46 



grades westward into a zone of silty sand which extends from 

 Palos Verdes Hills to Malibu, but has its greatest areal extent 

 in the north„ South from the city of Santa Monica to the 

 northern edge of Redondo Canyon, the silty sand is broken by 

 three patches of olive green sand? a large area of gravel and 

 rock; and is separated from the silty sand to the east by an 

 irregular band of sandy silt that extends north from Redondo 

 Canyon. 



The silty sand in turn grades westward into sandy silt „ 

 With the exception of an irregular zone that extends north 

 from the head of Redondo Canyon? this sediment type occurs 

 west of the silty sand where it parallels the topographic 

 trend of both submarine canyons. 



The finest sediment type in Santa Monica Bay is silt , 

 which occurs in both submarine canyons and along the basin 

 slope o A large area of silt occurs in Redondo Canyon in the 

 midst of the sandy silt o In Santa Monica Canyon the silt 

 extends eastward coincident with the topographic trend of the 

 canyon. In this same general area, a rather narrow tongue 

 of silt projects shoreward toward Malibu„ The effect of the 

 topography on the distribution of this sediment type in 

 Redondo Canyon is not as apparent as it is in Santa Monica 

 Canyon . 



The normal decrease in grain size from sand nearshore to 

 silt offshore is modified by the presence of gravel near the 

 center of the bay on the outer shelf. This grades into a 

 sandy silty gravel near Santa Monica Canyon, With three 



