earth science

Gulf of the Farallones

Gulf of the Farallones is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Gulf of the Farallones rather than just read about it. In short: Gulf of the Farallones is a gulf of the Pacific Ocean off the northern California coast. It extends westward from the opening of the San Francisco Bay and Drakes Bay to the Farallon Islands.

Key takeaways

Gulf of the Farallones belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gulf of the Farallones to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gulf of the Farallones from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Gulf of the Farallones is a gulf of the Pacific Ocean off the northern California coast. It extends westward from the opening of the San Francisco Bay and Drakes Bay to the Farallon Islands. Most of the gulf lies in Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, which protects about 1,250 square miles (3,200 km2). It is South and West of Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. It is North and East of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

"The Gulf of the Farallones refers to the continental shelf area (< 200 m depth) off central California between Point Reyes (38°N) to the north and Point Montara (37.5°N) to the south and extends 80 km offshore (Steger et al., 1998)" The gulf, via the Golden Gate strait, is home to major shipping lines to the Port of San Francisco, Port of Oakland, and Port of Richmond. The gulf has also historically been used as a dumping ground for various types of waste, including dredging sediment, industrial waste, sunk vessels, and barrels of low-level nuclear waste. Around 47,800 barrels of nuclear waste were dumped between 1946 and 1970; their location was largely unknown until mapping and monitoring efforts in the 1990s. Farallones comes from the Spanish farallón meaning sea cliff and is a reference to the islands. Historical names for the gulf include Bahia De Puerto De San Francisco, Ensenada De Los Farallones, and La Bahia De Los Pinos.

Further reading Steger, John M.; Schwing, Franklin B.; Collins, Curtis A.; Rosenfeld, Leslie K.; Garfield, Newell; Gezgin, Erhan (2000). "The circulation and water masses in the Gulf of the Farallones". Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography. 47 (5–6): 907–946. Bibcode:2000DSRII..47..907S. doi:10.1016/S0967-0645(99)00131-9. hdl:10945/43252. PDF

See also Southern California Bight California Current Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary

Sources Beyond the Golden Gate: Oceanography, Oceanography, Geology, Biology, and Environmental Issues in the Gulf of the Farallones. (2000). Edited by Herman A. Karl, John L. Chin, Edward Ueber, Peter H. Stauffer, and James W. Hendley II. U.S. Geological Survey, Circular 1198.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gulf of the Farallones

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gulf of the Farallones claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gulf of the Farallones before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gulf of the Farallones ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gulf of the Farallones

In research: Gulf of the Farallones appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gulf of the Farallones in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gulf of the Farallones is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Gulfs of the Pacific Ocean, Gulfs of the United States, Landforms of the San Francisco Bay Area, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gulf of the Farallones outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Gulf of the Farallones in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gulf of the Farallones means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gulf of the Farallones out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gulf of the Farallones in simple terms?

Gulf of the Farallones is a gulf of the Pacific Ocean off the northern California coast. It extends westward from the opening of the San Francisco Bay and Drakes Bay to the Farallon Islands.

Why does Gulf of the Farallones matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gulf of the Farallones?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gulf of the Farallones.