USGS/Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Washington
DESCRIPTION:
Columbia River Basin, Washington
- Columbia River
- Columbia River Basin
- Columbia Plateau
- Ancient Columbia River
- Columbia Basin
- Multnomah Falls
- Columbia River and the May 18, 1980
Eruption of Mount St. Helens
- Captain Robert Gray
-
[Map,18K,InlineGIF]
Washington State and the Columbia River, showing major Cascade Range volcanoes
Topinka, USGS/CVO, 1999, using USGS/WRD Basemap
From:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Website, 2002,
North Pacific Region Water Management Division.
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The Columbia River and its tributaries form the dominant
water system in the Pacific Northwest Region. The mainstem of
the Columbia rises in Columbia Lake on the west slope of the
Rocky Mountain Range in Canada. After flowing a circuitous
path for about 1200 miles, 415 miles of which are in Canada,
it joins the Pacific Ocean near Astoria, Oregon. The river
drains an area of approximately 219,000 square miles in the
States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming,
Nevada, and Utah. An additional 39,500 square mile portion of
the basin, or about 15%, is within Canada.
From:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Website, 2002,
North Pacific Region Water Management Division.
-
The Columbia River pours more
water into the Pacific Ocean than any
other river in North or South America. In
its 1,270 mile course to the Pacific Ocean,
the Columbia flows through four mountain
ranges -- the Rockies, Selkirks, Cascades,
and coastal mountains -- and drains
258,000 square miles. Its largest tributary,
the Snake, travels 1,038 miles from its
source in Yellowstone National Park in
Wyoming before joining the Columbia.
This vast river basin was formed near
the end of the last Ice Age, 12,000 to
19,000 years ago, by the Bretz Floods.
Immense ice dams half a mile high held
back melting ice, creating a huge lake in
northwest Montana, called
Lake Missoula.
Each time the ice gave way, massive walls
of water as high as four hundred feet
hurled boulders and icebergs seaward with
a great destructive force. These floods
generally followed the route of the present
day Columbia River and came at least 40
times.
From:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Website, 2002
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The Columbia River is the largest
river in the Pacific Northwest and, with
a length of 1,953 kilometers (1,214 miles), is
the 15th longest in North America.
From its source at Columbia Lake at an
elevation of 809 meters (2,650 feet) in
Canada's Selkirk Mountains it first flows
northwestward through eastern British Columbia, then turns southward
toward the United States. It crosses the
US-Canadian border north of Spokane, Washington,
then flows southward
across central Washington where it is
joined by the Snake River, which drains
southeastern Washington, eastern
Oregon and southern Idaho. The Columbia then
turns westward, forming the border between Washington and
Oregon, flows through the
Columbia River Gorge in the Cascade Mountains
and on to its mouth at the Pacific
Ocean near Astoria, Oregon.
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The Columbia River ranks sixth in North America
in terms of runoff after the Mississippi, MacKenzie,
St Lawrence, Nelson, and Yukon rivers and is
ranked 32nd among rivers of the world in area drained. The major
tributaries to the Columbia are the
Kootenai and Flathead/Pend Oreille rivers,
which drain southeastern British
Columbia, western Montana, and northern Idaho,
the Snake River which drains western Wyoming, most of Idaho,
eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington,
and the Willamette River of western Oregon.
From:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Website, 2002,
North Pacific Region Water Management Division.
-
The Columbia River Basin is bounded principally by the Rocky
Mountain system on the east and north, the Cascade Range on
the west, and the Great Basin on the south. The basin area
includes 3,000 square miles of waterways and lakes, of which
2,500 miles are within the United States.
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To the west of the Cascade Range, the Columbia River is
joined by the Willamette drainage and begins a transition to
the ocean tidal reaches. Salt water intrusion into the
Columbia River estuary reaches about 23 miles upstream from
the mouth. The effects of tides upon the flow rate and level
of the river are felt up to Bonneville Dam, river mile 146.1.
Ocean influences also dominate weather patterns along the
western slope of the Cascade Range as the majority of
precipitation in the western portion is in the form of
rainfall during the winter months.
