Bean Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. , accessed March 15, 2011 stream that rises on the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains and discharges to

Zayante Creek Zayante Creek (Ohlone: ''Sayant'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 15, 2011 stream within the San Lorenzo River watershed in Santa Cruz County, California, Uni ...

. This stream traverses relatively rugged, forested lands and is the locus of an important

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

bearing formation. These fossils are embedded in the Lower Santa Margarita Formation and include ''Astrodapsis spatiosus'';also rare species of gastropod ''Thais cf. lapillis'', and shark teeth (e.g. ''Isurus hastalis''). After joining Zayante Creek, the flows reach the

San Lorenzo River The San Lorenzo River is a long river whose headwaters originate in Castle Rock State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains and flow south by southeast through the San Lorenzo Valley before passing through Santa Cruz and emptying into Monterey Ba ...

and then the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz ( Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a po ...

History

Bean Creek was named for James H. Bean, an early rancher from Virginia who arrived in Glenwood, California in 1850. Bean Creek was also known as Arcadia Creek, named for the resort known as Arcadia and now Mount Hermon, at the confluence of Bean Creek and Zayante Creek.

Watershed

The watershed area is and the peak flow of Bean Creek has been measured at per second. Significant

groundwater recharge Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs ...

occurs in the streambed of Bean Creek.

Ecology and Conservation

A 2004 fisheries enhancement plan for the San Lorenzo River identified Bean Creek as an “important producer" of steelhead trout (''Onchorhynchus mykiss'') young of year (YOY) and yearlings, and in 2001, an estimated 8,300 YOY and 3,000 yearling O. mykiss were produced. Since 2001 the Scotts Valley Water District has monitored regularly at three stations within Bean Creek for heavy metals and nitrates.

References

{{Santa Cruz Mountains Rivers of Santa Cruz County, California Santa Cruz Mountains Rivers of Northern California Tributaries of the San Lorenzo River

History

Watershed

Ecology and Conservation

See also

References