The Ruth plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
Ruth’s center stands about 2,800 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 2,680 ft to 5,800 ft, a difference of 3,120 ft: mountain country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Chinquapin Butte, about 5,860 ft, 3 miles east.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Franciscan Complex, unit 1 (Coast Ranges) (sandstone, mudstone), from the Jurassic to Cretaceous, 66 to 202 million years old.
The section below crosses 5 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 5×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Sandstone, mudstone. Age: Jurassic to Cretaceous, 66 to 202 million years old. About 14 mi of the line.
Mica-schist. Age: Early Cretaceous, 110 to 143 million years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Melange. Age: Devonian to Jurassic, 145 to 422 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Peridotite, serpentinite. Age: Neoproterozoic to Early Jurassic, 175 to 1,000 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Slate, graywacke. Age: Triassic to Late Jurassic, 145 to 252 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
A raindrop that lands in Ruth reaches the Pacific Ocean by way of Holly Creek and the Mad: about 85 river miles.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Ruth; river miles along the main stem, rounded.