recent orogenies around the Pacific Ocean.[7] The type location is close to Pasadena, California in the Transverse Ranges,[8] and originally referred to the fast rise of the San Gabriel Mountains recorded there.[9]

During this orogeny mountain ranges such as the San Bernardino Mountains, San Gabriel Mountains, San Jacinto Mountains, Santa Monica Mountains, Santa Ynez Mountains[10] and the Transverse Ranges grew,[11] as did the northern Channel Islands[10] such as Catalina Island and San Clemente Island,[12] the Kettleman Hills anticline in the San Joaquin Valley[13] and the Palos Verdes Hills.[14][12] Sometimes the concept is limited to the uplift of the Transverse Ranges.[15]

The general uplift of mountains over a length of over 400 kilometres (250 mi) is caused by the collision of the North American Plate with other geologic structures that are attached to the Pacific Plate.[10] This orogeny has resulted in the uplift of mostly north-south trending mountain chains, although some east-west trending uplifts are also found such as the Channel Islands and the Transverse Ranges;[13] much of the uplift took place at the edge of basins.[16] The Pasadena orogeny is accompanied by earthquake activity, which includes tsunami hazards.[17]

Folding accompanying the uplift of the Coast Ranges in Southern California,[3] folding farther north at Morro Bay[18] and the structure of the Santa Barbara Basin[1] and Ventura Basin are consequences of the Pasadena orogeny.[4] The city of Long Beach, California lies within the affected region.[2]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Marsaglia1995 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Bohannon & Gardner 2004, p. 261.
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Davis1932 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Scott1983 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bandy1970 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Stille 1936, p. 875.
  7. ^ Stille 1936, p. 849.
  8. ^ Blakey & Ranney 2017, p. 186.
  9. ^ Blakey & Ranney 2017, p. 183.
  10. ^ a b c Blakey & Ranney 2017, p. 31.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Wright1987 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Platt2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ a b Stille 1936, p. 869.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Haner1971 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Blakey & Ranney 2017, p. 197.
  16. ^ Blakey & Ranney 2017, p. 181.
  17. ^ Bohannon & Gardner 2004, p. 262.
  18. ^ Blakey & Ranney 2017, p. 184.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · View on Wikipedia

Developed by Nelliwinne