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Faults of the Napa River Basin
The Napa River watershed is a northwest-trending structural and topographic depression (Hearn et al. 1988) that has largely evolved since the early Pleistocene (about 2 million years ago) as a result of downwarping associated with regional folding and faulting (Wright and Smith 1992). The watershed is located at the southern end of the northern California Coast Range province. This area is an active zone of tectonic deformation associated with the San Andreas Fault. The San Andreas Fault is located about 35 miles (56 km) southwest of the watershed. The local deformation zone is bounded by two major faults: the north-west striking Green Valley Fault in the east (about 7 miles [11 km] to the northeast of the watershed boundary), and northwest striking Healdsburg-Rodgers Fault in the west (about 15 miles [24 km] to the southwest of the watershed boundary). Both of these faults have experienced major earthquakes in the last 100 years (Eberhart-Phillips 1988, Burcham and Van Houten 1992).
Stillwater Sciences - Napa River Watershed Limiting Factors Analysis