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Geology topics

Richard B. Waitt

Publications and source records attributed to Richard B. Waitt.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS2000

Volcanism and ice interactions on Earth and Mars

Volcano/ice interactions produce meltwater. Meltwater can enter the groundwater cycle and under the influence of hydrothermal systems, it can be later discharged to form channels and valleys or cycled upward to melt permafrost. Water or ice-saturated ground can erupt into phreatic craters when covered by lava. Violent mixing of meltwater and volcanic material and rapid release can generate lahars or jokulhlaups, that have the ability to freight coarse material, great distances downslope from the vent. Eruption into meltwater generate unique appearing edifices, that are definitive indicators of volcano/ice interaction. These features are hyaloclastic ridges or mounds and if capped by lava, tuyas. On Earth, volcano/ice interactions are limited to alpine regions and ice-capped polar and temperate regions. On Mars, where precipitation may be an ancient phenomenon, these interactions may be limited to areas of ground ice accumulation or the northern lowlands where water may have ponded fairly late in martian history. The recognition of features caused by volcano/ice interactions could provide strong constraints for the history of volatiles on Mars.

Book chapter↗
USGS1998

Preliminary volcano-hazard assessment for Augustine Volcano, Alaska

Augustine Volcano is a 1250-meter high stratovolcano in southwestern Cook Inlet about 280 kilometers southwest of Anchorage and within about 300 kilometers of more than half of the population of Alaska. Explosive eruptions have occurred six times since the early 1800s (1812, 1883, 1935, 1964-65, 1976, and 1986). The 1976 and 1986 eruptions began with an initial series of vent-clearing explosions and high vertical plumes of volcanic ash followed by pyroclastic flows, surges, and lahars on the volcano flanks. Unlike some prehistoric eruptions, a summit edifice collapse and debris avalanche did not occur in 1812, 1935, 1964-65, 1976, or 1986. However, early in the 1883 eruption, a portion of the volcano summit broke loose forming a debris avalanche that flowed to the sea. The avalanche initiated a small tsunami reported on the Kenai Peninsula at English Bay, 90 kilometers east of the volcano. Plumes of volcanic ash are a major hazard to jet aircraft using Anchorage International and other local airports. Ashfall from future eruptions could disrupt oil and gas operations and shipping activities in Cook Inlet. Eruptions similar to the historical and prehistoric eruptions are likely in Augustine's future.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1983

Tens of successive, colossal Missoula floods at north and east margins of channeled scabland

In deposits of Pleistocene glacial lakes in northern Idaho and Washington, beds comprising 20 to 55 varves (average = 35-40) separate each successive graded gravel or sand bed that was swiftly emplaced by a catastrophic flood from glacial Lake Missoula. The floodlaid beds are similar to rhythmic successions of 40 or more graded beds in backflooded tributaries of the lower Columbia River. This new field evidence corroborates a controversial hypothesis that the great Pleistocene floods from glacial Lake Missoula were 40 or more colossal, separate joekulhlaups, and refutes the conventional notion that any two successive graded beds were deposited by one flood. The only outlet of the 2000-km3 glacial Lake Missoula was through its great ice dam. Calculations show that each time the lake rose to about 600 m deep, it made the glacier buoyant and engendered a catastrophic discharge along the glacier bed (a joekulhlaup). A reconstructed water budget suggests that after a complete draining, the lake refilled in 3 to 6 decades; thus the hydrostatic prerequisites for a joekulhlaup were reestablished dozens of times during the late-Wisconsin episode of lake damming. Various intercalated tephra layers, radiocarbon dates, varve successions, and the Bonneville flood deposits in the region suggest that late-Wisconsin glacial Lake Missoula existed for about 2 millennia within the period 15,000 to 12,700(?) yr ago. Varve beds indicate that the mean period between Missoula floods was about 4 decades, but became shorter during the last several floods. Between 20 and 30 of the Missoula joekulhlaups occurred after the single great flood from Lake Bonneville, which according to 14C dating in the Bonneville basin by W. E. Scott and associates and by D. R. Currey occurred some time between 15,000 and 14,000 yr ago.

Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington↗
USGS1979

Late Cenozoic deposits, landforms, stratigraphy, and tectonism in Kittitas Valley, Washington

Kittitas Valley, a structurally determined wide segment of the Yakima River valley, is partly filled with the Pliocene Thorp Gravel and with Pleistocene till, outwash, and related sediment that accumulated during three glaciations. The Thorp Gravel, whose age according to fission-track dating is about 3.7 m.y., forms a conspicuous fill terrace locally as high as 130 m. Bodies of drift, all younger than the Thorp Gravel, form nested fill terraces along the Yakima River. The massive moraines, intermediate morphostratigraphic position, and well-developed soil of the Kittitas Drift suggest its correlation with the penultimate northern-hemisphere glaciation of about 0.13 m.y. ago. The Lakedale Drift, which composes a single outwash terrace in Kittitas Valley, evidently correlates with the classical late Wisconsin Glaciation. The newly named Lookout Mountain Ranch Drift, which forms moraines at higher altitudes than and is older than the Kittitas Drift, lacks an attendant valley train. Three faults disrupt the Thorp Gravel but apparently not the Kittitas Drift, and therefore probably are between 0.13 and 3.7 m.y. old. The eastward trend and up-to-the-basin throw of the faults probably reflect reverse faulting due to a regional north-south compression that uparched several east-trending anticlines in central Washington. The southeast trend of the dextrally echelon arrangement of the faults apparently is due to a right-lateral couple across a zone parallel to the Olympic-Wallowa lineament.

Professional Paper↗