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California's Geological Features and Events

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Describe the geological features and various types of rocks that formed in California (for example, mountains, craters, canyons, volcanoes, fault lines, or folds).

Discuss the various geological events that occurred in California

Describe the various types of rocks that these geological events formed.

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The expert examines California's geological features and events. The various geological events that occurred in California are determined.

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California's Geologic events

Introduction

California has a complex geologic history and most of the state did not exist as a coherent piece of the earth's crust until relatively recently. California's geology is so convoluted that rock formations adjacent to one another have dramatically different histories. There have been major episodes of tectonic activity, intrusive and extrusive volcanic activity, folding, faulting, and mountain building. In fact, most of California's geologic history is young, and rocks older than 600 million years are rare.

The Klamath mountains

The Klamath Mountain region is a rugged highland with a elevation of 1,500 - 2,150 meters above sea level (Bailey, 1966). They have a subduction-related accretion, beginning in the Paleozoic era, where oceanic terrains collided with the western edge of North America (DeCourten, 2012). The terranes in the Klamath region are separated by dipping fault zones. During the Mesozioc era granitic plutons developed in the accreted terrains. During this era, the Klamath region also underwent gold mineralization and subsequently an ice age during the Pleistocene era, though lower elevation saw smaller amounts of glaciation that high elevations. The Klamath Mountains are composed of metamorphosed volcanic and sedimentary rocks, representative of volcanic island arcs , submarine plateaus, reef-like bodies of limestone, and deep ocean sediments that were immensely augmented during accretion (DeCourten, 2012). The most common rocks in the Klamath mountains are serpentinite and granite from the North American plate (Bailey, 1966).

Sierra ...

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