Geologic field trip guide for the Cenozoic stratigraphy and late Eocene paleoecology of southwestern Washington
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Geology topics
Research about Washington
Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Washington.
Continuous monitoring of Mount St. Helens Volcano
Day by day monitoring of the Mount St. Helens Volcano. These are four scenarios, very different scenarios, that can occur in a average week at Mount St. Helens. Ranging from eruptions of gas and to steam to eruptions of ash and pyroclastic flows to even calm days. This example of monitoring illustrates the differences from day to day volcanic activities at Mount St. Helens.
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Emplacement temperatures of unsorted and unstratified deposits of volcanic rock debris as determined by paleomagnetic techniques
Unsorted and unstratified deposits of volcanic rock debris typically flank recently active stratovolcanoes. It is often difficult, using standard geologic procedures, to establish whether a particular deposit was emplaced by a pyroclastic flow, lahar, rock avalanche, or glacier. Determination of the emplacement temperatures of clasts contained in the deposit aids in discriminating among some of these possibilities. The emplacement temperature of a clast can be estimated by analyzing its thermoremanent magnetization. To do this, oriented samples of the clasts are submitted to progressive thermal demagnetization; the directions and magnitudes of the resulting residual remanent vectors provide the information necessary to estimate the temperatures at which the clasts were emplaced. Studies of samples that were given artificial emplacement temperatures reveal that estimates are within plus or minus 25 degree C of the actual values. The temperature range within which estimates are possible depends on the thermoremanent magnetization acquisition curve of a clast. Data obtained from deposits of volcanic rock debris from Mount St. Helens, Washington, indicate that for andesitic and dacitic rocks, the range is roughly 100 to 550 degree C. The procedure probably can be applied to other geologic problems that require temperature information.
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Artificial transmission to and susceptibility of Puget Sound fish to viral erythrocytic necrosis (VEN)
In Puget Sound, Wash., the incidence of viral erythrocytic necrosis (VEN) varied geographically from 0 to 17% in chum salmon ( Oncorhynchus keta ) and from 4 to 59% in Pacific herring ( Clupea harengus pallasi ). The disease was experimentally transmitted by intraperitoneal injection to chum, pink ( O . gorbuscha ), coho ( O . kisutch ), chinook ( O . tshawytscha ), sockeye ( O . nerka ), and Atlantic ( Salmo salar ) salmon, and rainbow ( S . gairdneri ), brown ( S . trutta ), and brook ( Salvelinus fontinalis ) trout. The disease was transmitted to chum salmon and brook trout by waterborne virus. Virus obtained from herring was experimentally transmitted into chum salmon by intraperitoneal injection. Key words : viral erythrocytic necrosis, fish disease, transmission
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Map showing natural land slopes, Port Townsend quadrangle, Puget Sound region, Washington
No abstract available.
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Sediment transport by irrigation return flows in the lower Yakima River basin, Washington, 1975 and 1976 irrigation seasons
No abstract available.
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Reconnaissance data on lakes in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area, Washington
Sixty lakes in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area have been sampled from rubber rafts or helicopter to obtain information on their physical setting and on present water-quality conditions. The lakes are located near the crest of the Cascade Range in Chelan and King Counties, Washington. Basic data from these lakes will be useful for planners concerned with lake and wilderness management, and of interest to hikers and other recreationists who use the lakes.
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Preliminary geologic map of the Clear Lake NE quadrangle, Skagit County, Washington
No abstract available.
