Engineering Geology of Major Dams on the Columbia River Puget Sound Basin to Northern Rocky Mountains, July 21–30, 1989, Volume T382

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Field Trip Guidebooks Series, Volume 382.

This excursion will visit dams constructed on the main stem of the Columbia River and some of its major tributaries during the half-century between 1933 and 1983. Engineering geology problems associated with siting, design, and construction of these projects and the relation of the regional geology to the various sites will be discussed. In the process, the trip will pass through portions of six major geologic provinces of the North American Cordillera: Puget Sound Basin, Cascade Mountains, Willamette Lowland, Columbia Plateau, Northern Rocky Mountains, and Okanogan- Shuswap Highlands. The Columbia River system drains parts or all of these geologic provinces except for the Puget Sound Basin, where the trip will begin and end. The approximate boundaries of these geologic provinces, together with some of their internal divisions, are shown on Figure 0-1.