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Published on: 11/1/2009
Last Visited: 11/1/2009
Articles: Vanessa Wong
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Below is a featured article from our winemaker Vanessa Wong from our Fall 2009 Newsletter.
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I Exert for Dirt
Notes from winemaker Vanessa Wong
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Vanessa Wong
My husband Nick is somewhat of an amateur geologist, a rock hound of sorts.
As anyone who has visited our vineyard probably knows, if you query him about soil he will be more than happy to bend your ear about the interesting geologic events that led to the formation of the Coastal Ranges of California.
He will commence the dissertation by outlining the mechanics of plate tectonics: how 250 million years ago the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate were on a collision course with each other and the Pacific Plate subducted, or slipped beneath the Continental Plate.
Along this zone of slippage, the San Andreas Fault, the folding of the sea floor resulted in the Coast Range, which is composed of the crushed, crumpled and folded sea floor sediments.
Then he would tell you about how about 30 million years ago the relative movements of the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate changed from a head-on contact to lateral slippage against each other.