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How do geologists think about a watershed?

How do geologists think about a watershed?. Rivers are just the surface. WATER & SEDIMENTS!. Geological river continuum:. From ridgetop raindrops & snowflakes To sediment washing down slopes To water & sediments in the “river” itself To water deep below the surface.

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How do geologists think about a watershed?

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  1. How do geologists think about a watershed?

  2. Rivers are just the surface

  3. WATER & SEDIMENTS!

  4. Geological river continuum: • From ridgetop raindrops & snowflakes • To sediment washing down slopes • To water & sediments in the “river” itself • To water deep below the surface

  5. Yakima watershed underpinnings NW SE basalts --permeable along faults crystalline metamorphic rocks & granites --not very permeable mostly sedimentary rocks --generally permeable except clays Adapted from Field Trip Guidebook to the Natural History of Kittitas County – J. Mabry

  6. before 200 million years N American coast over by Montana

  7. SUBDUCTION started ~200 million years ago marine sediments get scraped off the down-going plate and plastered onto the continent Volcanoes at the surface and granite cooling miles below the surface Future Yakima Watershed (metamorphosed ocean sediments)

  8. play animations http://emvc.geol.ucsb.edu/1_DownloadPage/Download_Page.html#GlobalTectonics

  9. Land gradually added to west coast since 200 million years ago added land Land soon to be scraped off onto the continent

  10. terrestrial sedimentation and swamps 65-35 million years ago Future Yakima Watershed (river sediments and swamp muck with a few basalt flows thrown in)

  11. Columbia Flood Basalts massive basalt flows 17-14 million yr

  12. a single flow Photo compliments of Nick Zenter

  13. N-S compression gently folds Yakima watershed15 million years to present Wells and Simpson (2001)

  14. agricultural valleys ridges

  15. Ice Age - last 2 million former glaciers’ paths

  16. Yakima watershed underpinnings NW SE basalts --permeable along faults crystalline metamorphic rocks & granites --not very permeable mostly sedimentary rocks --generally permeable except clays Adapted from Field Trip Guidebook to the Natural History of Kittitas County – J. Mabry

  17. From Jones et al., 2006 (USGS)

  18. From Fuhrer et al., 2004 (USGS)

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