Geology of California

by Allison Jones, Cole Heap, Debra Brooks, Emily Wright, Martha House, Steven Newton & Steven Skinner

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This Open Educational Resource (OER) aims to provide students at California's institutions of higher education an interactive and immersive tool to support their learning about the geology of California with up-to-date information about the golden state's climate, earthquake hazards, and water issues. This work is supported by the Academic Senate of California Community Colleges Open Education Resources Initiative.

Description from LibreTexts.

Publisher
Academic Senate of California Community Colleges Open Education Resources Initiative
Subjects
Geosciences, Geology
Licence
CC BY-NC 4.0, as LibreTexts states it. Non-commercial use only.
Who can read
Tweens profiles and older, judged from its title and subjects

Contents

LibreTexts writes equations in TeX, and here they show as TeX; the PDF has them typeset.

  1. Front Matter
  2. TitlePage
  3. InfoPage
  4. Table of Contents
  5. Licensing
  6. Program Page
  7. Preface
  8. About the Authors
  9. Acknowledgements
  10. Land Acknowledgment
  11. Licensing
  12. Recommended Citations
  13. 1: Introduction to the Geology of California
  14. 1.1: How to Read California's Geologic Map
  15. 1.2: Geologic Map Symbols
  16. 1.3: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  17. 2: Minerals and Rocks
  18. 2.1: Minerals
  19. 2.2: Mineral Properties
  20. 2.3: The Rock Cycle
  21. 2.4: Igneous Rocks
  22. 2.5: Sedimentary Rocks
  23. 2.6: Metamorphic Rocks
  24. 2.7: Chapter Summary
  25. 2.8: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  26. 3: Plate Tectonics
  27. 3.1: Earth's Interior
  28. 3.2: Tectonic Plates, Plate Motions, and Plate Boundaries
  29. 3.3: Mechanisms for Plate Motion
  30. 3.4: California's Plates and Plate Boundaries
  31. 3.5: Chapter Summary
  32. 3.6: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  33. 4: Geologic Structures and Seismology
  34. 4.1: Stress and Strain
  35. 4.2: Folding
  36. 4.3: Jointing and Faulting
  37. 4.4: Earthquakes
  38. 4.5: Measuring Earthquakes
  39. 4.6: Chapter Summary
  40. 4.7: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  41. 5: Geologic Time
  42. 5.1: Relative Dating
  43. 5.2: Unconformities
  44. 5.3: Dating Rocks Using Fossils
  45. 5.4: Absolute Dating of Geologic Materials
  46. 5.5: The Geologic Time Scale
  47. 5.6: Chapter Summary
  48. 5.7: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  49. 6: A Brief Geologic History of California
  50. 6.1: Developing a Geologic History
  51. 6.2: Precambrian California (4.6 Ga – 541 Ma)
  52. 6.3: Paleozoic California (541 – 252 Ma)
  53. 6.4: Mesozoic California (250 – 66 Ma)- Subduction and Mountain Building
  54. 6.5: Cenozoic California (66 Ma – Present)- Faulting, Uplift, and Basin Formation
  55. 6.6: Chapter Summary
  56. 6.7: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  57. 7: Cascade Range and Modoc Plateau
  58. 7.1: The Cascadia Subduction Zone and the Cascade Continental Volcanic Arc
  59. 7.2: Rock Types of the Cascades
  60. 7.3: The Variety of Volcanoes in the Cascades and the Modoc Plateau
  61. 7.4: Volcanic Hazards
  62. 7.5: Mount Shasta
  63. 7.6: Lassen Volcanic National Park
  64. 7.7: Medicine Lake Volcano
  65. 7.8: Glaciers in the Cascades
  66. 7.9: Chapter Summary
  67. 7.10: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  68. 8: Basin and Range
  69. 8.1: Regional Extent and Overview of the Basin and Range
  70. 8.2: Rifting in the Basin and Range
  71. 8.3: Rift-Related Faulting in Eastern California
  72. 8.4: Sedimentary Products of Rifting in the Basin and Range
  73. 8.5: Rift-Related Volcanism in Eastern California
  74. 8.6: The Oldest Rocks in the Basin and Range
  75. 8.7: Chapter Summary
  76. 8.8: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  77. 9: Sierra Nevada
  78. 9.1: The Sierra Nevada Today
  79. 9.2: Ancient Seas Form the Oldest Rocks
  80. 9.3: The Sierra Nevada Batholith
  81. 9.4: Gold of the Sierra Nevada
  82. 9.5: Volcanic Features of the Sierra Nevada
  83. 9.6: Ice Shapes the Landscape
  84. 9.7: Natural Hazards of the Sierra Nevada
  85. 9.8: Chapter Summary
  86. 9.9: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  87. 10: Klamath Mountains
