Tectonostratigraphic Evolution of the Inner California Borderland: Template for Fill-and-Spill Sedimentation

Abstract The California Borderland is a region of topographic and geologic diversity along the densely populated coast of southern California and offshore > 200 km. The Borderland includes complex basin-and-range topography defined by a regional structural transition from west-east-striking reverse and thrust faults in the north to northwest-southeast-striking, dextral strike-slip faults and transpressional oblique-slip faults in the south. The Miocene-Quaternary strata within the inner (i.e., onshore and nearshore) Borderland basins host important natural resources, including petroleum and drinking water for the coastal population. The present physiography of the California Borderland basins took shape during the Cenozoic evolution of the San Andreas transform continental margin. The transform margin developed after the East Pacific Rise spreading center came into contact with the North American plate