The following outline of events in the rise and fall of gold mining in southwestern
Oregon is here recorded - almost as an obituary - so that Oregonians may not entirely forget how important this industry was in building up this part of the state.
The Columbia River Basalt consists of dozens of seemingly identical flows of basalt covering thousands of square miles of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. For years, detailed mapping of the units relied almost entirely on subtle petrographic distinctions, the presence or absence of interbeds, and actual walking along contacts in the...
The geology of Oregon has become a jigsaw puzzle of moving parts set on a foundation of changing conditions as the crust and mantle undergo successively different manners of deformation through time. As more megahypotheses arise from increasingly sophisticated views of plate tectonics and from more detailed analyses of synoptic...
Average annual losses caused by geologic hazards in Oregon are difficult to determine, owing to incomplete and scattered data. Preliminary considerations, however, indicate that losses to landslides may total between $4 million and $40 million per year. As many as nine persons have been killed by one landslide in Oregon...
Our studies and those of our colleagues in Idaho indicate that the western Snake River Basin is a major geothermal province, similar in some ways to the Imperial Valley Geothermal Province. Deep drilling should encounter high temperature fluids in permeable rocks below 2 km and at shallower depths where permeability...
Let us travel the 65-mile length of the Columbia River Gorge for a closer look at the rock formations and geology of the area. We will supplement our observations with information from the literature on the geology of the Gorge and try to put together a picture of how the...
Bold, rocky headlands alternating with long curved beaches, sand spits, and bays -- these are the dominant landforms that make up the more than 40 miles of scenic coastline between Roads End and Tillamook Bay. With the exception of Cape Kiwanda, which is composed of sandstone, the headlands are made...
The U.S. Forest Service has published the final version of regulations on the surface use of National Forest lands under the amended mining laws of 1872. These regulations became effective September 1, 1974. Although the Mining Law of 1872 is still largely intact, the new regulations place some requirements in...
The United States has enormous deposits of oil shale which, if developed, could provide energy resources for centuries. Because of the vast size of these deposits, they are currently receiving a great deal of attention. This issue of The ORE BIN is devoted to a discussion of oil shale --...
Wright's Point, a 250-foot-high, sinuous, flat-topped ridge, projects eastward into Harney Basin, Harney County, Oregon. This 6-mile-long feature ranges from 200 to 600 yards wide and merges with a broad mesa at its western end. The nearest topographic highs are Dog Mountain, 2 miles southwest, and foothills of the Blue...
(1) Field mapping and biostratigraphic data indicate that the Yamhill Formation overlies and is younger than the Tyee Formation; interfingering of the two formations is not indicated. (2) Stewart's correlation of the Yamhill Formation with the Sacchi Beach member of the Tyee was based on incomplete knowledge of the range...
The platinum-group metals have been the subject of considerable discussion in the news media over the past few months, particularly because of their projected use as catalysts in automobile engines. Metals Week of August 27 shows that platinum commands a price of $176.00 per ounce, as compared to $150.00 per...
This study is concerned with the post-Ice Age (Holocene) dunes in the coast segment between Coos Bay on the south and Sea Lion Point on the north. This is the longest strip of dunes along the Oregon coast and extends for a distance of about 55 miles. It is divided...
The price of gold has risen from $60.35 per ounce in mid-November, 1972, to $91.25 per ounce in mid-April, 1973. The present high price has caused considerable speculation as to the underlying reasons for the sudden increase and what effect it may have on the international monetary situation. This precious...
The purpose of this study of the Lyons flora is to determine the age and paleoecology of the flora through the examination and identification of the fossil plant species of the flora. The plant fossils comprising the Lyons flora were collected from a locality in the upper Thomas Creek area,...
The purpose of this paper is to give some account of the fossil shark faunas of Oregon. This has been, at best, only introductory to the more than 5,000 specimens now being studied by the author. Many of the genera are listed in Figure 2, but species determinations have not...
The plate tectonic history of Oregon is but one piece of a worldwide jigsaw puzzle encompassing much of geologic time. With the splitting of Pangaea in Mesozoic times, Oregon has occupied the leading edge of the North American Plate as it has impinged upon the ancestral oceanic East Pacific Plate....
The Oregon Coast between Yachats and Newport is a narrow, slightly elevated coastal plain. With the exceptions of basalt rock at Yachats and Seal Rock, the bedrock along this segment of the coast is sedimentary. Several Pleistocene marine terrace levels are discernible at places along the plain, and sand dunes,...
The development of geothermal resources has been delayed in the United States for several reasons: the ready availability of low-cost fossil fuels, the general remoteness from load centers of geothermal areas, and more recently the illusion that nuclear power plants would provide all our needed power at a low cost...
The Oregon coast between Yaquina Head and Government Point owes its scenic grandeur to a unique wedding of ancient and recent marine environments. Visitors to Beverly Beach State Park, located in the southern part of this coastal strip, have a rare opportunity to wander along a shoreline that some 15...
Seismically active areas exist within Oregon. The seismic history of Oregon is too short to be used as an accurate predictor of earthquake size, number, and distribution. Continual monitoring of earthquakes by seismograph stations during the next several decades should provide a more accurate estimate of the seismicity of Oregon....
Several changes appear to be needed in present disposal practices.
Usable materials are discarded in our society in large volume and many of these substances are nonreplaceable minerals. Not only are the minerals themselves lost to society but the energy which produced them is lost as well. Also, the current...
The 26-mile stretch of shore extending from Florence to Yachats is one of the most rugged and scenic parts of the Oregon Coast. Along most of this part of the coast the shore is bounded by basalt bedrock of varied types. Through differential erosion of the basalt, the many landforms,...
The stacks off the southern Oregon coast have been studied very little because of difficulties of access (see, for example, Weissenborn and Snavely, 1968). Work described herein was helicopter-supported; skillful piloting by Earl Lady permitted landings on or close approaches to many stacks. To help delineate the structure, field work...
Everyone involved with the mining and petroleum industries, either directly or indirectly, is aware of the mounting concern by the general public with the possibly deleterious effects of mineral exploration and development on the environment. Oftentimes the outcry about "desecration of the land" is not based on actual knowledge of...
When you drive through the Madras region on U.S. Highway 97, you see a gently rolling plain dotted with low hills and flat-topped buttes. Since the plain appears to extend westward uninterruptedly to the foothills of the Cascade Range, little would you imagine that between you and the mountains lurk...
Periodic violent eruptions from many different centers during Cenozoic time deposited vast quantities of pyroclastic material as ash-flow tuffs over most of Oregon, although the Coast Ranges and isolated patches elsewhere in the state appear to have been spared these recurring inundations. Eruptions occurred at different times throughout the Cenozoic,...
This report summarizes results of geologic mapping in the South Umpqua Falls region of the Western Cascade Range in Douglas County, southwestern Oregon (plate 1). Rocks of the Western Cascades range in age from late Eocene to late Miocene and consist of deformed and partially altered flows, pyroclastic rocks, and...
This field trip consists of two geologic tours. On Tour 1, the Tertiary sedimentary rocks exposed along the Yaquina River between Newport and Toledo, Oregon, will be examined. This tour will start at the mouth of Yaquina Bay where Miocene sedimentary rocks are exposed and will proceed generally eastward and...