Point Conception Area
Map SatelliteThe coastal area between Point Conception and Point Arguello is one of the great natural laboratories of the world. Here, where the coast makes a sharp bend from a north-south trending shoreline to an east-west direction, the cool, generally nutrient-rich California Current coming from the north sweeps out to sea. Its margins are occupied by a complex biota that reaches, in part, to Alaska and it exhibits a relative uniformity throughout the year. From the south the much smaller Davidson Current flows northward in the winter, and along the shore during the summer, spring and fall there is a coastal eddy system of quite warm waters. The result is a "faunal break zone" of great sharpness that fluctuates to some extent seasonally, as the Davidson Current is also a cool current.
To the south the flora and fauna are more fluctuating and complex, and often include many southern elements from regions as distant as southern Mexico and beyond. Most of the southern biota terminate here or have their northern limits here; the same in reverse is true for the northern biota. As a result of the "faunal break" the physical environment can be studied at any season and the distribution of organisms related with remarkable precision. Thus the physiological tolerances of organisms stand out in sharp focus as they do nowhere else in the United States.
The coast is diverse, with sandy beaches, cobble coves and rocky intertidal zones, and it supports an extremely rich population of organisms.
Point Conception itself consists of a broad, flat marine terrace with bluffs some 50 meters (160 feet) high. On the terrace there are a number of stabilized sand dunes arranged in a series of parallel ridges, remnants of a once massive dune series of the late Pleistocene.
On the terrace and in the low hills in the northern part of the area there is a variety of vegetative communities including coastal strand, dune, chaparral) coast scrub sage, some riparian woodland, and in the north along Tranquillon Ridge a mixed evergreen forest with affinities to the more northerly forests. The area is quite rich floristically and reflects, to a much lesser degree, the faunal break of the ocean area.
Several rare plants are found here including Arctostaphylos pechoensis and, at the Point, Cirsium rhothophilum and Senecio blochmaniae.
Integrity: The main coastal rail line traverses the area and approximately 0.8 kilometer (0.5 mile) of the line has been protected by a seawall. There are several dirt roads in the area. Portions of the area are grazed moderately and portions are a working ranch, with numerous buildings. An old lighthouse stands at the Point. This stretch of coast, because of its relative isolation, is in excellent condition, as is much of the adjacent land area.
Use: The public is admitted only to Jalama County Beach. The remaining land is either privately owned and patrolled or is on Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Ref: Dibblee, T. W. 1950. Geology of Southwestern Santa Barbara County, California. California Div. of Mines and Geology Bulletin 150, 95 pp., Sacramento.
September 1975
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman