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41. [Article] The oligocene and miocene geology of the Tillamook embayment Tillamook County, northwest Oregon
Eleven sedimentary and volcanic rock units are mapped and described in the thesis area, and chronicle the dynamic geologic history of the Tillamook embayment from the Oligocene through the middle Mlocene. ...Citation Citation
- Title:
- The oligocene and miocene geology of the Tillamook embayment Tillamook County, northwest Oregon
- Author:
- Parker, Michael J. (Michael John), 1958-
Eleven sedimentary and volcanic rock units are mapped and described in the thesis area, and chronicle the dynamic geologic history of the Tillamook embayment from the Oligocene through the middle Mlocene. The oldest unit is the Zemorrian to early Saucesian Smuggler Cove formation, a bathyal tuffaceous mudstone with some thin- to thick-bedded tuff layers deposited on the middle to upper continental slope during a period of explosive silicic volcanism in the Western Cascade arc. Uppermost Smuggler Cove strata are coarser grained, grading upward to arkosic turbidite sandstone and mudstone and thick bloturbated silty sandstone deposited on the outer shelf during marine regression. This regression heralded the progradation of the overlying shallow-marine Bewley Creek formation (informal) depositional system. The Bewley Creek formation (informal) is proposed in this study for a sequence of pumiceous, volcaniclastic-rich lower Miocene feldspathic litharenites and lithic arkoses deposited during the Pillarlan-stage near the mouth of an ancestral Columbia River. The unit grades from bioturbated silty sandstone to fine-grained hummocky cross-stratified and coarser grained channelized sandstones deposited within, or peripheral to a wave-dominated delta or ebb tidal-delta channel complex. Progradatlon of the Bewley Creek formation may have been caused, in part, by increased volcaniclastic sedimentation attending a pulse of explosive volcanism in the adjacent Western Cascade arc. Reduced volcanic activity, possibly coupled with basin subsidence or eustatic sea level rise, resulted in deposition of mudstones of the Sutton Creek member (informal; proposed) of the Nye Mudstone. The Saucesian Sutton Creek member consists of bathyal, laminated, carbonaceous, and moderately tuffaceous mudstone deposited in an upper continental slope basin. The upper part of the unit contains common lithic to arkosic turbidite sandstone interbeds within nested channel-fill deposits. These strata represent a channelized shelf-slope break environment adjacent to the shallow-marine Angora Peak member of the Astoria Formation depositlonal system. Subsequent marine regression resulted in progradation of the Pillarian- to Newportian-stage arkosic-micaceous sandstone-rich Angora Peak member into the Tillamook embayment. Grainsize analysis, sandstone petrography, scanning electron microscopy, and heavy mineral analyses suggest these lower to middle Miocene mollusk-bearing, fine- to medium-grained sandstones were predominantly deposited near the mouth of an ancestral Columbia River. They accumulated on a high-energy Inner shelf within or down drift of a wave-dominated delta or ebb-tidal delta complex, evidenced by paleocurrent analyses, hummocky cross-stratification and trough cross-stratified submarine channel-fill sequences. The Angora Peak member disconformably overlies Zemorrian mudstones of the Smuggler Cove formation at Cape Kiwanda suggesting local uplift and erosion in that area, followed by Newportian stage transgression in the Tillamook embayment. Exotic cobbles and boulders of two mica granite and sedimentary quartzite at Cape Kiwanda were probably derived from the Idaho Batholith and Precambrian sandstone terrains in Montana, transported via an ancestral Columbia River and longshore current to the shelf possibly bound within tree root bundles. The Netarts Bay member (informal) of the Astoria Formation Is proposed In this study for a late Sauceslan package of fine-grained to pebbly amalgamated and interbedded turbidite, grainflow, and fluldized flow friable thick-bedded lithic arkoses. These massive sandstones contain large penecontemporaneously emplaced channel wall-blocks and naller slltstone rip-ups. These lower to middle Miocene strata were deposited in a submarine canyon head and channel complex offshore of the shallow-marine Angora Peak member depositlonal system. Netarts Bay strata cut Into the underlying Angora Peak shelf strata, and