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5.8 Paleontological Resources <br /> 5.8.1 Introduction <br /> This section evaluates the potential effect to paleontological resources (fossils) from the <br /> construction and operation of the Lodi Energy Center (LEC). The project will be sited within <br /> the boundaries of the area previously disturbed during the construction and operation of <br /> the present White Slough Water Pollution Control Facility (WPCF) immediately to the east. <br /> The existing Northern California Power Agency's (NCPA) Combustion Turbine Project#2 <br /> (STIG plant) lies to the west of the proposed LEC (see Figure 1.1-3). <br /> Section 5.8.2 discusses applicable LOBS,while Section 5.8.3 considers the potential for <br /> sediments containing significant fossil remains to be within the area of potential effect from <br /> earth moving associated with construction of LEC. Operation of LEC will not involve any <br /> additional new ground-disturbing activities, and therefore no impacts to paleontological <br /> resources would occur during the operational phase of this project. <br /> This section of the AFC meets all Siting Regulations of the California Energy Commission <br /> (CEC) (2000,2007) and conforms with the recommendations of the Society of Vertebrate <br /> Paleontology (SVP, 1991;1995; 1996) that address mitigating impacts to paleontological <br /> resources resulting from earth moving activities. This paleontological resources inventory and <br /> impact assessment was conducted by W.Geoffrey Spaulding,Ph.D. a senior paleontologist <br /> with CH2M HILL. Dr. Spaulding has advanced degrees in geology with emphases in <br /> paleobiology, and is a recognized expert on the Pleistocene environments of the American <br /> West. He previously has completed paleontological resource surveys and prepared <br /> paleontological resource impact assessments in support of energy generation and other large <br /> construction projects in central California,including projects in the San Joaquin Valley where <br /> the current project is located. <br /> 5.8.2 Affected Environment <br /> 5.8.2.1 Physiographic Setting <br /> The proposed site of LEC is within the northern and lowest portion of the San Joaquin Valley <br /> of California,and lies along the eastern margin of the vast San Joaquin/Sacramento Delta area. <br /> The Coast Ranges lie about 20 miles to the west and south. The Great Valley (also known as <br /> the Central Valley) physiographic province includes elongated northwest-to southeast- <br /> trending basins:the Sacramento basin to the northwest and the San Joaquin basin to the <br /> southeast (Fenneman,1931). The Great Valley describes the surface of a geologically long-lived <br /> structural trough approximately 435 miles (700 kilometers)long and 44 to 56 miles(70 to 90 km) <br /> wide.The present-day basin evolved from a late Jurassic to late Cretaceous (85-170 million years <br /> ago)marine fore-arc basin.During the early Cenozoic marine sediments continued to <br /> accumulate in this basin until,in the late Tertiary (25-30 million years ago),a change in the <br /> relative motion between the Pacific and North American plates resulted in the gradual uplift of <br /> the Coast Ranges and the eventual isolation of the basin from the ocean.More recent Miocene <br /> and lower Pliocene sediments were derived from the neighboring Coast Ranges and the Sierra <br /> Nevada.By the late Pliocene(2-3 million years ago),subaerial depositional conditions prevailed <br /> SAC/371322/082340008(LEC_5.8_PALEORES.DOC) 5.8-1 <br />