S. Critelli et al., THE EFFECTS OF SOURCE LITHOLOGY, TRANSPORT, DEPOSITION AND SAMPLING SCALE ON THE COMPOSITION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SAND, Sedimentology, 44(4), 1997, pp. 653-671
The Transverse Ranges of southern California represent an uplifted and
variably dissected Mesozoic magmatic are, and Mesozoic to Holocene se
dimentary and volcanic strata deposited in convergent and transform te
ctonic settings. Modern sand within part of the Western Transverse Ran
ges represents: first-order sampling scale of the Santa Monica and the
San Gabriel Mountains; second-order sampling scale of the Santa Clara
River draining both mountain ranges; and third-order sampling scale o
f the beach system between the mouth of the Santa Clara River and the
eastern Santa Monica Mountains, and turbidite sand of the Hueneme-Mugu
submarine fan. Source lithology includes plutonic and metamorphic roc
ks of the San Gabriel Mountains, and sedimentary and volcanic rocks of
the Santa Monica Mountains. First-order sands have large compositiona
l variability. Sand from local coastal drainage of the Santa Monica Mo
untains ranges from basaltic feldspatholithic to quartzofeldspathic. S
and of the San Gabriel Mountains local drainages has three distinct pe
trofacies, ranging from metamorphiclastic feldspatholithic to mixed me
tamorphi/plutoniclastic and plutoniclastic quartzofeldspathic. Second-
order sand is represented by the main channel of the Santa Clara River
; the sand has an abrupt downstream compositional change, from feldspa
thic to quartzofeldspathic. Third-order sand (beaches and deep-sea tur
bidite samples) of the Santa Monica Basin is quartzofeldspathic. Beach
sand is more quartz-rich than is Santa Clara river sand, whereas turb
idite sand is more feldspar-rich than is beach sand. Deep-sea sand has
intermediate composition with respect to second-order samples of the
Santa Clara River and third-order samples of the beach system, suggest
ing that (1) the Santa Clara River is the main source of sediments to
the marine environment; and (2) local entry points from canyons locate
d near local drainages may generate turbidity currents during exceptio
nal flood conditions. Petrologic data of modern sand of the study area
are highly variable at first-and second-order scale, whereas third-or
der sand is homogenized. The homogenized composition of deep-marine sa
nd is similar to the composition of most ancient sandstone derived pri
marily from the Mesozoic dissected magmatic are of southern California
. This study of the Western Transverse Ranges illustrates the effects
of source lithology, transport, depositional environment, and sampling
scale on sand composition of a complex system, which provides insight
s regarding actualistic petrofacies models.