  88. 10.1: Assembling a Continent
  89. 10.2: The McCloud Limestone- An Ancient Coral Reef
  90. 10.3: The Josephine Ophiolite- A Little Slice of the Mantle
  91. 10.4: Plutons of the Klamath Mountains
  92. 10.5: Uplifting a Mountain Range
  93. 10.6: Chapter Summary
  94. 10.7: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  95. 11: Coast Ranges
  96. 11.1: A Complicated Land
  97. 11.2: The Coast Range Ophiolite
  98. 11.3: The Great Valley Sequence
  99. 11.4: The Franciscan Complex
  100. 11.5: Cenozoic Events
  101. 11.6: Quaternary Events
  102. 11.7: Representative Coast Range Rocks
  103. 11.8: Chapter Summary
  104. 11.9: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  105. 12: Great Valley
  106. 12.1: Geomorphology and General Overview of the Great Valley Province
  107. 12.2: Geology of the Great Valley
  108. 12.3: Soil, Streams and Agriculture
  109. 12.4: Natural Hazards of the Great Valley Province
  110. 12.5: Natural Resources of the Great Valley
  111. 12.6: Chapter Summary
  112. 12.7: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  113. 13: Mojave and Colorado Deserts
  114. 13.1: Physiographic Features of the Mojave and Colorado Desert Provinces
  115. 13.2: Geologic Overview and Evolution of the Mojave and Colorado Desert Provinces
  116. 13.3: Creating the Desert Environment
  117. 13.4: Wind Driven Sediment Transport
  118. 13.5: Sand Dunes and Dune Fields
  119. 13.6: Erosional Desert Land Forms
  120. 13.7: Water in the Desert
  121. 13.8: Geological Resources of the Desert Provinces
  122. 13.9: Geologic Hazards of the Mojave and Colorado Desert Provinces
  123. 13.10: Chapter Summary
  124. 13.11: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  125. 14: Transverse Ranges
  126. 14.1: Physiographic Overview of the Transverse Ranges Province
  127. 14.2: Bedrock Geology of the Transverse Ranges Province
  128. 14.3: Cenozoic Sedimentation and Basin Development
  129. 14.4: Tectonic and Structural Evolution of the Transverse Ranges
  130. 14.5: Geologic Hazards of the Transverse Ranges Province
  131. 14.6: Mineral and Petroleum Resources of the Transverse Ranges Province
  132. 14.7: Chapter Summary
  133. 14.8: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  134. 15: Peninsular Ranges
  135. 15.1: Geomorphology of the Peninsular Ranges
  136. 15.2: Tectonics and Geologic History of the Peninsular Ranges Province
  137. 15.3: Rocks of the Peninsular Ranges
  138. 15.4: Geologic Hazards of the Peninsular Ranges
  139. 15.5: Natural Resources of the Peninsular Ranges
  140. 15.6: Chapter Summary
  141. 15.7: Detailed Figure and Video Descriptions
  142. 16: California Coastline
  143. 16.1: Coastal Processes
  144. 16.2: California Coastline Anatomy
  145. 16.3: California Coastal Hazards
  146. 16.4: Human Alteration and Mitigation
  147. 16.5: Coastal Access
  148. 16.6: The Edge of California
  149. 16.7: Chapter Summary
  150. 16.8: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  151. 17: California's Climate
  152. 17.1: Note on Usage
  153. 17.2: The Past
  154. 17.3: The Present
  155. 17.4: The Future
  156. 17.5: Hotter, Drier, Tougher
  157. 17.6: Chapter Summary
  158. 17.7: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  159. 18: California's Water
  160. 18.1: The Hydrologic Cycle
  161. 18.2: Running Water
  162. 18.3: Groundwater
  163. 18.4: Water Infrastructure and Management
  164. 18.5: Threats to California’s Water
  165. 18.6: Understanding California's Water Landscape
  166. 18.7: Chapter Summary
  167. 18.8: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  168. 19: California's Earthquake History and Hazards
  169. 00: Front Matter
  170. Table of Contents
  171. 19.1: Front Matter
  172. 19.1.1: Table of Contents
  173. 19.2: The Hazard of Buildings
  174. 19.3: The Hazard of Place
  175. 19.4: Liquefaction and the Role of Soil Type
  176. 19.5: What's Coming
  177. 19.6: Beyond the San Andreas - Earthquakes of the North Coast
  178. 19.7: Preparing for the Worst
  179. 19.8: A State of Danger
  180. 19.9: Chapter Summary
  181. 19.10: Detailed Figure Descriptions
  182. Back Matter
  183. Index
  184. Glossary
  185. Interactive Geologic Time Scale
  186. Interactive Geologic Map of California
  187. Detailed Licensing
  188. Detailed Licensing