Geology of the Montesano quadrangle, Washington
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Groundwater and surface-water interactions in the Lower Duwamish Waterway, Seattle, Washington
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology), conducted a study to describe the current understanding of the regional groundwater system of the lower Duwamish River valley and groundwater and surface-water interactions in the lower Duwamish Waterway. The lower Duwamish Waterway is the final 5-mile (mi) reach of the Duwamish River before it empties into Elliott Bay in Puget Sound near Seattle, Washington. A nearshore site (hereinafter referred to as “Nearshore Site” to distinguish the particular site from general discussions of nearshore areas) along the western shoreline of the Duwamish River, about 1.5 mi upstream from the river mouth, was selected for focused groundwater data collection by USGS. Data loggers were deployed in seven groundwater wells and one stilling well in the Duwamish River to measure specific conductance, temperature, and depth at 15-minute intervals for a period of about 2 years. At the Nearshore Site during 2020–22, water levels in the shallow wells were 3–8 feet (ft) higher than water levels in the deep wells, providing evidence for a low-permeability layer between the shallow and deep aquifers in this area. The shallow wells had a pronounced seasonal variability, with high water levels in winter and low water levels in summer. Data from the deep wells showed far less seasonal variability, with slight increases in winter and a near-constant water level from spring to autumn. The deep wells had a strong hydraulic connection to the Duwamish River, as evidenced by the synchronous water-level variability during the tidal cycle, whereas the shallow wells had minimal to no tidal response. The potentiometric maps developed for the Nearshore Site and surrounding areas indicate large differences in groundwater-flow directions for the shallow and deep aquifers at low and high tides. For the shallow aquifer, flow is toward the lower Duwamish Waterway near the Nearshore Site, regardless of the tidal condition. For the deep aquifer, a potentiometric trough forms parallel to the shoreline during high tide, indicating that groundwater flow converges from the uplands to the west and the Duwamish River to the east. The geometry of the potentiometric surfaces between the nearshore-most well and the shoreline is complex and is further confounded by intermittent shoreline armoring and other buried infrastructure, which could serve as either a barrier or a conduit to flow. Groundwater and surface-water interactions in the lower Duwamish Waterway are inherently complex as a result of three overarching factors. First, water levels in the lower reaches of the Duwamish River vary daily by 11–16 ft because of tides from Puget Sound, which create large swings in the hydraulic gradient in the nearshore groundwater system. Second, the density and chemical composition of water in the Duwamish River change daily with the tides and seasonally, which constrains how river water entering the nearshore sediments interacts with discharging groundwater. Third, the nearshore subsurface and shoreline conditions are heterogenous because of extensive shoreline armoring over the past century, which governs the flow of groundwater and infiltrating river water. These unique features of groundwater and surface-water interactions in the lower Duwamish Waterway thus govern the transport of terrestrial contaminants to the lower Duwamish Waterway. Furthermore, the heterogenous aquifer properties in the lower Duwamish Waterway contribute to spatially and temporally dynamic contaminant-transport processes.
