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 contex ...

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 de ...

in western

Riverside County, California Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the Uni ...

. The Temecula Valley is one of the graben valleys making up the Elsinore Trough, 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 Southe ...

. It lies between the Wildomar Fault 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 exte ...

and of the Temecula Basin 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 Co ...

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 ...

. The Temecula Valley lies northwest of Temecula Creek, and its head () is south of the Elsinore Valley, from which it is divided by a low rise between the Temescal and Santa Ana Mountains. The valley is drained by Murrieta Creek, Temecula Creek, and their tributaries. Their confluence forms the Santa Margarita River.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 census. Murrieta experienced a 133.7% population increase between 2000 and 2010, making Murrieta one of the f ...

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 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