Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Location And Classification Of The Olympia Structure, Olympic Peninsula, Wa, Jackie Perkins

Summer Research

This research determines that the northern continuation of the Olympia Structure underlies Vance Creek on the Olympic Peninsula. There is debate within the scientific community over whether this structure is a thrust fault or a fold, though this feature has not been widely researched or mapped in detail. Multiple magnetic and gravity surveys provide evidence of a large subsurface structure beneath the valley of Vance Creek, a region just south of a series of major thrust faults. These findings suggest the Olympia Structure is in fact a large thrust fault resulting from northeast-southwest compression.