2014 Nature Night: Crooked River Caldera by Carrie Gordon
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Jan. 15, 2014•0 likes•4,198 views
2014 Nature Night: Crooked River Caldera by Carrie Gordon
Jan. 15, 2014•0 likes•4,198 views
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In 2007, local geologists discovered one of the largest ancient volcanoes in the world right here in Central Oregon! Straddling three counties, the Crooked River Caldera encompasses 425 square miles, stretching from Smith Rock State Park nearly to Prineville reservoir. Join Ochoco National Forest geologist Carrie Gordon for a tour of this immense caldera and its volcanic history that is the story of Central Oregon. Learn about this ancient volcano’s catastrophic eruption and subsequent filling in that has shaped the landscape we see today. Carrie Gordon is the Forest Geologist on the Ochoco National Forest and Crooked River National Grassland for the US. Forest Service. She holds a BA in Geology from Central Washington State College and is a Registered Geologist in the States of Oregon and Washington. Carrie has worked in Central Oregon since 1992 and was part of the team of geologists that discovered Central Oregon’s Crooked River Caldera. Carrie has had a life-long fascination with the land and the rocks, listening to the stories they tell.
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2014 Nature Night: Crooked River Caldera by Carrie Gordon
- 1. Crooked River Caldera, a Super Volcano Deschutes Land Trust 2014 Image courtesy National Park Service 1
- 2. Geology and Landforms of Central Oregon 2
- 3. Last 60 Million Years Empire State is 1, 250 ft. tall. = 4.5 Billion Years 3
- 4. GEOLOGY OF THE NORTH HALF OF THE LOWER CROOKED BASIN, CROOK, DESCHUTES, JEFFERSON, AND WHEELER COUNTIES, OREGON. Jason D. McClaughry1, Mark L. Ferns1, and Caroline L. Gordon2 1. Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, Baker City Field Office, 1510 Campbell Street, Baker City, OR 97814 2. United States Forest Service, Ochoco National Forest and Crooked River National Grassland, 3160 NE 3rd St., Prineville, OR 97754 Funded in part by the USGS under the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping program under assistance awards 05HQAG0037 and 06HQAG0027 4
- 5. Making Connections: • Oregon’s ecology is closely tied to Oregon’s geology. Ecoregions of Oregon Geologic/Physiogr aphic Provinces of Oregon E. L. Orr and W. N. Orr, “Geology of Oregon,” Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co., 5th Edition, 1992. 5
- 10. Coastline 150 Million Years Ago Most of Oregon and Washington has been added to the edge of the continent in the past 150 million added Material years since then by Subduction and Terrane Accretion 10 Parks and Plates ©2005 Robert J. Lillie
- 11. Jurassic Opening of the Atlantic ocean 150 Million Years Ago Ron Blakey Northern Arizona University http://cpgeosystems.com/paleomaps.html 11
- 17. Geologic History - Tectonic Setting Deschutes River John Day River Faults!!! 17
- 19. Geologic History 150-60 Million Years ago … Warm Tropical Seas!! Ammonites 19
- 20. Geologic map of the north half of the Lower Crooked Basin Wildcat Mtn. Crooked River Prineville 20
- 22. 22
- 23. Clarno Formation ~44 to 39 Ma 23
- 24. Clarno Formation - Eocene Epoch 44-39 Million Years ago Brennon Palisades Tropical Climate Wildcat Mountain First of 2 Major Volcanic Episodes Ocean Front Property 24
- 25. Steins Pillar 25