Washington↗
Geology of the Deep Creek area, Washington, and its regional significance
This report, although primarily concerned with the stratigraphy and structure of a lead-zinc mining district in northern Stevens County, Washington, discusses and integrates the geology of the region about the Deep Creek area. Although the study centers in an area of about 200 square miles immediately south of the International Boundary, the regional background comes from: (1)the previously undescribed Northport quadrangle to the west, (2) published reports and reconnaissance of the Metaline quadrangle to the east, and (3) from published reports and maps of a 16 mile wide area that lies to the north adjacent to these three quadrangles in British Columbia. The report is divided into three parts: (1) descriptions of rocks and structures of the Deep Creek area, (2) descriptions of the regional setting of the Deep Creek area, and (3) an analysis and interpretation of the depositional and tectonic events that produced the geologic features exposed today. In the Deep Creek area surficial deposits of sand and gravel of glacial origin cover much of the consolidated rocks, which range in age from greenschist of the late Precambrlan to albite granite of the Eocene. Three broad divisions of depositional history are represented: (1) Precambrian, (2) lower Paleozoic and (3) upper Paleozoic; the record of the Mesozoic and Eocene is fragmentary. The lower Paleozoic division is the only fossil-controlled sequence; the age of the other two divisions were established by less direct methods. Both Precambrian and upper Paleozoic sequences are dominated by fine-grained detrital sediments, the Precambrian tending towards the alumina-rich and the upper Paleozoic tending towards the black shale facies with high silica. Neither sequence has more than trivial amounts of coarse clastics. Both include limestones, but in minor abundance. The lower Paleozoic sequence, on the other hand, represents a progressive change in deposition. The sequence began during the very late Precambrian with the deposition of clean quartz sand. This was followed by the accumulation of a comparatively thin limestone unit succeeded by a thick shale. The shale grades into a thick carbonate unit which in turn is overlain by black graptolitic slates (Ordovician). This general order of deposition holds for the Cambro-Ordovician throughout the area. Precambrian rocks indigenous to the Deep Creek area, have undergone at least six tectonic events of greatly different intensities. The first three of these events are epeirogentic, the fourth involves intense folding, the fifth, crossfolding, and the sixth, block faulting without folding. These events are dated with varying degrees of precision. The two epeirogentic events of the Precambrian, one gentle folding at the beginning of Windermere time and the other high angle faulting and volcanism in mid-Windermere time, did little to deform or metamorphose the rocks. The third event consists of uplift of northern Idaho and adjacent Montana and westward decollement thrusting of essentially unfolded lower Paleozoic rocks. The decollement faulting is inferred to explain anomalous rock distribution and cannot be accurately dated. It occurred sometime after the Devonian and before the Jurassic. A late Paleozoic age is favored.
British Columbia, Idaho, Washington↗
Petroleum geology of the state of Washington
This report describes the potential petroleum resources of Washington State as recently summarized in the 1995 U.S. Geological Survey National Assessment of Oil and Gas Resources. Eight conventional petroleum plays, three coal-bed gas plays, and two continuous-type gas plays are defined and characterized. Of these plays, the potential for significant petroleum accumulations appears greatest in the Columbia Plateau region of eastern Washington. Potential accumulations in western Washington are smaller but could have local economic significance. The absence of high-quality petroleum source rocks is probably the most important factor limiting development of large accumulations.
Professional Paper↗
The U. S. Geological Survey's gravity program in Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming
The following summary of the U . S . Geological Survey gravity program in Washington , Idaho , Montana , and Wyoming is one of a series of short papers that outline Geological Survey gravity projects in the western United States. The substance of this summary is a list of references of published papers on U . S . Geological Survey gravity projects in the northwestern states together with an index map (Figure 1) showing the location of the project, the approximate a real coverage reported in the publication, and the contour map given in the publication. Areas in Figure 1 are related to the References (part 2) by a number code. In addition, the gravity projects in progress are listed in Table 1, indicating the area in which the work is being done and the person in charge of the project. Capital letter relate the locations of the projects in Figure 1 to the list of projects in Table 1. No attempt has been made to indicate the areal coverage or contour interval of the projects in progress.
Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming↗
Well data, surface-water discharges, and nitrate concentrations, February 1986 - September 1987, in parts of the Pasco Basin, Washington
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the State of Washington Department of Ecology, is conducting a study of parts of the Pasco basin, Washington, to determine: (1) effects of dams, surface-water application, canal seepage, and pumpage on groundwater levels; (2) quality of groundwater and probable sources of large concentrations of nitrate; (3) presence of pesticides in the groundwater systems; (4) directions and general rates of movement of undesirable chemicals and/or chemical concentrations in the groundwater system; and (5) possible results of various management alternatives for dealing with high groundwater levels and large concentrations of nitrate in groundwater. This report contains basic data collected from the start of the project in February 1986 through September 1987. The groundwater level network consisted of about 500 wells that were measured in February 1986, September 1986, and February 1987. Water levels were measured monthly in about 70 wells, and 5 wells were monitored with continuous recorders. Groundwater and surface water samples were collected and analyzed for nitrate concentrations and specific conductance. Most of the water level network wells and selected surface-water sites were sampled in September 1986. Selected wells were sampled periodically from September 1986 through September 1987. (USGS)
Open-File Report↗
Forum on Geologic mapping applications in the Washington-Baltimore urban area; proceedings; Reston, Virginia, April 23, 1997
The Forum on Geologic mapping applications in the Washington-Baltimore urban area was convened on April 23, 1997, at Reston, Virginia. The forum was cosponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Maryland Geological Survey, with assistance from the Virginia Division of Mineral Resources. Spatial earth science information in the Washington-Baltimore area provides a scientific framework for environmental assessment, urban planning, and future resource and hazard investigations in this area of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which has sustained three centuries of urban growth.
