ppt课件-californiageologichistory-universityofcoloradoboulder.pptVIP

California Geologic History Introduction California’s geologic history is very complex, most of the state did not exist as a coherent piece of the earth’s crust until relatively recently in geologic terms. Rock formations that are now adjacent often have very different histories. Some of the larger collisions were associated with major episodes of tectonic activity—intrusive and extrusive volcanic activity, folding and faulting, and mountain building. The most recent period of mountain building is still going on, and practically all of the current landforms and geographic features are very young in geologic terms—only a few million years old. Proterozoic and Paleozoic Era (2,500-245 mya) Rocks older than 600 million years are rare in California. The oldest rocks, which are more than 1,000 million years old, are located in the eastern deserts and the eastern Transverse Ranges (San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains). The distribution of rocks of these ages suggests that the west coast of the North American Continent was well to the east of all but the southern end of what is now California. Proterozoic and Paleozoic Era All of these very old formations have been extensively metamorphosed-difficult to determine the conditions that existed when they were originally formed. Some of the oldest (around 1,800 million years old) are located in the mountains around Death Valley and are much like the rocks exposed in the inner gorge of the Grand Canyon. Metamorphic rocks around 1,000 million years old in the San Gabriel Mountains and the Orocopia Mountains east of the Salton Sea. Proterozoic and Paleozoic Era 1,000 million years ago and 400 million years ago appears to have been quiet in western North America. The coastline remained east of California, probably in Utah and Idaho. Very thick sections of marine sedimentary rocks from this period are exposed in the mountains east of the Sierra Nevada. For the most part, these rocks are carbonates (limestone and dolomit