Preliminary report on the ground-water resources of the Klamath River basin, Oregon

Abstract

The Klamath River basin, including the adjacent Lost River basin, includes about 5, £00 square miles of plateaus, mountain-slopes and valley plains in south -central Oregon* The valley plains range in altitude from about 1*,100 feet in the south to more than U,J>00 feet at the northern end 5 the mountain and plateau lands rise to an average altitude of 6,000 feet at the drainage divide, some peaks rising above ; "*! 9,000 feet. The western quarter of the basin is on the eastern slope of the Cascade Range and the remainder consists of plateaus, mountains, and valleys of the basin-and -range type* The rocks of the Klamath River basin range in age from Recent to Me so zoic. At the southwest side of the basin in Oregon, pre-Tertiary raetaraorphic, igneous, and sedimentary rocks, which form extensive areas farther west, are overlain by sedimentary rocks of Eocene age and volcanic rocks of Eocene and Oligocene age. These early Tertiary rocks dip ''east toward the central part of the Klamath River basin, the complex "volcanic rocks of high Cascades" include three units: The lowest unit consists of a sequence of basaltic lava flows about 800 f eet thick; the medial unit is composed of volcanic-sedimentary and sedimentary rocks the Yonna formation-200 to 2,000 feet thick; the uppermost unit is a sequence of basaltic lava » ' . , , ' * " flows commonly about 200 feet thick. These rocks dip east from the Cascade Unpublished records subject to revision . ***. .' ' *' general, south of Mount Mc&oughlln, by -fee southeast-and south-sloping plateaus that comprise that part of the Central Cascade Mountains section (Fenneman) where the true crest of the Cascades is less definite* The drainage divide in the Cascade Mountains occurs at a common altitude of about 6, i>00 feet. with many eminences rising. abovo that -level, Mount

Evaluation of alternative groundwater-management strategies for the Bureau of Reclamation Klamath Project, Oregon and California

“…Newcomb and Hart (1958) described the geologic framework of the groundwater system, inventoried wells, and quantified groundwater discharge to major springs and streams in the basin. They also demonstrated the relation between spring discharge and long-term precipitation patterns.…”

Hydrogeologic appraisal of the Klamath Falls geothermal area, Oregon

“…They are recorded in drillers' logs as massive gray to brown vesicular basalt and tuffaceous sediment that underlie the Yonna Formation at places such as the Oregon Institute of Technology, about 2 miles north of Klamath Falls, at the Oregon Water Corpora tion wells in Klamath Falls, and possibly at a 1,300 foot well on Hamaker Mountain south of Keno. Similar rocks crop out in the Klamath River canyon southwest of Klamath Falls where their thickness is at least 800 feet (Newcomb and Hart, 1958). The Pliocene olivine basalts described above prob ably correlate with extensive basaltic lavas that occur in adjacent areas of northern California (Wood, 1960).…”

Geology of the central and northern parts of the Western Cascade Range in Oregon

“…Inasmuch as volcanic rocks of the High Cascade Range of Pliocene and Quarternary age are displaced along faults both in the map area and on the eastern flank of the Cascade Range (A. C. "T aters, in Wells and Peck, . 1961 ;Newcomb and Hart, 1958), at least a part of the faulting is as young as Pliocene and Quaternary. ---------------------------------- ___ ---------------------------------- ------------------------------------- K20 -------------------------------------- H20-------------------------------------- H20+------------------------------------- .66 …”