Carbonera Creek
Carbonera Creek is a 10.2-mile-long (16.4 km)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 its main tributary to the north, Bean Creek. Carbonera Creek joins Branciforte Creek near the 500 block of Market Street in Santa Cruz. Branciforte Creek discharges to the San Lorenzo River, which empties into the Pacific Ocean at Monterey Bay at Santa Cruz.
The perennial Carbonera Creek has a watershed of 7.4 square miles (19 km2). The West Branch of Carbonera Creek is a total of 1.4 miles (2.3 km) in length and passes under Vine Hill Road. The West Branch continues under Scotts Valley Drive and the State Route 17/Granite Creek Interchange through a series of box culverts. The West Branch joins the main branch of Carbonera Creek immediately south of the State Route 17/Granite Creek Interchange. Carbonera Creek is the major surface water hydrological feature in Scotts Valley, running across the western portion of the Santa's Village site and through the center of town.
Elevations in the Carbonera Creek watershed vary from about 500 feet (150 m) above sea level on the valley floor to 1,123 feet (342 m) at the highest ridge.
The average annual precipitation in the Carbonera Creek watershed ranges from 85 to 120 centimeters per year, ninety percent of this falling between November and April. Carbonera Creek flows at an average of 0.8 to 1.0 cubic foot per second (0.023 to 0.028 m3/s). Lower Bean Creek has a high average flow of 3.0 cubic feet per second (0.085 m3/s). However, the flow in both creeks greatly depends on the season; in fact, flows in these creeks typically drop dramatically during the dry summer season.
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