- 26. Geologic map: Wildcat Mountain Caldera ~40 Ma Andesite 41.5 Ma Hash Rock rhyolite 39.4 Ma Hwy 26 Andesite & Dacite porphyry 43.8 Ma Mill Creek Steins Pillar tuff 26
- 28. Rhyolite intrusions within the Wildcat Mountain caldera Twin Pillars Forked Horn Butte 28
- 29. John Day Clarno John Day Crooked River caldera- Tuff of Smith Rock– Monkey Face Clarno Wildcat Mountain caldera Steins Pillar Tuff 29
- 30. John Day Formation ~36 to 25 Ma Lk. Billy Chinook Ochoco Reservoir Prineville Res. 30
- 31. John Day Formation Oligocene Epoch 36-25 Million Years ago Big Summit Prairie Temperate Climate 2nd Major Volcanic Episode Coastline on the Eastern Edge of the Willamette Valley 31
- 32. 32
- 33. 33
- 35. Crooked River caldera - Smith Rock tuff 29.5 Ma Mahogany Mountain caldera - Leslie Gulch tuff 15 Ma 35
- 36. 36
- 37. Looking across the Caldera! 37
- 38. Rhyolite intrusions Tuff of Smith Rock Rhyolite 38
- 44. Miocene Epoch 25-16 Million Years ago Mt. Pisgah N. Fork Crooked River Semi-arid Climate Emerging Thick Columbia River Basalt flows pouring out across the NW Picture Gorge Basalt Source near Monument 44
- 47. Neogene Rocks ~16 to 3 Ma Includes: Prineville basalt, Simtustus Fm., Deschutes Fm. 47
- 48. Deschutes Formation (~9 to 3 Ma) 48
- 49. The Geologic map for Prineville Ochoco Viewpoint 49
- 50. The geologic landscape at Prineville: Basalt of Stearns Ranch 3-4 Ma 50
- 51. Quaternary ~1.8 Ma to present Lake Billy Chinook Smith Rock St. Park Ochoco Reservoir Includes: basalt from Newberry volcano and Alluvium 51
- 52. Large Volcanoes Erupting – Pleistocene Epoch Inter-canyon Flow Basalts 1.8 Million Years to 11,700 years Mt. Hood Mt. Jefferson Mt. Mazama 52
- 53. Smith Rock State Park 53
- 55. Now Present Day Ron Blakey Northern Arizona University http://cpgeosystems.com/paleomaps.html 55
- 56. Holocene Epoch Mt. St. Helens Ash Fall 11,700 years to Present Mt. Mazama Habitat for Wildlife and Plants Mt. Mazama Ash = Soil Additive 56
- 57. Geologic map of the west part of the Lower Crooked Basin
- 58. A’ A Clarno Fm.
- 59. Wildcat Caldera Smith Rock Prineville Crooked River Caldera * The Calderas are The Resource 59
- 61. Geologic Foundation Smith Rock/Gray Butte Grizzly Butte Powell Butte We’re at the apex of 4 physiographic provinces. Geologic history that includes Major Volcanic Episodes The Calderas – Wildcat Mountain and Crooked River We live with Geology Our Volcanic Past has brought us a wonderfully complex environment! 61
- 62. 62
Editor's Notes
- Good Evening!Welcome to Central Oregon.Outline:Thank you for inviting me to speak. My name is Carrie Gordon. I work as the Forest Geologist on the Ochoco NF and Crooked River National Grassland. I’ve been here in central Oregon 20 years. My duties include incorporating geology into watershed analysis by looking at landforms and the underlying bedrock. I manage the geology and mineral resource.Restrooms and water are just outside the door. Please make yourself at home!If you have any questions about our local geology, I’ll be glad to answer them at the close of the talk this evening.Deschutes Land Trust – First of 4 Nature Night Series – Wolves,Flowers,Bees.This a great introduction (jumping off point) for the series - Ground floor … the Geologic Foundation.
- Earth is 4.5 Billion Years OldEmpire State Building is 1, 250’ tall = 4.5 BYProgram this evening is addressing the last 60 Million Years … top 15 feet of the Empire State Building.
