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36-738: The Western Range may refer to: Various mountain ranges: California Coast Ranges in the United States Pacific Cordillera or Rocky Mountains of North America Western Range (Canada) , another name for the Kootenay Ranges of the Canadian Rockies Western Range (Taiwan) , a former name of the Xueshan Range Western Range (Tasmania) , another name for

72-757: A predominantly Mediterranean climate , and are primarily within the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion . However, the moister areas of the Santa Cruz Mountains lie within the Northern California coastal forests ecoregion, characterized by forests of Coast redwood . Isolated groves of Coast redwoods are also found in the Big Sur region of the Santa Lucia Range, making them the southernmost natural occurrences of

108-772: A transform fault system. During 1877, these deposits hit their peak production of mercury, producing approximately 2,776 metric tons (3,060 short tons). These abandoned mines are still a source of mine waste runoff in Cache Creek and other downstream bodies of water. The Northern Coast Ranges are a section of the California Coast Ranges. They run parallel to the Pacific Coast from the North San Francisco Bay Area to coastal Del Norte County . The Klamath Mountains , including

144-584: Is common in winter for cool unstable air masses from the Gulf of Alaska to make landfall in one of the Coast Ranges, resulting in heavy precipitation , both as rain and snow , especially on their western slopes. The same Winter weather occurs with less frequency and precipitation in Southern California, with the mountains' western faces and peaks causing an eastward rainshadow that produces

180-471: The California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, home to a number of plant communities including: mixed evergreen forest ; oak woodland ; and Interior chaparral and woodland . A major specific plant community of the inner ranges is Mediterranean California Lower Montane Black Oak-Conifer Forest , which supports particularly high biodiversity within the California Coast Ranges, including the nominate California Black Oak . Columbian Black-tailed Deer are

216-965: The East San Francisco Bay Area , and run south into Santa Barbara County . The Transverse Ranges lie to the south. The San Joaquin Valley is on the east, and Pacific Ocean on the west. The Southern Coast Ranges include the Berkeley Hills , the Diablo Range , the Santa Cruz Mountains , the Gabilan Range , the Santa Lucia Range and Sierra de Salinas , the Temblor Range , and the Sierra Madre . There are Outer Southern Coast Ranges along

252-680: The Great Basin mountain ranges , and other ranges and various plateaus and basins. The Pacific Coast Ranges designation, however, only applies to the Western System of the Western Cordillera, which comprises the Saint Elias Mountains , Coast Mountains , Insular Mountains , Olympic Mountains , Cascade Range , Oregon Coast Range , California Coast Ranges , Transverse Ranges , Peninsular Ranges , and

288-707: The Gulf of California . Although many of the ranges do share a common geologic history, the Pacific Coast Ranges province is not defined by geology, but rather by geography. Many of the various ranges are composed of distinct forms of rock from many different periods of geological time from the Precambrian in parts of the Little San Bernardino Mountains to 10,000-year-old rock in the Cascade Range. For one example,

324-713: The King Range , which meet the sea in the " Lost Coast " region. The southernmost peak of the Northern Coast Ranges is Mount Tamalpais . The highest point in the Northern Coast Ranges is Mount Linn , at 8,098 ft. (2,468 m). The Northern Coast Ranges consist of two main parallel belts of mountains, the Outer Northern Coast Ranges lying along the coast, and the Inner Northern Coast Ranges running inland to

360-705: The Mojave (High) , and Sonoran (Low) Deserts, i.e. the Pacific Border province . The same term is used informally in Canada to refer to the Coast Mountains and adjoining inland ranges such as the Hazelton Mountains , and sometimes also the Saint Elias Mountains . The character of the ranges varies considerably, from the record-setting tidewater glaciers in the ranges of Alaska, to

396-725: The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers' San Francisco Bay , the Santa Clara River 's Oxnard Plain , the Los Angeles, San Gabriel, and Santa Ana Rivers' Los Angeles Basin  – a coastal sediment-filled plain between the peninsular and transverse ranges with sediment in the basin up to 6 miles (10 km) deep, and the San Diego River's Mission Bay . From the vicinity of San Francisco Bay north, it

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432-976: The Sierra Madre Occidental . The term Coast Range is used by the United States Geological Survey to refer only to the ranges south of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Washington to the California-Mexico border , and to those west of Puget Sound , the Willamette Valley , and the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys (the California Central Valley ). That definition excludes the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges ,