cut and Interfinger with bathyal slope mudstones of the Cannon Beach member of the Astoria Formation. The overlying lower Cannon Beach member Is composed of laminated bathyal mudstones with rare turbidite sandstone interbeds deposited in a coarse clastic-starved slope environment. Upper Cannon Beach member strata In the Tillamook area are characterized by micaceous arkosic and lithic arkosic turbidite sandstones that underlie and occur within nested channel-fill sequences. Bloturbated carbonaceous cross-bedded sandstone In the upper Cannon Beach member records shallowing of the Tillamook embayment to a channelized upper slope to shelf environment. The Tillamook embayment was uplifted and dissected prior to the arrival of six to ten Intracanyon subaerial and submarine lava flows of the Columbia River Basalt Group. These middle Miocene flows, delineatedon the basis of geochemical composition and magnetic polarity, Include (in stratigraphic order) the Grouse Creek (R2 low MgO-low T102), Winterwater (N2 low MgO-low Ti02), and Sentinel Bluffs (high MgO) units of the Grande Ronde Basalt, and the Ginkgo unit of the Frenchman Springs member of the Wanapum Basalt. Orientation of Grande Ponde Basalt foreset-bedded pillow palagonite complexes and lava delta sequences indicate that these Columbia River Basalt units flowed westward into the Tillainook embayment, possibly through a saddle in the ancestral Oregon Coast Range. Marine transgression and deposition of hummocky cross-stratified arkosic marine strata of the Sandstone of Whale Cove followed emplacement of the last Grande Ronde flows. This was succeeded by a regression, as Indicated by the overlying subaerial plagioclase-phyric Ginkgo Unit flow of the Frenchman Springs Basalt. Locally, Winterwater and Sentinel Bluffs unit basalt occur as brecciated peperitic sills and dikes. These were emplaced through the process of "auto-invasion" when dense lava injected downward Into semi-lithifled Tertiary strata under the influence of both a pressure head augmented by flashing steam, and steam blasting. The thesis area is crossed by a complex network of high-angle northwest- and northeast-tending normal and reverse faults, and both low and high-angle east-trending reverse and thrust faults. These faults may have developed through a north-south compressional tectonic regime, a dextral shear couple, or a combination of these two tectonic regimes. Many faults cut Columbia River Basalt units and are thus middle Miocene or younger in age. Tertiary strata including the Columbia River Basalts are also folded within a broad westward-plunging syncline which suggests a middle Miocene or younger compressional event. Source rock analyses indicate that the mudstones of the Cannon Beach member, Sutton Creek member, and Smuggler Cove formation contain type III kerogen capable of generating natural gas only. Although these rocks have thermally innature vitrinite reflectance values, they contain sufficiently high total organic carbon content to be considered potential lean source rocks. Arkosic sandstones of the Angora Peak and Netarts Bay members have fair to good reservoir rock characteristics, and may represent reservoirs offshore for matured hydrocarbons generated from deeply buried source rocks.
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To the best of our knowledge, one or more authors of this paper were federal employees when contributing to this work. This is an author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. ...
Citation Citation
- Title:
- Submarine Magmatic-Hydrothermal Systems at the Monowai Volcanic Centre, Kermadec Arc
- Author:
- Schwarz-Schampera, Ulrich, Lupton, John, Baker, Edward T., Butterfield, David A., Hannington, Mark D., Leybourne, Matthew I., Chadwick, William W., Jr., Faure, Kevin, Embley, Robert W., Walker, Sharon L., Clark, Malcolm, Timm, Christian, Wright, Ian C., Massoth, Gary J., Resing, Joe, de Ronde, Cornel E. J., Graham, Ian J.
To the best of our knowledge, one or more authors of this paper were federal employees when contributing to this work. This is an author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by the Society of Economic Geologists and can be found at: http://econgeol.geoscienceworld.org/.
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The middle to late Eocene tholeiitic Tillamook Volcanics compose the oldest rock unit in the Hamlet-North Fork of the Nehalem River area. Geochemical plots and field relationships indicate that these rocks ...
