Washington Geology
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
V 0 1,1\ WASHINGTON VOLJ.J~E~~g~ GEOLOGY REPUBLIC, 1908 WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENTOF REPUBLIC CENTENNIAL ISSUE Natural Resources Featuring articles about the geology of the Re_public a_rea , Jennifer M. Belcher- Commissioner of Public Lands the Republic Mining Distri,ct, and Eocene fossil deposits Kaleen Cottingham - Supervisor WASHINGTON IN CELEBRATION OF THE REPUBLIC CENTENNIAL GEOLOGY Vol. 24, No. 2 Raymond Lasmanis June 1996 Washington Division of Geology and Earth Re sources PO Box 47007. Olympia, WA 98504-7007 Washingron Geology (ISSN 1058-2 134) is pub li~hed four times each year by the Wash ington Stale Depart ment of Natural Resources, Division of Geology and Earth Resources . Thi s pub lica ti on is free upon request. The Division also publishes bul le ti ns, information circu lars, repo n s of inves tigations. geo logic n Apri l 18. 1896. a group of 64 men gathered where the maps, and open-file reports. A list of th ese pub I ications wi II be O Okanogan mail trail crossed Eureka Creek to organize sent upon request. the Eurek a mining distric t. The golu ru sh l uwn u f Eureka sprang up overnight and was soon renamed 'Republic· , af ter DIVISION OF GEOLOGY AND EARTH RESOURCES the Republic Gold M ini ng & M ill i ng Company. In 1899, Ferry Raymo nd Lasma ni s. S1u re Gen/ogist County was established out of the western ponion of Stevens .I. Eric Schuster, /\ssis1w11 Swte Ceologi.11 County . Republic became the county seat. Wi lliam S. Lingley. Jr., Assisranl Srate Geolflg1.I'/ The mines o f the area have long been the eL'.O nomic focus or lht: town. T he gold has come from ores depos ited in Eocene Geologists (Olympia I Editor hot-springs system s. and production from two large operations .Joe D. Dragovich Katherine M. Reed from the las t six years alone has exceeded 8 13.000 oz of gold. Wendy J. Gerste l Computer Information The rich history of th e mining activities is documented i n the Rohcrt L. (Josh) Logan Consultant geologic literature as well as by local hi storical as~ociations. David K. Norman Carl F. T. Harris Stephe n P. Palmer (Sec, for example, W estern Historical Publ ishi ng Company, Patrick T. Pringle Cartographers 1904.) Nancy A . Eberle Katherine M. Recd M ore recently. the world-class Eocene fossil derosi ts have He nry W. ( Hank) Schasse Keith G. lkenl Timothy J . Walsh Production Editor/ attracted the interest of the scientific community. The deposits Wddon W. Rau ( vfllt11 11 eer) Designer contai n the best North American record of upland warm tem Geologist (Spokane) JarcLta M. (Jari) Rolo ff perate to subtropical habitats. The geologic forces as sociated Robert E. Derke y Data Communications with the development of the ores played a major ro le in the Geologists (Regions) , Technician diversification and l ater d istribution o f the flora . Garth Anderson ( Nnrthwe.H) .I. Re nee C hri s1ensen From the paleontologica l interest has come a unique coop Charles W. (Chuck) Guli c k Administrative Assistant erative venture, the Stonerose lnterprt:ti ve Center, w hich en Janis G. Allen (Norrheusl) courage~ lht: public to visit lhe deposit and collect and learn, Rex J. Hapala (Sourhwesr) Regulatory Programs with the p al eonto l ogi sts, ahout t his remark able fl ora and Lorraine Powe.JI ( S,wrheusr / Assistant Stephanie Zurenko / Central) Mary Ann Shawvc:r fauna. In celebration of Republic's centennial. thi s issue o f' Wash Senior Librarian Clerical Staff Conn ie J. Manson Judy He nderson i11glo 11 Geo!oxy bring~ logetht:r renowned earth sc ientists to Library Information Anne Hcinitl discuss the aspects of the geologic hi story of the area that have Specialist had such a major impac t o n th e d evel opment of geologic Rc hccca A . C hrist it: knowledge worldwide. We are indebted to W es ley W ehr, T homas Burke Memor ial Washington State Muse um, for pro MAIN OFFICE FIELD OFFICE posing this project and interes ting so m any geologists. paleo Dt:parl!nenl o r Natural Resourcc:s Department of Natu ral Resources Divisio n o r Geology Di vision of Geology botanisls, anu other special ists in contr ibuting their expertise and Earth Rc,ources and Earth Resources to this broad overview. PO Box 47007 904 W. Ri verside. Room 209 Olympia. WA 91'\504 -7007 S pokant:, WA 99201- 10 11 Reference Phone: (360) 902- 1450 Phflne: (509) 456-3255 Western Histori ca l Publishi ng Company, 1904. An i llustrated history Fax: (360) 902-1785 Fax: (509) 456-6 1 15 of Stevens. Ferry. Okanogan. and Chelan Cou nt ies, Slate of lnrerner: Washington: Western Historical Publishi ng Company, Spokane, cjmanson @u .washi nglon .cdu Publiwrimts a11ui/ab/e .fiw11 /he [email protected] 0/ymria adrfress only. p. 