Douglas Creek (Washington)

Douglas Creek is a creek in Douglas County, Washington.[1] It rises in Douglas County, flows through Moses Coulee then empties to Wanapum Lake on the Columbia River. The course of the creek through Moses Coulee displays an "outdoor geologic laboratory" exhibiting basalt formations and relics of the Missoula floods of the last ice age.[3] The watershed of Douglas Creek proper covers 132,056 acres (53,441 ha), about 11% of the county,[2] but including McCarteny Creek the entire Moses Coulee drainage is 1,000 square miles (2,600 km2) or a little more than half of the county.[4]: 19  The creek's flow reaches the Columbia River "during storm water runoff events", otherwise being absorbed into the aquifer.[4]: 21 

Douglas Creek
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationWaterville Plateau, Douglas County
 • coordinates47°44′09″N 119°59′49″W / 47.73583°N 119.99694°W / 47.73583; -119.99694[1]
Mouth 
 • location
Columbia River at Wanapum Lake in Douglas County
 • coordinates
47°16′11″N 120°05′14″W / 47.26972°N 120.08722°W / 47.26972; -120.08722[1]
Basin size132,056 acres (53,441 ha)
Discharge 
 • average12 to 25 cubic feet per second (0.34 to 0.71 m3/s)[2]
Basin features
ProgressionColumbia River → Pacific Ocean

References edit

  1. ^ a b c U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Douglas Creek
  2. ^ a b Land Health Evaluation Report: Douglas Creek Watershed (PDF), Bureau of Land Management Wenatchee Field Office, May 2014
  3. ^ Soennichsen, J. (2012). Washington's Channeled Scablands Guide: Explore and Recreate Along the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail. Mountaineers Books. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-59485-484-2.
  4. ^ a b WRIA 44/50: FOSTER CREEK AND LOWER MOSES COULEE LEVEL 2 HYDROGEOLOGIC ASSESSMENT (PDF), November 2003, p. 21 – via Washington State Department of Ecology

External links edit