Citation Citation
- Title:
- Geology of the Hamlet-North Fork of the Nehalem River area, southern Clatsop and northernmost Tillamook Counties, northwest Oregon
- Author:
- Rarey, Phillip Jay
The middle to late Eocene tholeiitic Tillamook Volcanics compose the oldest rock unit in the Hamlet-North Fork of the Nehalem River area. Geochemical plots and field relationships indicate that these rocks were produced in an extensional tectonic setting in the developing forearc and formed an extensive tholeiltic oceanic island. The volcanics consi5t of a thick sequence of normally and reversely polarized subaerial basalt and basaltic andesite flows in the Hamlet-North Fork of the Nehalem River area. The "Gray's River area" Goble Volcanics in southwest Washington are chemically and stratigraphically correlative to the Tillamook Volcanics. Cessation of Tillamook volcanism resulted in thermal subsidence and transgression of the overlying Hamlet formation. Upper Narizian (middle to upper Eccene) nearshore fossiliferous basaltic boulder-pebble conglomerates and basaltic sandstones of the Roy Creek member of the Hamlet formation (informal) were deposited along a rocky basaltic coastline over the subsiding volcanic "island". Scanning electron microscopy shows that radial pore-filling chloritic cement has significantly reduced porosity in Roy Creek member sandstones. Micaceous and carbonaceous silty mudstones and rare thin basaltic turbidite sandstones of the Sweet Home Creek member of the Hamlet formation (informal> were deposited on the outer shelf to upper slope above the Roy Creek member as the basin continued to deepen. The Sweet Home Creek member contains abundant bathyal benthtc foraminifera assignable to the upper Narizian stage. Calcareous nannofossils collected from the unit have been assigned to subzone CP-14a which is in agreement with foraminifera data. The upper part of the Sweet Home Creek member is in part a deep marine correlative to shelf arkosic sandstones of the Cowltiz Formation which pinches out into the Sweet Home Creek member in eastern Clatsop County. Much of the detritus in the Sweet Home Creek member was derived from plutonic and metamorphic sources in contrast to the locally derived Roy Creek member. Calc-alkaline Cole Mountain basalt (informal) intrudes and overlies the Sweet Home Creek member. Cole Mountain basalt was formed in a compressional tectonic environment and emplaced on the outer continental shelf as shallow intrusions and submarine flow. The unit is chemically and petrographically distinct from the Tillamook Volcanics and chemically similar to and stratigraphically correlative to the type Goble Volcanics (e.g. low Ti02 and low P205). Unconformably overlying the Cole Mountain basalt and the Sweet Home Creek member is the bathyal, Refugian (upper Eocene), Jewell member of the Keasey Formation. It consists of three parts a basal glauconitic sandstone-siltstone, a laminated tuffaceous sandstone unit with rare small arkosic sandstone channels and occasional clastic dikes, and an upper laminated to bioturbated tuffaceous silt-mudstone. trkosic sandstones were derived from an ancesteral Columbia River system whereas abundant tuffaceous detritus was derived locally from the Cascade arc. The Refugian lower Smuggler Cove formation (informal) gradationally overlies the Jewell member and consists of bioturbated, tuffaceous, bathyal mudstones. Outer shelf, very fine-grained tuffaceous sandstones of the David Douglas tongue (informal) of the Pittsburg Bluff Formation and deeper marine correlative outer shelf to upper slope glauconitic sanstones of the middle Smuggler Cove formation overlie the lower Smuggler Cove formation. The upper Smuggler Cove formation consists of uppermost Refugian to Zemmorian bathyal, bioturbated, fossiliferous, well-indurated tuffaceous siltstone. Laminated carbonaceous mudetones and thin (<1/2 m) arkosic sandstone beds of the ball park unit in the Smuggler Cove formation overlie and interfinger with (7) the upper Smuggler Cove formation. The ball park unit is late Zemorrian (Oligocene) or Saucesian (Early Miocene) in age. Fluvial-deltaic to shallow marine sandstones and conglomerates of the lower to middle Miocene angora Peek member of the astoria Formation unconformably overlies the Smuggler Cove formation. Numerous middle to upper Miocene basalts and gabbros intrude the sedimentary rocks in the thesis area. The intrusive rocks are chemically, magnetically, petrographically, and chronologically correlative to the Grande Ronde Basalt, Frenchman Springs Member, and Pomona Member of the Columbia River Basalt Group on the Columbia Plateau. The Grande Ronde Basalt intrusives have been divided into three chemical-magnetostratigraphic units in the thesis area and correlated to subaerial Columbia River Basalt flows located approximately 35 km to the northeast. The intrusive rocks are thought to have formed by invasion of voluminous subaerial flows into soft, semiconsolidated marine sediments as first envisioned by Beeson et. al. (1979). Uplift of the Coast Range forearc ridge from late Miocene to present has resulted in subaerial erosion and exposure of rock units. Thin alluvial gravels and sands were deposited in the southeastern corner of the thesis area during the Quaternary. Structure in the thesis area is dominated by a series of east-west trending high angle faults and a younger series of conjugate northeast-and northwest-trending high angle oblique slip faults. Proton precession magnetometer traverses confirm the presence of the faults. The structure may have been produced by partial coupling of the forearc region with the subducting Farallon plate. The thesis area has been actively explored for hydrocarbons. Geologic mapping, however, shows that significant sandstone reservoirs are not present in the subsurface and, therefore, the area has low potential of hydrocarbon production. Mudstones in the thesis area average approximately 0.9-1.1% total organic carbon with vitrinite reflectance values ranging from 0.53% Ro (unbaked) to 0.72% Ro (baked). Therefore, the mudstones are a marginal to poor source of thermogenic gas but a possible source of methane gas.
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Constraining the development, evolution, and timescales of large silicic magma systems is important to understanding the development of granite batholiths, the relationships between volcanoes and their ...
Citation Citation
- Title:
- Timescales of large silicic magma systems : implications from accessory minerals in Pleistocene lavas of the Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Complex, central Andes
- Author:
- Tierney, Casey R.
