Geology of the Santa Monica Mountains
- The Santa Monica Mountains are a geological unit of the Transverse Mountain Ranges of Southern California.
- The Santa Monica Mountains are a part of the only east-west belt of mountains in California and one of only two in North America so oriented.
- The Santa Monica Range is a broad anticline that has been severely ruptured by faulting and intruded by sills and dikes.
- The Santa Monica range is bisected by the flow of water that flows through Malibu Canyon.
- Malibu Creek is thought to have flowed in its present course before the mountains existed.
- The main fault of the Santa Monica Mountains is the Malibu Coast Faultt.
- The Santa Monica Mountain Range is a result of the interactions between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate.
- The Pacific Plate's crust is oceanic and composed of basalt, which is denser than continental crust.
- The Pacific Plate subducts under the North American Plate.
- The Pacific Plate moves north, and the North American Plate moves south; a strike slip plate boundary.
- The area where the two plates slip past each other is called the San Andreas Fault.
- Geologic maps help us understand the geology of the mountains.
- Geologic profiles provide a view at what might be beneath the ground.
- Other geology resources.
