Lewis and Clark's Columbia River
Lewis & Clark's Columbia River - "200 Years Later"
"Anticlines and Synclines"
Includes ... Columbia River Basalt Group ... CRBG ... Anticlines ... Synclines ... Yakima Fold Belt ...
Image, 2006, Hood River, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Columbia River looking upstream towards Hood River, Oregon. View from the Cook-Underwood Road, Washington. Image taken May 10, 2006.
The Hood River - White Salmon River Syncline (valley) runs left-to-right through the middle of this image, with the Bingen Anticline (ridge) rising behind it. The Bingen Gap is where the Columbia River carved its channel through the Bingen Anticline. The Rowena basalts can be seen in the distance through the Bingen Gap. In this image the White Salmon River is at the middle left edge of the image.


Anticlines and Synclines ...
Concurrent with the Columbia River Basalt (CRBG) eruptions was the folding and faulting of the basalt in the western part of the Columbia Basin, creating a system of anticlines (ridges) and synclines (valleys). This "ridge and valley" topography can easily be seen while driving along the Columbia River.


Anticlines and Synclines

  • Columbia River Mile (RM) 170 ... The Hood River - White Salmon River Syncline ...
  • RM 171 ... Bingen Anticline ...
  • RM 175 ... Mosier Syncline ...
  • RM 183 ... Ortley Anticline and Ortley/Rowena Gap ...
  • Yakima Fold Belt ...
  • Horse Heaven Hills, Yakima Valley Syncline, and the Rattlesnake Hills Anticline ...


Columbia River Mile (RM) 170 ... The Hood River - White Salmon River Syncline ...
Almost directly across from the mouth of Washington State's White Salmon River is Oregon's Hood River. These two rivers run down the axis of the Hood River-White Salmon River Syncline which trends northeast. To the east rises the Bingen Anticline.

RM 171 ... Bingen Anticline ...
The Bingen Anticline is a highpoint in the anticline/syncline geological fold system in this area, and is bordered on the west by the Hood River - White Salmon River Syncline and on the east by the Mosier Syncline. The Bingen Gap is where the Columbia River carved a channel through the Bingen Anticline.

RM 175 ... Mosier Syncline ...
The Mosier Syncline is the lowpoint between the Bingen Anticline (RM 171) to the west, and the Ortley Anticline to the east. The syncline trends northeast and crosses the Columbia River from Mosier, Oregon to Lyle, Washington.

The Syncline Winery, located northwest of Lyle, Washington, was named for the Mosier Syncline, whose N70E-trending axis runs south of the property.


Image, 2012, Syncline Winery, Lyle, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Syncline Winery sign, Lyle, Washington. Image taken June 15, 2012.


RM 183 ... Ortley Anticline and Ortley/Rowena Gap ...
The Ortley Anticline is the highpoint to the east of the Mosier Syncline, and comprises the Columbia Hills on the Washington side and the Rowena basalts on the Oregon side. This anticline is also refered to as the "Columbia Hills Uplift" and it is the western end of a series of anticlines and synclines known as the Yakima Fold Belt. The Columbia River carved its channel through the Ortley Anticline at a spot today known as the "Ortley Gap", more commonly known as the "Rowena Gap".

"Ortley, Wasco County:   Ortley was named for the Ortley apple, a variety planted there in considerable numbers. About 1911, it was planned to develop Ortley as a model orchard or fruit-growing community, and the growers were to live in town and operate their orchards from there. The place is on the heights above Rowena and its about seven miles southeast of Mosier. The post office was established about 1911, with L.D. Firebaugh first postmaster. It was discontinued November 30, 1922, and many of the apple trees have been taken out."


Source:    Lewis A. McArthur and Lewis L. McArthur, 2003, "Oregon Geographic Names", Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland.


Yakima Fold Belt ...
The Yakima Fold Belt is a section of lava flows of the Columbia River Basalt Group extending along the northern banks of the Columbia River east of the Cascade Range. The Yakima Fold Belt consists of a series of generally east-west-trending anticlinal ridges (high points) and synclinal valleys (low points) between those ridges, which were produced under a north-south regional compression. These folds extend from the southern Columbia Plateau into and through the Cascade Range. The anticline/syncline folding started during middle to late Miocene time (17 to 5.5 million years ago) and is continuing today.

The Columbia Hills, also known as the "Ortley Anticline", is in the western part of the Yakima Fold Belt, and is often referred to as the "Columbia Hills Uplift". Upstream (east) of the Columbia Hills are other named ridges such as Alder Ridge, Canoe Ridge, and Paterson Ridge, all of which are anticlines within the Columbia Hills Uplift.



Horse Heaven Hills, Yakima Valley Syncline, and the Rattlesnake Hills Anticline ...
Furthest east in the Yakima Fold Belt lies another anticline, the Horse Heaven Hills. To the north of the Horse Heaven Hills anticline is the Yakima Valley syncline, and to the north of that is the Rattlesnake Hills anticline.


From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...

Clark, October 18, 1805 ...



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*River Miles [RM] are approximate, in statute miles, and were determined from USGS topo maps, obtained from NOAA nautical charts, or obtained from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers website, 2003, 2004.

Sources:
  • DeKay, L., and Hurd, T., 2011, Columbia River Gorge Chapter Ice Age Floods Institute, 2011 Field Trip;
  • McArthur, L.A., and McArthur, L.L., 2003, "Oregon Geographic Names", Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland;
  • Norman, D.K, Busacca, A.J., and Teissere, R., 2004, Geology of the Yakima Valley Wine Country -- A Geologic Field Trip Guide from Stevenson to Zillah, Washington, Washington Division of Geology and Earth Resources Field Trip Guide 1, June 2004;
  • Norman, D.K., and Roloff, J.M., 2004, A Self-Guided Tour of the Geology of the Columbia River Gorge -- Portland Airport to Skamania Lodge, Stevenson, Washington: Washington Division of Geology and Earth Resources, Open-File Report 2004-7, March 2004;
  • O'Connor, J.E., Dorsey, R.J., and Madin, I.P., 2009, "Volcanoes to Vineyards: Geologic Field Trips Through the Dynamic Landscape, Geological Society of America;
  • Oregon Bureau of Mines and Geology, 1916, "The Mineral Resources of Oregon";
  • Swanson, D.A., and Wright, T.L., 1981, Guide to Geologic Field Trip Between Lewiston, Idaho, and Kimberly, Oregon, Emphasizing the Columbia River Basalt Group: IN: Johnston, D.A., and Donnelly-Nolan, J., (eds.), 1981, Guides to Some Volcanic Terranes in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Northern California: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 838, 189p.;
  • U.S. Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) database, 2006;


All Lewis and Clark quotations from Gary Moulton editions of the Lewis and Clark Journals, University of Nebraska Press, all attempts have been made to type the quotations exactly as in the Moulton editions, however typing errors introduced by this web author cannot be ruled out; location interpretation from variety of sources, including this website author.
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September 2015