Constraining the development, evolution, and timescales of large silicic magma systems is important to understanding the development of granite batholiths, the relationships between volcanoes and their plutonic underpinnings, and the development of the continental crust. The ignimbrite flare up that produced the Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Complex of the Central Andes is characterized by episodic volcanism over a ~11 Ma time-span that climaxed about 4 Ma. Since peak activity, the temporal and spatial record of volcanism suggests a waning of the system with only one other supervolcanic eruption at 2.6 Ma. The most recent phase of volcanism from the APVC comprises a series of late Pleistocene domes that share a general petrochemical resemblance to the ignimbrites. New U-Th/U-Pb data on zircons and high precision 40Ar/39Ar age determinations reveal that these effusive eruptions represent a temporally coherent magmatic episode. The five largest domes (Chao, Chillahuita, Chanka, Chascon-Runtu Jarita, and Tocopuri) have a combined volume >40 km³, and are distributed over a roughly elliptical area of almost 2000km² centered at 22°S 68°W. They are crystal rich (>50%) dacites to rhyolites. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages from biotite reveals eruption ages from 108±6 to 120±5 ka while more accurate sanidine for some of the domes reveal eruption ages from 87±4 to 97±2 ka. SIMS U-series crystallization ages from the rims of 215 zircon crystals from the domes show a similar age spectra from dome to dome, with common peaks in zircon ages at ~100ka and ~220ka. Furthermore, the ages reveal a fairly continuous spread of ages from near eruption to >300ka indicating that the residence time of this magma body was likely over a similar time interval. Ubiquitous andesitic inclusions evidence a vital role for recharge in sustaining and maybe eventual eruption of these magmas. Lastly, the interiors of crystals with rim U-Th secular equilibrium ages were re-analyzed and have yielded U-Pb ages of up to 3.5 Ma. The presence of these older interiors suggests that the source region of these magmas retained a record of an earlier history dating back to the last supervolcanic eruption in the region from the nearby Pastos Grandes caldera. This suggests that the thermal history of the system precluded complete resorption of antecrysts. The volcanological, petrological, temporal and spatial coherence of this series of eruptions combined with the similar ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and zircon age spectra argue for a long-lived and unitary magma chamber revealing perhaps the waning of this major continental magma system.
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45. [Article] Partial melting of tonalite at the margins of a Columbia River Basalt Group dike, Wallowa Mountains, northeastern Oregon
Columbia River Basalt Group dikes cut the tonalite-granodiorite Wallowa Batholith in northeastern Oregon, providing a natural setting in which to examine partial melting. Many dikes have up to 5 m-wide ...Citation Citation
- Title:
- Partial melting of tonalite at the margins of a Columbia River Basalt Group dike, Wallowa Mountains, northeastern Oregon
- Author:
- Petcovic, Heather L.
Columbia River Basalt Group dikes cut the tonalite-granodiorite Wallowa Batholith in northeastern Oregon, providing a natural setting in which to examine partial melting. Many dikes have up to 5 m-wide zones of quenched partially melted wallrock at their margins. This paper examines the progressive partial melting reactions in biotite-and hornblende-bearing tonalite at the margin of a near-vertical Grande Ronde dike in the vicinity of Maxwell Lake. Paleodepth at the time of dike emplacement is estimated at 1- 2 km, and dike temperature was about 1140°C. Samples collected from the dike margin represent five successive stages of melt reaction over a distance of about 5 m from unmolten wallrock (Stage 1) to about 40 volume percent (vol%) quenched melt (Stage 5). This melt is now represented by about 31 vol% silicic glass that has undergone little to no devitrification and about 9 vol% plagioclase, pyroxene, and Fe-Ti oxide quench crystals. Whole rock major and trace element bulk compositional data are nearly identical to unmolten rock at each stage, suggesting that the melt did not separate from the restite and each stage represents essentially a chemically closed system. With progressive melting, primary hornblende, biotite, and orthoclase are entirely consumed but residual plagioclase, quartz, Fe-Ti oxides and apatite persist in the restite. Hornblende dehydration initially produces a dusty intergrowth of augite, pigeonite, lesser enstatite, and sparse Fe-Ti oxides. Initial biotite dehydration produces titaniferous magnetite and lesser ilmenite aligned in bands in an intergrowth of enstatite and plagioclase. Andesine plagioclase develops a spongy texture as the albite component is lost to the melt. Reaction of hornblende, quartz, and feldspar produces sparse tonalitic (high-Ca) glass, while the reaction of biotite, quartz, and feldspar produces abundant granitic (high-K) glass. The two glass types are irregularly distributed around mafic reaction sites and in up to 2 mm seams on quartz-feldspar contacts. With progressive melting, replacement phases become compositionally more homogeneous, clinopyroxene is consumed, the proportion of plagioclase decreases, and glasses become slightly more mafic. Granitic and tonalitic glasses persist in just over 31 vol% glass suggesting that deformation is required to mix these melt types.