- High Cascades Ice Cream Cones - young volcanics Carved by Alpine glaciation Deep dark dense forests Moist pockets of salmon berry Vivid red bainberry and vine maple High deep snowpack, source of the Deschutes Basin groundwater
- Blue Mountains Blue Smoke Haze - grass fires Accreted Terrains and exhumed salt and pepper granites Deep steep-sided canyons, chaotic mountain ranges, sheer cliffs High alpine glaciated slopes - Elkhorns, Wallowa’s, Strawberries
- Columbia Plateau Layer cake flood basalts, thick Thin red baked soils sandwiched in between Broad ridges covered with thick bunch grasses, sunflowers, lupine
- Basin and Range Fault created basins and raised rangesSteensMtn - mile high fault scarp on the east side Deep glaciated valleys, alkaline Pleistocene lake beds Aromatic sage - pungent Golden aspen on the upper slopesStickery, pokey salt brush and greasewood colonizing the lower elevationsThe Apex – influences/edge effects of the plants & animals that populate these physiographic provinces.
- 60 Ma – Ocean front propertyExtent of Clarno Formation in the Lower Crooked River Basin.
- Point out Steins Pillar and Twin Pillars. Hwy 26 and Mill Creek
- View looking north across the caldera. Looking into the heart of Mill Creek Wilderness.
- Intrusion – vent source for some of the caldera.
- Steins Pillar - eroded Tuff of Steins PillarCompare it to the eroded Tuff of Smith Rock – Monkey FaceThey look the same!!Geochemistry is different, as indicated on this graph. A rare earth element, Niobium, is greater in the John Day age tuff.Talk about Leslie Gulch, Yellowstone, Tower Mtn…. Diff chemistryComparing the 40 Ma Tuff of Steins Pillar (CLarno FM) with the 29.5 Ma Crooked River Caldera – tuff of Smith Rock (Monkey Face) (John Day age)
- Moving forward in time to the deposition of the John Day Formation.
- Contrast various calderas here in Oregon - terrain looks very similarWho has been to Yellowstone NP? Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone?The tuff is even younger than our calderas, 0.5- 2 Ma!! Huckleberry Tuff.
- Point out features of caldera ….Eruption of the Tuff of Smith Rock at 29.56 Ma resulted in the formation of the Crooked River caldera, a 41 km × 27 km volcanotectonic – 427sq mi, 3X size of PDXdepression, whose partially eroded remains underlie the western half of the Lower Crooked Basin between Prineville and Redmond in central Oregon. The semi-elliptical,northwest-southeast elongated subsidence area of the caldera extends from Gray Butte on the northwest, along the western front of the Ochoco Mountains, and southeast nearly to PrinevilleReservoir. It is drained by the through-flowing Crooked River, for which the structure is named.The Crooked River caldera is the major vent feature of the Lower Crooked volcanic field.
- Jerry Drive, detour to see the caldera; Jefferson in the distance, beyond Smith Rock and Grey Butte.
- The Tuff of Smith Rock is all around us here in Prineville.Pistachio green hills out McKay –bluegreen clay mineral Celadonite – altered volcanic glassBeige rocks along the cutslope on Barnes Butte RdRhyolite Intrusions -- knobs and Barnes Butte
- We had our very own Hot Springs!!
- Which must have looked very similar to these images from Yellowstone.
- 2 million years old tuffs and younger .. Yes, this is an active volcano. … dormant …. As you’ll find out, you’ve been in a very young caldera, compared to the ones we’ll be talking about this evening.
- From the Viewpoint State Park, we can see 4 flows of the Deschutes Formation. The ages range from 15.7 MA to 3 MA.The Crooked River has been in the same general area for over 15 million years.
- Water wins! The Crooked River cut away the “softer tuffs”, around the hard Newberry basalt flow.
- Geologists use the geologic maps to create subsurface cross-sections to answer questions … like groundwater potential. The Cross section we’ll look at next runs from A-A’ - cutting across the south end of Smith Rock State Park.
- Jason and Mark developed a Crooked River Caldera Fieldtrip Guide of the State Parks. Our state parks showcase these geologic features from Peter Skein Ogden, Smith Rock, View Pt. to Prineville Reservoir.The Deschutes Land Trust hikes this spring will further explore the Crooked River caldera and our local geology.I encourage you to explore further with adventures and reading!Further Information: Check out DOGAMI, Geol of OR – ORR and Ancient Oregon – Ellen Morris Bishop, Hiking Oregon’s Geology by John Allen and Ellen Morris Bishop.