-
Most of the annual precipitation of the Columbia River Basin
is concentrated in the winter months with the bulk of the
precipitation falling in mountainous areas as snow to be
stored in deep snowpacks awaiting the warmth of spring for
its release. As a result, winter streamflows are generally
low with high sustained runoff flows occurring in the spring
and early summer. This runoff pattern of the Columbia River
exemplifies a major seasonal maldistribution of flow with
about 60 percent of the natural runoff of the Columbia
occurring during the months of May, June, and July. The
Columbia has an average annual runoff at the mouth of about
198,000,000 acre-feet (275,000 cfs) making it second only to
the Missouri-Mississippi River System in the United States
(611,000 cfs) in average annual runoff. The Canadian portion
of the basin generally contributes about 50,200,000 acre-feet
annually, or about 25 percent of the basin total.
From:
U.S. Bureau of Land Management Website, 2002
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The Columbia River drops more than 735 meters
from its headwaters in British Columbia,
winding over 1,950 kilometers to the Pacific Ocean.
Although the river itself flows from Canada
through only two states, forming part of the
Washington-Oregon border, the vast
Interior Columbia River Basin is defined by
the area drained by the river and its many
tributaries. This 58-million-hectare area
(about the size of France) extends roughly
from the crest of the Cascade Mountains of
Oregon and Washington east through
Idaho to the Continental Divide in the Rocky
Mountains of Montana and Wyoming, and
from the headwaters of the Columbia River
in Canada to the high desert of northern
Nevada and northwestern Utah.
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The Columbia River Basin is a complex
tapestry of mountains, high plateaus,
desert basins, river valleys, rolling uplands,
and deep gorges woven together by the
Columbia River and its tributaries.
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Columbia Plateau Menu
From:
U.S. National Park Service,
Lake Roosevelt National Recreational Area Website, 2002
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During late
Miocene and early Pliocene times, one of the largest
basaltic lava floods
ever to appear on the earths surface
engulfed about 63,000 square miles of the Pacific Northwest. Over a period of perhaps 10 to 15 million years lava flow after lava
flow poured out, eventually accumulating to a thickness of more than 6,000 feet. As the molten rock came to the surface, the
earths crust gradually sank into the space left by the rising lava. The subsidence of the crust produced a large, slightly
depressed lava plain now known as the
Columbia Basin (Plateau). The ancient Columbia River was forced into its present
course by the northwesterly advancing lava.
The lava, as it flowed over the area, first filled the stream valleys, forming dams that in turn caused impoundments or lakes. In
these ancient lake beds are found fossil leaf impressions, petrified wood, fossil insects, and bones of vertebrate animals.
From:
Bonneville Power Administration Website, 2002
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During the early stages of the
Columbia Basin formation,
granite rock was slowly created by
heat and pressure deep in the crust of the earth.
Then the crust was uplifted, exposing the
granite, creating mountains similar to the
Okanogan Highlands north of Grand Coulee Dam.
Forty to sixty million years
ago the formation of the
outline of the Columbia Basin
was complete. The land had
subsided below sea level,
and a large inland sea had
formed.
The land was again uplifted and then,
10-15 million years ago, was flooded with
volcanic lava. The boundaries of the
flood lava were located in almost the same
position as the former seashore.
Many layers of lava were needed to build up to
a 5,000 feet (1500 meter) thickness and
form the smooth surfaced Columbia
Plateau.
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During the Ice Age, the old
Cascade Mountains were also formed.
Their outline still remains on the
western slopes of the Cascades.
The uplifting mountains were
not able to block the flow of the
Columbia River completely, and a deep
Columbia River gorge was formed.
Near the end of the Ice Age the
volcanoes of the high Cascades
rose to elevations of 14,000-15,000
feet (4000-4500 meters). Older volcanoes,
such as Mt. Hood and Mt. Rainier,
were sculpted by glaciers
of the Ice Age; others such as
Mt. St. Helens remained unsculpted,
retaining their original volcanic
form.
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Eighteen thousand years ago the Columbia
Basin was nearly covered by floodwaters when
an ice dam at Lake Missoula in western Montana
broke. Large boulders were strewn near the
outlet of the Lower Coulee (Lake Lenore). Other
boulders were carried in icebergs as far as
western Oregon. The floodwaters were 800 feet
(250 meters) deep near Pasco and 400 feet (125
meters) deep at Portland.
After the Ice Age, the
Columbia River returned
to its former channel.
The channeled scab lands
and large coulees that had been
formed were left stranded
500-1600 feet (150-500 meters) above the
present river floor and serve as
a constant reminder of some of
the most unusual episodes in geologic
history.
