Columbia River Gorge
by Jon Burch Photography
Title
Columbia River Gorge
Artist
Jon Burch Photography
Medium
Photograph - Digital Capture
Description
The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to 4,000 feet deep, the canyon stretches for over 80 miles as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range forming the boundary between the State of Washington to the north and Oregon to the south. Extending roughly from the confluence of the Columbia with the Deschutes River down to eastern reaches of the Portland metropolitan area, the water gap furnishes the only navigable route through the Cascades and the only water connection between the Columbia River Plateau and the Pacific Ocean.
The gorge holds federally protected status as a National Scenic Area called the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area and is managed by the Columbia River Gorge Commission and the United States Forest Service.
The Columbia River Gorge began forming as far back as the Miocene epoch roughly 17 to 12 million years ago, and continued to take shape through the Pleistocene around 2 million to 700,000 years ago. During this period the Cascade Range was forming, which slowly moved the Columbia River's delta about 100 miles north to its current location.
Although the river slowly eroded the land over this period of time, the most drastic changes took place at the end of the last Ice Age when the Missoula Floods cut the steep, dramatic walls that exist today, flooding the river leaving many layers of volcanic rock exposed
Ordered photographs will not contain the FAA watermark.
Image copyright 2016 Jon Burch Photography all rights reserved.
Uploaded
February 18th, 2016
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