Santa Cruz Coast – 2012

The 2012 Stanford University Basin and Petroleum System Modeling Industrial Affiliates traveled to the Santa Cruz coast for the annual field trip. We examined Tertiary sedimentary rocks of the Miocene/Pliocene Santa Cruz Mudstone and a swarm of hydrocarbon saturated sandstone dikes (“injectites”). There were five main stops, including Natural Bridges State Beach, Carbonate Cold Seeps, Majors Creek overlook, Yellow Bank Beach/Panther Beach, and Quarry asphalt-­filled fractures.