Bodega Head Looking North

Granite occurs in California as a batholith, a huge plutonic band of rock making up the high Sierra that dates from roughly 120 to 80 million years ago. But since that time, tectonic disruptions and movement along the San Andreas fault system have carried pieces of it toward the coast and to the north, where large chunks of it make up what is called the Salinian block. Salinian granite is found along the coast at Bodega Head, Point Reyes, around Half Moon Bay and west of Monterey.