East Canyon Geology

The Pico Anticline is not very well exposed in East Canyon. The axis of the anticline contains the Modelo Formation, where all the wells were drilled. The Towsley and Pico Formations are also exposed in the canyon, as you can see from the geologic map. I did not see any oil seeps in East Canyon, but some of pools had an oily surface.

Here is the same geologic map from the Rice Canyon geology page (Winterer and Durham, 1962). The red dot is the end of the Rice Canyon trail at the large oak tree. The current East Canyon road as it winds up the canyon is not shown on this map.

Tp, Tpc, Tps = Pico Formation (lower Pliocene)
Tt, Ttc = Towsley Formation (lower Pliocene)
Tm = Modelo Formation (upper Miocene)

The best overall view of the Pico Anticline is at the top of the East Canyon road. This is a view west showing the the south flank on the left and the north flank on the right. (photo taken on 10/17/2009)

Higher up on the road, before the top, is this exposure of the Modelo Formation. (11/21/2008)

Deep in the canyon are good exposures of the south flank of the anticline. (11/21/2008)

This fossil is in a bolder in the creek bed. There are some fossil localities in the Pico formation high up the east face of East Canyon where this came from.. (11/21/2008)