Geology Commons^™

Timing And Paleoclimatic Significance Of Latest Pleistocene And Holocene Cirque Glaciation In The Enchantment Lakes Basin, North Cascades, Wa, Eric L. (Eric Leland) Bilderback

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Enchantment Lakes Basin in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Washington, preserves two sets of moraines that record distinct post-Wisconsin maximum advances of cirque glaciers in the eastern North Cascades. Cores collected from five lakes adjacent to the moraines indicate that there were two Neoglacial advances, culminating with the Little Ice Age, and one slightly larger advance that ended coincident with the termination of the North Atlantic Younger Dryas event. The cores show no evidence for an early Holocene advance, in contrast to some other studies in the North Cascades, (e.g., Heine, 1998; Thomas, 1997; Thomas et al., 2000).

Upstream glacier …

The Paleomagnetism Of The Stewart’S Point And Anchor Bay Members Of The Point Arena Terrane, Northern California, Kirk Heim

WWU Graduate School Collection

Paleomagnetic investigation of Upper Cretaceous sedimentary strata of the Point Arena terrane has shown the rocks to be remagnetized. The study was initially intended to reconstruct the Cretaceous paleogeography of the Point Arena terrane and resolve conflicting translation estimates, but became one of remagnetization. Samples studied are from the Upper Cretaceous Stewart’s Point member and the Late Cretaceous Anchor Bay Member of the Gualala formation. Specimens surviving the remagnetization have a mean second-removed direction that indicates approximately 20 degrees vertical rotation from the expected direction of the Cretaceous magnetic field at the locality of the Point Arena terrane. The loss …

Denitrification Along Pangborn Creek In The Abbotsford-Sumas Aquifer, Washington, Leslie B. (Leslie Braverman) Mckee

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Abbotsford-Sumas aquifer is a shallow, unconfined aquifer located in the agricultural regions of southwestern British Columbia and northwestern Washington and has a history of nitrate contamination. I monitored nitrate distributions in a study area bisected by a wide- scale peat deposit within a portion of the Whatcom County component of the aquifer to assess the current nitrate distribution, evaluate ground and surface water interactions in the peat, and determine the affect of peat on denitrification.

The water quality dataset and statistical analyses showed that nitrate contamination was heavily concentrated upgradient of the peatlands. In general, shallow wells (table) north …

The Extent Of The White Chuck Tuff, A High Temperature Pyroclastic Flow Deposit, Glacier Peak, Washington, Gerald T. Ladd

WWU Graduate School Collection

The White Chuck Tuff, a massive deposit approximately 15 m thick, caps two terraces in the White Chuck River valley covering an area of approximately 5 km² at the base of Glacier Peak, Washington. Three major post-glacial eruption cycles from Glacier Peak reportedly occurred approximately from 12,000 to 11,250 years ago (White Chuck Assemblage), from 5,500 to 5,100 years ago (Kennedy Creek Assemblage), and from 1,800 to 250 years ago (recent eruptions). West of Glacier Peak, pyroclastic and lahar deposits from all three episodes are found in drainages out to Puget Sound 100 km away. The White Chuck Tuff …

Modeling The Contributions Of Glacial Meltwater To Streamflow In Thunder Creek, North Cascades National Park, Washington, Jay W. (Jay William) Chennault

WWU Graduate School Collection

In regions where glaciers occur, like the North Cascades, glacial meltwater is a vital component of rivers and streams. Glacial meltwater can also be critical for hydroelectric and municipal purposes. A concern for water resources managers is that glaciers in the North Cascades have been shrinking. The glacier ice coverage of Thunder Creek watershed, the most heavily glaciated basin in the North Cascades, has dropped from approximately 22.5 % to 12.8 % since the Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum (ca. 1850). Glacial meltwater contributions to Thunder Creek are of interest because the creek serves as a tributary to Diablo Reservoir, …

Kinematics Of The Swift Creek Landslide, Northwest Washington, Alexander Scott Mckenzie-Johnson

WWU Graduate School Collection

Deep-seated landslides significantly influence mountain landscapes in Washington State, yet relatively few of these landslides have been studied in detail. I selected the Swift Creek landslide, a large (approximately 5.489 x 10⁵ m² [54.89 hectares]), deep-seated landslide located on Sumas Mountain in northwest Washington, to be the site of a detailed study. This study, the first phase in a planned long-term study to be conducted by WWU, consisted of a detailed topographic survey, geomorphic mapping, repeated GPS surveying of monitoring points (consisting of six surveys from July 2002 to June 2003), tree-core analysis (dendrogeomorphology), and historic aerial photograph …