Etchegoin Formation

Last updated
Etchegoin Formation
Stratigraphic range: Pliocene epoch
Dendraster gibbsi fossil sand dollar (Etchegoin Formation, Lower Pliocene; Kettleman Hills, west-central Kings County, south-central California, USA) (15279728716).jpg
Fossil from the Etchegoin Formation
Type Formation
Underlies San Joaquin Formation, Kern River Beds Formation (east)
Overlies Antelope Shale of Monterey Formation, Chanac Formation (east)
Location
Region San Joaquin Valley, California
Country United States

The Etchegoin Formation is a Pliocene epoch geologic formation in the lower half of the San Joaquin Valley in central California. [1] [2]

Contents

Geology

The shallow-water marine sandstone formation is found across the central and southern San Joaquin Valley, and with the overlying Pliocene nonmarine sand San Joaquin Formation, is associated with the numerous oil fields there. [1] The White Wolf Fault forms its southern boundary. It overlies the Antelope Shale unit of the Monterey Formation in its central and western sections. [1]

In its southeastern section it is part of the Kern River Series, which is divided into an upper unit named the Kern River Beds Formation, a lower unit named the Chanac Formation, with the wedge of the Etchegoin Formation in the middle. [2]

Fossils

It preserves numerous fossils dating back to the Neogene Period of the Cenozoic Era, including mollusks. [2] [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temblor Range</span> Mountain range in the southern California Coastal Ranges

The Temblor Range is a mountain range within the California Coast Ranges, at the southwestern extremity of the San Joaquin Valley in California in the United States. It runs in a northwest-southeasterly direction along the borders of Kern County and San Luis Obispo County. The name of the range is from Spanish temblor meaning "tremor", referring to earthquakes. The San Andreas Fault Zone runs parallel to the range at the base of its western slope, on the eastern side of the Carrizo Plain, while the Antelope Plain, location of the enormous Midway Sunset, South Belridge, and Cymric oil fields, lies to the northeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buena Vista Oil Field</span> Historic site in miles N of McKittrick, California

The Buena Vista Oil Field, formerly the Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 2 (NPR-2) is a large oil field in Kern County, San Joaquin Valley, California in the United States. Discovered in 1909, and having a cumulative production of approximately 667 million barrels (106,000,000 m3), it is the tenth-largest oil field in California. As of year end 2006 the field had a total reserve of only about one percent of its original oil, and having produced a mere 713,000 barrels (113,400 m3). Since, the field has gone through a revitalization. Crimson Resources initiated a waterflood in the Etchegoin Formation, saw good response and sold the asset to Occidental Petroleum. CRC continued the development of the waterflood, but also tested the viability of the Monterey Formation. The Monterey Formation at Buena Vista has proven to be a viable target and is currently being developed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lost Hills Oil Field</span> Kern County, California oilfield

The Lost Hills Oil Field is a large oil field in the Lost Hills Range, north of the town of Lost Hills in western Kern County, California, in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kern Front Oil Field</span> Oil and gas field in the Sierra Nevada foothills in Kern County, California, USA

The Kern Front Oil Field is a large oil and gas field in the lower Sierra Nevada foothills in Kern County, California. Discovered in 1912, and with a cumulative production of around 210 million barrels (33,000,000 m3) of oil, it ranks 29th in size in the state, and is believed to retain approximately ten percent of its original oil, according to the official estimates of the California Department of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR). It is adjacent to the much larger Kern River Oil Field, which is to the southeast, and the Mount Poso Oil Field to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fruitvale Oil Field</span> Oil and gas field in the San Joaquin Valley, California, USA

The Fruitvale Oil Field is a large oil and gas field in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California, within and just northwest of the city of Bakersfield, along and north of the Kern River. It is one of the few oil fields in the California Central Valley which is mostly surrounded by a heavily populated area. Discovered in 1928, and with a cumulative total recovery of more than 124 million barrels (19,700,000 m3) of oil at the end of 2006, it is 41st in size among California oil fields, and according to the California Department of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) its total reserve amounts to a little less than ten percent of its original oil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casselman Formation</span> Geological formation in the United States

