Earth:Etchegoin Formation

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Short description: Pliocene epoch geologic formation in the San Joaquin Valley, California
Etchegoin Formation
Stratigraphic range: Pliocene epoch
Dendraster gibbsi fossil sand dollar (Etchegoin Formation, Lower Pliocene; Kettleman Hills, west-central Kings County, south-central California, USA) (15279728716).jpg
Fossil from the Etchegoin Formation
TypeFormation
UnderliesSan Joaquin Formation, Kern River Beds Formation (east)
OverliesAntelope Shale of Monterey Formation, Chanac Formation (east)
Location
RegionSan Joaquin Valley, California
CountryUnited States

The Etchegoin Formation is a Pliocene epoch geologic formation in the lower half of the San Joaquin Valley in central California .[1][2]

Geology

The shallow-water marine sandstone formation is found across the central and southern San Joaquin Valley, and with the overlying Pliocene nonmarine sand San Joaquin Formation, is associated with the numerous oil fields there.[1] The White Wolf Fault forms its southern boundary. It overlies the Antelope Shale unit of the Monterey Formation in its central and western sections.[1]

In its southeastern section it is part of the Kern River Series, which is divided into an upper unit named the Kern River Beds Formation, a lower unit named the Chanac Formation, with the wedge of the Etchegoin Formation in the middle.[2]

Fossils

It preserves numerous fossils dating back to the Neogene Period of the Cenozoic Era, including mollusks.[2][3]

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 USGS.gov: "Neogene Gas Total Petroleum System—Neogene Nonassociated Gas Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province"; Chapter 22 of the Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California; by Allegra Hosford Scheirer and Leslie B. Magoon.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 USGS.gov: "The Kern River Formation, Southeastern San Joaquin Valley, California"; Geological Survey Bulletin 1529-D; By J. Alan Bartow and Gardner M. Pittman; United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.; 1983 (with map on pg. D4).
  3. ((Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database)). "Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database". http://www.fossilworks.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=home. 
  • Bartow, J.A., 1991, The Cenozoic evolution of the San Joaquin Valley, California: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1501, 40 p.
  • Goudkoff, P.P., 1943, Correlation of oil field formations on west side of San Joaquin Valley, in Jenkins, O.P., ed., Geologic formations and economic development of the oil and gas fields of California: San Francisco, Calif., State of California, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mines Bulletin No. 118, p. 247-252.