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San Quentin |
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Geologic Trips, Ring
Mountain Taylor Road This photograph looks north from Taylor
Road on Ring Mountain toward San Quentin. The boulders in the foreground are exotic blocks in the Tiburon
melange. The soft clay of the Tiburon melange has been washed away leaving the exotic blocks on the surface scattered like plums in a plum pudding. The
clay that forms the matrix of the melange consists of rocks that were ground
into a fine powder by the thrusting action within the Franciscan subduction zone. The
flat top of Ring Mountain is formed from two thick sub-horizontal layers of light yellow-brown
serpentine. These layers represent coherent pieces of the lower part of the ocean crust of the Farallon plate that were incorporated
into the Tiburon mélange. Exterior Websites Bay Area Hiker:
Ring Mountain Open Space Preserve _____ |