View West of the Fault Zone

Bitterwater Road strikes off from route 25 to King City, where services and good Mexican food are available. Just off route 25 on Bitterwater Road is this view of the southern Gabilan Range, punctuated by the Pinnacles. Almost all of this range is granite, part of the Salinian block. It is rather similar to granites of the Mojave Desert, its apparent counterpart across the San Andreas fault. See it and more in the granites gallery. In the distance on the left is the Santa Lucia Range, on the other side of the Salinas Valley across the Rinconada fault. Those rocks are not related to the Salinian block, but rather have an affinity with the rocks east of the San Andreas fault. The reason these slivers of crust were shuffled that way is not yet clear.