Hydrocarbon Seeps Of The Mesozoic Great Valley Group Forearc Strata And Franciscan Complex Northern And Central California U S A

Hydrocarbon seeps and their associated chemosymbiosis-based communities have been documented throughout modern oceans, as well as in Neoproterozoic through Pleistocene aged rocks in the stratigraphic record. A particularly good record of ancient hydrocarbon seeps occurs in Mesozoic strata (Tithonian-Maastrichtian) along the western North American continental margin, cropping out throughout the Great Valley Group forearc strata and the Franciscan Complex. This extensive record allows for the comparison of the paleoecological signatures of stratigraphically and spatially related hydrocarbon seeps, which are geotectonically, petrographically, and isotopically consistent with each other.