| Abstract |
- The Whitewater River area is located directly east of Mt. Jefferson in the Cascades of central Oregon. Approximately 90 mi2 (230 km2) were mapped (scale 1/24,000) and four new K-Ar ages and 151 major element analyses were obtained in a study of the stratigraphic
and magmatic transition from the Miocene - Pliocene Deschutes Formation on the east to the Pliocene - Pleistocene High Cascades on
the west. Deschutes strata in the Whitewater River area overlie late Miocene (8-11+ m.y.) andesites, dacites, and rhyodacites along an
erosional unconformity. The oldest Deschutes rocks exposed in the Whitewater River area are approximately 6 m.y. old, and the youngest are probably between 4.5 and 5 m.y. old. The oldest High Cascade rocks exposed in the Whitewater River area are approximately 4.3 m.y. old. There is no evidence for a hiatus in volcanic activity between Deschutes and High Cascade time in the Whitewater River area. Late Pleistocene explosive volcanism, probably free Mt. Jefferson, is evidenced in a hornblende rhyodacite pyroclastic-flow deposit which occurs within the glacial stratigraphy and is tentatively thought to
be between approximately 60,000 and 20,000 years old. Deschutes strata are dominated by pyroclastic lithologies (mostly ash-flow tuffs) with some lava flows and minor epiclastic sediment. Compositions range mostly between basaltic andesite and dacite. Many Deschutes-age rocks are aphyric, high in Fed, TiO2, and alkalies, and low in MgO, CaO, and A12O3. They define a tholeiitic trend extending at least from basaltic andesite to dacite that can largely be derived through fractional crystallization of plagioclase, olivine, magnetite, and clinopyroxene from a parent magma, probably of basaltic composition. These rocks are compositionally similar to "tholeiitic anorogenic andesites" that are most commonly associated with areas of crustal extension. Rocks of High Cascade age in the Whitewater River area are mostly
lava flaws that range in composition from basalt (high-alumina, olivine tholeiite) to rhyodacite. The High Cascade suite forms a
calc-alkalic association that is typical of subduction-related magmatic arcs. Fractional crystallization of the basalts leads to
iron-enrichment. Fractional crystallization of the basaltic andesites might lead to calc-alkalic compositions, but the mineral phases necessary to deplete the magmas in FeO, TiO2, and CaO (magnetite and clinopyroxene) are not common phenocryst phases in the basaltic andesites or andesites. Two northwest-trending, down-to-the-west normal faults with sane
possible strike-slip motion have been mapped in the upper Whitewater River area, directly west of Lion's Head. Motion on these faults
occurred after approximately 4 m.y. ago, but probably began prior to that time. There is between 200 and 400 ft (60-120 m) of apparent
vertical separation on the western side of these faults. There may be a large, northwest-trending fault running from the south end of Green Ridge, through Bald Peter and the Whitewater River area, but this
structure is largely buried by younger volcanic rocks. There is no evidence for a northern extension of the north-trending Green Ridge faults, and there is no evidence for large structural displacement in the lower Whitewater River along north- or northwest-trending structures. The Deschutes Formation - High Cascade transition in the
Whitewater River area is marked by a switch in the eruptive style and in the dominant magmatic compositions during Deschutes and High Cascade times. Volcanism in the Whitewater River area does not appear to have been episodic with respect to volume and/or intensity; rather, the character of magmatism has varied with time and with the tectonic
style through the period immediately prior to and following the formation of the High cascade graben.
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