Bean Creek is a 9.1 miles (14.6 km) stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

 that rises on the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains

Santa Cruz Mountains

The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central California, United States. They form a ridge along the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco, separating the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley, and continuing south,...

 and discharges to Zayante Creek

Zayante Creek

Zayante Creek is a stream within the San Lorenzo River watershed in Santa Cruz County, California, United States. The U.S. government has designated Zayante Creek as impaired with respect to sediment. Lompico Creek, a tributary of Zayante Creek, is listed for impairment by pathogens...

. This stream traverses relatively rugged, forested lands and is the locus of an important fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 bearing formation. These fossils are embedded in the Lower Santa Margarita Formation and include Astrodapsis spatiosus;also rare species

Rare species

A rare species is a group of organisms that are very uncommon or scarce. This designation may be applied to either a plant or animal taxon, and may be distinct from the term "endangered" or "threatened species" but not "extinct"....

 of gastropod Thais cf. lapillis, and shark teeth (e.g. Isurus hastalis) The watershed area is 8.81 square miles (22.8 km²) and the peak flow of Bean Creek has been measured at 1380 cubic feet (39 m³) per second. Since 2001 the Scotts Valley Water District has monitored regularly at three stations within Bean Creek for heavy metals

Heavy metals

A heavy metal is a member of a loosely-defined subset of elements that exhibit metallic properties. It mainly includes the transition metals, some metalloids, lanthanides, and actinides. Many different definitions have been proposed—some based on density, some on atomic number or atomic weight,...

 and nitrate

Nitrate

The nitrate ion is a polyatomic ion with the molecular formula NO and a molecular mass of 62.0049 g/mol. It is the conjugate base of nitric acid, consisting of one central nitrogen atom surrounded by three identically-bonded oxygen atoms in a trigonal planar arrangement. The nitrate ion carries a...

s. Significant groundwater recharge occurs in the streambed of Bean Creek.