Bernal Heights Summit

Bernal Heights Summit (/ˈbɜːrnəl/ BUR-nəl) or Bernal Heights Hill is a hill in the San Francisco, California neighborhood of Bernal Heights. Upper elevations are part of Bernal Hill Park, a component of San Francisco Recreation and Parks. At the highest elevation is a privately owned site, which contains an equipment building and 50-foot tall telecommunications tower,[3] which is currently unnamed. The park and summit are largely surrounded by Bernal Heights Boulevard.

Panorama from Bernal Heights Summit
Bernal Heights Summit
The Bernal Heights hill and microwave tower
Highest point
Elevation475+ feet (145+ m)  NGVD 29 [1]
Coordinates37°44′35″N 122°24′57″W [2]
Geography
Bernal Heights
LocationSan Francisco California, U.S.
Topo mapUSGS San Francisco South

Ecology

There are a number of flora and fauna present on Bernal Hill. Wildflowers include such species as the footsteps of spring, blue-eyed grass, checkerbloom, shooting star[4] and yellow mariposa lily.[5]

Geology

Bernal Hill, along with the other hills in the San Francisco area, is a folded hill, created by the "wrinkling up" effect of the Pacific plate subducting under the North American plate, when the North American and Pacific plates were converging, around 150 million years ago. Near the summit are folded layers of very hard rock called radiolarian chert.[6] It is a sedimentary silicate rock which gets its silica content from the shells of microscopic creatures called radiolaria. The red color comes from iron oxide. In between the layers of chert are thinner layers of shale in many different colors from the same red as the surrounding rock to white, green and purple. Other types of rocks and minerals on the hill include serpentinite, jasper and clay.

See also

References
  1. San Francisco South quadrangle, California (Map). 1:24000. 7.5 Minute Topographic. USGS.
  2. "Bernal Heights". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  3. "Conditional Use Authorization" (PDF). San Francisco Planning Department. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-27. Retrieved 2011-08-21.
  4. "Bernal Heights Park | San Francisco Recreation and Park".
  5. Hogan, C. Michael (2009). N. Stromberg (ed.). "Calochortus luteus". GlobalTwitcher.com. Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  6. "Chert FAQ - Golden Gate National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service)".


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