USGS Home
Contact USGS
Search USGS

Mineral Resources > Online Spatial Data > Geology > by state > Oregon Geology

Geologic units in Wasco county, Oregon

Wanapum Basalt (middle Miocene) (Middle Miocene) at surface, covers 15 % of this area

Flows of gray to dark-gray, medium-grained, commonly plagioclase porphyritic basalt of Frenchman Springs petrochemical type (Wright and others, 1973). Generally exhibits blocky to platy jointing. Potassium-argon ages mostly about 15 Ma (Lux, 1982; Fiebelkorn and others, 1983)

Lithology: basalt

Basaltic andesite and basalt (Holocene? and Pleistocene) (Quaternary) at surface, covers 1 % of this area

Flows and flow breccia dominantly of basaltic andesite containing plagioclase, olivine, and pyroxene phenocrysts and olivine-bearing basalt representing part of the volcanic sequence of the High Cascade Range (Thayer, 1937). Unit mostly forms small shield volcanoes, gentle-sided lava cones, and, in places, intracanyon flows

Lithology: basalt; andesite

Open Water (Holocene) at surface, covers 0.2 % of this area

water

Lithology: water

Landslide and debris-flow deposits (Holocene and Pleistocene) (Pleistocene to Holocene) at surface, covers 3 % of this area

Unstratified mixtures of fragments of adjacent bedrock. Locally includes slope wash and colluvium. Largest slides and debris flows occur where thick sections of basalt and andesite flows overlie clayey tuffaceous rocks. May include some deposits of late Pliocene age

Lithology: landslide

Sedimentary rocks, partly metamorphosed (Triassic and Paleozoic) (Paleozoic to Triassic) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Poorly bedded argillite, chert, phyllite, phyllitic quartzite, calc-phyllite, impure limestone, and marble. In places rocks are strongly foliated. Sparse fossils (Fusilina, corals, and crinoids) indicate that the unit includes rocks of Leonardian, Ochoan, and Late Triassic age (OR084). Includes Elkhorn Ridge Argillite (OR035), Mesozoic and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of Brown and Thayer (OR008), and the Permian Coyote Butte Formation (OR085). In Baker County includes "sedimentary and volcanic rocks" (MzPza) of Brooks and others (OR039) and metamorphosed sedimentary and minor volcaniclastic rocks containing mineral assemblages indicative of quartz-albite-muscovite-chlorite subfacies and quartz-albite-epidote-biotite subfacies of the greenschist facies. In Jefferson and Wasco Counties north of Prineville, includes "phyllite and sedimentary rocks " of Swanson (OR031). Includes part of the Burnt River Schist (OR035; OR081) and volcaniclastic facies of several metavolcanic units of Permian and Late Triassic age. Not on State map (OR001) in area of La Grande 100K quadrangle, butmapped in OR291 as Elkhorn Ridge Argillite (Triassic Permian, Pennsylvannian, and Devonian?)

Lithology: argillite; chert; pelitic schist

Saddle Mountains Basalt (upper and middle Miocene) (Middle to Late Miocene) at surface, covers 0.3 % of this area

Petrographically diverse flows of basalt erupted between about 13.5 and 6 Ma (McKee and others, 1977; Swanson and others, 1979)

Lithology: basalt

Pyroclastic ejecta of basaltic cinder cones (lower Pliocene? and Miocene?) (Miocene to Early Pliocene) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Mostly unconsolidated, oxidized, fine to course, scoriaceous cinders, bombs, and agglutinate deposited in subaerial environment

Lithology: basalt; andesite

Rhyolite and dacite (Pliocene? and Miocene) (Miocene to Pliocene) at surface, covers 0.4 % of this area

