From the Islands to the Mountains: A 2020 View of Geologic Excursions in Southern California

This volume includes five geologic field-trip guides in the Los Angeles region associated with the 2020 GSA Cordilleran Section Meeting that was scheduled for May 2020, in Pasadena, California. The guides are organized in a generally counterclockwise order around the Los Angeles Basin. The first guide by Burgette et al. provides new slip rates, age constraints, and observations of the active Sierra Madre fault zone that borders the northern side of the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys. The Nourse et al. guide takes a new look at the San Gabriel Mountains from a basement and geomorphologic perspective. Further west, Keller et al. provide one of the first published field-trip guides focused on the 9 January 2018 Montecito debris flows that caused 23 deaths. The volume then moves south to Santa Cruz Island, where Davis et al. provide an updated review of the island’s geology within the California borderlands. The final guide returns to the east, where Platt et al. present the unique geology of Santa Catalina Island with a focus on the subduction-related Catalina Schist.