138 



geologists think that the fault turns west or southwestward 

 down the axis of Redondo Canyon, However, there seems to be 

 more evidence that it may continue in a northwestward direction. 

 The following information perhaps supports this theory: (1) num- 

 erous oil and gas seeps are found at the head of Redondo Canyon 

 and farther to the northwest, (2) the large grouping of earth- 

 quake epicenters in the vicinity of Santa Monica Canyon (lat. 

 32O57', long, 118°38»), (3) the general pattern of the submarine 

 topography suggests that faulting perhaps has played a role in 

 its origin, and (4) the discovery of schist on the outer shelf 

 appears to correlate with the schist in Palos Verdes Hills and 

 the basement rock in the Los Angeles Basin, 



Clements and Emery (1946) plotted epicenters for the off- 

 shore area in southern California and found them to be grouped 

 along straight steep slopes which they believed to be of fault 

 origin. No such groupings occur in Santa Monica Bay so that 

 the relatively steep slopes are probably due to other factors, 

 or the faulting that may have been important in the formation 

 of the slopes is now inactive. It is noted that Redondo 

 Canyon has the appearance of fault control since it is deep, 

 has steep walls, and has a straight longitudinal profile. 

 However, if faulting played an important part in its formation, 

 it must have been in the geological past since there is no 

 seismological evidence of faulting at the present time. 



The only earthquake in Santa Monica Bay that has received 

 special study occurred on August 30, 1930 (Gutenberg, Richter, 

 and Wood, 1932) and was located in the area where a large 



