Geology and ground-water resources of the Dalles region, Oregon
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Water Supply Paper↗
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Extreme coastal water level in Washington state: Guidance to support sea level rise planning
This document provides guidelines for assessing exposure to future coastal flooding during extreme coastal water level events – whether these are due to tides, surge, wave run-up, or, more likely, a combination of the three. These guidelines provide information about the current and future magnitude of extreme coastal water levels across Washington State and the underlying processes that influence them. This information is intended to be combined with sea level projections to assess future exposure to coastal flooding along Washington’s coastline. Although the results of our analyses can be combined with any available sea level projections, this report is intended as a companion to the localized sea level rise projections (Miller et al., 2018) developed as part of the Washington Coastal Resilience Project. The Washington Coastal Resilience Project was a three-year effort to rapidly increase the state’s capacity to prepare for sea level rise. The project aimed to improve risk projections, provide better guidelines for land use planners and strengthen capital investment programs for coastal restoration and infrastructure. Partners in the Washington Coastal Resilience Project included Washington Sea Grant, Washington Department of Ecology, Island County, King County, NOAA Office for Coastal Management, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Padilla Bay National Estuary Research Reserve, The City of Tacoma, The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Geological Survey, University of Oregon, University of Washington Climate Impacts Group, University of Washington Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Western Washington University. The 2018 sea level projections are described in an accompanying technical report, along with a review of the science related to sea level rise (Miller et al., 2018). The report and all associated supporting information are available on the Washington Coastal Hazards Resilience Network website (http://www.wacoastalnetwork.com/).
Washington↗
Water temperature in tributaries, off-channel features, and main channel of the lower Willamette River, northwestern Oregon, summers 2016 and 2017
The U.S. Geological Survey collected continuous water-temperature data in select tributaries of the lowermost 80 kilometers (50 miles) of the Willamette River in northwestern Oregon, during summers 2016 and 2017. Point measurements of water temperature and water quality (dissolved oxygen, specific conductance, and pH) also were collected at multiple locations and depths within the river and in the lower reaches of three major tributaries (Clackamas and Molalla Rivers, and Johnson Creek). These datasets were collected to identify potential locations of cold-water refuges for sensitive fish species, and to characterize daily, seasonal, and spatial variability in water conditions. These datasets may be useful for local municipalities that are required to identify cold-water refuges (as defined in State of Oregon water-quality standards) and determine approaches for protecting and enhancing these features as part of their Willamette River water-temperature Total Maximum Daily Load implementation plans. This report documents the data collection methods, provides summary graphs and maps of the water-temperature data, and outlines steps for accessing the data.
Oregon↗
Assessment of Undiscovered Hydrocarbon Resources of the Western Oregon and Washington Province
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean volumes of 2.2 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of undiscovered natural gas and 15 million barrels of oil (MMBO) in the Western Oregon and Washington Province. More than 67 percent, or 1.5 TCF, of the undiscovered natural gas is continuous gas estimated to be coalbed gas in Tertiary coals in western Oregon and Washington.
