Quaternary geology of Seattle
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Published:January 01, 2003
Abstract
Seattle lies within the Puget Sound Lowland, an elongate structural and topographic basin bordered by the Cascade and Olympic Mountains. The geology of the Seattle area is dominated by a complex, alternating, and incomplete sequence of glacial and interglacial deposits that rest upon an irregular bedrock surface. The depth to bedrock varies from zero to several kilometers below the ground surface. Bedrock outcrops in an east-west band across the lowland at the latitude of south Seattle and also around the perimeter of the lowland. Numerous faults and folds have deformed both the bedrock and overlying Quaternary sediments across the...
Figures & Tables
Contents
Western Cordillera and Adjacent Areas

This volume includes guides for 15 of the field trips held in conjunction with the 2003 GSA Annual Meeting in Seattle. Topics covered include Glacial Lake Missoula and the Clark Fork Ice Dam; the Sauk Sequence in western Utah; the geology of wine in Washington state; the Columbia River basalt and Yakima Fold Belt; Alpine glaciation of the North Cascades; and recent geoarchaeological discoveries in central Washington. Quaternary geology of Seattle, engineering geology in the central Columbia Valley, and the tephrostratigraphy and paleogeography of southern Puget Sound also are covered, as are trips to central Cascade Range and the White River.