The
Monterey Formation is a siliceous mudstone widespread in
California that is found in isolated basins on and off shore
and also in the Central Valley. Derived from the siliceous
shells of great blooms of planktonic organisms (diatoms),
its sudden onset and rhythmic bedding have challenged geologists
for a century and seem to reflect an interplay between paleoclimatic,
paleoceanographic, and tectonic processes. Moreover, it
is also the source and reservoir rock of most of the petroleum
in California. Because almost all of its trace fossils have
been obliterated by diagenesis and contains little material
that can be isotopically dated, magnetostratigraphy has
played a valuable role in dating the Monterey Formation
and providing high-resolution temporal horizons for correlation
between basins.
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Sheraz
Omarzai on site during his graduate research on the Miocene
Monterey Formation, coastal California.
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