WWRC 85-26
Thermal Evolution of Coastal California with Application to Hydrocarbon Maturation
Abstract
Coastal California has evolved through a series of plate
tectonic interactions that significantly affected the geologic,
thermal, and hydrocarbon maturation histories of the area.
Numerical solutions for steady-state heat transfer are used
to estimate temperature suppression resulting from plate
subduction along coastal California, and to model thermal
refraction within the Pismo basin. Numerical solutions for
time-dependent heat transfer estimate the thermal effect of
the passage of the Mendocino triple junction with consequent
upwelling of asthenosphere. Thermal solutions vary
for different areas along coastal California depending on
the magnitude of the temperature suppression due to subduction,
the geometry of the space into which the asthenosphere upwells,
the time since passage of the triple junction,
and the specific depositional history of each basin. Paleo-temperatures
are calculated for the Pismo basin, predicting
that the basal 300 m of source rocks have generated
hydrocarbons.
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