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A composite 732-rn thick section in Germany Creek of middle Eocene upper McIntosh and lower Cowlitz Formations, as well as the lower Grays River Volcanics, was studied using bio-, magneto- and lithostratigraphy ...
Citation Citation
- Title:
- Sequence stratigraphy and lithofacies of the middle Eocene upper McIntosh and Cowlitz Formations, geology of the Grays River Volcanics, Castle Rock - Germany Creek area, southwest Washington
- Author:
- Kleibacker, Derik W.
A composite 732-rn thick section in Germany Creek of middle Eocene upper McIntosh and lower Cowlitz Formations, as well as the lower Grays River Volcanics, was studied using bio-, magneto- and lithostratigraphy to construct a sequence stratigraphic framework and assess hydrocarbon exploration potential. The upper McIntosh Formation forms a complete 3rd order depositional cycle that includes shallow marine, tide- and wave-dominated sandstones (upper McIntosh sandstone member) and overlying bathyal to outer-shelf siltstone (upper Mcintosh siltsone member). The upper McIntosh Formation coffelates to Chrons C19r (41.5 -42.5 Ma) and lower Chron 19n (41.5-41.2 Ma). A 31 order sequence boundary straddling Chron 19n (41.2-41.5 Ma) shows truncation of the highstand upper McIntosh siltstone by prograding lowstand shoreface parasequences of the lower Cowlitz Formation. The overlying (300 m thick) shoreface transgressive (TST) and highstand system tracts (HST) of the Cowlitz Formation range in age from 41.5-41.2 Ma to 39.35 ±0.36 Ma. The Cowlitz Formation HST of the study area chronostratigraphically correlates to the reservoir Clark arid Wilson sandstone member of the Mist Gas Field Cowlitz Formation and to informal unit 1A and lower unit lB of the type-Cowlitz Formation, southwest Washington. The Grays River Volcanics of the study area are subdivided by an intraformational unconformity defining the upper (~150-m thick; 38.6-36.8 Ma) and lower (1250-m thick; 40.1-39 Ma) Grays River Volcanics subunits. Two subalkaline olivine- augite tholeiitic basalt flows of the lower Grays River Volcanics conformably overlying the Cowlitz Formation in Germany Creek were 40Ar/39Ar dated at 40.09 ±0.34 Ma and 39.35 ±0.36 Ma. The tholeiitic upper Grays River basalt unconformably overlies the lower Grays River Volcanics and the Cowlitz Formation. Numerous sub-parallel, northeast and minor northwest trending Grays River dikes (40Ar/39Ar dated at 39.98 ±0.29 and 39.56 ±0.41 Ma) attest to extension of the study area during the eruption of the Grays River Volcanics. The Oligocene Lincoln Creek Formation (~70m) consists of bioturbated tuffaceous siltstone and interbedded silty sandstone with casts and molds of articulated mollusks. Geochemistry, normal polarity, and dikytaxitic texture of the 50-60 m thick Grande Ronde basalt are indicative of the Sentinel Bluffs unit (15.6 Ma) (Columbia River Basalt Group). The Arkansas Anticline and three fault sets: (1) north-northwest- and (2) northwest-trending dextral oblique-slip faults, and (3) subordinate northeast-trending conjugate sinistral oblique-slip faults are related to two periods of deformation. They are: (1) dextral transtension resulting in horst and graben style faulting, beginning 40-39.5 Ma and terminating prior to the eruption of the upper Grays River volcanics (38.6 Ma); (2) post-middle Miocene period of dextral transpression, including dextral reactivation of normal faults and associated broad regional northwest-trending folding (e.g. Arkansas Anticline). Small normal fault block similar to the Mist Gas Field provide structural traps throughout southwest Washington. Petrography of micaceous lithic arkoses of the upper McIntosh sandstone and Cowlitz Formation indicates reservoir-quality sandstones with an estimated porosity of 16-19%. The most likely hydrocarbon exploration play involves the subtidal to shoreface upper McIntosh Formation sandstone member.
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47. [Article] Susceptibility of select salmonids to Myxobolus cerebralis and effects of exposure on anadromous salmonids in Oregon
Myxobolus cerebralis, a myxozoan parasite of salmonids, is the causative agent of whirling disease. The parasite is considered widespread throughout northeastern Oregon in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha River ...Citation Citation
- Title:
- Susceptibility of select salmonids to Myxobolus cerebralis and effects of exposure on anadromous salmonids in Oregon
- Author:
- Sollid, Sarah A.