Fact Sheet↗
Geologic field trip guide to Mount Mazama and Crater Lake Caldera, Oregon
Crater Lake partly fills one of the most spectacular calderas of the world—an 8 by 10 kilometer (km) basin more than 1 km deep formed by collapse of the Mount Mazama volcano during a rapid series of explosive eruptions ~7,700 years ago. Having a maximum depth of 594 meters (m), Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. Crater Lake National Park, dedicated in 1902, encompasses 645 square kilometers (km 2 ) of pristine forested and alpine terrain, including the lake itself, and virtually all of Mount Mazama. The geology of the area was first described in detail by Diller and Patton (1902) and later by Williams (1942), whose vivid account led to international recognition of Crater Lake as the classic collapse caldera. Because of excellent preservation and access, Mount Mazama, Crater Lake caldera, and the deposits formed by the climactic eruption constitute a natural laboratory for study of volcanic and magmatic processes. For example, the climactic ejecta are renowned among volcanologists as evidence for systematic compositional zonation within a subterranean magma chamber. Mount Mazama’s climactic eruption also is important as the source of the widespread Mazama ash, a useful Holocene stratigraphic marker throughout the Pacific Northwest United States, adjacent Canada, and offshore. A detailed bathymetric survey of the floor of Crater Lake in 2000 (Bacon and others, 2002) provides a unique record of postcaldera eruptions, the interplay between volcanism and filling of the lake, and sediment transport within this closed basin. Knowledge of the geology and eruptive history of the Mount Mazama edifice, enhanced by the caldera wall exposures, gives exceptional insight into how large volcanoes of magmatic arcs grow and evolve. In addition, many smaller volcanoes of the High Cascades beyond the limits of Mount Mazama provide information on the flux of mantle-derived magma through the region. General principles of magmatic and eruptive processes revealed by geologic research at Crater Lake have been incorporated not only in scientific investigations elsewhere, but also in the practical evaluation of local hazards (Bacon and others, 1997b) and geothermal resources (Bacon and Nathenson, 1996). The 1:24,000-scale geologic map of Mount Mazama and Crater Lake caldera (Bacon, 2008) is unusual because it portrays bedrock (outcrop), surficial, and lake floor geology. Caldera wall geology is depicted in detail on the accompanying geologic panoramas, and bedrock geology is shown in a 1:50,000-scale geologic map. This field guide supersedes earlier geology guides of Crater Lake (Bacon, 1987, 1989).
Oregon↗
Geologic and geomorphic controls on the occurrence of fens in the Oregon Cascades and implications for vulnerability and conservation
Montane fens are biologically diverse peat-forming wetlands that develop at points of groundwater discharge. To protect these ecosystems, it is critical to understand their locations on the landscape and the hydrogeologic systems that support them. The upper Deschutes Basin has a groundwater flow system that supports baseflow in many rivers, but little is known about the wetland types and groundwater dependence of the thousands of wetlands within the watershed. In 292 randomly selected wetlands, we quantified landscape metrics thought useful for discriminating montane fens from non-peat-forming wetlands. We inspected these wetlands and classified 67 of them as fens. Of the landscape metrics, only geology reliably differentiated fens from other types of wetlands. Nearly all fens develop in low-permeability glacial till found at approximately 1400–1800 m in elevation, and are concentrated in areas mantled by pumice deposits that originated primarily from the eruption of Mt. Mazama approximately 7700 years BP. Stratigraphic and hydrologic factors indicate the fens are supplied by perched aquifers in glacial till, instead of the deeper regional aquifer system. Their hydrogeologic setting makes the fens highly vulnerable to expected changes to recharge associated with climate change, but not to groundwater pumping from the regional aquifer.
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Associations among fish assemblage structure and environmental variables in Willamette Basin streams, Oregon
As part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program, fish were collected from 24 selected stream sites in the Willamette Basin during 1993-1995 to determine the composition of the fish assemblages and their relation to the chemical and physical environment. Variance in fish relative abundance was greater among all sites than among spatially distinct reaches within a site (spatial variation) or among multiple sampled years at a site (temporal variation). Therefore, data from a single reach in an individual year was considered to be a reliable estimator of the fish assemblage structure at a site when the data were normalized by percent relative abundance. Multivariate classification and ordination were used to examine patterns in environmental variables and fish relative abundance over differing spatial scales (among versus within ecoregions). Across all ecoregions (all sites), fish assemblages were primarily structured along environmental gradients of water temperature and stream gradient (coldwater, high-gradient forested sites versus warmwater, low-gradient Willamette Valley sites); this pattern superseded patterns that were ecoregion specific. Water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and physical habitat (e.g., riparian canopy and percent riffles) were associated with patterns of fish assemblages across all ecoregions; however, pesticide and total phosphorus concentrations were more important than physical habitat within the Willamette Valley ecoregion. Consideration of stream site stratification (e.g., stream size, ecoregion, and stream gradient), identification of fish to species level (particularly the sculpin family), and detailed measurement of habitat, diurnal dissolved oxygen, and water temperature were critical in evaluating the composition of fish assemblages in relation to land use. In general, these low-gradient valley streams typical of other agricultural regions had poor riparian systems and showed increases in water temperature, nutrients, and fine grain sediments that were associated with degradation in the native fish assemblages. There was an association of high abundances of introduced species and high percent external abnormalities in medium-sized river sites of mixed land use and high abundances of tolerant species in small streams of predominantly agricultural land use.