403-447. • ( See 11111/J on in.l'ide back cover -r. Prinred 1111 recycled p upe1: /i•r "f./ice locar/011 .J ,.., Printed in 1he U.S.A. Stonerose Interpretive Center Cover Photos: The top photo shows a horse race up Clark Ave nue, the main street of Republic; the race was part of the Fourth of Sponsors Field Seminar July festivities in 1908, a dozen years after the founding of the town whose centennial we celebrate in this issue. The lower photo W es W ehr w i l l he leading another of his weekend fit:lu is taken from slightly higher up the hill and shows Clark Avenue in semi nars Sept. 13- 15 at !he Stonerose l nterprel i ve Center 1996. in Republ ic. The cost i s $75. For more in formation or to sign up for the seminar, contact Wes at the Burke Mu The 1908 photo and all other photos of historic Republic used in seum, Uni ver sity of W as hi ngton, Seattl e, WA 98 195; the articles herein were kindly provided by the Ferry County His torical Society. 1996 photo by Lisa Barksdale. phone: (206) 543-0495 or fax: (206) 685-3039. 2 Washington Geology. vol. 24, no. 2, June 1996 Regional Geology of the Republic Area Eric S. Cheney Michael G. Rasmussen Department of Geological Sciences Echo Bay Exploration, Inc. University of Washington, Box 351310 E. 11103 Montgomery Ave. Seattle, WA 98195-1310 Spokane, WA 99202 Introduction This article describes the regional geology of Lhe Republit: fau lts, especially in the Republic area. Lhe pre-Challis rocks area and considers more than the Eot:ene straligraphit: units are predominantly those of Quesnellia, a terrane that accreted that have made Republic famous both as a gold producer and 10 North America in the mid-Jurassic (about 175 million years a paleontological treasure. However, fo r those who are primar ago). Eocene sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Challis ily interested in these topics, the main points are that (I) the unconformity-bounded sequence (55 to 36 million years old) Eocene formations are portions of regional, nol lot:al, um:on overlie the pre-Challis rocks. The metamorphic core com form i ty-bou nded sequences within the larger Chall is se plexes (MCCs) are Eocene antiformal uplifts of crystalline quence, and (2) rather than having been deposited in a local basement separated from the pre-Challis and Challis rocks by fault-bounded basin or graben, the formations are preserved in low-angle normal (detachment) faults. The MCCs underlie the upper plates of one or more low-angle normal faults as a most of the major mountain ranges in the area of Figure I. The regional synform between two antiformal metamorphic com Walpapi sequence ( 18 to 2 mil lion years old), unconformably plexes. These and other c:oncepts are discussed mo re fully in overlies all other rocks. The most voluminous lithostrati Cheney and others ( 1994) and Cheney ( 1994 ). However, the graphic unit of the Walpapi sequence is the Columbia River information in those articles is not explicitly referenced here. Basalt Group. Figure I shows the regional geology of northeastern Wash The dominant rocks in the Republic area (Fig. 2) are green ington. East of the Huckleberry Ridge, Columbia, and Waneta schist-facies Quesnellian rocks, four unconformity-hounded thrust fau lts , pre-Challis rocks are the Proterozoic to Paleozoic formations of the Challis sequence, and the amphibolite-facics stratigraphi c units native to North America. West of these metamorphic rocks and granitic plutons of th e MCCs. area of map 117° Walpapi Challis -pre-Challi s = = Detachment fau lts peripheral to metamorphic Lincoln core complexes Metamorphic Core Complex 50 km Th•ru st fau•lt s Figure 1. Tectonic map of northeastern Washington and adjacent areas. (See text and Table 1 for explanation.) Washington Geology, vol. 24, no. 2, June /996 3 Table 1 . Explanation for geologic and geographic features of Figu res 1 and 2 MAP UNITS Metamorphic Core Complexes NAME ABBREVIATIONS Challis sequences Eh Eocene Herron Creek quartz Towns 1eo1 Tk Klondike Mountain Formation monzo nite CO. Colville C, Cu rlew vokaniclastics and felsic flows Ei Eocene felsic plutons G , Greenwood GF, Grand Porks M. Midway OM , Omak Ts Sanpoil Volcanics rh yodacitic pTm Amphibolite facies Cretaceous OR, Orovi lle R, Republic fl ows orthogneiss and Proterozoic and S , Spokane T, T ra il Paleozoic paragneiss Tm Marron Formation alkal ic flows Mines 1•01 To 0' Brien Creek Formation FAULT TYPES KH, Knob Hill L. Lamefoot arkosic and tuffaceous rocks OL, Overlook P, Phoenix Ouesnellia High-angle fault- dashed Faults where approximate Mi Granitic to alkalic plutons BCF Bacon Creek fau lt Detach ment fault-blocks BMF PMu Quesnel li an rocks, undivided Bodie Mountain fau lt • • on upper plate CLF Columbia fau lt Jr Ju rassic Ross land Group argillite.