Event

AEG OR Chapter March 1, 2018 Meeting (Rescheduled)

Large Dextral Motion on the Gales Creek fault, NW Oregon

PURCHASE OF TICKETS USING BROWN PAPER BAG: Ticket sales stops by 5pm on Wednesday February 28th.

(At the door payments in Cash or Checks only.)

6:00 Social Hour
6:45 Dinner (Salad and Pizza)
7:30 Presentation

PRESENTATION:

Speaker: Dr. Ray Wells

ABSTRACT:

New geologic mapping, gravity and magnetic surveys, and laser terrain mapping (Lidar) reveal the Gales Creek Fault (GCF) to be a major right lateral fault in northwest Oregon. The northwest-trending GCF forms the boundary between the Coast Range and the Tualatin and northern Willamette basins. A steep gravity gradient up to 110 mgal marks the fault along the western margin of the Tualatin basin, which is 5 km deep based on gravity inversions. Sharp magnetic boundaries suggest 10-15 km dextral offset of Eocene magnetic basement. The fault consists of two sub parallel strands near Gales Creek. The eastern strand, previously mapped as the GCF by Schlicker and Deacon, follows the Gales Creek valley north at least to the Highway 6 bridge, but it has no obvious physiographic expression in the valley. The western strand crosses east-flowing Gales Creek tributaries that all exhibit kilometers of dextral offset where they cross the fault. An anticline cored by unusual, subaerial Siletz River Volcanics (49 Ma) intruded by Eocene diabase provides a piercing point across the western strand and indicates 12 km of post-Eocene right lateral offset north of Hagg Lake, consistent with the offset of aeromagnetic anomalies. On LiDAR imagery of the western strand, uphill-facing scarps, offset streams and shutter ridges can be traced intermittently along the mapped bedrock fault for 20 km between Hagg Lake and Highway 6. Southwest of Forest Grove, the fault splays into en echelon strands which pass between the Dundee Hills and Chehalem Mountain. Paleoseismic trenching of the fault by the Bureau of Reclamation near Scoggins Dam in 2017 indicates late Quaternary, and possibly Holocene displacement of bedrock, loess and flood plain deposits. Additional work is planned in 2018.

SPEAKER BIO: Bryan Wavra, PE, GE

Bryan has represented GeoStabilizations northwest region in a geotechnical engineering and project development capacity since 2010. During his tenure Bryan has been involved in over 100 geohazard mitigation projects throughout Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Idaho. Prior to joining GSI, Bryan completed ten years of geotechnical consulting services to a variety of public and private entities. Bryan graduated from Oregon State University with both Bachelor and Master of Science Degrees in Civil Engineering with a geotechnical engineering emphasis. He is a registered civil engineer in Oregon and Washington and holds a specialty geotechnical engineering registration in Oregon.

SPEAKER BIO: Dr. Ray Wells

Dr. Wells was a research geologist with the USGS for 40 years, where he used field geology, paleomagnetism, and GPS to understand the tectonic evolution and seismic hazards of active continental margins. He has studied subduction zones around the world to better understand the controls on great megathrust earthquakes and has applied that understanding to the Cascadia convergent margin. Ray is particularly interested in how the oblique component of convergence is partitioned into permanent deformation of the forearc, producing faults, earthquakes, and tectonic rotation of the upper plate. Dr. Wells is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award of the Department of the Interior and the 2017 recipient of the Geological Society of Americas Geologic Mapping Award in honor of Florence Bascom. Recently retired, Ray is a Scientist Emeritus stationed at the USGS Oregon Water Science Center and is a Research Associate with the Geology Department at Portland State University.

Location

Old Market Pub (View)
6959 SW Multnomah Blvd.
Portland, OR 97223
United States

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Owner: Oregon AEG

On BPT Since: Nov 06, 2016

Chris Humphrey

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