Goat Rock Beach

Coordinates: 38°26′48″N 123°7′35″W / 38.44667°N 123.12639°W / 38.44667; -123.12639[1]
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

38°26′48″N 123°7′35″W / 38.44667°N 123.12639°W / 38.44667; -123.12639[1]

Goat Rock Beach
Sonoma Coast State Beach
Offshore water bodiesRussian River (California)
OperatorState of California

Goat Rock Beach is a sand beach in northwestern Sonoma County, California, United States. This landform is a sub-unit of

iconic outcrop of the Sonoma Coast, which is barely attached to the mainland by a narrow isthmus
.

Goat Rock Beach is frequented by beachcombing visitors, but usually not in high numbers, except in mid-summer; there is some wading and surfing activity, although these uses are moderated by the

marine mammals, especially in the pupping
season.

Vicinity features

Mouth of Salmon Creek, looking south with Bodega Dunes to the South.

The Russian River, with its mouth at the north end of Goat Rock Beach, is Sonoma County's largest

watercourse, both in flow rate and lineal extent. Immediately beyond the Russian River discharge to the Pacific Ocean is the coastal town of Jenner. North of the mouth of the Russian River is Jenner Beach. Goat Rock protrudes into the Pacific at the south end of Goat Rock Beach. Visitors can access the base of Goat Rock via a low lying isthmus of land which has been appropriated by the State as a parking area. The almost sheer cliffs of Goat Rock are virtually impossible to scale or to circumnavigate; in fact, signage is posted prohibiting either activity. There is considerable sloughing of broken rock from these vertical surfaces of Goat Rock. Blind Beach is situated immediately south of Goat Rock Beach, the two beaches
being separated by Goat Rock itself.

Along Goat Rock Beach and the adjoining beaches, massive rock

geological feature of the Northern California coast known as Bodega Head. Goat Beach lies below and slightly west of State Route 1
.

During the summer months, a sandbar is built up along the beach and separates the Russian River from the Pacific Ocean. This sandbar is breached whenever the water levels reach heights between 4.5–7 feet (1.4–2.1 m) at the Jenner visitor center.[2] Breaching of the sandbar during late fall/early winter splits the beach in two sections. The northern section is protected by the Russian River flowing into the ocean and creates an ideal location for harbor seal pupping.

The Russian River State Marine Reserve and Russian River State Marine Conservation Area protect the Russian River Estuary. Like underwater parks, these marine protected areas help conserve ocean and freshwater wildlife and marine ecosystems.

Geology

Goat Rock Beach is subject to continuing marine

littoral
zone, and a succession of terrace levels.

Arched Rock, as seen from Goat Rock Beach
Arched Rock, as seen from Goat Rock Beach.

The sea stacks along the coast at Goat Rock Beach consist of rocks from the

pillow basalt, chert, and marine sandstone. During the plate collisions, these rocks were considerably faulted and crushed into melange, which is a mixture of ground-up matrix and resistant pockets of rock floating within. When melange is eroded by wave action, the softer part of the matrix is washed away, leaving the more resistant blocks exposed in the ocean as sea stacks. Goat Rock is such a flat topped[5] sea stack consisting of a block of resistant greywacke
.

Rock formation on Goat Rock Beach

Vertical sea stack formations, a geological hallmark of this shoreline, appear standing out of the water or on the beach resembling sculptures. Occasionally these stacks appear on the marine terrace, indicating their ancient genesis on the sea floor prior to uplift. These rock formations are characteristically composed of sandstone with layers of quartz.

The active San Andreas Fault runs roughly parallel and near to the coastline of Goat Rock Beach. Soils within the site are classified as coastal beach sands (where rocky shoreline is not evident) and escarpment group soils on the marine terrace; typically soils above the marine terrace are in the Rohnerville loam group.[6] Most of the beach sands consist of a medium coarse brown to gray sandy materials, reflecting the high rate of erosion of escarpment soils into the ocean; however, there are patches of dark gray smooth pebble beach such as the approximately 100 metres (328 ft) stretch lying immediately north of Goat Rock. The beach is changed every year.

Area history

The oldest

marine terrace. There are uplifted sea stack formations with prominent rubbing marks about 2 to 4 metres (6 ft 7 in to 13 ft 1 in) in elevation above the ground surface, a height too high to have been caused by modern bovids. Mammoths are believed to have roamed here as recently as 40,000 years ago, and they are thought to have created these severe rubbing marks.[7] Mammoth fossil remains have been found at Bodega Head
at the south end of Sonoma Coast State Beach.

The earliest known human settlement of this site was by the

archaeological discoveries were recorded in the vicinity, and to date several prehistoric kitchen middens and other types of tribal habitation finds have been made. Goat Rock Beach is part of the Mexican land grant rancho Bodega.[8] The Russians are thought to have begun logging the old-growth forests
directly above the coastal prairie in the early 19th century.

The underwater delineation of the property is considered to extend to 1,000 feet (305 m) from the

Duncans Landing
there are iron pins embedded in the sandstone bluffs as evidence of an active shipping industry here in the late 19th and early 20th century.

In the era circa 1920, a sizeable

rail line; some of these materials were used to attempt the construction of a jetty
in the mouth area, but that project was eventually terminated.

Flora and fauna

The coastal prairie above Goat Rock Beach supports a diversity of upland species.

There are three distinct

shorebirds are locally in evidence. Additionally, there are modest kelp beds and other marine vegetation
. The littoral beach environment has fewer organisms than more southerly zones of California, because of the colder temperatures here.

The coastal prairie soils on the marine terrace above the beach are moderately well drained and granular with moderate soil permeability; these features manifest high erosion potential and moderately high bio-productivity.

California Mule Deer
, Odocoileus hemionus californicus.

Rules and facilities

Goat Rock, looking south across Goat Rock Beach

Due to the potential safety risks of strong rip currents and

Hang-gliding is permitted from a 150 feet (46 m) high launch point on a high marine terrace above the southern part of Goat Rock Beach, provided the participant is in possession of USHGA card, Sonoma Wings card, and signed waiver card.[12]

Popular culture

See also

References

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Goat Rock Beach
  2. Sonoma County Water Agency
    posting 2009
  3. ^ a b Doris Sloan, Goat Rock State Beach, Bay Nature, July-September, 2001
  4. ^ Bay Nature, Winter 2001
  5. ^ Aerial photo of Goat Rock with Goat Rock Beach at left
  6. Soil Conservation Service
    , Government Printing Office, Washington DC, May 1972
  7. ^ E. Breck Parkman, Mammoth Rocks: Part 1, Where Pleistocene Giants got Good Rub, Center for the Study of the First Americans, Mammoths Series, Volume 18, Number 1, December 2002
  8. ^ Rex Grady, Let Ocean Seethe and Terra Slide: A History of the Sonoma Coast and the State Park That Shares Its Name
  9. ^ California State Beaches: Sonoma Coast State Beach
  10. ^ David Cook and Jessica Martini-Lamb, Copeland Creek Restoration Project Monitoring Plan,Sonoma County Water Agency, April, 2001
  11. ^ Sonoma Coast State Beach: Goat Rock Highlights
  12. ^ "Hang-gliding at Goat Rock State Beach". Archived from the original on 2006-12-29. Retrieved 2007-02-25.
  13. ^ Metroactive Readers' Poll for Best of Sonoma County
  14. ^ "Climbing in Goat Rock, San Francisco Bay Area".

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Goat Rock Beach.
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