Berkeley’s Changing Ground: Volcanoes, Landslides, and the Hayward Fault

Berkeley Path Wanderers present

Berkeley’s Changing Ground: The Hayward Fault, Landslides, and Volcanoes

Andrew Alden
Start: Codornices Park Playground
The steep residential hills of North Berkeley owe their picturesque qualities to three great geological forces: tectonism (earthquake faulting), mass wasting (landslides), and volcanism (lava flows). Andrew, who has a blog that focuses on East Bay geology and is writing a book on the subject, will take us on a 3.3-mile route with informative stops at Berkeley’s distinctive rock parks. We’ll explore vivid signs of past volcanic activity — thankfully, no longer a threat! Along the way, we’ll also encounter evidence of giants in the Earth: large active landslides, the inexorable Hayward Fault, and marks left by mammoths during the Ice Age when Berkeley was even more unusual than it is today. Expect stairways and some hilly streets, which may be slippery with dead leaves.