468-705: The Siskiyou Mountains sub-range, lie to the north and northeast. The Southern Coast Ranges lie to the south. The Northern Coast Ranges run north–south parallel to the coast. Component ranges within the Northern Coast Ranges include the Mendocino Range of western Mendocino County and the Mayacamas , Sonoma , and Vaca Mountains and the Marin Hills of the North Bay . They also include

504-587: The Spanish word chaparro , applied to California scrub oaks and Coastal scrub oaks . Common tree species of oak woodlands include oaks, California bay , and buckeye . Riparian species of the coast ranges include sycamore , white alder , willows , and bigleaf maple . Columbian Black-tailed deer occupy the northern and more coastal portions of the Southern Coast Ranges, and California mule deer occupy inland and southernmost portions of

540-692: The Transverse Ranges , Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains . Physiographically , they are a section of the larger Pacific Border province , which in turn is part of the larger Pacific Mountain System physiographic division. UNESCO has included the " California Coast Ranges Biosphere Reserve " in its Man and the Biosphere Programme of World Network of Biosphere Reserves since 1983. The northern end of

576-469: The "Western Mountains" All pages with titles beginning with Western Range All pages with titles containing Western Range All pages with titles containing Western Ranges Cordillera Occidental (disambiguation) aka "Western Range" Eastern Range (disambiguation) Western (disambiguation) Range (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

612-589: The California Coast Ranges overlap the southern end of the Klamath Mountains for approximately 80 miles (130 km) on the west. They extend southward for more than 60 miles (97 km) to where the coastline turns eastward along the Santa Barbara Channel , around the area of Point Conception . Here the southern end meets the Los Angeles Transverse Ranges , or Sierras de los Angeles . The rocks themselves that comprise

648-673: The Pacific Ocean on the west, and Inner Southern Coast Ranges to the east, inland to the San Joaquin Valley . The central and southern San Francisco Bay and the Salinas Valley lie between them. The highest point of the Southern Coast Ranges is Junipero Serra Peak in the Santa Lucia Range, at 5,862 feet (1,787 m). Other peaks include Mount Diablo at 3,849 feet (1,173 m), and Mount Hamilton at 4,196 feet (1,279 m). The Southern Coast Ranges have

684-632: The Peninsular Ranges, composed of Mesozoic batholitic rock, are geologically extremely different from the San Bernardino Mountains , composed of a mix of Precambrian metamorphic rock and Cenozoic sedimentary rock. However, both are considered part of the Pacific Coast Ranges due to their proximity and similar economic and social impact on surrounding communities. These are the members of the Pacific Coast Ranges, from north to south: These are not named as ranges, but amount to

720-846: The Southern California coast the Channel Islands archipelago of the Santa Monica Mountains extends for 160 miles (260 km). There are coastal plains at the mouths of rivers that have punched through the mountains spreading sediments, most notably at the Copper River in Alaska, the Fraser River in British Columbia, and the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon. In California:

756-1079: The Southern Coast Ranges. Geography of the United States Pacific Mountain System The Pacific Coast Ranges are part of the North American Cordillera (sometimes known as the Western Cordillera, or in Canada , as the Pacific Cordillera and/or the Canadian Cordillera), which includes the Rocky Mountains , the Columbia Mountains , the Interior Mountains , the Interior Plateau , the Sierra Nevada ,

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792-645: The West Coast Range Western Range (USSF) , a missile and launch range See also [ edit ] [REDACTED] Search for "western range"  or "western ranges" on Misplaced Pages. West Range in Nevada, USA West Mountains in Idaho, USA Western Mountains or Western Hills in Beijing, China Jabal al Gharbi District , a region of Libya whose name means

828-795: The accretion of the Siletzia terrane began in the Pacific Northwest. This began the volcanic activity in the Cascadia subduction zone , forming the modern Cascade Range, and lasted into the Miocene . Events here may relate to the ignimbrite flare-up of the southern Basin and Range . As extension in the Basin and Range Province slowed by a change in North American Plate movement circa 7 to 8 Million years ago, rifting began on

864-678: The arid desert regions . Omitted from the list below, but often included is the Sierra Nevada, a major mountain range of eastern California that is separated by the Central Valley over much of its length from the California Coast Ranges and the Transverse Ranges. On the West coast of North America, the coast ranges and the coastal plain form the margin. Most of the land is made of terranes that have been accreted onto

