Celebrating El Toro
The Juan de Fuca Plate has been moving northeast toward the North American Plate for more than 100 million years , causing major changes along our coast . As they collide , these two tectonic plates bend , break , and intermingle their component rocks , pushing them upward to create mountains . Here in South County , the resulting coastal ranges include the Santa Cruz Mountains , of which El Toro is part .
The Juan de Fuca Plate brought us
El Toro , then continued its push northward , with the Pacific Plate following close behind . Several million years from now it will disappear beneath the North American Plate along the coast of Washington and British Columbia .
At the summit of El Toro , a large expanse of white limestone preserves the conically shaped peak while the volcanic rock below erodes at a faster rate . El Toro is constantly changing , but not so much that we ’ ll notice it in our lifetime !
Tectonic plates rift and collide to form mountains over millions of years . Map courtesy of the National Parks Service Geologic Resources Division : nps . gov /
Morgan Hill ’ s iconic El Toro Mountain in springtime . Photo by Sue Brazelton .
On your travels around Morgan Hill , we hope you take time to look up and enjoy the view of El Toro with a new appreciation of this ancient treasure in our midst .
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Our thanks to geologist Peter Anderson for providing information and images for this article . Peter is a former board member of the Morgan Hill Historical Society . He donated his soils engineering expertise during the renovation of the Hiram Morgan Hill House and the History Museum . Peter continues to serve as a member and volunteer to this day .
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