Outer-shelf Ridge in Southern Monterey Bay

Abstract

An unexplained, isolated, 5-m high by 100-m wide ridge was discovered during a multibeam bathymetric survey of the southern Monterey Bay shelf. The ridge is located at 84-m water depth on an otherwise flat and featureless outer-shelf, due north of the city of Monterey and the Monterey Peninsula. The principal ridge is about 3-km long and trends 10 degrees east of north, parallel to depth contours. The ridge is associated with high acoustic backscatter and is roughly symmetrical. A sescondary ridge, intersecting the first, trends 20 degrees west of north, sub-parallel to the Monterey Bay Fault Zone, a zone of numerous faults that have been associated with earthquake activity. High-resolution seismic reflection data, to be collected this fall, will hopefully resolve the nature of these enigmatic features.

This abstract is from Transactions, American Geophysical Union, v.76, p.328, 1995.