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Overview with methods and procedures of the U.S. Geological Survey mineral-resource assessment of the Sagebrush Focal Areas of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming: Chapter A in Mineral resources of the Sagebrush Focal Areas of Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming
This report, chapter A of Scientific Investigations Report 2016–5089, provides an overview of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Sagebrush Mineral-Resource Assessment (SaMiRA). The report also describes the methods, procedures, and voluminous fundamental reference information used throughout the assessment. Data from several major publicly available databases and other published sources were used to develop an understanding of the locatable, leaseable, and salable mineral resources of this vast area. This report describes the geologic, mineral-occurrence, geochemical, geophysical, remote-sensing, and Bureau of Land Management mineral-case-status data used for the assessment, along with the methods for evaluating locatable mineral-resource potential. The report also discusses energy-resource data (oil and gas, coal, and geothermal) used in the assessment. Appendixes include summary descriptive mineral-deposit models that provide the criteria necessary to assess for the pertinent locatable minerals and market-demand commodity profiles for locatable mineral commodities relevant to the project. Datasets used in the assessment are available as USGS data releases.
Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming↗
Simulation of groundwater and surface-water flow in the upper Deschutes Basin, Oregon
This report describes a hydrologic model for the upper Deschutes Basin in central Oregon developed using the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) integrated Groundwater and Surface-Water Flow model (GSFLOW). The upper Deschutes Basin, which drains much of the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon, is underlain by large areas of permeable volcanic rock. That permeability, in combination with the large annual precipitation at high elevations, results in a substantial regional aquifer system and a stream system that is heavily groundwater dominated. The upper Deschutes Basin is also an area of expanding population and increasing water demand for public supply and agriculture. Surface water was largely developed for agricultural use by the mid-20th century, and is closed to additional appropriations. Consequently, water users look to groundwater to satisfy the growing demand. The well‑documented connection between groundwater and the stream system, and the institutional and legal restrictions on streamflow depletion by wells, resulted in the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) instituting a process whereby additional groundwater pumping can be permitted only if the effects to streams are mitigated, for example, by reducing permitted surface-water diversions. Implementing such a program requires understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of effects to streams from groundwater pumping. A groundwater model developed in the early 2000s by the USGS and OWRD has been used to provide insights into the distribution of streamflow depletion by wells, but lacks spatial resolution in sensitive headwaters and spring areas. The integrated model developed for this project, based largely on the earlier model, has a much finer grid spacing allowing resolution of sensitive headwater streams and important spring areas, and simulates a more complete set of surface processes as well as runoff and groundwater flow. In addition, the integrated model includes improved representation of subsurface geology and explicitly simulates the effects of hydrologically important fault zones not included in the previous model. The upper Deschutes Basin GSFLOW model was calibrated using an iterative trial and error approach using measured water-level elevations (water levels) from 800 wells, 144 of which have time series of 10 or more measurements. Streamflow was calibrated using data from 21 gage locations. At 14 locations where measured flows are heavily influenced by reservoir operations and irrigation diversions, so called “ naturalized ” flows, with the effects of reservoirs and diversion removed, developed by the Bureau of Reclamation, were used for calibration. Surface energy and moisture processes such as solar radiation, snow accumulation and melting, and evapotranspiration were calibrated using national datasets as well as data from long-term measurement sites in the basin. The calibrated Deschutes GSFLOW model requires daily precipitation, minimum and maximum air temperature data, and monthly data describing groundwater pumping and artificial recharge from leaking irrigation canals (which are a significant source of groundwater recharge). The calibrated model simulates the geographic distribution of hydraulic head over the 5,000 ft range measured in the basin, with a median absolute residual of about 53 ft. Temporal variations in head resulting from climate cycles, pumping, and canal leakage are well simulated over the model area. Simulated daily streamflow matches gaged flows or calculated naturalized flows for streams including the Crooked and Metolius Rivers, and lower parts of the mainstem Deschutes River. Seasonal patterns of runoff are less well fit in some upper basin streams. Annual water balances of streamflow are good over most of the model domain. Model fit and overall capabilities are appropriate for the objectives of the project. The integrated model results confirm findings from other studies and models indicating that most streamflow in the upper Deschutes Basin comes directly from groundwater discharge. The integrated model provides additional insights about the components of streamflow including direct groundwater discharge to streams, interflow, groundwater discharge to the land surface (Dunnian flow), and direct runoff (Hortonian flow). The new model provides improved capability for exploring the timing and distribution of streamflow capture by wells, and the hydrologic response to changes in other external stresses such as canal operation, irrigation, and drought. Because the model uses basic meteorological data as the primary input; and simulates surface energy and moisture balances, groundwater recharge and flow, and all components of streamflow; it is well suited for exploring the hydrologic response to climate change, although no such simulations are included in this report. The model was developed as a tool for future application; however, example simulations are provided in this report. In the example simulations, the model is used to explore the influence of well location and geologic structure on stream capture by pumping wells. Wells were simulated at three locations within a 12-mi area close to known groundwater discharge areas and crossed by a regional fault zone. Simulations indicate that the magnitude and timing of stream capture from pumping is largely controlled by the geographic location of the wells, but that faults can have a large influence on the propagation of pumping stresses.