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Makah Formation--a deep marginal basin sedimentary sequence of Late Eocene and Oligocene age in the northwestern Olympic Peninsula, Washington
The Makah Formation of the Twin River Group crops out in a north-west-trending linear belt in the northwesternmost part of the Olympic Peninsula, Wash. This marine sequence consists of 2,800 meters of predominantly thin-bedded siltstone and sandstone that encloses six distinctive members. The named members include four packets of thick-bedded amalgamated turbidite sandstone, an olistostromal shallow-water marine sandstone and conglomerate member, and a thin-bedded water-laid tuff member. A local unconformity of submarine origin occurs within the lower part of the Makah Formation except in the central part of the study area, where it forms the contact between the older Hoko River Formation and the Makah. Foraminiferal faunas indicate that the Makah Formation ranges in age from late Eocene (late Narizian Stage) to late Oligocene (Zemorrian Stage) and was deposited in a predominantly lower to middle bathyal environment. The Makah strata are part of a deep marginal basin facies that crops out in the western part of the Olympic Peninsula, in southwesternmost Washington and coastal embayments in northwestern Oregon, and along the central part of the coast of western Vancouver Island. On the basis of limited subsurface data from exploratory wells, correlative deepmarginal-basin deposits underlie the inner continental shelf of Oregon and the continental shelf (Tofino Basin) along the southwestern side of Vancouver Island. Directional structures in the Makah Formation indicate that the predominantly lithic arkosic sandstone that forms the turbidite packets was derived from the northwest. A possible source of the clastics is the dioritic, granitic, and volcanic terranes in the vicinity of the Hesquiat Peninsula on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Vertical and lateral variations of turbidite facies suggest that the four packets of sandstone were formed as depositional lobes on an outer submarine fan. The thin-bedded strata between the turbidite packets have characteristics of basin-plain and outer-fan fringe deposits.
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Principal facts for borehole gravity stations in wells DC-3, DC-5, and DC-7 at the Hanford Site, Washington, and in well RSH No. 1 on Rattlesnake Hills, Washington
Borehole gravity surveys were carried out in four wells in the State of Washington by the U.S. Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.) in September and October of 1978 using the U.S.G.S. - LaCoste and Romberg borehole gravity meter G-95 (BHGM) (McCulloh and others, 1967a; McCulloh and others, 1967b). The primary objective of this study was to obtain data for the determination of accurate in-situ formation densities in the Umtanum Flow and other flows that might be considered for storage of radioactive wastes (Atlantic Richfield Hanford Co., 1976). Another objective was to obtain accurate densities of the sediments above the basalts and of the basalt interbeds for use in making more accurate interpretations of surface gravity studies throughout the Columbia Plateau.
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Benthic invertebrates, periphyton, and bottom material and their trace-metal concentrations in Salmon Creek basin, Clark County, Washington
In 1978, data were collected for identification and quantification of benthic invertebrates, periphyton, and bottom material and their trace-metals concentrations from three sites in Salmon Creek basin, Wash. Metal analyses included arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, zinc, selenium, and mercury. Physical data collected included water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, discharge, and size of cobbles and fine stream-bottom material. Additional chemical analyses included major constituents. Benthic invertebrate identifications were generally taken to the generic level, with a total of 49 taxons identified and quantified. A total of 36 periphyton taxons were quantified and identified, generally at the species level.
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Water resources data for Washington, water year 1978; Volume 1. Western Washington
Water resources data for the 1978 water year for Washington consist of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage, contents, and water quality of lakes and reservoirs; and water levels and water quality of ground-water wells. This report in two volumes contains records for water discharge at 248 gaging stations; stage only at 4 gaging stations; stage and contents at 44 lakes and reservoirs; water quality at 117 gaging stations (including 6 lakes and reservoirs) and 215 wells; and water levels at 166 observation wells. Also included are data for 96 crest-stage, and 89 water-quality partial-record stations. Additional water data were collected at various sites not involved in the systematic data-collection program and are published as miscellaneous measurements and analyses. These data together with the data in Volume 2 represent that part of the National Water Data System operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State, local, and Federal agencies in Washington.
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Water resources data for Washington, water year 1978, Vol. 2 - Eastern Washington
Water resources data for the 1978 water year for Washington consist of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage, contents, and water quality of lakes and reservoirs; and water levels and water quality of ground-water wells. This volume contains records for water discharge at 248 gaging stations; stage only at 4 gaging stations; stage and contents at 44 lakes and reservoirs; water quality at 117 gaging stations (including 6 lakes and reservoirs) and 215 wells; and water levels at 166 observation wells. Also included are data for 96 crest-stage and 89 water-quality partial-record stations. Locations of these sites are shown on figures 4, 5, and 19. Addition-al water data were collected at various sites not involved in the systematic data-collection program and are published as miscellaneous measurements and and analyses. These data together with the data in Volume 1 represent that part of the national Water Data system operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State, local, and Federal agencies in Washington.
