The Gorda Escarpment (40.4° N and from 126° W to 124.7° W) is a topographic high which is the eastern portion of the Mendocino Transform Fault. The Vizcaino Block is the anomalously shallow portion of the Pacific plate immediately south of the Gorda Escarpment. Sediments of the Vizcaino Block record...
Seismic data and seafloor samples indicate the presence of free gas, gas hydrate, and
fluid seeps south of the Gorda Escarpment, a topographic feature that marks the eastern
end of the Gorda/Pacific transform plate boundary southwest of Cape Mendocino,
California. In spite of high sedimentation rates and high biological productivity,...