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Geology of the central and northern parts of the Western Cascade Range in Oregon

Professional Paper 449
By: , , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/pp449

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Abstract

This report pt·esents a description of the stratigraphy, structure, and petrology of the volcanic rocks of the central and northern parts of the Western Cascade Range of Oregon. The study is a part of a long-range cooperative program between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Oregon State Department of Geology and Mineral Industries to prepare a geologic map of Oregon. The map area, about 7,500 square miles, lies in the densely forested western slope of the Cascade Range. It is bounded approximately by lat 43° N. and lat 45°30' N. on the south and north, the crest of the range on the east, and long 123° W. and the edge of the Willamette Valley on the west. The geology, which was mapped by reconnaissance methods, is chiefly based on examination of rock exposures along roads. The Cascade Range in Oregon comprises two physiographic divisions: the Western Cascade Range, which includes a wide, deeply dissected belt of volcanic formations making up the western slope of the range, and the High Cascade Range, which includes chiefly younger cones and lava flows forming the nearly undissected crest of the range. The volcanic rocks of the Western Cascade Range are deformed and partially altered flows and pyroclastic rocks that range in age from late Eocene t·o lute Miocene, as determined chiefly from fossil plants from more than 50 localities. These volcanic rocks overlie or interfinger westward with marine sedimentary rocks, and in the southwestern part of the map area they overlie pre-Tertiary plutonic and metamorphic rocks of the Klamath Mountains.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Geology of the central and northern parts of the Western Cascade Range in Oregon
Series title Professional Paper
Series number 449
DOI 10.3133/pp449
Year Published 1964
Language English
Publisher U.S. Government Printing Office
Publisher location Washington, D.C.
Description Report: iv, 56 p.; 1 Plate
Country United States
State Oregon
Other Geospatial Cascades
Additional Online Files (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
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