Chapter 18: Hawaii

Hawaii has many volcanoes that are both active and dormant. Bay area residents believe that Mount Tamalpais, in Mill Valley, is a remnant of an extinct volcano. It is believed by geologist that Mount Tamalpais was created due to its location near the San Andres Fault. Over time the mountain has risen from the earth's crust, while erosion has only left solid rock exposed in the highest peaks and ridges.

Tourism is a big part of the economy in both Hawaii and San Francisco. In 2010, San Francisco was visited by 15.9 million visitors. These visitors spent up to 8.3 billion dollars at local businesses. People are drawn to visit San Francisco because it is frequently portrayed in music, film and popular culture. San Francisco holds the third most popular tourist attraction in the nation, Pier 39 near Fisherman's Wharf (wikipedia-San Francisco).

Chapter 16: The North Pacific coast

The North Pacific Coast contains the states of Oregon, Washington, north California and Alaska. It contains beautiful mountains and miles of rugged coast lines. The region is one of the wettest in the United States, reaching an average of 75 inches. The region has become very environmental with Oregon leading the pack.

Comparing the region to San Francisco is difficult. Some similarities are the semi wet climate and the liberal politics. States in the north pacific coast receive a lot of tourism just like San Francisco.

Chapter 15: California

San Francisco is located in the state of California. California is the third largest state by area and the first largest by population. California is the most liberal state that has a sizeable conservative minority. San Francisco is the center of liberal politics in the state.

San Francisco has experienced many earthquakes because it lies on the San Andreas Fault zone. In 1906, San Francisco was struck with an earthquake that claimed more than 3,000 lives and caused fires that burned the city for four days. Downtown San Francisco receiced most of the destruction because it sits on top of bedrock and landfill which is prone to liquefication and landslides.

The textbook Regional Landscapes of the United States and Canada mentions that the majority of 31 counties voted "yes" to divide California into two states with the division running north of San Francisco to Yosemite National Park. The San Francisco Area objected to the division because it would put San Francisco in the same state as Los Angeles.

Chapter 14: The Southwest Border Area: Tricultural Development

The culture, the ethnic diversity and the history of the southwest are similar to those of San Francisco. San Francisco is home to many neighborhoods where one culture plays the dominant role, like Mexicans in the Mission and Italians in North Beach. The different cultures come together and make San Francisco a unique place that attracts tourism.

Mission District, San Francisco

North Beach, San Francisco

San Francisco has large numbers of immigrants from Asia and Latin America. The Bracero Program brought many Mexican labores to California to do manual labor on agricultural land. In 1769 the Spaniards started the Mission program which resulted in the establishment of Mission Dolores in San Francisco in 1776.

Chapter 13: The Empty Interior

The Empty Interior is a place where aridity and lushness intermingle across wide desert valleys and rugged mountains. The Empty Interior has a low population density. Although the Bay Area is located close to the Empty Interior, but it does not have any similarities to the Empty Interior. San Francisco has a highly dense population. San Francisco's county areas are imprinted with city-life. The land is mostly used for residential and commercial use.

Google and Yahoo are two companies that hold their headquarters near San Francisco.

There are some small pockets of arid and lush land in the Bay Area that are far and few between. The only few places that I can think of are in the eastern Alameda County and up north passed Solano County.

Chapter 12: The Great Plains and Prairies

The great plains includes the states Oklahoma, kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. The landscape of the Plains and Prairies is a low, flat to rolling terrain. In the other hand, the landscape in San Francisco is mostly hills. There are more than 50 hills within the city, including Mount Davidson. Mount Davidson is the highest hill in San Francisco at 925 feet.

Water is very important in the Great Plains. In San Francisco, the water is monitored by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Natural Resources and Land Management Division. The divison is responsible for the management of 63,000 acres of watershed lands. The lands contain the water supply storage, transmission and treatment systems.

The Great Plains has extreme weather that includes tornados and hail. Unlike the Great Plains, San Francisco's climate is influenced by the cool ocean breeze which keeps the area cool. There is little temperature change in San Francisco.

Chapter 11: The Agricultural Core

The Agricultural core is located in the Midwest and the Bay Area is located in the West coast. The West Coast includes California, Oregon, and Washington.

The Soil type in the Bay Area does not include the two types of soils, mollisols and alfisols, found in the Agricultural Core. The main reason why the Bay Area does not include mollisols and alfisols is because the climate does not accomodate to form them. There are 5 soil types in the Bay Area. The 5 soil types have been defined as A, B, C, D and E by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. They include unweathered intrusive igneous rock, volcanics and Mesozoic bedrock, sandstone, mudstone, limestone and artificial fill.