Budgeting Postglacial Sedimentation History on the Santa Cruz, California Mid-Continental Shelf

摘要

High-resolution seismic reflection profiling and surface texture mapping of the central California continental shelf, reveal a prominent subsurface reflector interpreted as a low stand erosion surface and an overlying mudbelt that covers 421 km2 of the mid-shelf in depths of 40-90 m. Radiometric and sedimentologic analyses of samples from vibracores taken along the seaward edge of the mudbelt show that initial deposition above the pre- Holocene erosion surface began ca. 14.5 ka. These data and model results of sea- level history, tectonics, and the Monterey Bay littoral sediment budget support the notion that the entire midshelf deposit was formed during the postglacial transgression. An alternative explanation, that.