Circular↗
Geologic map of Scoggins Dam, Henry Hagg Lake, and Scoggins Valley, Washington County, Oregon
New geologic mapping (Wells and others, 2020b) and geophysical mapping (Blakely and others, 2000; McPhee and others, 2014; Wells and others, 2020a) document kilometers of Cenozoic right-lateral offset along the Gales Creek Fault Zone, a major, northwest-striking fault zone forming the boundary between the Tualatin Valley and the Coast Range. The Bureau of Reclamation’s (Reclamation) Scoggins Dam (fig. 1), in the Coast Range foothills west of Forest Grove, Oregon, lies within the Gales Creek Fault Zone as mapped by Wells and others (2020a, 2020b; fig. 2). Active faults of the Gales Creek Fault Zone defined by paleoseismic trenching (Redwine and others, 2017, 2019b, Horst and others, 2018, 2019, 2021, and Wells and others, 2020a) are presently mapped as projecting through the existing dam. The Pacific Northwest Region of Reclamation requested assistance with geologic studies around Scoggins Dam to provide better understanding of fault locations and their activity, which are needed to design a modification of the dam (Maguire, 2019a, b). The scope of this project includes detailed geology of the existing Scoggins Dam site, Henry Hagg Lake, the reservoir behind the dam, and Scoggins Valley downstream of the existing dam, particularly around a potential new dam site, where Scoggins Creek cuts through a narrow gap formed by a resistant felsic tuff bed that crosses the valley.
Oregon↗
Geology of Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
Mount Rainier National Park includes 378 square miles of rugged terrain on the west slope of the Cascade Mountains in central Washington. Its mast imposing topographic and geologic feature is glacier-clad Mount Rainier. This volcano, composed chiefly of flows of pyroxene andesite, was built upon alt earlier mountainous surface, carved from altered volcanic and sedimentary rocks invaded by plutonic and hypabyssal igneous rocks of great complexity. The oldest rocks in the park area are those that make up the Olmnapecosh Formation of late Eocene age. This formation is more than 10,000 feet thick, and consists almost entirely of volcanic debris. It includes some lensoid accumulations of lava and coarse mudflows, heaped around volcanic centers., but these are surrounded by vastly greater volumes of volcanic clastic rocks, in which beds of unstratified coarse tuff-breccia, about 30 feet in average thickness, alternate with thin-bedded breccias, sandstones, and siltstones composed entirely of volcanic debris. The coarser tuff-breccias were probably deposited from subaqueous volcanic mudflows generated when eruption clouds were discharged directly into water, or when subaerial ash flows and mudflows entered bodies of water. The less mobile mudflows and viscous lavas built islands surrounded by this sea of thinner bedded water-laid clastics. In compostion the lava flows and coarse lava fragments of the Ohanapecosh Formation are mostly andesite, but they include less abundant dacite, basalt, and rhyolite. The Ohanapecosh Formation was folded, regionally altered to minerals characteristic of the zeolite facies of metamorphism, uplifted, and deeply eroded before the overlying Stevens Ridge Formation of Oligocene or early Miocene age was deposited upon it. The Stevens Ridge rocks, which are about 3,000 feet in maximum total thickness, consist mainly of massive ash flows. These are now devitrified and altered, but they originally consisted of rhyodacite pumice lapilli and glass shards, which compacted and welded into thick massive units during emplacement and cooling. Subordinate water-laid clastic rocks occur t(ward the top of the formation, and thin-bedded pyroclastic layers occur between some of the ash flows. Exposures on Backbone Ridge and on Carbon River below the mouth of Cataract Creek show that in places the thick basal Stevens Ridge ash flows swept with great violence over an old erosion surface developed on rocks of the Ohanapecosh Formation. Masses of mud, tree trunks, and other surface debris were swirled upward into the base of the lowermost ash fiery, and lobes and tongues of hot ash were forced downward into. the saprolitic mud. The Stevens Ridge Formation is concordantly overlain by the Fifes Peak Formation of probable early Miocene age, which consists of lava flows, subordinate mudflows, and minor quantities of tuffaceous clastic rocks. The lavas are predominantly olivine basalt and basaltic andesite, but they include a little rhyolite. They are slightly to moderately altered: the ferromagnesian phenocrysts are generally replaced by