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Science 6 October 1972:
Vol. 178. no. 4056, pp. 15 - 24
DOI: 10.1126/science.178.4056.15
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Articles

Crustal Spreading in Southern California

The Imperial Valley and the Gulf of California formed by the rifting apart of a continental plate

Wilfred A. Elders 1, Robert W. Rex 1, Paul T. Robinson 1, Shawn Biehler 1, and Tsvi Meidav 2

1 Department of Geological Sciences, University of California, Riverside 92502
2 Resources and Transport Division of the United Nations, New York 10017

The current excitement among geologists and geophysicists stemming from the "new global tectonics" has led to a widespread, speculative reinterpretation of continental geology. The Gulf of California and its continuation into the Imperial Valley provide an excellent opportunity for studying the border zone between the North American and Pacific plates, and an interface of continental and oceanic tectonics. The Salton trough, the landward extension of the gulf, is a broad structural depression, comparable in size with the deeper marine basins of the southern part of the gulf, but here partially filled with sediments deposited by the Colorado River.


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