Читать книгу Hiking & Backpacking Big Sur. Your complete guide to the trails of Big Sur, Ventana Wilderness, and Silver Peak Wilderness онлайн

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These rocks are readily identified when exposed. Limestone and marble outcrops are vivid white with a sugary texture. Granitic rocks in the surf zone appear coarse with reflective faces, while rocks higher on the bluffs weather a rusty orange. Collectively, the Salinian block rocks form the basement layers in the north half of the Santa Lucia Range.

Sandstone cliffs tower above the open grasslands and pine-studded meadows of Ventana Wilderness.

As the denser oceanic plate dove under the lighter continental plate, massive accumulations of sand, mud, and the skeletons of microscopic sea creatures scraped off and slipped into a deep undersea trench. The resulting jumble appears along the Big Sur coast in the Franciscan formation, part of the Nacimiento block, which forms the underlying rock in the south half of the Santa Lucia Range.

The exposed cliffs at Andrew Molera State Park include excellent examples of Franciscan rocks. Formed from silica-rich sea creature skeletons, chert features jagged layering and an erosion-resistant glasslike texture. Sandstone is characterized by its tan color, rough surfaces, and fine sand grains. Comprising hardened, compressed mud, shale is gray-black in color with microscopic grains.