Figure 1. Location map showing project area, Lake Chelan, in the town of Chelan, WA. Source: USGS Maps 2015.
Lake Chelan is one of the deepest and longest lakes in the country. Most of Lake Chelan is surrounded by mountains. The highest point in elevation of Lake Chelan is roughly 8,898 feet in elevation and the lowest point in elevation is 1,080 feet. When you subtract the highest point of elevation minus the lowest point of elevation you end up with the total relief of the area which is a total of 7,818 feet.
According to the topography map, the steepest slope in Lake Chelan is located in Cardinal Peak and it reaches to approximately 8,589 feet. Some of the distinctive landforms that can be found in Lake Chelan include the following: U- …show more content…
It contains dark-colored hornblende-rich and biotite-rich gneiss, amphibole, etc.
• The recrystallization of zircon occurred about 75 to 85 millions of year ago

Geologic structures
One of the many geological structures found in Lake Chelan are folds. Folds consist of wrinkled layers of rock that form ductile deformation. “There still exists evidence of bedding and the horizontal sheets which have been overturned and twisted into great folds. These beddings consist of sedimentary layering of rocks. Some of the valleys have been incised out of the upraised mountain masses, and all the current domes and crests have been steadily shaped by rain, frost, wind, and rills into its present transient shape (Water …show more content…
Throughout time, molten rock has oozed up along some of the fault cracks and if this molten rock reached the surface before it solidified, a volcano was created.
The formation of Lake Chelan occurred millions of years ago due to the rise of the Cascade Mountains. It is currently being destroyed as these mountains erode and sediments are being dropped into Lake Chelan. Erosion teared down the Cascade Mountains as they rose. Glaciers then grew larger in size, retreating up the valleys. Nearly 17,000 years ago, a mountain glacier sculpted and carved the slopes near lake.
Throughout the past million years ago, ice sheets from Canada came along to Okanogan and the Columbia River valleys to the south. A glacier was emptied near the lower side of the lake, this then forced Lake Chelan to come across a new outlet. Lake Chelan was known to be several hundred feet deeper than it is known to be