The Casselman Formation mapped sedimentary bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia, of Pennsylvanian age. It is the uppermost of two formations in the Conemaugh Group, the lower being the Glenshaw Formation. The boundary between these two units is the top of the marine Ames Limestone. The Conemaugh Group overlies the Upper Freeport coal bed of the Allegheny Formation and underlies the Pittsburgh coal seam of the Monongahela Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain View Oil Field</span> Oil field in Kern County, California, United States

The Mountain View Oil Field is a large, mature, but still-productive oil field in Kern County, California, in the United States, in the extreme southern part of the San Joaquin Valley southeast of Bakersfield. It underlies the town of Arvin, as well as some smaller agricultural communities. The field is spread out across a large area, covering just under 8 square miles (21 km2), with wells and storage facilities widely dispersed throughout the area, scattered among working agricultural fields of broccoli and carrots as well as citrus orchards. Discovered in 1933, it has produced over 90 million barrels (14,000,000 m3) of oil in its lifetime, and although declining in production is one of the few inland California fields in which new oil is still being discovered.

The Merced Formation is a geologic formation in California, and also in Oregon and Washington state. It is named for Lake Merced, a natural lake on the western San Francisco coastline.

The Antelope Shale is a geologic formation in the San Joaquin Valley of central California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moraga Formation</span> Pliocene geological formation in California

The Moraga Formation, also known as the Moraga Volcanics, is a geological formation that dates back to the Pliocene epoch. It is located in Berkeley Hills, East Bay Region, San Francisco Bay Area, California.

The Mulholland Formation is a Pliocene epoch geologic formation in the Berkeley Hills and San Leandro Hills of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. It is found within Alameda County and Contra Costa County.

The Kern River Beds Formation is a Neogene Period geologic formation in the southeastern San Joaquin Valley, within Kern County, California.

The Chanac Formation is a Cenozoic Era sandstone geologic formation in the southeastern San Joaquin Valley, within Kern County, California.

The Tulare Formation is a Pliocene to Holocene epoch geologic formation in the central and southern San Joaquin Valley of central California.

The Topanga Canyon Formation is a Miocene epoch geologic formation in the Santa Monica Mountains, Simi Hills, Santa Ana Mountains and San Joaquin Hills, in Los Angeles County, Ventura County, and Orange County, southern California. It is primarily composed of hard sandstone with some inter-bedded siltstone.

The Santa Clara Formation is a geologic formation in the southeastern Santa Cruz Mountains, in Santa Clara County, California.

The San Joaquin Formation is a Pliocene epoch geologic formation in the lower half of the San Joaquin Valley in central California.

The Tejon Formation is a Paleogene period geologic formation in California.

The Tecopa Lake Beds is a Blancan Pleistocene geologic formation in the Mojave Desert in eastern California. It is in the Tecopa area, east of Death Valley, in southeastern Inyo and northeastern San Bernardino County.

The Imperial Formation is the name of two distinct and unrelated geologic formations in North America, of different geologic Eras.

References

  1. 1 2 3 USGS.gov: "Neogene Gas Total Petroleum System—Neogene Nonassociated Gas Assessment Unit of the San Joaquin Basin Province"; Chapter 22 of the Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas in the San Joaquin Basin Province, California; by Allegra Hosford Scheirer and Leslie B. Magoon.
  2. 1 2 3 USGS.gov: "The Kern River Formation, Southeastern San Joaquin Valley, California"; Geological Survey Bulletin 1529-D; By J. Alan Bartow and Gardner M. Pittman; United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.; 1983 (with map on pg. D4).
  3. Various Contributors to the Paleobiology Database. "Fossilworks: Gateway to the Paleobiology Database". Archived from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2021.