Location: Moscow, Idaho, USA
Web: http://www.geosociety.org/Sections/rm/2016mtg/index.htm
Includes the following sessions:
12. Geologic setting and hydrogeology of the Columbia River Basalt Group and the Snake River Plain
Convenors: Attila Folnagy (afolnagy@mt.gov), Tom Wood (twood@uidaho.edu)
Includes the following fieldtrips:
The Columbia River Basalt Group of Western Idaho and Eastern Washington - Dikes, Vents, Flows, and Tectonics along the Eastern Margin of the Flood Basalt Province
Date: 16-17 May
Leaders: Stephen Reidel (sreidel@tricity.wsu.edu), Victor Camp (vcamp@mail.sdsu.edu), Barton Martin (bsmartin@owu.edu), Terry Tolan (ttolan@intera.com), John Wolff (jawolff@wsu.edu)
The Columbia River flood basalt province is the youngest and smallest 'Large Igneous Province' yet it is one of the most studied and best understood. Participants will have an opportunity to examine features along the eastern margin of the province that provide excellent examples of typical lava flows, dikes and vents, and tectonic features.
Geology of the Wallowa Terrane in the Northern Parts of Hell Canyon
Date: 17 May
Leaders: Tracy Vallier (tvallier@usgs.gov), Keegan Schmidt (klschmidt@lcsc.edu), Todd LaMaskin (lamaskint@uncw.edu)
Much of the Paleozoic-Mesozoic exotic island arc complex represented by the Wallowa terrane is covered by extensive Cenozoic volcanics and sediments in the Blue Mountains and Columbia Plateau of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Locations in which these basement rocks are visible are limited, and one of the most impressive continuous exposures occurs in the walls of Hells Canyon. This trip will explore the anatomy of the Wallowa island arc by jet boat including its plutonic basement, extensive volcanic sequences, and capping sedimentary rocks, along with faults and Columbia River basalt exposures within, “North America’s deepest gorge.”
Miocene to Pleistocene Volcanism of the Yellowknife Hotspot: Western and Central Snake River Plain
Date: 20-23 May
Leaders: Scott Boroughs (scott.boroughs@wsu.edu), Bill Bonnichsen, Martha Godchaux, John Wolff (jawolff@wsu.edu)
The Snake River Plain is a classic province of bimodal intraplate volcanism, along the track of the Yellowstone hotspot, that has been intensely studied in recent years. This trip will examine trademark high-temperature rhyolites, both densely welded lava-like ignimbrites and large-volume lava flows, associated basaltic lavas and tuffs, and features arising from the interaction of basalt and rhyolite lavas with Miocene–Pliocene Lake Idaho.