Myxobolus cerebralis, a myxozoan parasite of salmonids, is the causative agent of whirling disease. The parasite is considered widespread throughout northeastern Oregon in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha River basins where threatened and endangered salmonid populations exist. The work presented in this thesis comprises several studies that assess the effects of M. cerebralis on resident and anadromous salmonids in Oregon. Laboratory challenges to determine the susceptibility of indigenous Deschutes River, Oregon, salmonids to M. cerebralis were conducted as part of a study to assess the risk of reintroducing anadromous salmon above a migration barrier on that river. This study was the first to assess the susceptibility of kokanee salmon Oncorhynchus nerka to M. cerebralis, and results contribute to the understanding of salmonid susceptibility as it relates to species and age. Further, this study demonstrates that the indigenous salmonids present in the river are susceptible to infection, but resident rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss would be most at risk should introduction of M. cerebralis occur in this system. The susceptibility of chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha to M. cerebralis was assessed following laboratory challenges at different ages to different parasite levels. Results from this study indicate that chinook salmon are more resistant to M. cerebralis infection than susceptible rainbow trout; resistance to disease developed in chinook salmon exposed after 3 weeks of age. Sustained exposures to a low parasite dose were performed to model the conditions chinook salmon would encounter in a natural exposure. Following continuous exposure to low parasite densities, chinook salmon were very resistant to infection and disease. Managed populations of chinook salmon and steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss juveniles are held in acclimation facilities on their natal streams before release to commence their seaward migration. Rainbow trout fry were held at each of the acclimation facilities to detect the presence of M. cerebralis and to assess the prevalence of exposure during the acclimation period. Results from these exposures indicate that the Wallowa acclimation facility is a high-risk site for parasite exposure of steelhead juveniles. Further, detection was confirmed in several rivers and streams where the presence of M. cerebralis has been suggested. Finally, a preliminary study on the effect of M. cerebralis on survival of steelhead juveniles upon transfer to saltwater was conducted. Results from this study indicate that M. cerebralis exposure and infection may increase mortality among juvenile steelhead during saltwater adaptation.
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Fuel management has been used as an effective local strategy to reduce the undesirable consequences of wildfires. Many efforts toward scheduling of fuel management activities across a broader landscape ...
Citation Citation
- Title:
- Spatial patterns of fuel management activities and their effects on wildfire behavior
- Author:
- Kim, Young-Hwan
Fuel management has been used as an effective local strategy to reduce the undesirable consequences of wildfires. Many efforts toward scheduling of fuel management activities across a broader landscape have been proposed, with the hope of achieving larger landscape-scale management effects. However, scheduling of fuel management treatments across the broader landscape is limited by understandings of how individual management activities aggregate to larger scales and how they affect the behavior of wildfires. Since full coverage of a landscape with fuels management treatments is unlikely, it is necessary to examine the effects of a spatial pattern of individual management activities at the landscape scale. In this research, four spatial patterns of fuel management activities – dispersed, clumped, random, and regular – were tested to investigate their potential for reducing the risk of severe wildfire. A new methodology was developed for optimizing fuel management patterns across a landscape based on a heuristic technique and GIS databases. To quantify the cumulative effects of fuel management patterns for disrupting the progress of wildfires, overall flame length, fireline intensity, and fire size were measured for simulated fires, using a fire growth simulation model, FARSITE. The management scenarios generated from the scheduling model presented a variety of dispersion and treatment sizes, but also evenly distributed the harvest volume through the multi-decade time horizon. The optimized spatial patterns were qualified through visual examination as well as a statistical assessment. Through this research, I have learned that the efficiency of fuels management activities for reducing severity of wildfire is primarily influenced by treatment size, type, and intensity. Most importantly, treatment types and intensity are the critical factor to disrupt human-caused wildfires. The regular pattern seemed to be the most acceptable for either random ignitions or hypothetical human-caused ignitions. It provided the highest frequency in which simulated fires could contact the treated units, and higher treatment intensity measured by amount of harvested volume from a unit area. To enhance the results of this research, we suggest that one should utilize more feasible management prescriptions for post-fire fuel conditions, and expand ignition sources to other type of human-caused ignitions or natural-caused ignitions.
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This study examined fish movements and assemblage dynamics in the Wenaha, Grande Ronde, Snake river system of northeast Oregon and southeast Washington. I investigated the role of fish movement in the ...
Citation Citation
- Title:
- Fish movement and assemblage dynamics in a Pacific Northwest riverscape
- Author:
- Baxter, Colden V.
