The Eckler Mountain basalts and associated flows, Columbia River Basalt Group

Recent mapping of flows of the Columbia River Basalt Group between Lewiston and Pomeroy, southeast Washington, places the chemically distinctive Shumaker Creek flow as a new member between the Frenchman Springs and Roza members of the Wanapum Basalt. This leaves the Eckler Mountain Formation composed of only the Robinette Mountain and Dodge chemical types, with the Lookingglass flow forming the base of the overlying Wanapum Basalt. One Robinette Mountain flow and five separate flows of Dodge composition are recognized and traced across the Blue Mountains Anticline of southeast Washington and northeast Oregon. The aerial distribution of the flows is used to constrain the onset of deformation in the Blue Mountains area between the Hite and Limekiln faults. A series of open east–west folds formed during late Wanapum and Saddle Mountains time, cut by northeast-trending faults with left-lateral strain. Chemical variations between Eckler Mountain, Grande Ronde, and Wanapum Basalt flows require different source components. But between the Eckler Mountain flows the variation of most chemical parameters is consistent with fractional crystallization in the crust and can be modeled for major and trace elements. An exception is the behaviour of Cr and Zr/Y between the Robinette Mountain and Dodge flows, which suggests variable partial melting or possibly olivine accumulation.