Oakland Geology

The Fan, my name for the lower hills in central Oakland, has a lot of subtle topography that I’m getting to know as I ramble over its contours. The little valleys are one feature I enjoy perceiving, but the places between them are interesting too. The San Antonio lobe of the Fan, between 14th Avenue and Fruitvale, has a flat top at about 200 feet elevation. This is in the Tuxedo neighborhood, looking down 21st Avenue toward the bay. 22nd and 23rd are the same way.

There doesn’t seem to be a reason for such a flat stretch on an ordinary alluvial fan. Fans slope; that’s why they’re fans. I have to assume that the ground was not excavated flat but is naturally that way. Is it possible that this is a relict wave-cut platform, similar to the Clinton marine terrace but higher and older?

Arguing against that hypothesis, the height is problematic. On the other hand, the East Bay hills are rising and so may be the land west of the Hayward fault. It may be rising in fits and starts (meaning in episodes measured in thousands of years). The next thing I want, and have wanted for a long time, is a really accurate terrain map of Oakland. It would look like the standard digital elevation model of Oakland but would be compiled from lidar data and be accurate to a centimeter or so. Maybe my eyes are fooling me; after all the street does slope a little.

This entry was posted on 12 May 2013 at 9:15 pm and is filed under Oakland geology puzzles, Oakland geology views, 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.