California Coast Ranges
California Coast Range | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Peak | Mount Linn |
Elevation | 8,098 ft (2,468 m) |
Dimensions | |
Length | 400 mi (640 km) |
Geography | |
Country | United States |
State | California |
Parent range | Pacific Coast Ranges |
The Coast Ranges of California span 400 miles (644 km) from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County.[1] The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains.[1]
Physiography
The northern end of the California Coast Ranges overlap the southern end of the Klamath Mountains for approximately 80 miles (130 km) on the west. They extend southward for more than 60 miles (97 km) to where the coastline turns eastward along the Santa Barbara Channel, around the area of Point Conception. Here the southern end meets the Los Angeles Transverse Ranges, or Sierras de los Angeles.[3] The rocks themselves that comprise the mountains are of a great variety and widely varying geologic ages. Most of the rocks were formed during the Tertiary, Cretaceous and Jurassic periods. Most were deposited on the sea bottom as sediments, but in many places also had cracks, crevices and other gaps infused with molten lava or other masses of igneous rock, which were forced in molten condition into the sedimentary rocks. All of the range has been folded and faulted during several periods, with erosion of the softer rock giving much of the current appearance.[citation needed]
Mineralogy
The California Ranges had a high production of
Northern Coast Ranges
The Northern Coast Ranges are a section of the California Coast Ranges. They run parallel to the Pacific Coast from the North San Francisco Bay Area to coastal Del Norte County. The Klamath Mountains, including the Siskiyou Mountains sub-range, lie to the north and northeast. The Southern Coast Ranges lie to the south.
Geography
The Northern Coast Ranges run north–south parallel to the coast. Component ranges within the Northern Coast Ranges include the
.They also include the King Range, which meet the sea in the "Lost Coast" region. The southernmost peak of the Northern Coast Ranges is Mount Tamalpais.
The highest point in the Northern Coast Ranges is Mount Linn, at 8,098 ft. (2,468 m).
Outer and Inner ranges
The Northern Coast Ranges consist of two main parallel belts of mountains, the Outer Northern Coast Ranges lying along the coast, and the Inner Northern Coast Ranges running inland to the east. They are separated by a long system of valleys. The northern valley portion is drained by the
U.S. Route 101 runs generally north–south in the valleys between the Outer and Inner Northern Coast Ranges.
Natural history
The seaward face of the coastal Outer Northern Coast Ranges is part of the
The inland and dryer Inner Northern Coast Ranges are part of the
Columbian
Southern Coast Ranges
Geography
The Southern Coast Ranges, of the California Coast Ranges in the Pacific Coast Ranges System, run north and south, parallel to the Pacific Coast in north-central through north-southern California. The Southern Coast Ranges begin on the
The Southern Coast Ranges include the Berkeley Hills, the Diablo Range, the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Gabilan Range, the Santa Lucia Range and Sierra de Salinas, the Temblor Range, and the Sierra Madre.
There are Outer Southern Coast Ranges along the Pacific Ocean on the west, and Inner Southern Coast Ranges to the east, inland to the San Joaquin Valley. The central and southern San Francisco Bay and the Salinas Valley lie between them.
The highest point of the Southern Coast Ranges is Junipero Serra Peak in the Santa Lucia Range, at 5,862 feet (1,787 m).[5] Other peaks include Mount Diablo at 3,849 feet (1,173 m), and Mount Hamilton at 4,196 feet (1,279 m).
Natural history
The Southern Coast Ranges have a predominantly
Some of the rarest forest
Notably, the highest slopes of the Santa Lucias contain small patches of Sierran Conifer forest, including
The California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion has a great range of plant communities in the Southern Coast Ranges, including mixed evergreen forests, oak woodland and savannas, grasslands, northern coastal scrub, and the Monterey Pine woodlands of the Monterey Peninsula and two other coastal enclaves of the Santa Lucia Range. The name "chaparral" comes from the Spanish word chaparro, applied to California scrub oaks and Coastal scrub oaks.
Common tree species of oak woodlands include oaks, California bay, and buckeye.[5] Riparian species of the coast ranges include
Columbian Black-tailed deer occupy the northern and more coastal portions of the Southern Coast Ranges, and California mule deer occupy inland and southernmost portions of the Southern Coast Ranges.
Ranges
- Bald Hills
- Berkeley Hills
- Caliente Range
- Chalk Mountains
- Diablo Range
- Gabilan Range
- King Range
- La Panza Range
- Marin Hills
- Mayacamas Mountains
- Mendocino Range
- Santa Cruz Mountains
- Santa Lucia Range
- Shelton Buttes
- Sonoma Mountains
- Temblor Range
- Vaca Mountains
- Klamath Mountains
- Northern Coast Ranges
- Southern Coast Ranges
- Transverse Ranges
- Peninsular Ranges
See also
- California Coast Ranges topics
- Coast Range Geomorphic Province
- Inner Coast Ranges
- Natural history of the California Coast Ranges
- Mountain ranges of California
- North American Cordillera
References
- ^ ISBN 9780520061866.
- ^ "20 new Biosphere Reserves added to UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme". UNESCO: Ecological Sciences for Sustainable Development. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
- "Global list of Biosphere reserves: 610 Biosphere reserves in 117 countries" (PDF). UNESCO. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 3, 2013.
- ISBN 1130070328, 9781130070323.
- ISBN 1-4289-8430-5.
- ^ ]
- ^ Earth Metrics Inc. (1990) Environmental Impact Report for the Scotts Valley Redevelopment Area, State of California Clearinghouse Report 7888, Sacramento, California