900-416: The east. They are separated by a long system of valleys. The northern valley portion is drained by the Eel River and its tributaries, and the southern by the Russian River . A series of short rivers, including the Mattole , Gualala , and Navarro rivers, drain the western slopes of the ranges. The eastern slopes of the ranges drain into the Sacramento Valley . Clear Lake lies in the southeast portion of

936-448: The endemic Santa Lucia Fir , the rarest species of fir on earth. The California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion has a great range of plant communities in the Southern Coast Ranges, including mixed evergreen forests , oak woodland and savannas , grasslands , northern coastal scrub , and the Monterey Pine woodlands of the Monterey Peninsula and two other coastal enclaves of the Santa Lucia Range. The name " chaparral " comes from

972-417: The margin. In the north, the insular belt is an accreted terrane, forming the margin. This belt extends from the Wrangellia Terrane in Alaska to the Chilliwack group of Canada. A rupture in Rodinia 750 million years ago formed a passive margin in the eastern Pacific Northwest. The breakup of Pangea 200 million years ago began the westward movement of the North American plate, creating an active margin on

1008-416: The most widespread large mammal, after humans, of the Northern Coast Ranges. The rivers in the ranges are home to several species of salmon . The Southern Coast Ranges , of the California Coast Ranges in the Pacific Coast Ranges System, run north and south, parallel to the Pacific Coast in north-central through north-southern California. The Southern Coast Ranges begin on the San Francisco Peninsula and in

1044-405: The mountains are of a great variety and widely varying geologic ages. Most of the rocks were formed during the Tertiary , Cretaceous and Jurassic periods. Most were deposited on the sea bottom as sediments, but in many places also had cracks, crevices and other gaps infused with molten lava or other masses of igneous rock , which were forced in molten condition into the sedimentary rocks. All of

1080-424: The range has been folded and faulted during several periods, with erosion of the softer rock giving much of the current appearance. The California Ranges had a high production of mercury following the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada . In the Cache Creek Basin , Cenozoic cinnabar deposits near Clear Lake are the northernmost of a group of similar deposits associated with volcanism and migration of

1116-416: The range, and drains eastward via Cache Creek . U.S. Route 101 runs generally north–south in the valleys between the Outer and Inner Northern Coast Ranges. The seaward face of the coastal Outer Northern Coast Ranges is part of the Northern California coastal forests ecoregion, home to lush forests of Coast Redwood and Coast Douglas-fir . The inland and dryer Inner Northern Coast Ranges are part of

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1152-457: The rugged Central and Southern California ranges, the Transverse Ranges and Peninsular Ranges , in the chaparral and woodlands eco-region with Oak Woodland , Chaparral shrub forest or Coastal sage scrub -covering them. The coastline is often seen dropping steeply into the sea with photogenic views. Along the British Columbia and Alaska coast, the mountains intermix with the sea in a complex maze of fjords , with thousands of islands. Off

1188-468: The species. Some of the rarest forest habitat that occurs in the California Coast Ranges are the Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forests of the western Santa Cruz Mountains. These isolated groves may include Ponderosa pine , Douglas fir , and knobcone pine . Notably, the highest slopes of the Santa Lucias contain small patches of Sierran Conifer forest, including incense cedar , and ponderosa, Jeffrey, and sugar pines . Steep rocky slopes harbor

1224-418: The subducting Farallon plate split and formed the Kula Plate to the North. This formed an area in what is now Northern California, where the plates converged forming a Mélange . North of this was the Columbia Embayment , where the continental margin was east of the surrounding areas. Many of the major batholiths date from the late Cretaceous . As the Laramide Orogeny ended around 48 million years ago,

1260-669: The title Western Range . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Western_Range&oldid=975722648 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages California Coast Ranges The Coast Ranges of California span 400 miles (644 km) from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California , south to Santa Barbara County . The other three coastal California mountain ranges are

1296-420: The western continent. As the continent drifted West, terranes were accreted onto the west coast. The timing of the accretion of the insular belt is uncertain, although the closure did not occur until at least 115 million years ago. Other Mesozoic terranes that accreted onto the continent include the Klamath Mountains , the Sierra Nevada, and the Guerrero super-terrane of western Mexico. 90–80 million years ago

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