Large aperture seismic data were collected on several ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) deployed along a deep crustal seismic profile that was shot across the central California continental margin. The line of shots extends from the oceanic crust seaward of the Santa Lucia Escarpment to the California coast near Morro Bay and crosses the Santa Lucia Basin, Santa Lucia Bank, Santa Maria Basin, and Hosgri fault zone. The OBS data permit us to trace the subducted oceanic crust from seaward of the Santa Lucia Escarpment to beneath the central part of the Santa Maria Basin. A complementary study using onshore recordings of the same shots extends the crustal model onshore. Just seaward of the Santa Lucia Escarpment, the oceanic crust is subhorizontal and covered by a thin layer of low‐velocity sediment. The velocity (4.5 km/s) and gradient (1.20–1.25 km/s/km) of the upper oceanic crust in this region are well determined and agree with earlier determinations of the crustal structure of the eastern Pacific. Beneath the Santa Lucia Escarpment and Santa Lucia Basin, the oceanic crust dips approximately 16° to the east. It is overlain by material with a velocity that increases from 4.8 to 6.4 km/s at a depth of 1.7–5.5 km below the seafloor beneath the Santa Lucia Basin. A low‐velocity zone may be sandwiched between the subducted crust and this shallow high‐velocity material, which we interpret to represent obducted oceanic crustal material. Beneath the eastern edge of Santa Lucia Basin, the dip of the subducted oceanic crust decreases to less than 2°. The configuration of the subducted crust in this region is consistent with imbrication of the subducted crust, as suggested by others based on common midpoint reflection data. Beneath the central Santa Maria Basin, the top of the subducted oceanic crust is at a depth of about 14–16 km and the Moho is at 19–21 km.
