Oakland Geology

The last piece of bedrock I want to show from the Sausal Creek watershed is the Franciscan Complex. It crops out on the west side of the Hayward fault, unlike all the other ones I’ve been showing, but it’s roughly the same age as the Shephard Creek–Redwood Canyon package, 80 to 70 million years old. This is a sandstone outcrop just uphill from the Zion Lutheran School on Park Boulevard. It’s part of the Novato Quarry terrane.

The sandstone is hard and gray, composed of fairly well sorted sand. The other week a geologist chided me (and the rest of my field-trip group) for our habit of calling this graywacke. It’s not graywacke unless it has at least 10 percent clay, he said. So OK, this is sandstone. And the bluish color is reflected skylight; sorry about that too.

As you come in the school driveway, you’re greeted (if you’re paying attention) by this fine outcrop of mélange.

I didn’t linger the day I took these photos because the yard was full of kids and two patrol cars were sitting there. I have a plan for any time that police want to check me out: I’ll start talking all about geology and showing them rocks and stuff, so they’ll know I’m a harmless nut. I tried it once, up in the Sierra, but it was a time of terrible wildfires and the sheriff just went back to his car and waited until I moved on.

This entry was posted on 13 May 2010 at 9:42 pm and is filed under Franciscan rocks, Sausal Creek watershed. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.