Oregon↗
Database for the geologic map of the Bend 30- x 60-minute quadrangle, central Oregon
The Bend 30- x 60-minute quadrangle has been the locus of volcanism, faulting, and sedimentation for the past 35 million years. It encompasses parts of the Cascade Range and Blue Mountain geomorphic provinces, stretching from snowclad Quaternary stratovolcanoes on the west to bare rocky hills and sparsely forested juniper plains on the east. The Deschutes River and its large tributaries, the Metolius and Crooked Rivers, drain the area. Topographic relief ranges from 3,157 m (10,358 ft) at the top of South Sister to 590 m (1,940 ft) at the floor of the Deschutes and Crooked Rivers where they exit the area at the north-central edge of the map area. The map encompasses a part of rapidly growing Deschutes County. The city of Bend, which has over 70,000 people living in its urban growth boundary, lies at the south-central edge of the map. Redmond, Sisters, and a few smaller villages lie scattered along the major transportation routes of U.S. Highways 97 and 20. This geologic map depicts the geologic setting as a basis for structural and stratigraphic analysis of the Deschutes basin, a major hydrologic discharge area on the east flank of the Cascade Range. The map also provides a framework for studying potentially active faults of the Sisters fault zone, which trends northwest across the map area from Bend to beyond Sisters. This digital release contains all of the information used to produce the geologic map published as U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Investigations Series I-2683 (Sherrod and others, 2004). The main component of this digital release is a geologic map database prepared using ArcInfo GIS. This release also contains files to view or print the geologic map and accompanying descriptive pamphlet from I-2683.
Oregon↗
Assessment of Undiscovered Gas Resources of the Eastern Oregon and Washington Province, 2006
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 2.4 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of undiscovered natural gas in the Eastern Oregon and Washington Province. More than 90 percent, or 2.1 TCF, of the estimated undiscovered natural gas is continuous gas estimated to be trapped in Tertiary rocks overlain by the Columbia River Basalt Group.
