The stratigraphy of the area studied is similar to that of the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. The Pliocene(?) Paso Robles formation unconformably overlaps Miocene to Cretaceous sediments. Upper to middle Miocene (Monterey group) shales and sands are generally lying on Eocene sandstones or are overturned under them. These Eocene (Canoas) sandstones are found in depositional or fault contact with the Cretaceous core of the Temblor Range. Structurally the region is a strongly deformed wedge of sediments between the San Andreas fault zone on the west and the Cretaceous massif on the east. The apex of this wedge is to the northwest and deformation and overturning of the sediments increase in that direction. Anticlinal or fault closures are not readily discernible in the ield. Wells in the area have encountered non-commercial oil sands of lower Miocene age. These oil sands or any other lower Miocene beds are not found in the outcrop; hence, a strong possibility exists of finding stratigraphic accumulations of oil in the regionally high portions of the sedimentary wedge.

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