This study examined fish movements and assemblage dynamics in the Wenaha, Grande Ronde, Snake river system of northeast Oregon and southeast Washington. I investigated the role of fish movement in the dynamics of stream fish assemblages and evaluated relationships between species movement, assemblage structure, and the heterogeneity of habitat at multiple scales within the river network. In doing so, I employed a landscape approach, visualizing the heterogeneity and dynamics of the system as a "riverscape" that sets the stage for the ecology of stream fishes. I quantified fish assemblage dynamics, characterized the nature and extent of movement by representative fish species, and assessed spatial and temporal heterogeneity of stream habitat within the river network. I applied multiple methods, including underwater fish surveys and radio telemetry, and used multiple sampling approaches that allowed me to detect patterns at nested spatial and temporal scales. I found that spatial patterns in fish assemblage structure were highly dynamic over seasonal to diel temporal scales. Seasonal changes in fish assemblage patterns along the length of the river system were primarily driven by the migration of native fishes such as mountain whitefish, bull trout, and largescale suckers. These highly migratory species exhibited a diverse array of movement strategies and often had annual ranges of hundreds of kilometers. The movement of fishes at smaller spatial scales influenced diel dynamics of fish assemblage patterns. Important habitat features at stream, valley segment and channel unit scales were separated spatially, and fish species exhibited a variety of migratory strategies that reflected the complementary use of habitats distributed throughout the riverscape. The importance of fish migration and the dynamic nature of stream fish assemblages and fish habitat relationships should be taken into account in research and conservation of stream fishes. Current conceptual frameworks for stream fish assemblages do not fully reflect the temporal complexity of stream fish life histories or the spatial heterogeneity of stream habitat. I introduce an alternative framework by integrating fish movement into a dynamic perspective of assemblages set within the context of the riverscape, and raise questions regarding the nature of ecological communities.
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Geologic mapping of the Longview-Kelso area and the measurement and description of a composite 650-meter thick stratigraphic section of the Cowlitz Formation (Tc) in Coal Creek using bio-, magneto-, litho-, ...
Citation Citation
- Title:
- Stratigraphy and sedimentology of the middle eocene Cowlitz Formation and adjacent sedimentary and volcanic units in the Longview-Kelso area, southwest Washington
- Author:
- McCutcheon, Mark S.
Geologic mapping of the Longview-Kelso area and the measurement and description of a composite 650-meter thick stratigraphic section of the Cowlitz Formation (Tc) in Coal Creek using bio-, magneto-, litho-, and sequence stratigraphy reveals a complex interplay of Cowlitz micaceous, lithic arkosic shelf to tidal/estuarine to delta plain facies associations, and Grays River basalt lava flows and interbedded basalt volcaniclastics from nearby Grays River eruptive centers (e.g., Mt. Solo and Rocky Point). The lower 100 meters of the Coal Creek section (informal unit 1, Chron 18r) consists of micaceous, lithic arkosic sandstone and siltstone and minor coals, was deposited as part of a highstand system tract (HST) at the base of 3rd order cycle number 3. This unit consists of four dominantly tidal shoaling-upward arkosic sandstone parasequences reflecting upper shoreface to delta plain depositional environments. The overlying unit 2 (Chron 18n) is defined by abundant Grays River basalt volcaniclastic interbeds that intertongue with Cowlitz lithic arkoses. This unit represents the latter part of 3rd order cycle 3, and consists of mostly fining- and thinning-upward parasequences of middle shoreface to delta plain successions of an aggradational to transgressive parasequence set. Near the top of unit 2 is a maximum marine flooding surface depositing lower shoreface lithic arkosic sandstone to shelf siltstones over upper shoreface micaceous lithic arkose. Unit 3 comprises 3rd order cycle 4 (Chron 17r), a lowstand system tract, and consists of 6 mostly fining- and thinning-upward parasequences of lower shoreface to delta plain facies associations. A parasequence or erosional boundary at the base of unit 5 (Chron 17r) consists of submarine channel-fill scoured into underlying micaceous siltstones, produced during a lowstand system tract (LST) of 3rd order cycle 5. This deep marine channel-fill sequence is overlain by thinlybedded to laminated overbank distal turbidites and hemipelagic siltstones that define the top of the Coal Creek section. These 5 informal units in Coal Creek lithologically and chronologically correlate to 5 similar informal units defined by Payne (1998) in the type section of Cowlitz Formation in Olequa Creek near Vader -30 km to the north. Middle Eocene Grays River Volcanics of the study area are mapped as two separate units: a lower unit over 150 meters thick in places, consisting of subaerial basaltic flows and invasive flows (Tgvl), intrusions (Tgvis and Tgvid), and volcaniclastics (Tgvsl); and an upper unit consisting of commonly mollusk-bearing, shallow marine basaltic sedimentary interbeds that intertongue with the Cowlitz Formation (Tgvs2), particularly Cowlitz unit 2 of the Coal Creek section. These volcaniclastic deposits are intrabasinal, derived from volcanic highlands to the west and northwest, and local phreatomagmatic tuff cones. The lower Grays River volcaniclastic unit typically overlies Grays River flows in the study area and is divided into 5 informal facies. Geochemically, Grays River flows in the study area fall within normal parameters (3 to 4% TiO2 and high iron tholeiitic basalts). However, basalt flows and bedded scoriaceous breccias near Rocky Point are anomalously low in TiO2 and are considered in this study to be a separate volcanic subunit (Rocky Point Basalts), time equivalent to and interfingering with Grays River lavas, but may represent mixing with shallower western Cascade calc-alkaline magma. Over 60 younger Grays River dikes intrude the Cowlitz Formation in Coal Creek. A dike low in the Coal Creek section is dated at 40 ± 0.36 Ma, and an invasive flow at Mt. Solo is dated at 36.98 ±.78 Ma. Volcanics capping the hills east of the Cowlitz River are chemically distinct as slightly younger western Cascade basaltic andesite flows, and two dikes east of the river are chemically distinct as western Cascade andesite. Overlying Grays River Volcanics and Cowlitz Formation in much of the study area, are clayey and commonly tuffaceous siltstones and silty sandstones, possibly of the late Eocene-early Oligocene Toutle Formation, a new unit to this area. The Toutle Formation is a mixture of wave and stream reworked micaceous and arkosic Cowlitz Formation and fresh silicic pyroclastic ash and pumice from the active western Cascade arc. An angular unconformity separates the Paleogene Grays River Volcanics, Cowlitz Formation, and Toutle Formation from the early to middle Miocene Columbia River Basalt Group. Based on lithology, geochemistry, stratigraphic relationships, and magnetic polarity, 6 individual Columbia River Basalt flows have been mapped in this study. The three lower Grande Ronde flows are of normal polarity and Ortley low MgO chemical composition. The lowermost flow (N2 Ortley #1) is absent in the Columbia Heights area, low MgO, about 10 meters thick and consists of pillow-palagonite sequences in the upper quarry on Mt. Solo. Aphyric N2 Ortley flow #2 is over 35 meters thick with well-developed upper and lower colonnade, and of intermediate MgO. N2 Ortley flow #3 is pillow-palagonite in the Storedahl Quarry and low MgO. A -4-meter thick tuffaceous overbank siltstone and basalt conglomeratic channel interbed separates the three low MgO Ortley flows from the overlying high MgO N2 Grande Ronde Sentinel Bluffs flow. A single exposure of well-developed large colonnade with sparse 1 cm labradorite laths, and reddish oxidized soil, defines the N Sand Hollow flow of the Frenchman Springs Member of the Wanapum Formation. The overlying Pomona Member is mapped based on previous work by other authors. Pliocene gravels and arkosic sand of the Troutdale Formation form upland terrace deposits up to 100 meters thick in southern parts of the study area, and represent the uplifted paleo-thalweg and overbank flood deposits of the downcutting, antecedent ancestral Columbia River. Well-rounded clasts are a mixture of extrabasinal granitic and metamorphic quartzite, and intrabasinal porphyritic basaltic andesite, dacite, and basalt from the western Cascades and Columbia River Basalts. Troutdale terrace gravels grade northward into contemporaneous volcanic pebble and cobble gravel terrace deposits produced along the ancestral Cowlitz River that are dominantly composed of porphyritic andesite gravel and volcanic sand from the western Cascades. Lower terraces along the Cowlitz River were deposited by the late Pleistocene Missoula Floods. All of these unconsolidated to semiconsolidated gravels and sands are prone to landslides, and the Aldercrest-Banyon landslide, the second worst landslide disaster in American history, occurred in the Troutdale Formation gravels. After eruption of the Grays River Volcanics and deposition of the Cowlitz Formation, the forearc underwent a period of transtension in the late-middle Eocene related to magmatic upwelling and reorganization of the subducting Farallon Plate. This event produced a northwest-trending set of oblique slip normal faults, along which Grays River dikes intruded. Starting in the early Miocene the region underwent a transpressional event, reactivating many of the northwest-trending faults, and producing the Columbia Heights Anticline, Hazel Dell Syncline, the Coal Creek Fault, and the Kelso Fault Zone. The paleotopography resulting from this event was stream eroded to a nearly flat plain before emplacement of the Columbia River Basalts, which are nearly horizontal today. Continued offset along the northwest-trending fault set has also offset the Columbia River Basalts. Continued oblique slip post-Miocene broad arching of the Coast Range and downcutting by the Columbia and Cowlitz Rivers has resulted in Pliocene and Pleistocene terraces, and produced an east-west fault set that offsets all earlier structural features.