saponite, chiprite, or carbonate ; the glass is devitrified ; and the rocks are locally permeated by veinlets of zeolite. Swarms of diabase sills and dikes are probably intrusive equivalents of the Fifes Peak lavas. The upper part of the Fifes Peak Formation has been mostly eroded from Mount Rainier National Park, but farther north, in the Cedar Lake quadrangle, it attains a thickness of more than 5,000 feet. The Fifes Peak and earlier formations were gently folded, faulted, uplifted, and eroded before the. late Miocene Tatoosh pluton worked its way upward to shallow depths and eventually broke through to the surface. The rise of the pluton was accompanied by .the injection of a complicated melange of satellitic stocks, sills, and dikes. A favored horizon for intrusion of sills was along or near the unconfo
Professional Paper↗
USGS Water Data for Washington
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been investigating the water resources of Washington State since the latter part of the 19th century. During this time, demand for water has evolved from primarily domestic and stock needs to the current complex requirements for public-water supplies, irrigation, power generation, navigation, ecological needs, and numerous other uses. Water-resource data collected by the USGS in Washington have been, or soon will be, published by the USGS Washington Water Science Center (WAWSC) in numerous data and interpretive reports. Most of these reports are available online at the WAWSC web page http://wa.water.usgs.gov/pubs/
Fact Sheet↗
Digital geologic map of the Sandpoint 1- by 2-degree quadrangle, Washington, Idaho, and Montana
The geology of the Sandpoint 1:250,000 quadrangle, Washington, Idaho, and Montana was mapped by F.K. Miller, R.F. Burmester, D.M. Miller, and R.E. Powell between 1963 and 1995 onto a scale-stable 1:250,000 topographic map base and subsequently input into an Arc/Info geographic information system (GIS) by P.D. Derkey. The digital geologic map database can be queried in many ways to produce a variety of derivative geologic maps.
Idaho, Montana, Washington↗
Geologic map of the Mount Washington quadrangle, north-central Kentucky
No abstract available.
Kentucky↗
Geologic map of the Mount Washington quadrangle, Bernalillo and Valencia Counties, New Mexico
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Geologic Quadrangle↗
Microearthquake activity in the vicinity of Wooded Island, Hanford region, Washington
The U.S. Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.) began to monitor microearthquake activity in the region of the Atomic Energy Commission's Hanford Reservation in south-central Washington in March 1969. The Division of Reactor Development and Technology (DRDT), of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), supported the operation of a network of 6 (later 7) short-period, high-gain seismograph stations (Figure 1) through June 1970. Then the Chemical Processing Division (CPD) of the AEC assumed support of the original 7-station network and added 9 additional stations (Figure 1). Some preliminary results from the 7-station network covering the period 23 March 1969 to 31 December 1969 were released in the U.S.G.S. open-file4report "Geologic Investigation of Faulting in the Hanford Region, Washington", by James W. Bingham, Clark J. Landquist, and Elmer H. Baltz. Preliminary reports on the results from the seismograph network for 1970 have been submitted to the AEC. This report covers a specific zone of microearthquake activity located near Wooded Island in the Columbia River, which flows along the east side of the Hanford Reservation (Figure 1). The data cover the period 23 March 1969 to 28 February 1971.
Washington↗
Geologic map of Mount St. Helens, Washington prior to the 1980 eruption
It is rare that a geologic map exists for a volcano prior to such a catastrophic modification as that produced by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980. As such, this map provides an important historical record of the volcano prior to that eruption. The map has not been reviewed or checked for conformity to USGS editorial standards or stratigraphic nomenclature, and it has not been digitized. This version of the map is unchanged from that submitted to the USGS for publication shortly after the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens and includes unresolved inconsistencies with the subsequently published work of Crandell (1987) and Mullineaux (1996). Nevertheless, it is the most accurate available depiction of the pre-1980 edifice and is published here for comparison with more recent geologic mapping and historical perspectives.
