Fossil Reef Park
Much of the coast of what is now Southern California was a tropical reef 17-18 million years ago. The remains of that reef, a layer of limestone that is possibly as large as twenty square miles in Orange County, is also found on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, San Clemente Island, Santa Catalina Island, and in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties. In the Orange County area, the limestone was raised by the tectonic uplift that formed the Santa Ana Mountains and the San Joaquin Hills and subsequent weathering. Part of it was exposed when Lake Forest was graded in 1972 and destroyed by development. A second exposure of the reef was discovered in Laguna Hills in 1973. Orange County agencies worked together to protect and preserve that portion of the reef. The one acre Fossil Reef Park in Laguna Hills, an Orange County Historical Site, was dedicated in 1982.
Laguna Hills, Orange County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt