Editing Central Valley (California) (section)

==Name==
Older names include "the Great Valley", a name still often seen in scientific references (notably [[Great Valley Sequence]]), as well as "Golden Empire", a [[Boosterism|booster]] name that is still referred to by some organizations (notably [[Golden Empire Transit]], [[Golden Empire Council]]).{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

Ideas about what constitutes the "Central Valley" can vary from person-to-person. While almost all authoritative sources and external observers consider the [[Sacramento Valley]] to be part of the "Central Valley", many residents consider the Central Valley to consist of only the [[San Joaquin Valley]]. This is perhaps due to significant landscape and cultural differences between the two; the San Joaquin Valley is poorer and drier with more fertile soil, while the Sacramento Valley is wetter with poorer soils.<ref name="y033">{{cite book | last=Arax | first=M. | title=The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California | publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group | year=2020 | isbn=978-1-101-91019-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hMLYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 | access-date=2024-07-20 | page=18}}</ref> The major presence of the [[Sacramento River]] and its [[tributaries]] in the Sacramento Valley, with its high year-round flow and wide waterways, has been compared to the small and seasonal rivers of the San Joaquin basin; this also contributes to different identities between the two regions.<ref name="y033"/>