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San Rafael Mountains
The San Rafael Mountains are a mountain range in central Santa Barbara County, California, U.S., separating the drainages of the Santa Ynez River and the Santa Maria River. They are part of the Transverse Ranges system of Southern California which in turn are part of the Pacific Coast Ranges system of western North America. Geography Most of the mountain range is within the Los Padres National Forest, and the northern slopes are included in the remote San Rafael Wilderness area. The highest peaks include Big Pine Mountain (6,820 ft, 2,079 m), San Rafael Mountain (6,593 ft, 2,010 m) and McKinley Mountain (6,220 ft, 1,896 m), none of which are easily accessible except by foot or horse. The highest peak at the southern edge of the range is Little Pine Mountain. Hurricane Deck is a spectacular block of sandstone that can be found deep in the San Rafael Wilderness. The Sisquoc River headwaters are on the north slopes of Big Pine Mountain. It is a designated Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Cumbre Peak
La Cumbre Peak is a peak in the Santa Ynez Mountains north of Santa Barbara, California and located within the Los Padres National Forest. Composed of boulders and slabs of the Matilija Sandstone amid groves of pine trees, it is the highest summit in proximity to the city. Adjacent to La Cumbre is Arlington Peak () and Cathedral Peak (). Other peaks within the Santa Ynez Range include Santa Ynez Peak, to the west, and Divide Peak, to the east. East Camino Cielo (originally known as ''Ridge Route'') was constructed between October 1930 and June 1931 as a single lane road that extended from San Marcos Pass to the summit of La Cumbre Peak. The intermittently curvaceous road was opened to the public, built with frequent turnouts and a set maximum speed limit of per hour. Today the road is frequently used by runners and cyclists for training, as the elevation gain is substantial and sustained, while there is relatively little car traffic. Construction of a fire lookout stati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Pine Mountain
Little Pine Mountain is a mountain in Santa Barbara County, California, in the Los Padres National Forest at the southern edge of the San Rafael Mountains. It separates the drainages of Oso Creek, which flows into the upper Santa Ynez River, from the drainage of Santa Cruz Creek, which flows into the middle section of the river via Lake Cachuma. The mountain is named for a thin grove of Coulter pines located on the summit. The mountain is reached by the Santa Cruz National Recreation Trail, and is a popular day hike and mountain biking route for residents of Santa Barbara during the winter months. There is a camp at Happy Hollow Spring near the summit. The rocks of the lower slopes of the mountain comes from the Franciscan Assemblage, which creates serpentine soils that support a unique chaparral ecosystem. Large deposits of dark-red cinnabar are exposed above ground. The middle slopes of the mountain are dominated by the Espada Formation. The summit largely consists of Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
California Oak Woodland
California oak woodland is a plant community found throughout the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of California in the United States and northwestern Baja California in Mexico. Oak woodland is widespread at lower elevations in coastal California; in interior valleys of the Coast Ranges, Transverse Ranges and Peninsular Ranges; and in a ring around the California Central Valley grasslands. The dominant trees are oaks, interspersed with other broadleaf and coniferous trees, with an understory of grasses, herbs, geophytes, and California native plants. Oak savannas occur where the oaks are more widely spaced due a combination of lack of available moisture, and low-intensity frequent fires. The oak woodlands of Southern California and coastal Northern California are dominated by coast live oak (''Quercus agrifolia''), but also include valley oak ( ''Q. lobata''), California black oak ( ''Q. kelloggii''), canyon live oak ( ''Q. chrysolepis''), and other California oa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaparral
Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intensity crown fires. Chaparral features summer-drought-tolerant plants with hard sclerophyllous evergreen leaves, as contrasted with the associated soft-leaved, drought-deciduous, scrub community of coastal sage scrub, found often on drier, southern facing slopes within the chaparral biome. Three other closely related chaparral shrubland systems occur in central Arizona, western Texas, and along the eastern side of central Mexico's mountain chains (mexical), all having summer rains in contrast to the Mediterranean climate of other chaparral formations. Chaparral comprises 9% of California's wildland vegetation and contains 20% of its plant species. The name comes from th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is Fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults, right-lateral strike-slip (horizontal). The fault divides into three segments, each with different characteristics and a different degree of earthquake risk. The slip rate along the fault ranges from /yr. It was formed by a transform boundary. The fault was identified in 1895 by Professor Andrew Lawson of University of California, Berkeley, UC Berkeley, who discovered the northern zone. It is often described as having been named after San Andreas Lake, a small body of water that was formed in a valley between the two plates. However, according to some of his reports from 1895 and 1908, Lawson actually named it after the surrounding San Andreas Valley. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Lawson concluded that the fault extende ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Igneous
Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial melts of existing rocks in either a planet's mantle or crust. Typically, the melting is caused by one or more of three processes: an increase in temperature, a decrease in pressure, or a change in composition. Solidification into rock occurs either below the surface as intrusive rocks or on the surface as extrusive rocks. Igneous rock may form with crystallization to form granular, crystalline rocks, or without crystallization to form natural glasses. Igneous rocks occur in a wide range of geological settings: shields, platforms, orogens, basins, large igneous provinces, extended crust and oceanic crust. Geological significance Igneous and metamorphic rocks make up 90–95% of the top ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic, Mesozoic Era and is named after the Jura Mountains, where limestone strata from the period were first identified. The start of the Jurassic was marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, associated with the eruption of the Central Atlantic magmatic province, Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. The beginning of the Toarcian Stage started around 183 million years ago and is marked by an extinction event associated with widespread Anoxic event, oceanic anoxia, ocean acidification, and elevated temperatures likely caused by the eruption of the Karoo-Ferrar, Karoo-Ferrar large igneous provinces. The end of the Jurassic, however, has no clear boundary with the Cretaceous and i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metamorphic
Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causing profound physical or chemical changes. During this process, the rock remains mostly in the solid state, but gradually recrystallizes to a new texture or mineral composition. The protolith may be an igneous, sedimentary, or existing metamorphic rock. Metamorphic rocks make up a large part of the Earth's crust and form 12% of the Earth's land surface. They are classified by their protolith, their chemical and mineral makeup, and their texture. They may be formed simply by being deeply buried beneath the Earth's surface, where they are subject to high temperatures and the great pressure of the rock layers above. They can also form from tectonic processes such as continental collisions, which cause horizontal pressure, friction, and distorti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sedimentary
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic matter, organic particles at Earth#Surface, Earth's surface, followed by cementation (geology), cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles to settle in place. The particles that form a sedimentary rock are called sediment, and may be composed of detritus (geology), geological detritus (minerals) or detritus, biological detritus (organic matter). The geological detritus originated from weathering and erosion of existing rocks, or from the solidification of molten lava blobs erupted by volcanoes. The geological detritus is transported to the place of deposition by water, wind, ice or Mass wasting, mass movement, which are called agents of denudation. Biological detritus was formed by bodies and parts (mainly shells) of dead aquatic organisms, as well as their fecal mass, suspended in water and slowly piling up on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Figueroa Mountain
Figueroa Mountain is a summit in Santa Barbara County in the U.S. state of California. It is in the San Rafael Mountains, part of the Transverse Ranges group of ranges. The mountain is located in Los Padres National Forest. Figueroa Mountain was named for a member of the well-known southern California family, the most eminent of whom was José Figueroa, governor of Alta California in 1833–35. In turn, the mountain itself served as the inspiration for the name for the Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company. The Figueroa Mountain Recreation Area has excellent spring wildflower displays after wet winters. Late March brings out the early blooming specimens such as purple shooting stars ( Dodecatheon clevelandii ssp. clevelandii). Later arrivals on the mountain include chocolate lilies ( Fritillaria biflora), and the scarlet Indian paintbrush (Castilleja spp). The open grassland areas support a profusion of annual species including goldfields (Lasthenia spp.), sky lupine (Lupinus nanu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madulce Peak
Madulce Peak is a mountain located in the San Rafael Mountains, in the Transverse Ranges. It is the highest point of the Dick Smith Wilderness. The summit contains an old fire lookout that was constructed in the 1930s, but was burned down in the 1970s. Name The mountain was originally named Strawberry Peak by surveyors. Over the years, the name "Madulce" was gradually adopted. The Board on Geographic Names originally believed that "madulce" was the Spanish word for "strawberry". Etymological work done by the United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ... ascertained that the word is actually local farmhand slang for "strawberry", from the Catalan word "maduixa". References Mountains of Santa Barbara County, California San Rafael Mountains Lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sisquoc Falls
Sisquoc Falls is a large plunge type waterfall located in the San Rafael Mountains of Santa Barbara County, California, about east of Santa Maria. It is located in the backcountry of the San Rafael Wilderness on Falls Canyon Creek, a tributary of the Sisquoc River. One of the tallest waterfalls in Southern California, the falls stand at least high, dropping off the edge of a semi-circular natural amphitheatre into a long and deep pool. Many smaller cascades occur both above and below the main drop. Fed by a fairly large and high elevation watershed, the falls flow strongly between December and April but diminish to a trickle by late summer. The falls are extremely difficult to access, requiring a one way hike from the closest road. In addition, the waterfall itself sits in the Sisquoc Condor Sanctuary, which is off limits to the public, so it can only be legally viewed from a distance. See also *List of waterfalls of California This is a list of waterfalls in California, ord ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
