San Benito River

San Benito River
San Juan River [1]
River
Country United States
State California
Region San Benito County
Source source
 - location southeast of Santa Rita Peak in the Diablo Range.
 - elevation 4,920 ft (1,500 m)
 - coordinates  [2]
Mouth mouth
 - location at its confluence with the Pajaro River.
 - elevation 115 ft (35 m)
 - coordinates  [2]
Length 109 mi (175 km)
mouth of San Benito River

The San Benito River is a river on the Central Coast of California. From its headwaters southeast of Santa Rita Peak in the Diablo Range, it flows northwest between the Diablo Range and the Gabilan Range, traveling for about 109 miles (175 km)[3], past Hollister, California, where it turns east into the San Juan Valley where it follows the northern hills before turning north to its confluence with the Pajaro River, about 15 miles (24 km) upstream from the river's outlet in Monterey Bay. The San Benito River is longer than the Pajaro River and it drains more area, but it has proportionally lower flows. The streambed is usually dry during the summer, as the Central Coast receives almost all of its rain during the winter.

The surrounding mineral soils come from serpentine which has naturally occurring asbestos. Mining of asbestos, sand, gravel and gypsum have somewhat degraded the watershed. Benitoite was first discovered in the headwaters of the river and is named after it. There are no major dams on the San Benito River.

See also

References

  1. ^ Gudde, Erwin G. California Place Names: A Geographical Dictionary. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1949; p.298
  2. ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: San Benito River
  3. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed March 15, 2011