Plate Tectonics California’s landscape is shaped in large part by plate tectonics, and in particular, the movement of the North American, Pacific, and Farallon plat...
From a far glance, the flat, dry surface of Racetrack Playa, in Death Valley, California, invites you to perceive a cloudy lake. Nearing the Playa, this mirage evolves in...
Near the main entrance to the University of California, Santa Cruz lies the Cowell Lime Works Historic District. Lime was an essential building material in late 19th cent...
Imagine a building site with a multimillion dollar project in full swing and suddenly the concrete for its foundation starts to disappear into a dark sinkhole with depths...
The Purisima Formation is the rock type that shapes the landscape characteristics of the central and southern Santa Cruz coast. It is present from the intersection of Swi...
If you live along or visit the west coast of California you have likely seen various types of structures designed to stop the coastline from eroding. Two common ways to d...
Lake Arrowhead gets its name from the huge arrow shape emblazoned on the face of one of the mountains in the San Bernadinos in Southern California. As a child, I had alwa...
Aptly named Bowling Ball Beach (part of Schooner Gulch State Beach), the geologic wonders here are plenty and plenty strange. Low tide reveals spherical rocks, two to thr...
Have you ever wondered why much of the Westside of Santa Cruz and all the agricultural fields just north of it are so flat, or why many of the hills climb upwards like a...
Picture the Grand Canyon under water. Then you’ll have the right scale in your mind when thinking about the Monterey Canyon in California. It is truly a huge underw...
