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Research about Washington

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Washington.

1,764 records · Page 98Linked to original sources
USGS1938

Dolomite and jasperoid in the Metaline District, northeastern Washington

The replacement ore bodies of the Metaline zinc-lead district, in northeastern Washington are limited to the greatly disturbed fault block through which the Pend Oreille River flows and are associated with the major faults but are not in them. They are mostly near the top of the Metaline limestone, of Middle Cambrian age, and below black Ordovician slate. The ores are generally in jasperoid and are surrounded by a shell of crystalline dolomite. Outside of the dolomite is a shell of coarse-grained calcite that in places was deposited along solution channels long distances from known ore bodies. Jasperoid, crystalline dolomite, and, to a less extent, coarse-grained calcite are therefore favorable but not infallible signs of the presence of ore nearby. The Metaline limestone was dolomitized regionally before the ore was introduced, and this early dolomitization is independent of the ore.

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USGS1927

Manganese-bearing deposits near Lake Crescent and Humptulips, Washington

The Crescent mine, situated a short distance west of Lake Crescent, in the Olympic Mountains of Washington, yields an unusually high grade of manganese ore, which is suitable for making steel. Several manganiferous lodes of promising appearance have been found in the same area, and some near Humptulips, on the south side of the mountains. These and deposits on Skokomish River and at other places in the Olympic region are distributed around three sides of the mountains through a distance of 110 miles. The characteristic and generally the most abundant manganese mineral in this belt is bementite, a silicate of manganese that is rare elsewhere. Hausmannite, a suboxide of manganese (Mn 3 O 4 ) that is also rather uncommon, occurs in several of the deposits and is locally abundant in the Crescent mine, where it forms the most valuable constituent of the ore. In addition more or less of a manganiferous carbonate is present, and bodies composed of fine-grained quartz and iron oxides form a large but separate part of the lodes. The deposits are associated with an impure red limestone of marine origin, which is probably to be correlated with the Franciscan formation of California. The limestone is overlain by a thick series of basaltic flows and tuff of Tertiary age that are partly altered to greenstone. The manganese is thought to have been deposited originally with the limestone as a carbonate. The concentration and change of much of it from the carbonate into bementite and hausmannite are believed to have been caused by warm solutions charged with silica that were expressed from the lavas or their magma. Afterward mountain-building movements and erosion elevated and exposed the manganiferous beds. The beds at the horizon of the manganiferous deposits are very incompletely explored and are to be regarded as the possible source of large quantities of ore.

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USGS1915

Oil and gas in the western part of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington

High-grade paraffin oil is reported to have been discovered in the western part of the Olympic Peninsula, Wash., as early as 1881. Since then attempts to obtain oil or gas in commercial quantities by drilling have been made from time to time in different localities in this region, but without success. Within the past few years interest has been aroused in oil seeps near the mouth of Hoh River and in gas vents in other parts of the field to such an extent that many persons have been attracted to this country to search for oil and gas. As a result of this interest and on account of the fact that efforts had been made to lease tracts of land for this purpose in the Queniult Indian Reservation, an examination of this region was made by the United States Geological Survey at the request of the Office of Indian Affairs. The results of the investigation, which are enumerated below and which are discussed in detail throughout this report, suggest that certain parts of the field are worthy of careful consideration by oil operators. The following summary includes the most important facts regarding the area examined: High-grade paraffin oil issues from two seeps near the mouth of Hoh River, and at other localities oil-saturated sandy clay ('smell mud' of the Indians) is exposed. Natural gas containing about 95 per cent methane escapes from a conical mound just north of the mouth of Queniult River and also from an inverted cone-shaped water-filled depression on Hoh River a short distance west of Spruce post office. Other minor gas vents are also known in this field and are described in detail in this report. Three wells - one in the reservation about 1 mile north and slightly west from Taholah, another near the mouth of Hoh River, and the third about 1 mile south of Forks - are being drilled for oil and gas. So far as drilling has progressed none of these wells have encountered oil in paying quantities, but all of them have struck small amounts of gas. A study of the structure and stratigraphy in addition to the examination of oil seeps and gas vents reveals the fact that several anticlines, which may serve as reservoirs for oil and gas, exist in the area examined and that they have apparently a close relationship to the oil seeps and occurrences of 'smell mud'.

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USGS1903

Contributions to the geology of Washington

Central Washington includes a part of two great topographic provinces; the great plain of the Columbia and the Cascade Range. The former, in its position and general desert-like character, suggests at once a resemblance to the Great Basin of Utah and Nevada; and the vastness of the desert plain is emphasized by the snowy peaks of the Cascades along its western border. These provinces are not to be regarded as unconnected in their geologic history, however great the contrast in their general features. The intermediate zone between the great plain on the east and the mountain range on the west is a strategic point for the investigation of the geologic structure and history and the interpretation of the present topography of both provinces. On the extensive basalt-covered plain monotony wearies the traveler, while on the rocky peaks of the Cascades the complexity taxes the powers of the observer.

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