What is "central valley"

n. In California, the large valley in the center of the state between the Coast Ranges and the Sierra Nevada.

California's Central Valley is a large, flat valley that dominates the geographical center of the U.S. state of California. It is wide and stretches approximately from north-northwest to south-southeast, inland from and parallel to the Pacific Ocean coast. It covers approximately , about 13.7% of California's total land area (slightly smaller than the state of West Virginia). Bounded by the Sierra Nevada to the east and the Coast Ranges to the west, it is California's single most productive agricultural region and one of the most productive in the world, producing more than half of the fruits, vegetables and nuts grown in the United States. More than 7 million acres (28,000 km) of the valley are irrigated via an extensive system of reservoirs and canals. The valley also has many major cities, including the state capital Sacramento; as well as Redding, Stockton, Modesto, Fresno and Bakersfield.

The Central Valley watershed comprises , or over a third of California. Its three main drainage systems are the Sacramento Valley in the north, which receives well over of rain annually; the drier San Joaquin Valley in the south, and the Tulare Basin and its semi-arid desert climate at the southernmost end. The Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems drain their respective valleys and meet to form the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a large expanse of interconnected canals, stream beds, sloughs, marshes and peat islands. The delta empties into the San Francisco Bay, and then ultimately flows into the Pacific. The waters of the Tulare Basin essentially never flow to the ocean (with the exception of Kings River waters diverted northward for irrigation), though they are connected by man-made canals to the San Joaquin and could drain there again naturally if they were ever to rise high enough.

The valley encompasses all or parts of 18 Northern California counties: Butte, Colusa, Glenn, El Dorado, Fresno, Kings, Madera, Merced, Placer, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Shasta, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare, Yuba, Yolo, and the Southern California county of Kern.

Central Valley may refer to several distinct valleys and areas.

• Chilean Central Valley (not to be confused with Zona Central, Chile)
• Central Valley (wine region)

• Costa Rican Central Valley

• Central Valley (California)
• Central Valley, New York
• Central Valley, Utah

In terms of viticulture the Central Valley of Chile ( Spanish: Valle Central) spans the O'Higgins Region (VI) and Maule Region (VII) Administrative Regions and the Administrative Metropolitan Region, and is the main growing zone for Chilean wine and coincides with the historical core of the Chilean Central Valley.