Fact Sheet↗
Simulation of groundwater flow and the interaction of groundwater and surface water in the Willamette Basin and Central Willamette subbasin, Oregon
Full appropriation of tributary streamflow during summer, a growing population, and agricultural needs are increasing the demand for groundwater in the Willamette Basin. Greater groundwater use could diminish streamflow and create seasonal and long-term declines in groundwater levels. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) cooperated in a study to develop a conceptual and quantitative understanding of the groundwater-flow system of the Willamette Basin with an emphasis on the Central Willamette subbasin. This final report from the cooperative study describes numerical models of the regional and local groundwater-flow systems and evaluates the effects of pumping on groundwater and surface‑water resources. The models described in this report can be used to evaluate spatial and temporal effects of pumping on groundwater, base flow, and stream capture. The regional model covers about 6,700 square miles of the 12,000-square mile Willamette and Sandy River drainage basins in northwestern Oregon—referred to as the Willamette Basin in this report. The Willamette Basin is a topographic and structural trough that lies between the Coast Range and the Cascade Range and is divided into five sedimentary subbasins underlain and separated by basalts of the Columbia River Basalt Group (Columbia River basalt) that crop out as local uplands. From north to south, these five subbasins are the Portland subbasin, the Tualatin subbasin, the Central Willamette subbasin, the Stayton subbasin, and the Southern Willamette subbasin. Recharge in the Willamette Basin is primarily from precipitation in the uplands of the Cascade Range, Coast Range, and western Cascades areas. Groundwater moves downward and laterally through sedimentary or basalt units until it discharges locally to wells, evapotranspiration, or streams. Mean annual groundwater withdrawal for water years 1995 and 1996 was about 400 cubic feet per second; irrigation withdrawals accounted for about 80 percent of that total. The upper 180 feet of productive aquifers in the Central Willamette and Southern Willamette subbasins produced about 70 percent of the total pumped volume. In this study, the USGS constructed a three-dimensional numerical finite-difference groundwater-flow model of the Willamette Basin representing the six hydrogeologic units, defined in previous investigations, as six model layers. From youngest to oldest, and [generally] uppermost to lowermost they are the: upper sedimentary unit, Willamette silt unit, middle sedimentary unit, lower sedimentary unit, Columbia River basalt unit, and basement confining unit. The high Cascade unit is not included in the groundwater-flow model because it is not present within the model boundaries. Geographic boundaries are simulated as no-flow (no water flowing in or out of the model), except where the Columbia River is simulated as a constant hydraulic head boundary. Streams are designated as head-dependent-flux boundaries, in which the flux depends on the elevation of the stream surface. Groundwater recharge from precipitation was estimated using the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS), a watershed model that accounts for evapotranspiration from the unsaturated zone. Evapotranspiration from the saturated zone was not considered an important component of groundwater discharge. Well pumping was simulated as specified flux and included public supply, irrigation, and industrial pumping. Hydraulic conductivity values were estimated from previous studies through aquifer slug and permeameter tests, specific capacity data, core analysis, and modeling. Upper, middle and lower sedimentary unit horizontal hydraulic conductivity values were differentiated between the Portland subbasin and the Tualatin, Central Willamette, and Southern Willamette subbasins based on preliminary model results.
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Geologic map of the Sauvie Island quadrangle, Multnomah and Columbia Counties, Oregon, and Clark County, Washington
Introduction The Sauvie Island 7.5' quadrangle is situated in the Puget-Willamette Lowland northwest of downtown Portland, Oreg. This lowland, which extends from Puget Sound to west-central Oregon, is a complex structural and topographic trough between the Coast Range and the Cascade Range. Since late Eocene time, the Cascade Range has been the locus of a discontinuously active volcanic arc associated with underthrusting of oceanic lithosphere beneath the North American continent along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The Coast Range, which occupies the fore-arc position within the Cascadia arc-trench system, consists of a complex assemblage of Eocene to Miocene volcanic and marine sedimentary rocks. The Sauvie Island quadrangle lies along the southwest margin of the Portland Basin, a 2,000-km 2 topographic and structural depression. The basin boundary is an abrupt topographic break at the base of the Tualatin Mountains, which separates the Portland and Tualatin Basins. The Tualatin Mountains are underlain by lava flows of the Miocene Columbia River Basalt Group that have been folded into an asymmetric anticline. Oligocene marine sedimentary rocks, not exposed at the surface, are inferred to underlie the basalt flows. The abrupt basin boundary marks the location of the northwest-striking Portland Hills Fault Zone, which is probably an active structure. The Columbia River flows west and north through the Portland Basin at nearly sea level. The Willamette River enters the Columbia near the southeast corner of the map area. Seismic-reflection profiles and lithologic logs of water wells show as much as 550 m of late Miocene and younger sediments in the deepest part of the basin east of the quadrangle. Deposits exposed at the surface consist chiefly of Holocene and late Pleistocene fluvial and eolian sediments and man-made fill. This map contributes to a U.S. Geological Survey program to improve the geologic database for the Portland region of the Pacific Northwest urban corridor. The map and ancillary data will support assessments of seismic risk, ground-failure hazards, and resource availability.
