COMPRESSIONAL UPLIFT IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA COAST RANGES

Controversy over the relative importance of transverse and compressional deformation surrounds continuing debate over uplift in the California Coast Ranges. A simple model for compressional deformation in the central California Coast Ranges predicts a significant part of reconstructed post-3 Ma surface uplift. This result suggests that, in addition to passage of the Mendocino triple junction and fault interactions in a dominantly strike-slip setting, late Cenozoic surface uplift in the California Coast Ranges reflects a small compressive component of deformation across the Pacific-North American plate boundary.