Oakland Geology

Bella Vista hill is my name for the lobe of the big Pleistocene alluvial fan (see the geologic map) lying between Haddon Hill and San Antonio hill. This view is from the south edge of Bella Vista hill, at 13th Avenue and E. 23rd Street, looking at the steep northern side of San Antonio hill.

The valley separating the hills houses a stream called the 14th Avenue Creek on the watershed map. A long tongue of marshland once extended up 14th Avenue that is now a flat park between 14th and 15th avenues. Across that valley, San Antonio hill rises to about 225 feet at San Antonio Park, just a few blocks from the water’s edge. It is the most prominent part of the fan, as seen from BART.

The north edge of the hill is much steeper than the slope we’re standing on, the south edge of Bella Vista hill. So that’s three hills in succession that have this asymmetrical profile: Haddon, Bella Vista and San Antonio. That pattern does not continue, though.

Now that I’ve walked all over Bella Vista hill, I should present it next.

This entry was posted on 23 June 2012 at 7:38 pm and is filed under Oakland peaks, the Fan. 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.