Natural History
General....
Tectonics
The King Range lies immediately southeast of one of the most geologically active areas in North America. Three large tectonic plates converge just offshore at a geologic feature known as the Mendocino Triple Junction, causing large and frequent earthquakes. The tremendous tectonic forces at the Mendocino Triple Junction and along the western front of the King Range have created high coastal mountain peaks, steep incised stream courses, and young coastal rock platforms. Geologists using radiometric dating and conducting coastal surveys have also determined that these compressional forces produce one of the highest geologic uplift rates in the world, which accounts for the high elevation and steep topography of the King Range (LaJoie et al. 1982, McLaughlin et al. 1983, Merritts 1989, King Range NCA RMP 2005).
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ward from the two offshore plates. These mountains have risen 66 feet in the last 6,000 years. Most of the rock here is graywacke, a dark gray crumbly sandstone. Contrary to popular belief, the Black Sands Beaches are made up of this rock, and are not volcanic in origin.
California grey whales can be spotted offshore in winter and spring. The mountains are a mix of Douglas-fir forest, chaparral and grassland, providing habitat for blacktailed deer and black bear. A herd of Roosevelt Elk roams the area from Chemise Mountain south into Sinkyone Wilderness State Park. Curiously, although this is the wettest spot in California, hot dry summer winds make the King Range too dry to support the redwood forests that surround it on three sides.
ve and migratory birds have been spotted in the King Range making it a birders paradise. The old-growth forest is important habitat for the northern spotted owl, bald eagle, and coopers hawk.