Lacamas Lake

Regional Park
Michelle Stupfel
Clark College
Geology 102

The Beauty in the Park

This is a beautiful area I have never really thought

much about it except how beautiful it is. I have
been going to this park for years for walks with the
family and beautiful scenic pictures. More recently
I have used it for my environmental science class
project and for this presentation. I never really
thought about where the water came from or how
the land formed and I especially never thought
about fault lines here at this park. As you can see
my family and I are enjoying our 2 mile walk on
this particular day.

Rocky
Hillside
Round Lake is partially
surrounded by Volcanic
Rocks and Deposits, more
specifically the Tertiary
volcanic rocks (Tv).
On the West side and
Surrounding the Tertiary
volcanic rocks are
Quaternary Sedimentary
Rocks and Deposits (QTc).
Just south of the Lake and
the park you can see Qf
which is Pleistocene
outburst-flood deposits

This picture does not do this area justice, I have been here many times but
never noticed really what was under my feet. I believe this is Tertiary volcanic

How old are

the rocks?
As you saw in the previous slide, the Geological
map of Washington shows QuaternaryTertiary
continental sedimentary rocks and deposits and
also the Volcanic Tertiary rocks that are between
0 and 66 million years old. I also see the
Pleistocene deposits south of the lake and park
that would be between 0.012 and 2.6 million
years old.
I found the figure 12.25 in our textbook
Marshak, Stephen (2015). EARTH PORTRAIT of a
PLANET fifth edition. Norton
I have been doing some research but am not
sure how to figure out the answer to this for
Lacamas Lake park.

Plate
Tectonics

Prune Hill in Camas is just west of

the park and is an extinct volcanic
vent that is part of the Boring Lava
Fields.

According to the The Juan de Fuca

Microplate System -Author Unknown
n.d.http
://www.colorado.edu/geolsci/Resour
ces/WUSTectonics/PacNW/juan_de_Fuc
a_general.html
The Farallon Plate is believed to
have played a very important role in
the development of the western
North American continent. The Juan
de Fuca plate is moving upward and
was part of the Farallon plate. The
North American Plate is moving
downward along the Juan de Fuca
plate.

Deformation
There is a fault that is northeast of
Lacamas lake, this is an unnamed fault.
Evarts, Russell C. and OCamas Connor,
Jim E. (2008). Geologic Map of the
Quadrangle, Clark County, Washington,
and Multnomah County, Oregon. U.S.
Geological Survey.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3017/camas_te
xt.pdf
These pictures show the
deformation of the rocks in
this area.

 These pictures are

from spring quarter
2015 You can see
the plants are
thriving

Whats the
climate like?

The climate in Camas is the same as in

Vancouver, it is Humid mesothermal. You
would expect rainy winters and warm
summers. As you can see to the left
there is a lot of precipitation between
November and January here. The highs
in the summer months show in the 80s.
The park is a well shaded area, in the
summer it can still feel cool if you are
walking through the wooded area. If you
look at google earth, you cannot even
see the park due to the trees covering it.
Even though it is shaded well, the plants
thrive in the summer.

Location
and
Elevation
Lacamas Park is located at 453612.54N
1222423.13W
The topographic map I found shows the elevation to be
200ft close to the park right around the lake and goes up
around 350ft as you walk around the park. From
experience, I know this is not a really steep area but it is
not flat, as you walk through the park away from the lake it
gets steeper. The contour lines also show the same thing.

This picture is the east side of the park

where the elevation is approximately 150
feet higher than the entrance of the park.

Mass Wasting
I could not recall seeing mass wasting
at round lake park, it is a pretty flat
area from what I can remember, I do
know from being there that as you
head east from the main part of the
park it does get steeper and there are
possibilities of land wasting, I dont
see evidence of slides or anything, the
land around the lake is intact.
As I said earlier in this presentation, I
have been to this park many times but
never paid attention to certain things.
On my last trip, I was paying more
attention, looking as I was walking in
across the bridge that separates
Lacamas Lake from Round Lake, I
realized there was mass wasting.

The top picture shows the tree leaning over the water, the erosion has
taken away the dirt from the roots and this tree is falling into the lake.
As you can see in this picture to the left of the dock, there is space

 You see a lot of this as you walk through

the park.

I took this picture from the bridge that goes

over the connection of Round Lake and
Lacamas Lake

A Creek Runs
into It
There is not a river that cuts through
my field area but the Lacamas Creek
feeds into it. I didnt realize how big
the lake was (305 acres) and how
long the creek really ran. The 12.5
mile creek runs from headwaters
near Camp Bonneville through
Lacamas Lake, Round Lake and
eventually into the Washougal River.
I see nothing that shows a river has
cut through this area and I have
found no history of it either
As you can see from the previous
slide there is a lot of erosion along
the lake.

History of Lacamas Lake

Lacamas Lake was

formed over 12,000
years ago by flooding.
There have been many
things over the years
shaping this lake and
land to what we see it
as today. Humans and
nature are a part of
altering this beautiful
lake. Fires, farming
pollutants, and land
development have all
contributed.
When the settlers
came in the mid1800s tilling the land,
the amount of
sediment brought to
the lake increased.

Reflecting

I will never look at this park the same, even Camas. As I

have walked through this park many times before I have not
noticed the erosion around the edges of the lake. I have
never noticed the rocks broken beneath my feet. Seeing the
beautiful pictures of Prune Hill and knowing now that it is a
volcanic vent makes me look at it differently. I will continue
to enjoy the beauty with my family there and hopefully
teach them more about our beautiful Northwest.

References
Evarts, Russell C. and OConnor, Jim E. (2008). Geologic
Map of the Camas Quadrangle, Clark County, Washington,
and Multnomah County, Oregon. U.S. Geological Survey.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/3017/camas_text.pdf
Marshak, Stephen (2015). Earth Portrait of a Planet. New
York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Roberts, D. (2014, September 2). Camas Growth North of
Lacamas Lake. Retrieved December 6, 2015, from http://
www.camasliving.com/general/camas-growth-north-of-lacam
as-lake-818
/
Schuster, J. E. (2005). Geologic Map of Washington State
[geologic map]. 1:250,000. Vancouver, WA: Washington
Division of Geology and Earth Resources.
http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Info/dmt/docs/schuster07b.pdf

References continued
Temperature - Precipitation - Sunshine Snowfall. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2015,
from
http://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/washoug
al/washington/united-states/uswa0538
The Juan de Fuca Microplate System Author
Unknown n.d.http
://www.colorado.edu/geolsci/Resources/WUSTec
tonics/PacNW/juan_de_Fuca_general.html