Oregon, Washington↗
Geology of the Anlauf and Drain quadrangles, Douglas and Lane counties, Oregon
The Anlauf and Drain quadrangles, Oregon, lie about 20 miles south of the City of Eugene, in Douglas and Lane Counties. They constitute an area of about 435 square miles that includes parts of both the Cascade Range and Coast Range physiographic provinces. A sequence of lower Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks with a maximum thickness of about 20,000 feet is exposed in the area. The oldest part of this sequence is the Umpqua formation of early Eocene age consisting of a lower Member of vesicular and amygdaloidal olivine basalt flows, a middle member of water-laid vitric and lapilli crystal tuff, and an upper member of interbedded fissile siltstone and basaltic sandstone which contains a 300-foot tongue of massive to thick-bedded basaltic sandstone near its top. These rocks are predominantly of marine origin, although the general absence of pillow structures Which are common in basaltic lavas of equivalent age elsewhere in the Coast Ranges suggests that some of the flows were poured out subaerially. The overlying tuff member, however, contains Foraminifera and in places has a lime content slightly in excess of 10 percent. Mollusca and Foraminifera indicate that the Umpqua formation is of early Eocene age and is a correlative of the Capay formation of California. The Tyee formation of middle Eocene age overlies the Umpqua formation and consists of more than 5,000 feet of rhythmically deposited sandstone and siltstone in beds 2 to 30 feet thick. The basal part of each bed consists of medium- to coarse-grained sandstone that grades upward into line-grained sandstone and siltstone. The principal constituents of the sandstone are quartz, partly altered feldspar, mica, clay, and fragments of basalt, fine-grained argillaceous rocks, and mica schist. Other detrital minerals include epidote, garnet, blue-green hornblende, tourmaline, and zoisite. The depositional environment of the Tyee formation is poorly known, although the rhythmic-graded bedding suggests turbidity currents. About 500 feet of sandstone and siltstone assigned to the Spencer formation of late Eocene age unconformably overlies the Tyee formation. The Spencer formation, better exposed in the east-central part of the Coast Ranges, contains marine fossils but also has thin impure coal beds, indicative of strand-line accumulation. The sandstone in the Spencer formation is very similar to that in the Tyee formation, from which it was probably derived. The Fisher formation contains about 5,500 feet of nonmarine pyroclastic and Volcanic rocks that are related to the volcanic rock sequences of the western Cascade Range. The formation is characterized by a wide variety of rock types, including conglomerate, tuffaceous sandstone and siltstone, vitric and crystal tuff, waterlaid and mudflow breccia, and andesitic lava flows. These rocks generally occur in lenticular beds that have little stratigraphic significance. The rocks apparently accumulated on a plain slightly above sea level that was subjected alternately to flooding by running water and to desiccation. Fossil leaves from the lowermost part of the Fisher formation are of late Eocene age; the upper part of the formation is of early, and possibly middle, Oligocene age. A few exposures of olivine basalt were mapped in the extreme northern part of the Anlauf quadrangle. The flows, more extensively exposed to the north, overlie the Fisher formation, and, therefore, are tentatively considered to be post-Oligocene in age. All these stratigraphic units, but principally the Fisher formation, are cut by dikes, sills, and stocklike bodies of porphyritic basalt, diabase, and norite. Contemporaneously with the emplacement of most of these rocks, in late Miocene(?) time, hydrothermal solutions locally altered the sedimentary and extrusive igneous rocks and deposited cinnabar and other sulfide minerals, carbonates, and silica. Three parallel northeastward-trending anticlines in the older marine rocks are the most conspicuous structural features in the area. These folds plunge both to the northeast and southwest and expose in their central parts basalt flows of the Umpqua formation. The rocks along the west margin of the area dip westward into a structural basin in the adjacent Elkton quadrangle, whereas to the east the Fisher formation generally has an easterly dip typical of the nonmarine rocks in the western Cascade Range. Geologic studies in the Anlauf and Drain quadrangles were undertaken principally to evaluate the petroleum possibilities of the area. Available data indicate that source beds and reservoir rock suitable for the formation and accumulation of petroleum are absent in this part of the Coast Ranges, but because of the lack of subsurface information, this evaluation is only tentative. Mineral deposits of economic value in the area include quicksilver and alumina clay.
Oregon↗
Geology of the Anlauf and Drain Quadrangles, Douglas and Lane Counties, Oregon
The Anlauf and Drain quadrangles, Oregon, lie about 20 miles south of the city of Eugene, in Douglas and Lane Counties. They constitute an area of about 435 square miles that includes parts of both the Cascade Range and Coast Range physiographic provinces. A sequence of lower Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks with a maximum thickness of about 20,000 feet is exposed in the area. The oldest part of this sequence is the Umpqua formation of early Eocene age consisting of a lower member of vesicular and amygdaloidal olivine basalt flows, a middle member of water-laid vitric and lapilli crystal tuff, and an upper member of interbedded fissile siltstone and basaltic sandstone which contains a 300-foot tongue of massive to thick-bedded basaltic sandstone near its top. These rocks are predominantly of marine origin, although the general absence of pillow structures which are common in basaltic lavas of equivalent age elsewhere in the Coast Ranges suggests that some of the flows were poured out subaerially. The overlying tuff member, however, contains Foraminifera and in places has a lime content slightly in excess of 10 percent. Mollusca and Foraminifera indicate that the Umpqua formation is of early Eocene age and is a correlative of the Capay formation of California. The Tyee formation of middle Eocene age overlies the Umpqua formation and consists of more than 5,000 feet of rhythmically deposited sandstone and siltstone in beds 2 to 30 feet thick. The basal part of each bed consists of medium- to coarse-grained sandstone that grades upward into fine-grained sand- stone and siltstone. The principal constituents of the sandstone are quartz, partly a1tered feldspar, mica, clay, and fragments of basalt, fine-grained argillaceous rocks, and mica schist. Other detrital minerals include epidote, garnet, blue-green hornblende, tourmaline, and zoisite. The depositional environment of the Tyee formation is poorly known, although the rhythmic-graded bedding suggests turbidity currents. About 500 feet of sandstone and siltstone assigned to the Spencer formation of late Eocene age unconformably overlies the Tyee formation. The Spencer formation, better exposed in the east-central part of the Coast Ranges, contains marine fossils but also has thin impure coal beds, indicative of strand-line accumulation. The sandstone in the Spencer formation is very similar to that in the Tyee formation, from which it was probably derived. The Fisher formation contains about 5,500 feet of nonmarine pyroclastic and volcanic rocks that are related to the volcanic rock sequences of the western Cascade Range. The formation is characterized by a wide variety of rock types, including conglomerate, tuffaceous sandstone and siltstone, vitric and crystal tuff, waterlaid and mudflow breccia, and andesitic lava flows. These rocks gen- erally occur in lenticular beds that have little stratigraphic significance. The rocks apparently accumulated on a plain slightly above sea level that was subjected alternately to fiooding by running water and to desiccation. Fossil leaves from the lowermost part of the Fisher formation are of late Eocene age; the upper part of the formation is of early, and possibly niiddle, Oligocene age. A few exposures of olivine basalt were mapped in the extreme northern part of the Anlauf quadrangle. The flows, more extensively exposed to the north, overlie the Fisher formation, and, therefore, are tentatively considered to be post-Oligocene in age. All these stratigraphic units, but principally the Fisher formation, are cut by dikes, sills, and stocklike bodies of 'porphyritic basalt, diabase, and norite. Contemporaneously with the emplacement of most of these rocks, in late Miocene (?) time, hydrothermal solutions locailly altered the sedimentary and extrusive igneous racks and deposited cinnabar and other sulfide minerals, carbonates, and silica. Three parallel nartheastward-trending
Bulletin↗
Geology of lode gold districts in the Klamath Mountains, California and Oregon
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Bulletin↗
Geology of the Robertson, Humdinger, and Robert E. gold mines, southwestern Oregon
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Bulletin↗
Geologic map of the Bend 30- x 60-minute quadrangle, central Oregon
This map presents the stratigraphic and structural setting of volcanic and sedimentary strata deposited during the past 35 million years across 4,430 km2 in central Oregon. Snowfall in the Cascade Range (west part of map area) recharges important aquifers in the Deschutes basin (central part of map). The area includes the majestic peaks of the Three Sisters volcanoes, where continued eruptions of basalt and rhyolite in the past 3,000 years indicate an ongoing volcanic hazard. The Sisters fault zone, with several potentially active faults, traverses the map from southeast to northwest.
IMAP↗