140 



University of California. 



[Vol. i. 



THE SANTA CRUZ TERRACES. 



The coast of the Bay of Monterey, in the vicinity of the town 

 of Santa Cruz, and for about fifteen miles to the west-northwest of 

 it, is very beautifully terraced. The terraces are seen to best 

 advantage when one approaches Santa Cruz by water. From ship- 

 board three great terraces may be observed extending continuously 

 for the distance mentioned, while near the town a fourth terrace 6f 

 limited extent appears between the upper two. The strict hori- 

 zontality of these terraces, as they are viewed in their entire extent 

 from a favorable position offshore, is perhaps their most impressive 

 feature to the casual observer. Examined at close quarters, these 

 four terraces are found to have altitudes respectively of 96, 205, 

 374, and 712 feet at their rear* They have steep sea-cliffs, with 

 horizontal base, and their gentle seaward slope is sparingly strewn 

 with shore-worn pebbles. The terraces are entirely wave-cut, carved 

 out of the rocky slope. The coast is occupied by the white, siliceous, 

 Miocene shales, with some sandstones, reposing upon the worn sur- 

 face of a complex of altered sedimentary rocks, and crystalline lime- 

 stone, invaded by the granite of the Santa Cruz Range. 



The Miocene strata occupy a strip between the shore and the 

 granite and dip away from the latter at low angles beneath the 

 waters of the bay. The lowest, or ninety-six-foot terrace, is very 

 broad near the town, ranging from half a mile to over a mile in 

 width. Its slope, although in the same direction as the dip of the 

 shales, is at a lower angle, so that, in the many canon sections which 

 may be observed, the truncation or "base leveling" of the slightly 

 inclined strata is very beautifully displayed, and is a feature of the 

 terrace from its rear down to the brink of the present sea cliff. At 

 the rear of this terrace may be observed, also, many instances of the 

 phenomenon noted at San Pedro Hill, of water-worn ravines cut 

 down in the hill behind the terrace to the level of its rear, but no 



* Whitney mentions "two well-marked terraces" at Sania Cruz, and gives 

 their altitudes as 64 feet and 263 feet; but it is improbable that these figures are 

 for the rear of the terraces. The higher terraces here described escaped the 

 observation of the officers of the Geological Survey, and are now recorded for 

 the first time. Cf. "Geology of California," Vol. I, page 165. 



