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| The geology of the Devil's Punchbowl is very unique. It is a sandstone formation that has been tilted by the growing San Gabriel Mountains and Pinyon Ridge. I will start by talking about the unique geology of the Antelope Valley, and why the San Gabriel Mountains are east-west in contrast to the north-south mountain ranges in California. |
| 1. |
| THE NORTH AMERICAN PLATE The North American Plate is a large land mass that is slowly moving (like every other plate on the earth's surface). It is moving towards the west as depicted in the image above. Everything to the north and east of the RED LINE on the map is on the North American Plate. |
| 2. |
| THE ANTELOPE VALLEY The Antelope valley is located between the two longest faults in California the San Andreas fault (Right Lateral Strike Slip Fault RED LINE) in the south, and the Garlock Fault (Left Lateral Strike Slip Fault, ORANGE LINE) to the north. The San Andreas is the Plate boundary between the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate. The pressure of these two colliding plates is causing the Antelope Valley to be “wedged\pushed” eastward. The Garlock Fault is where the Antelope Valley literally “breaks loose” from the North American Plate as it is pushed eastward. |
| 3. |
| THE PACIFIC PLATE The Pacific Plate (everything below and to the west of the red line) is slowly moving north. As it moves north it collides with the North American Plate. When this collision occurs the San Gabriel mountains are pushed up like the hood of a wrecked car. When the plate cannot move north any more it “slides” in the direction with the least conflict WEST. Then when the Pacific plate has slid around the solid land mass (1,2) it is pushed north once again. |
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