EWU HYDROGEOLOGIC EXPERIENCE IN SALTESE BASIN, EASTERN WASHINGTON

Eight regional community college and 4-year college students explored the geology and hydrogeology of the Saltese Basin, Spokane County, Washington. The goal of this project was to provide students that are early in their career to field work and different applications of geology and develop new skills. The first two days were devoted to mapping the bedrock around the basin. The basin is comprised of Lake Hauser Gneiss, amphibolite, granitic orthogneiss, pegmatite (Priest River Core Complex) with proximal Pleistocene megaflood sand and gravel, erratics, and Miocene Columbia River Basalt. Bedrock mapping was aimed at identifying zones of higher hydraulic conductivity, such as fault and planes of foliation. The third day introduced soils and auguring to identify hydraulic restrictive zones. Students measured the water table and measured stratigraphy and developed a history of streams, megafloods, Mt Mazama Ash, peat formation, and anthropogenic alterations to the basin. The fourth day was a tour of the WSU GeoAnalytical Lab to introduce how geochemical analyses are done. The final day we met to analyze data, discuss the week, make a poster for this meeting, and have a team building exercise (pizza party). Overall it was a positive experience where we learned about using a Brunton to measure strike and dips, organize field notes, describe outcrops/rocks/soil, using topographic maps and limitations on phone GPS units, as well as tectonic/sedimentary/ and hydrogeologic processes, and analytical methods such as ICP-MS, XRF, and microprobe analyses.