ABSTRACT

1. Faulting: • Corvallis Fault • Eola Hills - Amity Hills Normal Faults • Owl Creek Fault • Mill Creek Fault • Waldo Hills Range-Front Fault • Gales Creek - Mount Angel Structural Zone • Yamhill - Sherwood Structural Zone • Beaverton Fault Zone • Elmonica Fault Zone • Helvetia Fault Zone • Folding: • Coast Range Anticlinorium • Willamette Valley Synclinorium • Harrisburg Anticline • Jefferson Anticline • Northern Willamette Downwarp • Tualatin Basin Figure 3. Progradation of a delta. In ancestral Oregon, clastic sediments were deposited atop a volcanic platform in a similar fashion. Tectonic Framework of the Willamette Valley, Oregon Prepared by: Josh Troyer Western Oregon University ABSTRACT The Cascade Volcanic Arc is the result of millions of years of tectonic activity along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The Cascadia Subduction Zone is an oceanic-continental convergent plate margin where the Juan de Fuca plate is being obliquely subducted beneath North America. Subduction and related andesitic volcanism are roughly subdivided into five major episodes, beginning about 35 Ma and continuing to the present. The evolution of the Cascade Volcanic Arc has shaped the varied physiography of the present-day Pacific Northwest. The Willamette Valley is situated between the Cascade Range to the east and the Coast Range to the west. The lowland is broadly interpreted as a forearc basin associated with arc volcanism and accretionary uplift. Bedrock of the Willamette Valley consists of oceanic basalts largely overlain by terrestrial and marine sediments, related to episodic deltaic deposition. Volcanic rocks are interspersed throughout the basin and the entire valley is overlain by Quaternary surficial deposits. Angular unconformities are common in the Willamette Valley owing to regional tilting and localized faulting throughout the basin. Clockwise rotation of fault blocks has resulted from a long history of oblique convergence and accretionary tectonics. • The Tectonic Origin of the Willamette Valley • Near the end of the Cretaceous period (~66 Ma), a volcanic island arc formed over a hot spot on the Kula and Juan de Fuca (Farallon) plates. As subduction continued, this island arc collided with the North American plate and was accreted to the continental margin. The basalts of the Siletz River Volcanics and the Roseburg Formation make up the basement geology of the Oregon Coast Range and the Willamette Valley. • After accretion, the subduction zone shifted westward and slow subsidence of the volcanic block began. • As the newly accreted arc began to subside in a shallow marine environment, sediment from the Klamath Mountains, and later the Idaho Batholith, fed into large river systems that formed vast prograding deltaic complexes overtop the basalt units. Such marine sedimentary units as the Tyee, Coaledo, Yamhill, and Spencer formations comprise large portions of the Oregon Coast Range and Willamette Valley. • During the Miocene period, slow uplift and tilting of the Coast Range tectonic block separated the Willamette Valley from the adjacent seaway. • Structural Geology of the Willamette Valley • Major Structural Features • Introduction: Physiography • The Willamette Valley extends north from Eugene, OR roughly 120 km to approximately 30 km north of Vancouver, WA. The width of the basin ranges from about 30 km in southern latitudes to about 60 km in northern reaches. • The Willamette Valley is situated between two mountain ranges; the Oregon Coast Range to the west and the Cascade Range to the east. • The Willamette Valley owes much of its present day physiography to its association with the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Figure 4. Structure Map of the southern Willamette Valley • The Cascade Volcanic Arc • Cascade volcanism can be divided into five major episodes beginning approximately 35 Ma and continuing through the present. • Episodes • Episode 1: 35 - 17 Ma • Early Western Cascade Volcanism • Characterized by local andesitic volcanos and voluminous eruptions of tholeiitic lava and silicic pyroclastic rock. • Episode 2: 16.9 - 7.5 Ma • Late Western Cascade Volcanism • Western Cascade volcanism slows from 18 -14 Ma. • At 15.3 Ma, lavas of the Columbia River Basalt group flowed into northwestern Oregon including the ancestral Willamette Valley. • The Breitenbush anticline develops. • Episode 3: 7.4 - 4.0 Ma • Early High Cascade Volcanism • Characterized by eruptions of basalt and basaltic andesite. • Extensive uplift of the Western Cascades takes place during this time period. • The volcanic arc during this time period was most likely about 13 km wider than the modern High Cascade arc. • Episode 4: 3.9 - 0.730 Ma • Late High Cascade Volcanism • Compositionally identical to episode 3 but the arc narrowed dramatically during this time period. • Episode 5: 0.730 - 0 Ma • Continuation of High Cascade Volcanism • The beginning of episode 5 is marked by the beginning of the Brunhes normal magnetic polarity epoch. Yeats et al, 1996 http://or.water.usgs.gov/imgs/Markup/gifs/willgeol.gif Figure 1. Generalized geology and geographic features in the Willamette Valley. • Conclusions • (1) The Willamette Valley is the direct product of arc volcanism and accretionary tectonics associated with the Cascadia Subduction Zone. • (2) Changes in tectonic constraints led to five distinguishable episodes of volcanism in the Cascade Range. • The Oregon Coast Range consists of a volcanic arc platform overlain by episodic deltaic deposits. • (4) The Willamette Valley’s proximity to an active subduction zone has resulted in widespread structural deformation throughout the basin. • Cascadia Subduction Zone • Oceanic - Continental convergence along the Cascadia Subduction Zone has been the primary driving force in the assemblage of the geology in the Willamette Basin. • Oceanic-Continental subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate under the North American plate is responsible for Cascade volcanism and the accretion the geology that comprises the Oregon Coast Range. References Cited Priest G.R., 1990, Volcanic and tectonic evolution of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, central Oregon: Journal of Geophysical Research, v95 nB12, pp 19,583 19,599. Yeats, R.S., Graven, E.P., Werner, K.S., Goldfinger, C., and Popowski, T., 1996, Tectonics of the Willamette Valley,Oregon, in Rogers, A.M., et al., eds., Assessing earthquake hazards and reducing risk in the Pacific Northwest: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1560, p. 183-222. Figure 2. Cascadia Subduction Zone