Lifeboat Foundation

Oregon’s Cascade Range is not just a scenic landscape of volcanic peaks – it also hides a massive underground aquifer filled with water.

Scientists from the University of Oregon and their collaborators have mapped this extensive water storage beneath the central Oregon Cascades and found it to be at least 81 cubic kilometers in size.

This discovery is significant because it reveals a water resource nearly three times the capacity of Lake Mead and more than half the volume of Lake Tahoe, reshaping our understanding of regional water supplies and volcanic processes.