Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2004. / Includes maps in pocket. Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 306-314). Also available online.

The upper Nehalem River-Wolf Creek area is located on the northeastern flank of the Tillamook Highlands in the northern Oregon Coast Range. Three rock stratigraphic units underlie the thesis area, and these units range from late Eocene to Oligocene in age.

Lithological, geophysical, paleontological and geochemical methods were used in order to define the contact relationship between the Keasey and the Cowlitz formations in northwestern Oregon. Drill cuttings from six wells located in Columbia County were analyzed by the Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) method. The concentrations of K, Th, Rb and Sc/Co ratio in the samples established four different groups: 1) High K, Rb, and TH, with low Sc/Co ratio typical of Cowlitz sediments. 2) Low K, Th and Rb and high Sc/Co ratio, more characteristics of the Keasey Formation. 3) Very low concentrations of Rb and high Sc, which is indicative of basaltic volcanism. 4) vertically varying K, Th and Rb concentrations. The provenance of group four is uncertain, but it may represent reworked sediments or the interfingering of the Keasey and the Cowlitz formations. Plots of these elements vs. depth define the geochemical contacts between the formations.

The Upper Eocene Cowlitz Formation is exposed in surface outcrops southwest of the town of Vernonia, in Columbia County, Oregon. The Cowlitz Formation also occurs in the subsurface of the Mist gas field where its Clark and Wilson (C and W) sandstone member (informal) acts as a natural gas reservoir, and its upper Cowlitz mudstone member (informal) acts as a cap rock. Surface exposures and continuous core were studied in order to determine Cowlitz Formation stratigraphy, and its depositional environment. Fresh core samples were also studied petrographically, and with a scanning electron microscope, in order to determine the effects of diagenesis in the gas producing C and W sandstone member.