Oakland Geology

The little town of Emeryville has almost no geology that passers-by would recognize. On the geologic map it’s displayed as largely artificial land and coastal alluvium.

The only people who see these things are builders and the geological professionals who advise them with their foundations.

The point was made from scratch—the original shore was a straight line pretty much where the railroad is now. Out at the end it’s been prettied up into Marina Park, a simulacrum of a wooded meadow. I like it there.

A seawall, made of typical Franciscan riprap, protects it from the mild surf that manages to get here through the Golden Gate.

The park-y part of Marina Park offers great views of Berkeley and points north. This is a good place to test your knowledge of the geography: Can you point out Strawberry Canyon, for instance. The highest point in this picture is Grizzly Peak.

We aren’t making any more artificial land in the Bay area, thank goodness. For a while there, people were planning to fill the whole Bay in. The nice thing about artificial land is that we can feel free to decorate it, whether formally as here or informally as at the Albany Bulb.

This entry was posted on 9 October 2014 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Oakland geology views, Other topics. 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.