Geology and Oil Resources of the Eastern Puente Hills Area, Southern California
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
LIBRARY COPY .'11'~- · ,!l.'::.,~ARVJ Geology and Oil Resources of the Eastern Puente Hills Area, Southern California GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 420-B ) ;q:;j r.j n ':1 ,.., rJ (\] r; "\' r-' I \--~ .\1 1.1: t.-..1 'c) \.~;) ..., ~i,;.. l I s_.: r; '.JG r. ~-J r g) n :H.;~~.. ~,~ :, ~v: JUN 3 .!971 Geology and Oil Resources of the Eastern Puente Hills Area, Southern California By D. L. DURHAM and R. F. YERKES GEOLOGY OF THE EASTERN LOS ANGELES BASIN, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 420-B A study of the stratigraphy, structure, and oil resources of the Prado Dam and . Yorba Linda quadrangles I:IBRARY 8UAfAU OF UINil ~.-I'BRARY SPOkANl. ~AStt, .. \ D 31971 !J!t"':l.: 1 -~ ·-··:~.:::.~ .... ~ titlSf lfTOIA 10 liBRAII UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRIN.TING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1964 .f UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR· STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Thomas B. Nolan, Director .• I . For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C., 20402 CONTENTS I .. Page Stratigraphy-Continued Page Abstract------------------------------------------- B1 Quaternary system _________________ ------------- B28 Introduction_______________________________________ 3 Pleistocene series ________ ------------------- 28 Locution of urea________________________________ 3 Unnamed strata of Pleistocene age __ ---_-- 28 • Purpose of investigation_________________________ 3 La Habra formation ______ -------------- 28 Previous work__________________________________ 4 Pleistocene to Recent series ____ -------------- 30 Older alluvium _______ - ____ ------------- 30 Fieldwork and preparation of report_______________ 5 Younger alluvium ______ -_-------------- 31 Acknowledgments_______________________________ 5 Structure _________________________________________ _ 31 Strntigruphy _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 5 Structural setting _______________________ -------- 31 Cretaceous system ______ :.. ___________ ~___________ 5 Whittier fault zone ________________ ------------- 31 PI utonic rocks______________________________ 5 Chino fault_ ______________________ ------------- 32 Sedimentary rocks__________________________ 5 Structural features north of the Whittier fault zone Tertiary system_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 6 and west of the Chino fault ___________________ _ 34 Faults ____________________________________ _ Paleocene series_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 6 34 Folds _____________________________________ _ Silverado formation______________________ 6 34 Eocene series_______________________________ 6 Structural features northeast of the eastern Puente Hills _______________________________________ _ 34 Santiago formation______________________ 6 Structural features south of the eastern Puente Upper Eocene to lower Miocene series_________ 7 Hills _______________________________________ _ 35 Vaqueros unci Sespe formations undiffer- Phy~ography _____________________________________ _ 35 entiated_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 7 Eastern Puente Hills _________ ------------------- 35 Middle Miocene series_______________________ 8 Santa Ana River ______________________________ _ 35 Topanga formation______________________ 8 Area south of the Puente Hills _________ - __ ------- 36 Diamond Bar sand____________________ 10 Whittier fault zone __________ ------------------- 37 Volc~mic rocks associated with the Topanga Economic geology ______________ -------------------- 37 formation____________________________ 10 Brea-Olinda oil field ______________________ ------- 37 Richfield oil field ______________________________ - Upper Miocene series________________________ 11 39 East Coyote oil field _______________ --- __ -------- 40 Puente formation_______________________ 11 Yorba Linda oil field _______________ ------------- 40 La Vida member____________________ 12 Esperanza oil field ___________ ------------------- 41 Soquel member_____________________ 18 Mahala oil field _____________ -- ____ ------------- 41 Yorba member_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ HI Chino-Soquel oil field ______________ ------------- 42 Sycamore Canyon member___________ 21 Summary of oil occurrence __________ ------------- 42 Diubasic intrusive rocks associated with Outlook for future development _____ ------------- 43 the Puente and older formations________ 23 Exploratory wells __________________ ------------- 44 Pliocene series______________________________ 24 Fossil localities ____ :.. ___________________ -- ____ ------- 55 Fernando formation_____________________ 24 San Juan tunneL __________________________________ - 57 Lower mom bcr _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 25 References cited _______________________ --- ___ ------- 59 Upper member_____________________ 26 Index ____________________________________________ _ 61 ILLUSTRATIONS [Plates arc in pocket] PLATE 1. Geologic map of Prado Dam and Yorba Linda quadrangles, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties. California. 