Ash-flow tuff, lava flows, pumice-lapilli tuff, coarse pumicite, flow breccia, and domal complexes of rhyolitic, rhyodacitic, and dacitic composition; in places includes peralkaline rhyolite and some andesite and andesite breccia. Locally porphyritic with phenocrysts of alkali feldspar, plagioclase, and minor augite, ferro-hedenbergite, hornblende, hypersthene, or biotite. Commonly flow banded; locally glassy. Many of the ash--flow tuffs exhibit flow features and only obscure vitro-clastic textures. In places includes interlayers of silicic volcaniclastic rocks and tuffaceous sedimentary rocks. Includes rhyolite at Owyhee Dam, Jump Creek Rhyolite, and Littlefield Rhyolite, all of Kittleman and others (1965); Dooley Rhyolite Breccia of Gilluly (1937), radiometrically dated at 14.7 +/- 0.4 Ma by potassium-argon methods (Fiebelkorn and others, 1983); resurgent domal masses in McDermitt caldera area; and extensive unnamed flows and ash-flow tuffs in the central and southern part of the Owyhee Upland. Also includes isolated masses of dacitic and rhyodacitic flows, breccia, and ash-flow tuff along eastern slope of Cascade Range that are lapped by flows and sediments of the Madras (or Deschutes) Formation. Potassium-argon ages on rocks in unit from southeast Oregon range from about 13 to 16 Ma; lenses of interbedded tuffaceous sedimentary rocks locally contain a Miocene (Barstovian) vertebrate fauna

Lithology: rhyolite; dacite; rhyodacite; alkali rhyolite; andesite

Mafic vent complexes (Pleistocene, Pliocene, and Miocene?) (Late Miocene to Pleistocene) at surface, covers 0.5 % of this area

Plugs, dikes, and related near-vent flows, breccia, cinders, and agglutinate of basalt, basaltic andesite, and andesite; commonly in the form of either little-modified lava cones or partly eroded piles of reddish, iron-stained thin flows and fragmental ejecta cut by mafic intrusions. May also include rocks of late Miocene(?) age

Lithology: basalt; andesite

Basalt and basaltic andesite (Pleistocene and Pliocene) (Pliocene to Pleistocene) at surface, covers 8 % of this area

Flows, flow breccia, and pyroclastic deposits. Flows are aphanitic to finely crystalline, commonly diktytaxitic, and aphyric to porphyritic. Textures are mostly intergranular grading to intersertal; some andesite flows are finely trachytic and a few basalt flows are subophitic. Phenocrysts, mostly unaltered, include bytownite and labradorite, olivine, calcic augite, and hypersthene. Flows and breccia form shields, lava cones, and valley fill; in places greatly dissected and modified by fluvial erosion. Includes Boring Lava of Trimble (1963) and Hampton (1972) and Battle Ax Basalts of Thayer (1936). Potassium-argon ages from this unit range from about 1.2 to 3.9 Ma; in places difficult to distinguish from youngest flows of unit Trb

Lithology: basalt; andesite

Youngest basalt and basaltic andesite (Holocene) (Holocene) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Little-modified flows and associated breccia of basaltic andesite and some basalt in both central part of Cascade Range and on slopes of Newberry Volcano. Relations to Mazama pumice deposits indicate most of these rocks are less than 6,800 yr old (14C); isotopic ages on flows range from about 1,000 to 6,000 yr B.P. (14C)

Lithology: basalt; andesite

Predominantly tuffaceous facies of Clarno Formation (lower Oligocene? and Eocene) (Eocene to Early Oligocene) at surface, covers 0.4 % of this area

Mapped separately by Swanson (1969a) in the Ochoco and Maury Mountains of the Blue Mountains Province

Lithology: mixed clastic/volcanic

Glacial deposits (Pleistocene) (Pleistocene) at surface, covers 2 % of this area

Unsorted bouldery gravel, sand, and rock flour in ground, terminal, and lateral moraines. Locally partly sorted

Lithology: gravel; moraine

Olivine basalt (Pliocene and Miocene) (Miocene to Pliocene) at surface, covers 7 % of this area