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Comparison of selected cultural, physical, and water-quality characteristics of lakes in Washington
This report presents comparisons and a graphical overview of the relative magnitude and the regional and statewide distribution of 19 selected cultural, physical, and water-quality characteristics measured in a reconnaissance study of several hundred lakes in Washington. The selected characteristics presented for each lake include types of land use in the lake drainage basin, shoreline residential development, altitude of lake, mean lake depth, nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in upper and bottom waters, specific conductance, temperature and dissolved-oxygen concentration cf bottom water, Secchi-disc visibility, emersed macrophytes covering shoreline and lake surface, and fecal-coliform bacteria. Statewide, about two-thirds of the lake drainage basins studied have more than half their land in forest. Urban and suburban developments of the basins are highest in the more populated western Washington counties near Puget Sound, whereas most land in the drainage basins of lakes in the Columbia Plateau of eastern Washington is used for agricultural purposes. Statewide, almost one-fourth of the lakes are shallow (mean depth 2.0 meters or less) and only 7 percent of the lakes have mean depths greater than 20 meters. Dissolved-oxygen layering in summer was detected in many lakes throughout the State. The oxygen concentrations in the upper waters of these lakes were typically near saturation, but the bottom waters of many were severely depleted. Statewide, about one-third of the lakes had Secchi-disc readings of 2.0 meters or less, a value often considered characteristic of eutrophic lakes. The poorest water clarity was observed in the Columbia Plateau, where 68 percent of the lakes had Secchi-disc readings of less than 2.0 meters. Statewide, the median concentration of total phosphorus in the upper waters of lakes was 20 micrograms per liter. More than one-third of the lakes in the State had total phosphorus concentrations in their upper waters that exceeded 30 micrograms per liter, a concentration that is often considered characteristic of eutrophic lakes.
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Water resources of the Nisqually Lake area, Pierce County, Washington
This report presents data assembled during a July 1975 to August 1977 study of the water resources of an area within, and adjacent to, a part of the Fort Lewis Military Reservation that prior to 1917 was included in the Nisqually Indian Reservation. Because the area is within or near the artillery ranges of the U.S. Army, the existing water resources of the study area are almost undeveloped. The only surface-water bodies of significance in the study area are Muck Creek, Nisqually Lake, and springs. The flow of Muck Creek as measured at a gaging station at Roy, east of the study area, ranged from no flow to a maximum discharge of 692 cubic feet per second during the period 1956-77. No flow occurred there about 9 percent of the time during the period 19.56-71. A large spring discharged from 0.12 to 4.56 cubic feet per second during the study period. Development or diversion of Muck Creek near its mouth would provide sufficient water for a small- to medium-sized fish-rearing facility. The highest water temperature recorded at this site during the study was 14.0°C, in August 1977, with a stream discharge of 7.12 cubic feet per second. Nisqually Lake, with a surface area of about 89 acres, is shallow with a flat bottom. The existing lake water is relatively high with dissolved solids, organic nitrogen and phosphorus, and biologically productive. Species of warm-water fish are probably best suited for the lake. Ground water beneath the study area occurs in unconsolidated glacial drift or outwash of gravel, sand, silt, and clay. One of the permeable rock units is the Steilacoom Gravel of Pleistocene age. Yields to wells from this material in a nearby area are from 100 to 250 gallons per minute. Drilling of test wells in the study area would provide more reliable data on ground water.
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Water resources of the Port Madison Indian Reservation, Washington
The study summarized in this report was made to provide Suquamish Tribal leaders with information on the reservation's surface- and ground-water resources. The Tribal leaders need this information to help them manage and protect their water resources against overdevelopment. The quantity of ground water that is estimated to be available for withdrawal on a long-term basis is about 600 million gallons per year in the western part of the reservation and 400 million gallons per year in the eastern part of the reservation. It should be possible, economically and practically, to capture at least 40 percent of this ground water with properly constructed and located wells before it is discharged into the sea. This is enough water to supply at least 5,000 and 3,500 people with domestic water in these respective areas—about four times the present population. Of nine stream sites that were studied on and near the reservation, the lowest average streamflows for a 7-day period estimated to occur an average of once in 2 years were 1.3 cubic feet per second or less. Streams at three of the sites have been observed dry at least once. The short period of data collection during this study limits the accuracy of statistical estimates of low flows. Both surface and ground water were found to be of good quality with no unusual or harmful constituents; there was no evidence of major pollution in 1977. In the future, seawater intrusion into the ground-water system and pollution of the surface water by improperly treated sewage waste water could become problems.
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