California Coast Ranges
As a California coastal mountains ( Engl: California Coast Ranges) the mountain ranges along the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California are referred to, extending over a length of about 600 kilometers between the coast and the California Central Valley. They are part of a long mountain range on the Pacific coast, which extends from Mexico to Alaska.
The California coastal mountains separating the Central Valley from the California coast. Therefore it does not include the Klamath Mountains and Siskiyou Mountains to the north, limited their transition zone of the Cascade mountain the Central Valley, as well as the Transverse Ranges to the Tehachapi Mountains, which form the southern boundary of the Longitudinal Valley, and all the mountain ranges of Southern California.
They form one of the eleven geomorphic provinces of California.
Geology
The Coast Mountains consist mainly of the Franciscan Complex, a tectonic mélange. It was created by plate tectonic processes as the Juan de Fuca plate or her designated as Gorda plate portion of the seabed under the North American plate spectacular diving ( subduction ), while deported fragments and posed in the coastal drive.
Identification and Location
The California coast mountains are divided by the Bay of San Francisco in the Northern Coast Ranges and the Southern Coast Ranges.
The Northern Coast Ranges include the Mendocino Range and Mayacamas Mountains.
The Mendocino Range lies to the west by the Pacific Ocean, the Mayacamas Mountains form the eastern flank of the Central Valley. They are separated by the river valleys of the Eel River in the north and the Russian River in the south. Other small mountain ranges are the King Range in the north-west and the Vaca Range to the southeast.
The Southern Coast Ranges include:
- Santa Cruz Mountains
- Santa Lucia Range
- Gabilan Mountains
- Diablo Range
- Caliente Range
- Temblor Range