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Levi & Yeats 2003
Levi, S. and Yeats, R.S. (2003). Paleomagnetic definition of crustal fragmentation and Quaternary block rotations in the east Ventura Basin and San Fernando valley, southern California. Tectonics 22: doi: 10.1029/2002TC001377. issn: 0278-7407.

Paleomagnetic studies of the Pliocene-Quaternary Saugus Formation in the eastern part of the western Transverse Ranges of California show that the crust is fragmented into small domains, tens of kilometers in linear dimension, identified by rotation of reverse-fault blocks. In an area approximately 35 ¿ 25 km in the San Fernando valley and east Ventura Basin we identified four distinct domains. Two domains, southwest of and adjacent to the San Gabriel fault, are rotated clockwise: (1) The Magic Mountain domain, R = 30¿ ¿ 5¿ and (2) the Merrick syncline domain, R = 34¿ ¿ 6¿. The Magic Mountain domain has rotated since 1 Ma. Both rotated sections occur in hanging walls of active reverse faults, the Santa Susana and San Fernando faults, respectively. Structural data suggest that the fault tip of the Santa Susana fault is the rotation pivot of the Magic Mountain domain. Two additional blocks are unrotated: (1) the Van Norman Lake domain, directly south of the Santa Susana fault, and (2) the Soledad Canyon domain, immediately across the San Gabriel fault from the Magic Mountain domain, suggesting that the San Gabriel fault might be a domain boundary. Our results suggest that part of the clockwise rotation of some Miocene and older rocks in this area might have occurred in the Quaternary. The Plio-Pleistocene fragmentation and clockwise rotations continue at present, based on geodetic data, and represent crustal response to diffuse, oblique dextral shearing within the San Andreas fault system.

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Abstract

Keywords
Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism, Magnetostratigraphy, Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism, Paleomagnetism applied to tectonics (regional, global), Structural Geology, Fractures and faults, Tectonophysics, Continental tectonics--general, Information Related to Geographic Region, North America
Journal
Tectonics
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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