Geology Underfoot in Western Washington

Ancient volcanoes preserved as deeply eroded scraps. Seafloors forced high into the sky. Fossils of a long—extinct, 385—pound flightless bird that roamed subtropical floodplains. From the crest of the Cascades to the Pacific, and from the Columbia River north to the Canadian border, the ghosts of deep time are widely exposed in western Washington. But geology never really dies. It is very much active and alive in the region: volcanoes periodically erupt, showering their surroundings with as...