Open-File Report↗
Mercury methylation and bioaccumulation in Sinclair Inlet, Kitsap County, Washington
The U.S. Geological Survey evaluated the transformation of mercury to bioavailable methylmercury in Sinclair Inlet, Kitsap County, Washington, and assessed the effect of the transformation processes on the mercury burden in marine organisms and sediment. In August 2008, samples of sediment, water, and biota from six sites in Sinclair Inlet and three bays representative of Puget Sound embayments were collected. The extensive sediment sampling included analysis of methylmercury in sediment and porewater, estimates of methylation production potential, and analyses of ancillary constituents associated with organic carbon and reduction-oxidation (redox) conditions to assist in interpreting the mercury results. Analyses of methylmercury in water overlying incubated cores provided an estimate of the release of methylmercury to the water column. Collection of samples for mercury species in the aqueous, particulate (suspended solids), and biological phases, and for ancillary carbon and nitrogen constituents in surface water, continued, on about a monthly schedule, at four stations through August 2009. In February, June, and August 2009, seasonal sediment samples were collected at 20 stations distributed between greater Sinclair Inlet and Operable Unit B Marine of the Bremerton naval complex, Bremerton, Washington, to examine geographical and seasonal patterns of mercury biogeochemistry of sediment in Sinclair Inlet. At six of these seasonal sediment stations, porewater was collected and triplicate core incubation experiments were done. Median sediment-methylmercury concentrations were not statistically different between the representative bays and Sinclair Inlet. The percentage of sediment methylmercury (relative to total mercury) was actually lower in the Sinclair Inlet sites compared with the representative bays, reflecting the higher sediment total mercury concentration for the Sinclair Inlet stations compared with the representative bays. Likewise, median sediment methylmercury concentrations were not statistically different between the greater Sinclair Inlet stations and the Bremerton naval complex stations; whereas the percentage of sediment methylmercury to total mercury was lower in the Bremerton naval complex due to higher sediment total mercury concentrations than the greater Sinclair Inlet stations. The biogeochemical characteristics of each station, measured by redox, organic carbon, and the seasonal availability of nutrients controlled methylmercury biogeochemistry. Mercury methylation production potential was a function of temperature, concentration of total mercury in sediment, and the percentage of ferrous iron (relative to total measured iron) across all sites. Methylmercury porewater concentrations were best described by using concentrations of dissolved organic carbon and reduction-oxidation conditions. Likewise, the variable fluxes of methylmercury from incubated cores were best described using dissolved organic carbon and reduction-oxidation conditions. Sinclair Inlet exhibited the classic Puget Sound biological cycle, with spring and autumn phytoplankton blooms resulting in depletion of nitrate, orthophosphate, and silicate in the surface water. Although variable in timing between 2008 and 2009, a strong corresponding seasonal trend of increased availability, incorporation, and bioaccumulation of methylmercury into the food web of Sinclair Inlet occurred during the early spring and summer growing season.
Washington↗
Geologic maps and cross sections of mine levels at the Pea Ridge iron mine, Washington County, Missouri
This geologic mapping and interpretation of the Pea Ridge iron mine, Missouri, is part of a cooperative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geology and Land Survey (DGLS), under the auspices of the USGS Midcontinent Strategic and Critical Minerals Project. The goal of the Pea Ridge study is to compare the Middle Proterozoic iron deposits of Missouri with the Middle Proterozoic Olympic Dam deposit and similar deposits of the Stuart Shelf, South Australia. This effort developed from work by Sims and others (1987), who recognized the many similarities between the St. Francois terrane in southeastern Missouri and the Stuart Shelf and also the potential for Olympic Dam-type deposits in the Middle Proterozoic granite-rhyolite terranes of the Midcontinent. Detailed descriptions of the map units are given in Nuelle and others (1992). Results of stable-isotope, fluid-inclusion, and traceelement studies that focus on the origin of the ore deposit are presented in Day and others (1991, 1992, and 1993), Sidder and others (1991, 1993a, b), and Cordell and others (1993).
Missouri↗