 |
UvasRes.jpg - Uvas Dam and Reservoir was constructed in 1957. Water from
the reservoir is used to recharge aquifers beneath Santa Clara Valley. The
spillway of Uvas Dam is one of the best exposures of "pillow basalts"
in the region. Lumpy "pillows" of basalt in the stream bed appear
relatively unchanged from when they formed on an undersea volcano long ago
in the Jurassic Period (nearly 180 million years ago). Over time these rocks
have migrated perhaps many thousands of miles across the Pacific Basin to
where they may be seen today.
|
 |
UvasRes2.jpg - Uvas Reservoir fills the linear valley of Uvas Creek
in the eastern foothills of the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. The land
was once part of a Mexican land grant, Rancho Las Uvas (meaning "Ranch
of the grapes.") |
 |
UvasRes3.jpg - An elevated stream terrace consisting of sand and gravel
of Quaternary age can be seen in the spillway area below Uvas Dam. The stream
terrace deposits overlying pillow basalts exposed in the spillway channel. |
