Carrizo Gas Inc Oil

The Carrizo Plain is a large enclosed plain, approximately 50 miles (80 km) long and up to 15 miles (24 km) across, in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, California, about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Los Angeles, California. It contains the 250,000 acres (1,012 km²; 101,215 ha) Carrizo Plain National Monument , and it is the largest single native grassland remaining in California. It includes the Carrizo Plain Rock Art Discontiguous District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of the easiest places to view the San Andreas Fault which cuts through the plain.

Geography

The plain extends northwest from the town of Maricopa, following the San Andreas Fault. Bordering the plain to the northeast is the Temblor Range, on the other side of which is the California Central Valley. Bordering the plain to the southwest is the Caliente Range. The community of California Valley is on the northern part of the plain. The average elevation of the plain is about 2,200 ft (700 m). Soda Lake, a 3,000-acre (12 km 2 ) alkaline lake, is in the center of the plain with the popular Painted Rock containing Chumash and Yokut rock art nearby. As the central depression in an enclosed basin, Soda Lake receives all of the runoff from both sides of the plain. At 5,106 ft (1,556 m), Caliente Mountain, southwest of the plain, stands as the highest point in San Luis Obispo County. The climate type of the Carrizo Plain is semi-arid grassland. No trees grow there and the annual rainfall is around 9 inches (230 mm) per year.

The Carrizo Plain is one of the easiest places to see the San Andreas Fault; it is clearly visible along the eastern side of the plain, at the foot of the Temblor Range. It is best seen in early morning and evening light, when shadows enhance the topography. In addition to its spring wildflower displays, Carrizo Plain is famous for Painted Rock, a sandstone alcove adorned with pictographs created by the Chumash people around 2000 BCE.

Wallace Creek

Wallace Creek is a small stream draining into Soda Lake that remains dry most of the year. It drains perpendicular to the San Andreas Fault and the creek bed is currently offset by 425 ft (130 m) due to the movement of the fault. About 23 ft (7.0 m) of the displacement was created during the 1857 earthquake. The current segment began forming 3,700 years ago.

Two other older creek beds lie 1,560 and 1,310 ft (480 and 400 m) northwest along the San Andreas Fault. The first creek bed was created around 13,000 years ago when climate change formed the creek on a large active alluvial fan. The second bed was created about 11,000 years ago.

The creek is heavily studied by geologists to find a correlation between the offset and historical events, such as earthquakes, that have occurred along the San Andreas Fault. Although Wallace Creek is not the only creek that has been offset by the San Andreas Fault, it is the most spectacular.

Access

State Route 166 passes the south entrance to the Carrizo Plain, and State Route 58 crosses through the northern portion. Connecting them is the narrow, mostly gravel, Soda Lake Road; the only dependably passable road through the plain—but even this may become impassable when it rains.

Camping

Campgrounds

Camping within Carrizo Plain National Monument is available at two primitive campgrounds - KCL Campground and Selby Campground. These two sites differ markedly.

KCL is located in the southern part of the monument, west and very close to Soda Lake Road. Access from the main road is easy, and the camping area is generally bounded by a wooden fence. The campground has eight picnic tables and firepits, and is frequently occupied by "Day Use" visitors, although overnight camping is also allowed. Trees about the campground provide shade - some of the only shade in the Monument's valley. As this site was previously owned by the Kern County Land Company, there are several outbuildings in a non-maintained state. The corrals may be used by visitors to stable their horses.

Selby is located more to the north and more distant from Soda Lake Road. A good gravel road leads to the campground from Soda Lake Road over a distance of five miles. The road is generally usable in all weather conditions, but does wind and have some moderate grades as you approach the campground area. Here the site is much more rugged, located on a man-made cut into the natural terrain, bounded by hills and canyons. Camp tables are covered by shade structures, a permanent and sturdy toilet outhouse is available (no water), camping is allowed anywhere upon the large flat areas. Hiking up and into the adjoining Wilderness Study Area provides hearty exercise and magnificent views. The nearby Selby Rocks formation offers a fascinating view of large granite boulders. (It is requested that you NOT climb the rocks as the loose granite surface is fragile.) A recent addition is a water spigot that provides non-potable water to the campsites.

Primitive Camping

Car camping is also an option within certain areas within the monument, primarily in the foothills. Camping is not allowed in the main valley floor. See the CPNM Visitor Resource Map. "

Geology

San Andreas Fault

The most prevalent geologic feature of the Carrizo plains is the San Andreas Fault. It is a right lateral fault which runs along the northeast of the Plain, at the base of the Elkhorn Scarp, and forms the boundary between the Pacific and North American Plates. Although the fault runs through California all the way from Cape Mendocino to just south of Los Angeles, the Carrizo plain remains one of the best places to study it. The section of fault line in the Carrizo plain is the oldest section of the San Andreas Fault and displays the largest accumulated offset of the post-early Miocene. Its motion has shaped the broad geomorphic features of the valley, creating the ridges and ravines and altering the paths of several creeks; decapitating some altogether.

Other faults

The Big Spring Fault, the San Juan Fault, the Morales Fault, and the White Rock Fault are small faults that run parallel to the San Andreas Fault along the Caliente Range on the Western boundary of the Carrizo plains.

Soil taxonomy

The parent materials for soils in the Carrizo plains are predominantly alluvium deposits. Alluvium is soil that has been deposited by rivers or flowing water. The Paso Robles formation is a Pleistocene aged alluvium deposit that reaches up to 3,000 ft (900 m) thick near the San Andreas fault and thins out towards the north and west. The Paso Robles formation is a well known aquifer that has been reliably productive for ground wells throughout the area. The upper layers of soil are more recent alluvium. This recent layer is thickest near Soda Lake and thins out towards the mountains to the east and west. Throughout the valley the soil composition varies greatly and includes clay loams, silty clay loams, loams, sandy loams, and gravely loams. The sandier soils tend to reside near the slopes of the valley and provide greater drainage while the soils with more clay are located on the valley floor near Soda Lake, and have much poorer drainage. The soils in the Carrizo plains have very low fertility because of their high alkalinity content and low rainfall due to the semi-arid climate.

Fauna

The Carrizo Plains is home to 13 different species listed as endangered either by the state or federal government, the largest concentration of endangered species in California. Some of these species include the San Joaquin Kit Fox, the San Joaquin Antelope Squirrel, the Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard, the Giant Kangaroo Rat, greater and lesser Sandhill Cranes, and the California condor. The Tule Elk, Pronghorn, Black-tailed Jackrabbit, Western Coyotes, and Le Conte’s Thrasher all also make their homes in the Carrizo plains. The hotter climate and ecology of Carrizo plains allows the Le Conte's Thrasher of the Southwestern United States to have a small disjunct range farther north than normal.

  • San Joaquin Kit Fox — a small nocturnal subspecies of the Kit Fox that was formerly common throughout the San Joaquin Valley but has recently become endangered.
  • Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard — a small, 3-5 inch gray to brown lizard with large dark spots and cream-colored cross bands. It has a broad, triangular shaped head and is endemic to California. It in

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