North Cascades National Park Service Complex: Geologic and Soil Resources Inventory Summary
Henderson T. 2025. North Cascades National Park Service Complex: Geologic and Soil Resources Inventory Summary. National Park Service
This document summarizes the status of National Park Service (NPS) Geologic Resources Inventory (GRI) and Soil Resources Inventory (SRI) deliverables for North Cascades National Park Service Complex. It also provides information on current geology and soil resources management concerns, with a focus on identified inventory needs related to geologic heritage, geohazards, and related soil features and processes. This document is intended to assist park staff with prioritizing technical assistance or new inventory and assessment funding requests in the near term (roughly 1–5 years). The GRI hosted a baseline scoping meeting for North Cascades National Park Service Complex in 2002. Baseline bedrock and surficial geologic maps were delivered to the parks in 2010 and updated in 2023. SRI delivered a legacy soil database and map to the park in 2008 (updated in 2013) and published an “enhanced report” in 2012. The most up-to-date soil data for the park is available through Web Soil Survey. North Cascade National Park Service Complex’s geologic heritage is engrained in its diverse stratigraphic, tectonic, and paleontological records; stratotypes; Indigenous connections; geologic exploration and mining history; and its intimate connections to hydroelectric power. The geologic and soil resources inventory needs for the park include various data and/or GIS information related to the inventory and monitoring of abandoned mineral lands, geohazards, geoscience research, glaciers, fossils, and mapping. Geologic hazards identified in the park include climate change, disturbed lands (e.g., abandoned mineral lands), dust storms, flooding, mass wasting (e.g., rockfalls, debris or ice avalanches, slumping or creep), permafrost, radon, swelling clays, seismicity, toxicological soils, and volcanic activity. Inventory needs related to geohazards address monitoring strategies to help quantify and mitigate the damage these processes pose to the park’s geologic and soil resources.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Henderson, Timothy
- Date of Issue
- 2025-03
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GRI , LACH , NCCN , NCCO , NOCA , PWR , ROLA , SRI
- Keywords
- Geologic Features, Geologic Hazards, Geologic Heritage, Geologic History, Geologic Processes, GIS, GSRI, Map Units, Resource Management.
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Windblown Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Glacial Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Hillslope Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Stream/River Channel Characteristics , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Lake Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Subsurface Geologic Processes | Volcanic Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Subsurface Geologic Processes | Seismic Activity , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Soil Quality | Soil Function and Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Paleontology | Paleontology