The Temecula Valley is a

graben In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic conte ...

rift valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear dep ...

in western

Riverside County, California Riverside County is a County (United States), county located in the southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most ...

. The Temecula Valley is one of the graben valleys making up the

Elsinore Trough The Elsinore Trough is a graben rift valley in Riverside County, southern California. It is created by the Elsinore Fault Zone. It is located between the Santa Ana Mountains to the west, and the Temescal Mountains of the Perris Block and the T ...

, created by the

Elsinore Fault Zone The Elsinore Fault Zone is a large right-lateral strike-slip geological fault structure in Southern California. The fault is part of the trilateral split of the San Andreas fault system and is one of the largest, though quietest faults in Souther ...

. It lies between the

Wildomar Fault Wildomar is a city in southwest Riverside County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on July 1, 2008. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,875. The community has grown very quickly during the early twenty-first century; t ...

on the east, at the foot of the

Temescal Mountains Temescal Mountains, also known as the Sierra Temescal (Spanish for " sweat lodge range"), are one of the northernmost mountain ranges of the Peninsular Ranges in western Riverside County, in Southern California in the United States. They extend ...

and of the

Temecula Basin Temecula Basin is a sedimentary basin, which, along with the Aguanga Basin, is part of the Elsinore Fault Zone, in southwestern Riverside County, California. The Temecula Basin is a basin of down faulted Mesozoic basement rock, overlain by late C ...

and the

Willard Fault Willard may refer to: People * Willard (name) Geography Places in the United States * Willard, Colorado * Willard, Georgia * Willard, Kansas * Willard, Kentucky * Willard, Michigan, a small unincorporated community in Beaver Township, Bay ...

on the west, at the foot of the

Santa Ana Mountains The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riverside co ...

. The Temecula Valley lies northwest of

Temecula Creek Temecula Creek, formerly known as the Temecula River, runs U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 16, 2011 through southern Riverside County, California, United States, pas ...

, and its head () is south of the

Elsinore Valley Elsinore Valley is a graben rift valley in western Riverside County, California, a part of the Elsinore Trough. The Elsinore Valley is a graben between the Santa Ana Block to the southwest and the Perris Block on the northeast. It is a complex grab ...

, from which it is divided by a low rise between the Temescal and Santa Ana Mountains. The valley is drained by Murrieta Creek,

, and their tributaries. Their confluence forms the

Santa Margarita River The Santa Margarita River which with the addition of what is now Temecula Creek, was formerly known as the Temecula River, is a short intermittent river on the Pacific coast of southern California in the United States, approximately U.S. Geologi ...

.Robert A. Larson, James E. Slosson editors, Storm-Induced Geologic Hazards: Case Histories from the 1992-1993 Winter in Southern California and Arizona, Volume 11, Geological Society of America, January 1, 1997, p.50, Fig. 1
/ref> The original centers of the cities of

Murrieta Murrieta is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The population of Murrieta was 110,949 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Murrieta experienced a 133.7% population increase between 2000 and 2010, ma ...

Temecula Temecula (; es, Temécula, ; Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 census and was incorporated on December 1, 1989. The city is a t ...

and

Wildomar Wildomar is a city in southwest Riverside County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on July 1, 2008. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,875. The community has grown very quickly during the early twenty-first century; t ...

are located in the Temecula Valley.

References

Valleys of Riverside County, California Elsinore Trough Inland Empire Temecula, California Valleys of California {{RiversideCountyCA-geo-stub

See also

References