w V 0 WASHINGTON w VOL. 23, NO. 3 SEPTEMBER 1995 G EOLOG"I • INSIDE THIS ISSUE 1 Early Tertiary flowers, fruits. and seeds of Washington State and adjacent areas, p. 3 WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENTOF 1 Selected additions to the library of the Division of Geology and Earth Resources, p. 18 Natural Resources Jennifer M . Belcher - Co mmissio ner of Public Lands Kaleen Cottingham - Supervisor WASHINGTON Crown Jewel Project Reaches Milestone GEOLOGY Vol. 23, No. 3 Raymond Lasmanis, State Geologist September 1995 Washington Department of Natural Resources Division of Geology and Earth Resources Washi11g1011 Ceologr (ISSN 1058-2134) is published four times PO Box 47007, Olympia, WA 98504-7007 each year hy (he Washington State Department or Natural Resources, Division of Geology and Earth Resources. Thi~ puh­ lication is free upon request. The Division al so publishes b1il lc­ tins. information circulars. reports or investigations. geologic maps. and open -file reports. /\ li~t o r these publications will he A rter a lengthy evaluation process under the National Envi­ sent upon rcquc~l. ronment Policy Act (NEPA) and the State Environment Policy Act (SEPA), on June 30, 1995, the Draft Environmental Tm ­ DIVISION OF GEOLOGY AND EARTH RESOURCES pac t Statement. Crown Jewel Mine, Okanogan County, Wash­ ington, was issued by the lead agencies, U.S. Department of Raymo nd Lasmanis. Sr,11e Ge,,J,,,;i.<1 J. Eric Schuster. /1,1 l'i.1t1111t S rate Geolo,;isr Agriculture Forest ServiL:e allll the Washington State Deparr­ W1lli:1m S . Lingley, Jr., Ax,,i.<1111, t Stare G,•,,/o,;isr ment of Ecology. The proponent, Battle Mountain Gold Company, gave the Geologists (Olympia I Editor first hriefing to state agencies in Olympia on January 21, 1992. Joe D. Dragovich Katheri ne M. Reed A NotiL:e of Intent to Operate was filed on February 6, 1992. Wendy J. Gerstel Computer Information Because the gold deposi t is located on private land and land Robert L. (Josh ) Lo gan Consultant administered by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land M an­ David K. Norman Carl F. T. Harris Steph en P. Palmer agemen t (BLM ), both state and federal jurisdictions were as­ Patrick T. Pringle Cartographers Nancy A. Eberle serted. To faci l itate the NEPA/SEP A process, a M emorandum Katherine M. Recd Henry W. ( Hank) Schassc Keith G . Ikerd of Understanding (MOU) became effective Ju l y 22, 1992, Tinwthy J. Wulsh Production Editor/ among the Forest Service. BLM, and Washi ngton Departments Weldon W. Rau (vo /1111/ cN) Designer of Ecology and Natural Resou rces. Because of wetland~ is­ Geologist (Spokane) Jaretta M. (Jari) Roloff sues, the U .S. Army Corps of Engineers was added to the Roher! E. Derkey Data Communications MOU on April 15 , 1993. Technician Geologists (Regions! J. Renee C hristensen Following scoping, numerous multi-agency interdiscipli­ Garth Anderson I No ri/111 l'.\I) C harles W . (Chuck) Gulick Administrative Assistant nary meeti ngs have been held si nce early 1992 to identify the (Northea.51) Janis G. Allen issues and then track the detailed studies and evaluations. The Rex J. Hapala (Su 11tl11H,;t) Regulatory Programs Division of Geology and Earth Resources· contribution to the Lorraine Po well (Sn,11/,rn.<1) Assistant proL:ess was mainly in surface mine reclamation and the geo­ Stephanie Zurenko /Cent ml) Mary Ann Shawver chemica l characteristics of mine tai lings, ore, and waste rock. Senior Librarian Clerical Staff Puhlic comments were taken at briefings on August 15 in Conn ie J. M an~on Judy Henderson Library Information Heidi Tho m sen El lensburg and A ugust 17 in Oroville. Written comments to Specialist the Forest Service were due by August 29. Rehecca A. Christie Progress reports on the Crown Jewel project wil l appear in future issues of Washington Geology. • MAIN OFFICE FIELD OFFICE Department of Natural Resources Department of Natural Resources Division of Geology Divisioo, of Geology and Earth Resources and Earth Resource., PO Box 47007 904 W. Riverside, Room 209 Olympia. WA 98504-7007 Spokane. WA 99201- 10 11 OUR AREA CODE HAS CHANGED! Pho ne: (360) 902-1450 l'lwur.: (509) 456-3255 The Division's Olympia Office has a new area code: 360. J-'nr · (360) 902-1785 fn,. (509) 456-6 115 Up till now, the phone company has allowed the use of the /11tr 1·11 e 1. old area code, but the grace period is over. You must use /'11hhr.nr1o n s nvailnble f,om the cj ma 11son@u. washi11gton.cdu 360 to reach our main office. [email protected] 0/ymJ•in nddress 011/v. (Sr.e map 011 i11sidf' Imel. rn,•e r ..... Printed o n recycled paper. fo r o.f.licc locatiou.) \..,. Pri111cd i111/r e U.S. A. DO YOU WANT TO GET Cover Photo: Wes Wehr. paleobotanist with the Thomas OFF OUR MAILING LIST? Burke Memorial Washington State Museum in Seattle, and school children split the Eocene fossil-bearing lakebed The Division pays for printing