Usage:
Ellensburg Formation (OR*,WA*)
Subunits:
(alphabetical) --all in WA: Beverly Member*, Rattlesnake Ridge Member, Selah Member, Squaw Creek Member*, Vantage Member*.
[NOTE: The Department of the Interior's Secretarial Order 3404, issued on November 19, 2021, formally identifies the term “squaw” as derogatory. That Order will create a federal Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force, to find replacement names for geographic features in use by federal agencies. We’re awaiting guidance from the Task Force, and will then take the appropriate actions.]
Geologic age:
late Tertiary (middle to late Miocene)*
Type section, locality, area and/or origin of name:
Not stated. Forms floor of Kittitas Valley, Kittitas Co., WA, in which town of Ellensburg is situated (Russell, 1900).
AAPG geologic province:
Columbia basin
For more information, please contact Nancy Stamm, Geologic Names Committee Secretary.
Asterisk (*) indicates published by U.S. Geological Survey authors.
"No current usage" (†) implies that a name has been abandoned or has fallen into disuse. Former usage and, if known, replacement name given in parentheses ( ).
Slash (/) indicates name conflicts with nomenclatural guidelines (CSN, 1933; ACSN, 1961, 1970; NACSN, 1983, 2005, 2021). May be explained within brackets ([ ]).