Discharge Rates of Fluid and Heat by Thermal Springs of the Cascade Range, Washington, Oregon, and Northern California

Fluid and heat discharge rates of thermal springs of the Cascade Range have been determined using the chloride inventory method. Discharge rates of thermal spring groups range from 1 to 120 L s−1. Most of the fluid (50%) and heat (61%) are discharged from two hot spring groups in northern Oregon. Total discharge from thermal springs in the Cascade Range of California, Oregon, and Washington is about 340 Ls−1, which corresponds to about 8.2×104 kJ s−1 of heat. This does not include hot springs developed on the flanks of Mount St. Helens after the 1980 eruption. The Cascade Range consists of geologically and technically distinct segments; rates of convective heat discharge by the thermal springs in these segments correlate with volcanic rock extrusion rates for the last 2 m. y. In Oregon and Washington, many streams without known thermal or mineral springs in their drainage basins also were sampled for chloride and sodium to detect chemical anomalies that might be associated with previously unknown thermal or mineral waters. Only three chloride anomalies not associated with known thermal or mineral springs were identified in the streams of the Cascade Range.