and postage for Washington rocks at Republic. Washington, where many fossil flowers-, Geology from an always-tight budget. Help us use our re­ fruits, and seeds have been found. The deposit is an easy sources well by letting us know if you no longer wish to walk from the center of town and is open to the public. See receive this 'journal'. We will take your name off the li st the article starting on p. 3. Photo by Mary Randlett. immediately. Z Washi11g1011 Geology, vol. 23, no. 3, September 1995 Early Tertiary Flowers, Fruits, and Seeds of Washington State and Adjacent Areas Wesley C. Wehr Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum University of Washington. Seattle, WA 98195-301 O INTRODUCTION fossi I records. Fifty of the taxa and occurrences cited arc new Foss il leaves, particularly those th at are very well preserved, additions to the literature about fossi I reproductive structures. are valuable tools and clues in the study of modern and fossil rlant relationships and evolutionary trends. Because fossil GEOLOGIC SETTING leaves tend to be the most common type of pl an t fossil found Compared to the enormous diversity of northwest Tertiary flo­ at most sites in western North America, scientists may have ras, especially that of the early middle Eocene Republic, depended too heavily on the foss il leaf record to establish Washington, flora (more than 300 species of fossil plants), th ese relationships and trends. This has led to some miscon­ earlier Paleocene floras, such as those in the Fort Union For­ ceptions about flowering-plant (angiosperm) evolution. horn mation in Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota, tend to have their studies or leaves, many earlier paleobotan ists were led to low diversity. Paleocene upland floras are not known (Wing, present a far more static picture of angiosperm evo lution since 1987). Wolfe ( 1987) has proposed that the first major diversi­ th e Cretaceous than has actually been the case. We now under­ fication of many present-day temperate climate lineages oc­ stand that, in some cases, leaves and wood evolved more curred during the Eocene in uplands like those of the volcanic slowly than plant reproductive structures. hi ghlands of the Okanogan. The environmental stresses result­ The early Tertiary flowers, fruits, and seeds found in what in g from geologic processes laking place in the Okanogan is now the Okanogan Highlands record a rapid appearance and Highlands during the Eocene were presumably major factors diversification of many plant lin eages in upland habitats of in the appearance of many of the plant families discussed in that time. A Jess well known but important Tertiary record for this article. Washinuton State is the occurrence or fos sil fruits and seeds ~ . During the Eocene, from about 57 million to about 37 mil­ in the lowland floras and, surprisin gly. in marine deposits on l ion years ago, northern interior Washington State and interior the Olympic Peninsula. Paleobotanists associate these fossil British Columbia were the st:ene of intensive volcanic activity. noras of the highlands with warm temperate to subtropical Eo­ The extent and thickness of volcanic deposits indicate that th e cene environments. In contrast, the lowland terrestrial and ma­ region known today as the Okanogan Highlands may have rine !ot:alities in western Washington commonly contain fossil been a mountainous area during much of that epoch (Wing, plants that suggest, from the distribution and physiognomy of 1987). The widespread volcanism and associated tectonic up­ th ei r modern descendants, tropical conditions. li ft had a sign ificant effect on tht: topography in that region. Paleobotan ists have assigned some F:ocene leaves to mod­ Uplift di'vided lowland areas such as the northern Puget Sound ern genera. However. many fossil flowers, fruits, and seeds and coastal British Columbia from the interior; this whole re­ found m close association with these leaves or attached to gion had formerly been a continuous, fairly gentle slope from leafy stems are clearly unlike any known modern genera. This the eastern Rocky Mountain region to the Pacific coast. Geo­ is what M. E. J. Chandler and E. M. Reid concluded when they logic forces fo rm ed a series of down-faulted graben basins studied th e fruits and seeds from the Eocene London Clay from Republic, Washington, to Smithers, British Columbia. (Collinson, 1983). More recently, Manchester (1994), in his Largely volcanic sediments accumulated in basin lakes and in­ monograph on the middle Eocene Clarno Pormation fru its and corporated plants and insects (Wolfe and Wehr, 1987). seeds, has carefully documented how many of these fossils As the landscape continued to develop through the early represent extinct genera that now can be assigned only to mod­ Tertiary, changes in the plant life were recorded in various ern families at best.