The Mayacamas Mountains are located in northwestern
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. The
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
is part of the Northern
Inner Coast Ranges, of the
California Coast Ranges
The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains.
P ...
System.
Geography
The Mayacamas Mountains are located south of the
Mendocino Range, west of
Clear Lake, and east of
Ukiah in Mendocino and Lake Counties, and extend south into
Napa and
Sonoma Counties. The range stretches for in a northwest-southeasterly direction.
Mountains in the range include:
The range's highest point is
Cobb Mountain, at in elevation, located in the central section.
There are several other peaks over , including
Mount Saint Helena and
Hood Mountain
Mount Hood, also known as Hood Mountain is a mountain near the southeastern edge of Santa Rosa, California at the northeast of the Sonoma Valley and attains a height of . The original name was Mount Wilikos, an Indian name meaning "willows."
...
. These peaks are sufficiently high to retain some snow cover in winter.
Several
streams rise in the Mayacamas Mountains including
Mark West Creek
Mark West Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 9, 2011 stream that rises in the Mayacamas Mountains of Sonoma County, California, United States. Tributaries ...
,
Sonoma Creek
, name_etymology =
, image = Beaver Dam Sonoma Creek, Sonoma Thanksgiving 2009.jpg
, image_caption = Beaver dam on Sonoma Creek at Maxwell Farms Regional Park in Sonoma, California, 2009
, image_size = 300
, ma ...
,
Calabazas Creek,
Arroyo Seco Creek,
Putah Creek
Putah Creek (Patwin: ''Liwaito'') is a major stream in Northern California, a tributary of the Yolo Bypass, and ultimately, the Sacramento River. The creek has its headwaters in the Mayacamas Mountains, a part of the Coast Range, and flow ...
, and
Santa Rosa Creek.
;Natural history
Around ten million years ago, during pre-historic times (
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
), the mountains are thought to have been densely forested in
Mendocino Cypress (''Cupressus pigmaea'').
The Mayacamas Mountains currently support
California mixed evergreen forest and
California interior chaparral and woodlands
The California interior chaparral and woodlands ecoregion covers in an elliptical ring around the California Central Valley. It occurs on hills and mountains ranging from to . It is part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, ...
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s.
Naming
According to Gudde:
The spelling Mayacamas is listed as an alternate name by the Board of Geographic Names.
Geothermal power
Located in the Mayacamas mountain range is
The Geysers
The Geysers is the world's largest geothermal field, containing a complex of 18 geothermal power plants, drawing steam from more than 350 wells, located in the Mayacamas Mountains approximately north of San Francisco, California.
Geysers produce ...
, the world's largest and most developed
geothermal field. It consists of more than 22 power plants scattered across an area of about 30 square miles (78 km2). The Geysers spans the
Lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
,
Sonoma, and
Mendocino counties in California, and provides energy to those counties.
The electrical energy is generated when dry steam is pumped from geothermal reservoirs through turbines.
See also
*
Mark West Springs
*
Mayacamas Vineyards
*
Snell Valley
*
Natural history of the California Coast Ranges
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...
References
*
*
External links
{{Authority control
California Coast Ranges
Mountain ranges of the San Francisco Bay Area
Mountain ranges of Mendocino County, California
Mountain ranges of Lake County, California
Mountain ranges of Napa County, California
Mountain ranges of Sonoma County, California
Mountain ranges of Northern California