Thin, commonly open-textured (diktytaxitic), subophitic to intergranular olivine basalt flows, intercalated with and grades laterally through palagonite breccia and tuff into tuffaceous sedimentary rocks (unit Ts). In places includes flows of platy olivine andesite or basaltic andesite. Several potassium-argon ages ranging from about 4 to 7 Ma indicate unit is mostly of early Pliocene and late Miocene age. Includes Shumuray Ranch Basalt and Antelope Flat Basalt of Kittleman and others (1965), Grassy Mountain Basalt of Corcoran and others (1962), Drinkwater Basalt of Bowen and others (1963), basalt formerly assigned to Danforth Formation by Piper and others (1939) (see Walker, 1979), Hayes Butte Basalt of Hampton (1964), Pliocene and upper Miocene basalt flows capping and interstratified with the Madras (or Deschutes) Formation, and basalt flows interstratified in the Dalles Formation of Newcomb (1966; 1969)

Lithology: basalt; andesite

Picture Gorge Basalt (middle and lower Miocene) (Early to Middle Miocene) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Flows of aphyric and plagioclase porphyritic flood basalt. Potassium-argon ages mostly 15.0 to 16.4 Ma (Watkins and Baksi, 1974; Fiebelkorn and others, 1983)

Lithology: basalt

Grande Ronde Basalt (middle and lower Miocene) (Early to Middle Miocene) at surface, covers 21 % of this area

Flows of dark-gray to black, aphyric tholeiitic basalt, including both high- and low-Mg chemical types (Swanson and others, 1979). Potassium-argon ages mostly in the range of 15 to 17 Ma (Lux, 1982; Watkins and Baksi, 1974; Fiebelkorn and others, 1983)

Lithology: basalt

Miocene volcanic rocks (Middle Miocene) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Dark-gray to black, dense aphanitic basalt flows; commonly columnar jointed, less commonly irregularly and platy jointed; some flows vesicular, grading to scoriaceous; includes minor pillow lava, palagonite beds, and interbedded soil profiles and sedimentary beds; contains diatomite beds locally. Maximum thickness in south-central Washington may be in excess of 10,000 feet; much thinner in western Washington, where flows are mostly associated with marine sedimentary rocks. Includes acidic and intermediate volcanic rocks in northern Cascade Mountains.

Lithology: tholeiite; andesite; dacite; rhyolite; sandstone; siltstone; conglomerate

Clastic rocks and andesite flows (lower Oligocene?, Eocene, and Paleocene?) (Paleocene to Early Oligocene) at surface, covers 4 % of this area

Mostly andesitic lava flows, domes, breccia, and small intrusive masses and lesser basaltic to rhyolitic rocks; interlayered saprolite, bedded volcaniclastic and epiclastic mudstone, claystone, siltstone, sandstone, conglomerate, and mudflow (lahar) deposits. Mostly consists of Clarno Formation of central Oregon and unnamed rocks of Basin and Range Province in south-central Oregon. Fossil plants and vertebrates in these rocks are Eocene in age. Andesite and basalt lava flows are typically slightly altered; most glass is devitrified and altered to clay minerals, zeolites, and secondary feldspar. Reliable K-Ar ages of rocks from unit range from about 54 Ma to about 37 Ma (Evernden and James, 1964; Fiebelkorn and others, 1983). A number of K-Ar ages on rocks shown on source maps as part of the Clarno Formation are in the range of about 36 to 19 Ma (Fiebelkorn and others, 1983). Although these rocks are lithologically similar to, but generally less altered than, rocks of the Clarno Formation, they are coeval with the John Day Formation. Most of these enigmatic rocks of Oligocene and early Miocene age are included in unit Tas. At base of unit in Blue Mountains Province, locally includes quartzose and feldspathic sandstone, siltstone, and shale largely of granitic or metamorphic provenance; fossil plants in these sedimentary rocks indicate an early Eocene or Paleocene age