2. Composite stratigraphic section for the eastern Puente Hills area. 3. Geologic sections A-A', B-B', C-C', and D-D', Prado Dam and Yorba Linda quadrangles, California. 4. Geologic sections E-E', F-F', G-G', and H-H', Prado Dam and Yorba Linda quadrangles, California. Page FIGURE 1. Index map of part of southern California showing location of the eastern Puente Hills area ______ ------------ B3 2. Aerial view of the eastern Puente Hills area ______________________________ ----------------------------- 4 III IV CONTENTS Page FIGURE 3. Sandstone and conglomerate of the Vaqueros and Sespe formations undifferentiated ______ ~ _________________ _ B7 4. View northward across the Santa Ana River toward Scully Hill_ _________________________________________ _ 8 5. Pebbly sandstone of the Topanga formation ___________________________________________________________ _ 8 6. Siltstone of the La Vida member of the Puente formation _______________________________________________ _ 13 7. Sandstone unit at the base of the Soquel member of the Puente formation ________________________________ _ 19 8. Siltstone and thin sandstone beds of the Yorba member of the Puente formation __________________________ _ 20 9. Thick-bedded sandstone in siltstone of the Yorba member of the Puente formation ________________________ _ 20 10. White pebbly sandstone of the Sycamore Canyon member of the Puente formation ________________________ _ 21 11. Vertical beds of pebbly sandstone and mudstone of the Sycamore Canyon member of the Puente formation ___ _ 22 12. Basal conglomerate of the La Habra formation ________________________________________________________ _ 29 13. Aerial view southeastward along the Whittier fault zone southeast of the Horseshoe Bend of the Santa Ana ·~o River __________________________________________________________________________________________ _ 32 14. Aerial view southeastward along the Whittier fault zone southeast of Carbon Canyon ______________________ _ 33 15. Exposure of the Chino fault _________________________________________________________________________ _ 33 16. Aerial view northeastward up Brea Canyon from over the Whittier fault zone _____________________________ _ 36 • 17. Correlation chart of the producing zones in the oil fields in the eastern Puente Hills area ___________________ _ 38 18. Strata of the Sycamore Canyon member of the Puente formation exposed at the working face of the San Juan tunnel __________________________________________________________________________________________ _ 57 19. Geologic structure section along the San Juan tunneL---------------------------------------------,------ 58 20. Strata of the Sycamore Canyon member of the Puente formation exposed in the San Juan tunneL ___ -------- 59 21. Sample of the Sycamore Canyon member of the Puente formation from the San Juan tunneL _______________ _ 59 TABLES TABLE 1. Stratigraphic distribution of Foraminifera from the Puente and Fernando formations in the eastern Puente Hills area----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B16 2. Production and reserves of oil fields in the eastern Puente Hills area_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 39 3. Oil produced in 1957 from members of the Puente and Fernando formations in oil fields in the eastern Puente Hills area----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 42 4. Exploratory wells and selected oil-producing wells drilled in the eastern Puente Hills area before June 30, 1958__ 44 5. Fossil localities in the eastern Puente Hills area____________________________________________________________ 56 ,. GEOLOGY OF THE EASTERN LOS ANGELES. BASIN, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GEOLOGY AND OIL RESOURCES OF THE EASTERN PUENTE HILLS AREA, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA • By D. L. DURHAM and R. F. YERKES ABSTRACT Andesitic and basaltic flows as much as 200 feet thick over • lie the Topanga formation in the subsurface at some places The Puente Hills are 15 to 40 miles southeast of downtown in the Yorba Linda quadrangle. 'l'hese volcanic rocks are in Lon Angeles, in the northeastern part of the Los Angeles basin. turn overlain at some places in the same area by the Dia The eastern half of the Puente Hills is covered by the Prado mond Bar sand of the Topanga formation. Neither the vol Dam and Yorba J.Jinda 7:Jh-minute quadrangles. The