Witnet Formation
Witnet Formation
early Cenozoic
Sequence of fluvial strata exposed along Oil Canyon and elsewhere in the uplands northeast of Tehachapi Valley, consisting of arkosic sandstone interbedded with micaceous siltstone to sandy shale and lesser pebble to cobble conglomerate (Dibblee, 1967; Buwalda and Lewis, 1955). Base is locally comprised of cobble conglomerate up to ~180 m thick (Dibblee, 1967). Strata are steeply dipping, unconformably overlie basement, and are unconformably overlain by subhorizontal Miocene strata. Age poorly constrained due to lack of volcanic and fossil materials but generally regarded as early Cenozoic. Tentatively correlated with the Goler Formation (map unit gol) based on textural and compositional similarities and spatial proximity (Dibblee, 1967; Cox, 1982). More recent detrital zircon sediment provenance data (Lechler and Niemi, 2011) show divergent age spectra for the Witnet Formation and upper Goler Formation; however, this does not preclude correlation with the lower two members of the Goler Formation.