Smartville Block

The Smartville Block, also called the Smartville Complex or Smartville Intrusive Complex, is a geologic formation in central California. It extends from the foothills of the central Sierra Nevada (mountain range), due west, under a section of the Central Valley and California Coast Ranges, in northern California.

Gold

Its eastern margin is the Rescue Lineament-Bear Mountains fault zone, and generally defines the gold-bearing veins range of the California Mother Lode region, important in the history of the California Gold Rush. It is named for the small Gold Rush town of Smartsville in Yuba County.

Geology

The Smartville Block is a geologic terrane in plate tectonics, a piece of crust, probably an island arc, which accreted to the North American Plate and continent in the Jurassic Period, about 165 million years ago. The collision created sufficient crustal heating to drive mineral-laden water up through numerous fissures along the contact zone. When these cooled, among the precipitating minerals was gold.

References

Assembling California, by John McPhee, published 1993 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York. ISBN 0-374-52393-2

Seismically active fault zones and tectonic blocks of California

Statewide Faults	San Andreas Fault

Faults, zones, and blocks of Southern California	Brawley Seismic Zone Chino Fault Elsinore Fault Zone Elysian Park Fault Garlock Fault Hosgri Fault Imperial Fault Zone Laguna Salada Fault Newport–Inglewood Fault Peninsular Ranges Puente Hills Fault Raymond Fault Rose Canyon Fault Salton Trough Salinian Block San Cayetano Fault San Felipe Fault Zone San Gabriel Fault San Jacinto Fault Zone Santa Maria River Fault Santa Ynez Fault Shoreline Fault Ventura Fault White Wolf Fault Whittier Fault Yorba Linda Fault

Faults and zones of Northern California	Bartlett Springs Fault Calaveras Fault Clayton-Marsh Creek-Greenville Fault Concord Fault Hayward Fault Zone Healdsburg Fault Maacama Fault Mendocino Fracture Zone Mendocino Triple Junction Mount Diablo Thrust Fault Monta Vista Fault Pleasanton Fault San Gregorio Fault San Pablo Fault Seal Cove Fault Serra Fault Silver Creek Fault Tesla Fault West Napa Fault

Sierra Nevada faults, zones, and blocks	Death Valley Fault Zone Furnace Creek Fault Zone Honey Lake Fault Zone Kern Canyon Fault Maria fold and thrust belt Owens Valley Fault Rescue Lineament-Bear Mountains fault zone Sierra Nevada Batholith Sierra Nevada Fault Sierra Nevada-Great Valley Block Smartville Block Walker Lane

Category California Geological Survey Seismic Hazards Mapping Act Mexico (list)

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Smartville Block

Gold

Geology

See also

References