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Terrace Formation in the Upper Headwater Region of The TERRACE FORMATION IN THE UPPER HEADWATER REGION OF THE MATTOLE RIVER WATERSHED ACROSS THE MENDOCINO TRIPLE JUNCTION, NORTHWEST CALIFORNIA By Michelle L. Robinson A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Humboldt State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Environmental Systems: Geology Committee Membership Dr. Mark Hemphill-Haley, Committee Chair Sam Flanagan II, M.Sc., Committee Member Dr. Andre Lehre, Committee Member Dr. Rick Zechman, Program Graduate Coordinator May 2016 ABSTRACT TERRACE FORMATION IN THE UPPER HEADWATER REGION OF THE MATTOLE RIVER WATERSHED ACROSS THE MENDOCINO TRIPLE JUNCTION, NORTHWEST CALIFORNIA Michelle L. Robinson The Mattole River, in northwestern California, is located in a tectonically active and geologically complex area, the Mendocino triple junction (MTJ), where the North American, Pacific and Gorda plates meet. The Mattole River does not follow the classic river “concave-up” profile. Instead, the river headwaters have wide valleys of low gradient terraces with deeply incised active channels. As a result of differential uplift along the river, the longitudinal profile has two “convex-up” sections resulting in low gradients in the headwaters leading to higher gradients in the midcourse. Low gradients have accommodated terrace formation in the upper headwater region of the Mattole River, that record times of disequilibrium as the river responds to changes that are, in part, due to changes in climate and also the passage of the northwardly migrating MTJ and associated growth of a slab window. Age estimates of sediments in Baker Creek, determined using optically stimulated luminescence dating (OSL), suggest the timing of valley widening and filling occurred after the LGM to 17 ka and from 11 to 8 ka. Surveys of terrace surfaces were conducted along four headwater tributaries: Ancestor Creek, Baker Creek, Lost River and Thompson Creek. Similar flights of terraces in three of the ii four surveyed headwater tributaries, along with locations of knickpoints and convexities in the long profile, provide information about the fluvial system’s response to changes in climate and the ongoing northward migration of the MTJ. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to give a huge and very special thanks to the Humboldt State University Geology department faculty and staff for igniting my love of geology and providing the greatest learning environments in the field, in the lab and in the classroom. Endless thanks to my advisor Dr. Mark Hemphill-Haley for unlimited support and respect, and always making time to give geological and life advice. Thank you to Sam Flanagan and his infinite Mattole wisdom, without whom this project would never have been possible, and the BLM for providing funding through F2957 and F3026 Upper Mattole River projects. Thank you to Sanctuary Forest, especially Tasha McKee, for allowing me to assist in surveying and giving me access to the tributaries, and Katrina Nystrom, for providing well data. Thanks to Keith Barnard for showing me the total station ropes and processing the topographic data. A big thank you to Dr. Andre Lehre for encouraging and supporting me even before I became a geology major and for being a member of my graduate committee. Thanks to Dr. Bud Burke for being the climate master and sacrificing so much time and effort to share his wisdom. Major thanks to Shannon Mahan for making the time, and allowing me to process my OSL samples in her lab at the USGS Luminescence Dating Lab in Denver, Co. Thanks to Harrison Gray and Candice Passehl at the USGS lab for showing me how to process my samples and work in the dark. Thank you to Melissa Foster for introducing me to Shannon and being supportive of my research. Thank you to my generous field assistants: Colin Wingfield, for suffering through terrible poison oak while helping survey all four tributaries and for iv digging a hole as deep as he is tall; Christa Anhold for helping sample for OSL and being the positive support I needed in a time of uncertainty, Ed Welter for not shying away from scary gates while surveying and Bella the dog for making field work look like a nap in the forest. Thanks to Jay Stallman for valuable insight into how rivers respond to climate. I greatly appreciate my geological sisters: Jessie Vermeer, for being by my side through both our undergraduate and graduate research endeavors and Sylvia Nicovich for never ending support and showing me what it takes to be a great graduate student, TA and respectful human being. Thanks to Steve “Beaver” Tillinghast for teaching me to be a field geologist and how to drive dirt roads like a champion. Thanks to Eileen Hemphill- Haley for such a great first experience with research, as a senior undergraduate, that motivated me to do more. One million thanks to Laurie Marx, the most helpful individual on the planet, for always assisting me with paperwork, providing me with sugar and teaching me valuable life lessons. Last, but not least, thanks to my GIS lab buddies: Evan Hartshorn and Aaron Katz, for their constant presence and positive attitudes. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 GEOLOGIC SETTING ...................................................................................................... 7 METHODS ....................................................................................................................... 14 Geomorphic Mapping and Surveying ........................................................................... 14 Auger Hole Data ........................................................................................................... 18 Optically Stimulated Luminescence Age Estimates ..................................................... 19 DEM Analysis ............................................................................................................... 22 RESULTS ......................................................................................................................... 25 Terraces and Relative Ages .......................................................................................... 25 Bedrock Topography and Terrace Stratigraphy ............................................................ 27 Absolute Ages of Terraces ............................................................................................ 28 Longitudinal Profiles .................................................................................................... 31 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................... 36 Fluvial Terrace Sequences ............................................................................................ 36 Paleoclimate .................................................................................................................. 38 Late Pleistocene Holocene Terrace Formation ............................................................. 40 Terrace Formation Model ............................................................................................. 43 vi Relation of Mattole River to MTJ Region .................................................................... 45 CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................... 50 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 52 APPENDIX ....................................................................................................................... 58 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Terrace sequences in headwater tributaries from cross sectional surveys based on elevation above the active channel thalweg. ......................................................... 27 Table 2. Terrace thickness and incision rates using OSL ages of sediments from Baker Creek ..................................................................................................................... 38 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Regional tectonic map of northern California showing major faults and locations of marine terrace sites used to infer uplift rates from Merritts (1987). ources of data: Bryant (2005); Davenport (2002); Esri and NOAA. CSZ, Cascadia subduction zone; MFZ, Mendocino fracture zone; SAF, San Andreas fault; LSF, Little Salmon fault; MRFZ, Mad River fault zone. ................................................ 2 Figure 2. Regional location map of northern California showing published rates of uplift along the coast, near the Mendocino triple junction (shown by diagonal lines in shaded ellipse). Prior locations of the Mendocino triple junction are indicated for 1 and 2 Ma. Figure modified from Merritts and Vincent (1989, figures 1 and 2). 3 Figure 3. Modeled patterns of uplift associated with crustal deformation due to the migration of the MTJ A) Latest Pleistocene (<72 ka) uplift rates plotted along
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