Zayante Creek is a 10.3 miles (16.6 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...

 within the San Lorenzo River

San Lorenzo River

The San Lorenzo River drains a large watershed in Santa Cruz County, California. The headwaters originate in the Santa Cruz Mountains at an elevation of , and the river flows through the San Lorenzo Valley before emptying into the Pacific Ocean at Monterey Bay...

 watershed in Santa Cruz County, California

Santa Cruz County, California

Santa Cruz County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, on the California Central Coast. The county forms the northern coast of the Monterey Bay. . As of the 2010 U.S. Census, its population was 262,382. The county seat is Santa Cruz...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The U.S. government has designated Zayante Creek as impaired with respect to sediment

Sediment

Sediment is naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of fluids such as wind, water, or ice, and/or by the force of gravity acting on the particle itself....

. Lompico Creek

Lompico Creek

Lompico Creek is a tributary of Zayante Creek in Santa Cruz County, California, USA. The placename of Meehan is associated with a location near the mouth of Lompico Creek as it discharges to Zayante Creek. The geology of this watershed including the mainstem watershed of Zayante Creek is...

, a tributary of Zayante Creek, is listed for impairment by pathogen

Pathogen

A pathogen gignomai "I give birth to") or infectious agent — colloquially, a germ — is a microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus that causes disease in its animal or plant host...

s. In the period 1998 to 2000 a restoration project was conducted for this stream to improve anadromous fish passage, rearing and spawning

Spawn (biology)

Spawn refers to the eggs and sperm released or deposited, usually into water, by aquatic animals. As a verb, spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, also called spawning...

. There has been a permanent U.S. Geological Survey gauging station

Stream gauge

A stream gauge, stream gage or gauging station is a location used by hydrologists or environmental scientists to monitor and test terrestrial bodies of water. Hydrometric measurements of water surface elevation and/or volumetric discharge are generally taken and observations of biota may also be...

 on Zayante Creek which has operated since the year 1959; the mean altitude of the Zayante Basin, carved within 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,...

, is 1000 feet (304.8 m). Significant tributaries to Zayante Creek are Lompico Creek

Lompico Creek

Lompico Creek is a tributary of Zayante Creek in Santa Cruz County, California, USA. The placename of Meehan is associated with a location near the mouth of Lompico Creek as it discharges to Zayante Creek. The geology of this watershed including the mainstem watershed of Zayante Creek is...

 and Bean Creek

Bean Creek

Bean Creek is a stream that rises on the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains and discharges to Zayante Creek. This stream traverses relatively rugged, forested lands and is the locus of an important fossil bearing formation. These fossils are embedded in the Lower Santa Margarita Formation...

.

Soils formations along the mainstem

Mainstem (hydrology)

In relation to hydrology, a main stem is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". Another common term for the main stem, the final large channel of a riverine system, is the trunk. Water enters the main stem from the river's drainage basin, the land area...

 of Zayante Creek by ascending altitude are: Monterey Formation, Zayante Formation, Vaqueros Sandstone

Vaqueros sandstone

The Vaqueros Formation is a sedimentary geologic unit primarily of Upper Oligocene and Lower Miocene age, which is widespread on the California coast and coastal ranges in approximately the southern half of the state. It is predominantly a medium-grained sandstone unit, deposited in a shallow...

 and Lompico Sandstone

Lompico Sandstone

The Lompico Sandstone is a sedimentary rock formation of lower to middle Miocene age. It overlies the Salinian basement rocks of Santa Cruz County, California. It interfingers with and is overlain by the Miocene Monterey Formation...

; about midway through its course, Zayante Creek is bisected by the Zayante Fault. Several notable ecological features are present in the Zayante Creek watershed, including the occurrence of a rare forest type: Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forest

Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forests

Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forests are rare temperate forest assemblages associated with a limited range portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains of northern California. There are only three known small forests of this type, all situated in Santa Cruz County, California...

, which contains two endangered arthropod

Endangered arthropod

An endangered arthropod is defined here as any of a number of species within the phylum Arthropoda, whose extinction is likely in the foreseeable future . Estimating the number of arthropod endangered species is extremely difficult, primarily because a vast number of the species themselves are...

s. Regarding specific avafauna species there are sightings of Townsend's Warbler

Townsend's Warbler

The Townsend's Warbler, Dendroica townsendi, is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.These birds have a yellow face with a black stripe across their cheeks, a thin pointed bill, white wing bars, olive upperparts with black streaks on their backs and flanks, and a white belly...

See also

• Branciforte Creek
  Branciforte Creek
  Branciforte Creek is a long watercourse in Santa Cruz County, California, USA. Branciforte Creek rises on the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains and discharges to the San Lorenzo River, which in turn empties into the Pacific Ocean. Within the State of California Branciforte Creek is...
  
  
• Carbonera Creek
  Carbonera Creek
  Carbonera Creek is a watercourse in Santa Cruz County, California, that eventually flows to the San Lorenzo River.The stream rises in the rugged Santa Cruz Mountains and flows in a generally southwesterly direction. The city of Scotts Valley is situated within the watershed of Carbonera Creek and...
  
  
• List of rivers in California