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Sulphur Creek is a tributary of Aliso Creek in Orange County in the U.S. state of California.〔Durham, p.176〕 Draining about of mostly residential land in the southern San Joaquin Hills, it is Aliso Creek's largest tributary. Geologically the Sulphur Creek watershed was once part of a large and shallow sea that covered most of southern California. As the San Joaquin Hills rose and river sediments were deposited, land gradually emerged to form the present-day Orange County coast. Sulphur Creek is located in a crumpled, hilly area in the southern part of this range, formed differently from the continuous mountain chain to the north. Historically, being south of Aliso Creek, the Sulphur Creek watershed was part of the territory of the semi-nomadic Acjachemen Indian group, conquered by Spanish conquistadors in the 17th and 18th centuries and renamed the Juaneño by them. During the 19th century, the watershed became part of a rancho. In 1966, the creek was dammed to form Laguna Niguel Lake, while the surrounding hills were leveled as residential communities were constructed in the area following the '60s and '70s. The creek's basin eventually became part of the cities of Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, and a small portion in San Juan Capistrano. Increasing urban runoff in the 1960s caused most of the flow in the creek to be unnatural. The creek has since been channelized along most of its length to prevent floods from inundating the roads and houses that now line much of its banks. The Sulphur Creek watershed includes parts of Laguna Niguel Regional Park and Aliso and Wood Canyons Regional Park. Despite its heavy pollution and increasing population of exotic species, for much of its length the creek is a riparian corridor. ==Course== The creek begins as a storm culvert exiting into daylight downstream of a shopping center near the intersection of Crown Valley Parkway and Greenfield Drive. It then flows generally south through a concrete storm channel,〔Aliso Creek Watershed Management Plan, Chapter 3 - section ''Sulphur Creek Ecosystem Restoration''〕 then diverted into another culvert that takes it underneath a small access road. For the next few miles, the creek parallels Crown Valley Parkway as it winds west and south through a valley almost entirely filled by residential development. The creek flows through a concrete channel and three more culverts before regaining its natural riverbed. At the third of these four culverts, the creek enters Sulphur Creek Park, which follows the Sulphur Creek riparian corridor to where it turns west-northwest into Crown Valley Park, just upstream of Laguna Niguel Regional Park. Here, it receives two small tributaries (Niguel Storm Drain〔 and an unnamed creek flowing from a spring on the hillside) on the left bank. The creek then enters a box-cut concrete channel that takes it to Sulphur Creek Reservoir, a lake about long, formed by a dam at its north end. At the lake, another small unnamed tributary, from a filled-in canyon on the east side, joins Sulphur Creek.〔 The creek then exits the dam from the concrete spillway on the east side, flowing into a small valley inside Laguna Niguel Regional Park. About downstream from Sulphur Creek Reservoir, it receives the water of a large storm drain on the right bank. This storm drain is responsible for much of the pollution problems in the Sulphur Creek watershed.〔〔 〕 It then flows past a small mountain on the north, known as ''Kite Hill'', and is diverted into a large culvert underneath Alicia Parkway that drains it to a small canyon. The creek then flows into Aliso Creek, just outside the boundary of Aliso and Wood Canyons Regional Park. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sulphur Creek (California)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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