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Date Permissions Signed

5-22-2018

Date of Award

Fall 1983

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Geology

First Advisor

Easterbrook, Don J., 1935-

Second Advisor

Suczek, Christopher A., 1942-2014

Third Advisor

Burmester, Russell F.

Abstract

The Pleistocene history of the southern Puget Lowland is marked by repeated invasions by the Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran ice sheet. The present stratigraphic sequence is represented by four glaciations (Orting, Stuck, Salmon Springs, and Fraser) of northern provenance, separated by unconformities and two nonglacial formations (Alderton and Puyallup) of central Cascade and Mount Rainier provenances. Paleomagnetic work conducted on pre-Salmon Springs sediments at their type localities and correlative exposures in the Puyallup Valley provide evidence for the ages of the Orting Drift, Alderton Formation, Stuck Drift, and Puyallup Formation.

The silts sampled demonstrate an array of soft (unconsolidated) sediment magnetic behavior. Overprinting is common and is largely attributed to VRM or CRM, yet the sediments do preserve remanent components identified as DRM or PDRM. These primary components are the result of grain alignment during a period of reversed polarity. The successful isolation of reversed remanent directions in the pre-Salmon Springs units leads to a magnetostratigraphic interpretation which restricts the deposition of these sediments to the Matuyama Reverse Epoch.

Type

Text

Keywords

Cordilleran ice sheet, Paleomagnetism

DOI

https://doi.org/10.25710/pab9-0c23

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

1047603579

Subject – LCSH

Drift--Washington (State)--Puget Sound Lowland; Paleomagnetism--Washington (State)--Puget Sound Lowland; Geology, Stratigraphic--Pleistocene; Sediments (Geology)--Washington (State)--Puget Sound Lowland

Geographic Coverage

Puget Sound Lowland (Wash.)

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this thesis for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.

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