Editing Goleta, California (section)

===Geology===

The Goleta Valley is a [[coastal plain]], approximately {{convert|3|miles|spell=in}} across, between the [[Santa Ynez Mountains]], the principal mountain range of southern Santa Barbara County, and the [[Pacific Ocean]].<ref name="Norris">{{cite book |title=The geology and landscape of Santa Barbara County, California|last= Norris|first= Robert M.|year= 2003|publisher= Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History|location= Santa Barbara, California|isbn= 978-0-936494-35-7|page= 33}}</ref> It consists of Holocene and Pleistocene [[alluvium]], [[colluvium]], [[estuarine]] deposits, as well as [[marine terrace]]s created during interglacial high sea level episodes. The area has been subject to rapid geologic uplift, as evidenced by its coastal bluffs and narrow beaches.<ref name="Norris"/>  Between the flattest part of the Goleta Valley and the ocean is an area of uplift paralleling the shore which includes, from west to east, Isla Vista, Mescalitan Island, More Mesa, and the Hope Ranch Hills. The elevation of this block of land relative to Goleta Valley increases from 40 to 300 feet along this length.<ref>Norris, p. 101</ref><ref name="ngmdb.usgs.gov">{{cite news|url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1403/|title=Geologic Map of the Goleta Quadrangle, Santa Barbara County, California|work=[[United States Geological Survey]]|last1=Minor|first=Scott A.|last2=Kellogg|first2=Karl S.|last3=Stanley|first3=Richard G.|last4=Brandt|first4=Theodore R.|date=2007|access-date=July 14, 2017|archive-date=August 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813225554/https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1403/|url-status=live}}</ref> The uplift was caused by motion along the More Ranch Fault, one of the most geologically [[active fault]]s in the area. The More Ranch Fault roughly follows a line along El Colegio Road, through the southern part of the airport, along Atascadero Creek, and then continues east into Santa Barbara as the Mission Ridge Fault Zone.<ref name="Minor">{{cite web|url=http://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3001/downloads/pdf/SIM3001map.pdf|title=Geologic Map of the Santa Barbara Coastal Plain Area, Santa Barbara County, California|author=Minor, S.A.|date=2009|publisher=USGS|access-date=December 20, 2015|display-authors=etal|archive-date=January 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116103534/http://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3001/downloads/pdf/SIM3001map.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Soils in Goleta are mostly well drained brown fine sandy loam of the Milpitas series.<ref name="casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu">{{Cite web | url=http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/gmap/ | title=SoilWeb: An Online Soil Survey Browser &#124; California Soil Resource Lab | access-date=December 19, 2015 | archive-date=May 14, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514215427/http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/gmap/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

Underneath the alluvial units of the coastal plain are three prominent bedrock units: the [[Monterey Formation]], the [[Sisquoc Formation]], and the [[Santa Barbara Formation]]. This latter unit is the principal groundwater aquifer for the region, and its freshwater wells are protected from seawater intrusion by the uplift along the More Ranch Fault, which has placed relatively impermeable rock units between it and the ocean.<ref>Norris, p. 95, 101</ref>

Some of the underlying sedimentary units contain economically recoverable quantities of oil and gas. The Ellwood Oil Field was worked beginning in the 1920s, with its onshore portions only being dismantled in the 1970s. The [[La Goleta Gas Field]] was formerly productive on the bluffs west of More Mesa, and is now used for gas storage by the Southern California Gas Company.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sbcountyplanning.org/energy/projects/SoCalGasStorage.asp|title=Southern California Gas Storage Enhancement Project|publisher=Santa Barbara County|date=June 1, 2017|access-date=July 14, 2017|archive-date=August 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806010618/http://www.sbcountyplanning.org/energy/projects/SoCalGasStorage.asp|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Santa Ynez Mountains form a scenic backdrop to Goleta. They consist of multiple layers of sandstone and [[conglomerate (geology)|conglomerate]] units dating from the [[Jurassic]] Age to the present, uplifted rapidly since the [[Pliocene]]. Rapid uplift has given them their craggy, scenic character, and numerous landslides and debris flows, which form some of the urban and suburban lowland area, are testament to their geologically active nature.<ref name="ngmdb.usgs.gov"/><ref name="Minor"/> Covered by [[chaparral]], the range exceeds {{convert|4,000| feet}} in height to the northwest of Goleta, at Broadcast and Santa Ynez Peaks. [[Sundowner (wind)|Sundowner winds]] occur in both Goleta and Santa Barbara.