San Fernando Valley

The San Fernando Valley is approximately 260 square miles, Santa Susana Mountains to the northwest, the Simi Hills to the west, the Santa Monica Mountains to the south, the Verdugo Mountains to the east, and the San Gabriel Mountains to the northeast. The Los Angeles River begins at the confluence of Calabasas and Bell Canyon creeks in Canoga Park and flows east through the southern valley. An Unpaved section is found in the Sepulveda Basin.

Another waterway, the Tujunga Wash, drains much of the western San Gabriel Mountains and, after passing through the Hansen Dam Recreation Center, winds south through the eastern communities of the Valley before merging with the Los Angeles River in Studio City. Other tributaries of the River include Caballero Creek, Bull Creek, Pacoima Wash, and Verdugo Wash.

The elevation of the floor of the valley varies between about 600 and 1,200 ft. above sea level.

Most of the San Fernando Valley is within the city of Los Angeles, although several other independent cities are located within the Valley as well; Burbank and Glendale are in the southeast corner, Hidden Hills and Calabasas are in the southwest corner, and San Fernando is in the northeast valley. Universal City, an enclave in the southern part of the Valley, is unincorporated land housing the Universal Studios filming lot. Mulholland Drive runs along the ridgeline of the Santa Monica Mountains. It marks the boundary between the Valley and the communities of Hollywood and Los Angeles' westside.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Fernando_Valley

The San Fernando Valley and adjacent mountains are part of the Transverse Ranges physiographic province. An area of parallel, east-west trending mountain ranges and sediment-filled valleys. The province is one of the most seismically active in the United States. It's distinctive geological structure is dominated by north-south compressive deformation, thrust faulting, strike-slip faulting, and bedrock folding. This structure is attributable to the convergence of the “Big Bend” of the San Andreas fault and northwestern motion of the Pacific Plate. Recent examples of thrust faulting are the Northridge earthquake, the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, and the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1996/ofr-96-0263/geoset.htm

The Oviatt Library at CSUN has provided a source page for information on the San Fernando Valley: http://library.csun.edu/mfinley/valley.html