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Sutter Buttes

Ecoregion in Central Valley, CA

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The Sutter Buttes ecoregion is a small but distinctive circular area of volcanic hills that rise above the surrounding Sacramento Valley to an elevation of 2,117 feet. The region is only about 10 miles across, and the cluster of peaks, locally, is called “the world’s smallest mountain range.” In contrast to the surrounding regions that are mostly flat with cropland and orchards, this area is hilly grassland, with some areas of scattered blue oak woodland and chaparral, similar to some foothill areas of Ecoregion 6. The Sutter Buttes are the remains of an extinct volcano that erupted between 1.6 and 1.3 million years ago. Rhyolite and andesite are the most common bedrock types. Soil temperatures are thermic and the soil moisture regime is xeric.

— EPA

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