California’s Mineral, Energy,
and Soil Resources
Chapter 13A, Section 1
Geology of California
• Some of the features of the California landscape
formed as the result of tectonic processes that
took place deep beneath the surface
• Wind, water, ice, and other agents of erosion at
the surface carved other features of the
landscape
• Millions of years ago, the subduction of an
oceanic plate beneath the North American plate
forming large pools of magma and later
crystallizing
• Uplift and erosion eventually exposed these
batholiths to form the Sierra Nevada Mountains
• Surface processes formed places like the
Central Valley (used to be an inland sea)
California’s Mineral Resources
• California’s major mineral resources include sand, gravel,
crushed stone, building stone, gold, silver, iron, evaporite
minerals, and clay
• Sand and gravel are California’s most valuable industrial
minerals, used in road-building and construction
• Gold, silver, and iron are the major metallic minerals mined
in California
• The most productive gold mines include the Sierra Nevada,
the Klamath Mountains, and the Mojave Desert
• Silver is mined in the Sierra Nevada
• Iron is from the Mojave desert region
• We also have an abundance of non-metallic minerals,
including: borates, gypsum, and clay
• Small quantities of gemstones, such as tourmaline, garnet,
agate, and jade
California’s Mineral Resources
Concept Check
• What does the term mineral resources
mean?
• Natural resources that include minerals,
rocks, and sediment
California’s Energy Resources
• California’s major energy resources—oil,
natural gas, and geothermal energy—are
the result of geologic processes that occur
deep beneath the surface
• Source Rocks – rocks in which oil forms
• Reservoir Rocks – porous rocks in which
oil collects and becomes trapped
• Geothermal Field – an area of land where
magma lies relatively close to the surface
and heats the groundwater
Geothermal Energy
Concept Check
• What is a geothermal field?
• An area where magma that is close to the
surface heats the groundwater.
California’s Soil Resources
• The soils of California include soils of the
Sierras, soils of the Coast Ranges and
Cascades, valley soils (including the Central
Valley), and desert soils
• CA’s fertile valley soils are its most important soil
resource
• In northern CA, heavy rains wash away the
nutrients from the soil
• In southern CA, the soils contain more nutrients,
due to the small amount of rainfall
• Every year, many acres of farmland are lost or
damaged because of soil erosion or the spread
of urban areas
• It can take over 500 years to build up 2.5 cm of
soil
California’s Soil Resources
Assignment
• Read Chapter 13A (pg. CA 4 – CA 26)
• Ch 13 Assessment
– # 1 – 33 (pg. CA 31 – CA 32)
– # 1 – 6 (pg. CA 33)