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Map Satellite At the Monticello Dam is a classic exposure of the Venado Formation, an upper Cretaceous marine sedimentary formation which here exhibits a number of sedimentary features. They include drag folds, graded and turbidity beds, load casts, fluting, scour fill, etc. Rocks include graywacke sandstone and shale and pebbly mudstone. Within the latter are large, displaced blocks of interbedded sandstone and shale, some 135 meters (450 feet) west of the dam.
The steep, rocky slopes are generally barren; however, there is some stonecrop, Sedum sp., and, on the gentler slopes, chaparral. The rare Arabis modesta is found here, in a southern disjunct population.
Integrity: The road cut has exposed the formation. The plants are undisturbed due to the vertical cut.
Use: Research, educational, observational.
January 1977
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman
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