From:
U.S. Forest Service Website, 2002,
Pacific Northwest Region, Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area
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Plummeting 620 feet from its origins on Larch Mountain,
Multnomah Falls is the
second highest year-round waterfall in the United States.
Nearly two million
visitors a year come to see this ancient waterfall
making it Oregon's number one
public destination.
Fed by underground springs from Larch Mountain,
the flow over the falls varies
usually being highest during winter and spring.
Multnomah Falls offers one of the best places in the Columbia River
Gorge National Scenic Area to study geology exposed by floods. Five
flows of Yakima basalt are visible in the fall's cliff face.
From:
Beeson and Tolan, 1987, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon and Washington: IN:
Hill, (ed.), 1987,
Cordilleran Section of the Geological Society of America, Centennial Field
Guide Volume 1.
-
Multnomah Falls is the best known and probably the most popular
tourist stop in the gorge. It is the highest falls in the gorge, with a
total drop of 620 feet (189 meters) for the two falls. The cliff
exposures here provide an excellent opportunity to examine many of the
features commonly seen in Columbia River basalt flows.
The Columbia River and the
May 18, 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens
|
From:
Water Resources Data for Washington, Volume 1, Western Washington,
Water Year 1980:
USGS Water-Data Report WA-80-1, Prepared in cooperation with the State of
Washington and with other agencies, 488p.
-
On
May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens violently erupted.
During the eruption, a
massive
debris avalanche,
moving down the north side of Mount St. Helens, was
blasted into the North Fork Toutle River valley,
depositing approximately 3
billion cubic yards of material in the upper 17 miles of the valley. Mudflows
quickly developed in the
South Fork Toutle River and in the Lewis River
tributaries of
Smith Creek,
Muddy River, and
Pine Creek. At least 11,000
acre-ft of water, mud, and debris were deposited in
Swift Reservoir between 9
a.m. and noon on May 18. A massive mudflow originated on the debris pile in the
North Fork Toutle River valley
and caused widespread destruction as it moved
downstream through the Toutle and Cowlitz Rivers. Considerable deposition
occurred in these river channels and in the channel of the
Columbia River, which
was closed to shipping for about 1 week. Channel capacity of the
Cowlitz River
was reduced from 76,000 to 7,300 cubic feet per second (at the flood stage of
23.0 feet). Dredging of the shipping channel in
Columbia River commenced
shortly after May 18, and dredging was started in July in the lower reach of
Toutle River and Cowlitz River.
-
Mount St. Helens May 18, 1980, Menu
From:
University of Virginia Library Special Collections Website, 2002
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George Vancouver (1758-1798)
was born in England and
entered the Royal Navy
in 1771 upon receiving an
appointment from Captain James Cook. He
accompanied Cook on his voyage
around the world in 1772-74
and served as a
midshipman on Cook's
explorations along the
West coast of North America.
Vancouver was promoted
to commander of the ship Discovery in 1790.
The next
year he was sent on a mission to receive the
surrender of the Spanish post at
Nootka Sound in present-day British Columbia,
to survey the coast of the
American Northwest, and to search for a water
connection to the eastern part of
the continent. Equipped with the best
navigational instruments of his day and
well-trained personnel, Vancouver
spent three years surveying the coast.
Vancouver, like Cook before him,
initially missed the
Columbia River on his
voyages along the coast. The
commander of the Discovery refused to
believe an
American sea captain in the vicinity
who told Vancouver that he had tried to enter
the mouth of a great river. A few weeks after this meeting,
the American captain, Robert Gray,
returned to the scene of his
previous efforts and on May 12, 1792,
became the first explorer to enter the Columbia River
by crossing over the sandbar
that blocked its mouth. Gray sailed about 20 miles
up the estuary of the river, traded
with the Indians for a few days, and
then left after drawing a chart of
the mouth of the river.
He named the river the
Columbia after his ship, and claimed it for the
United States.
George Vancouver obtained a copy of Gray's
chart from the Spanish governor at Nootka Sound and sailed to the mouth of
the Columbia River in October 1792.
He was unable to get his flagship Discovery
over the sandbar, but Lt. William Robert
Broughton succeeded with his smaller ship, the Chatham.
Broughton advanced nearly 100 miles to a site opposite
present-day Portland, Oregon, which he named Point Vancouver.
To the east he saw a majestic mountain peak which he
named
Mount Hood.
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09/09/02, Lyn Topinka