Submarine-fan facies associations of the Eocene Butano Sandstone, Santa Cruz mountains, California

The Eocene Butano Sandstone was deposited as a submarine fan in a relatively small, partly restricted basin in a borderland setting. It is possibly as thick as 3000 m and was derived from erosion of nearly Mesozoic granitic and older metamorphic rocks located to the south. Deposition was at lower bathyal to abyssal water depths. The original fan may have been 120-to 160-km long and 80-km wide. Outcrops of submarine-canyon, innerfan, middle-fan, and outer-fan facies associations indicate that the depositional model of Mutti and Ricci Lucchi can be used to describe the Butano Sandstone. Margin setting represents fan and/or source area