Lithology: andesite; basalt; rhyolite

Fanglomerate (Holocene? and Pleistocene) (Pleistocene to Holocene) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Poorly sorted and poorly stratified alluvial fan debris, slope wash, colluvium, and talus; composed mostly of silt and fragments of basalt, basaltic andesite, and andesite. In places includes small areas of pediment gravels and colluvium

Lithology: alluvial fan; colluvium; talus

Lacustrine and fluvial sedimentary rocks (Pleistocene) (Pleistocene) at surface, covers 0.7 % of this area

Unconsolidated to semiconsolidated lacustrine clay, silt, sand, and gravel; in places includes mudflow and fluvial deposits and discontinuous layers of peat. Includes older alluvium and related deposits of Piper (1942), Willamette Silt (Allison, 1953; Wells and Peck, 1961), alluvial silt, sand, and gravel that form terrace deposits of Wells and others (1983), and Gresham and Estacada Formations of Trimble (1963). Includes deltaic gravel and sand and gravel bars, in pluvial lake basins in southeastern part of map area. In Rome Basin, includes discontinuous layers of poorly consolidated conglomerate characterized by well-rounded, commonly polished pebbles of chert and pebbles and cobbles of quartzite. In places contains mollusks or vertebrate fossils indicating Pleistocene age; mostly deposits of late Pleistocene age, but locally includes some deposits of early Holocene age. Includes Touchet Beds of Flint (1938), deposits of valley terraces of Newcomb (1965), and, in southeast Oregon, basin-filling deposits that incorporate Mazama ash deposits (Qma, Qmp) in the youngest layers

Lithology: clay or mud; silt; sand; gravel

Andesite (Pleistocene and Pliocene) (Pliocene to Pleistocene) at surface, covers 2 % of this area

Flows and flow breccia in the High Cascade Province composed dominantly of aphyric to porphyritic basaltic andesite and andesite. Mostly represents remnants of moderately to deeply eroded stratovolcanoes. Phenocrysts are mostly plagioclase, olivine, clinopyroxene, and lesser hypersthene and hornblende

Lithology: andesite

Alluvial deposits (Holocene) (Holocene) at surface, covers 0.2 % of this area

Sand, gravel, and silt forming flood plains and filling channels of present streams. In places includes talus and slope wash. Locally includes soils containing abundant organic material, and thin peat beds

Lithology: sand; gravel; silt; peat

Sedimentary rocks (Pleistocene and Pliocene) (Pliocene to Pleistocene) at surface, covers 2 % of this area

Semiconsolidated lacustrine and fluvial ashy and palagonitic sedimentary rocks, mostly tuffaceous sandstone and siltstone; locally contains abundant palagonitized basaltic debris and some pebble conglomerate. Includes alluvial gravel and mudflow deposits of Walters Hill and Springwater Formations (Trimble, 1963). In places, grades laterally through palagonite tuff and breccia into basalt flows

Lithology: sandstone; siltstone; conglomerate

Terrace gravels (Pleistocene and Pliocene) (Pliocene to Pleistocene) at surface, covers 3 % of this area

Unconsolidated to poorly consolidated, poorly sorted gravels and bouldery soil above modern stream channels. In Cascade Range, clasts mostly basalt and andesite. Includes some glacial outwash deposits. In Eastern Oregon, commonly cemented by caliche

Lithology: gravel; alluvial terrace

Pyroclastic ejecta of basaltic and andesitic cinder cones (Holocene, Pleistocene, Pliocene, and Miocene?) (Miocene to Holocene) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Mostly unconsolidated, oxidized, fine to coarse, scoriaceous cinders, bombs, and agglutinate deposited in subaerial environment

Lithology: basalt; andesite

Basalt (upper and middle Miocene) (Middle to Late Miocene) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Basalt flows, flow breccia, and basaltic peperite; minor andesite flows; some interbeds of tuff and tuffaceous sedimentary rocks. Basalt is aphyric to moderately porphyritic with phenocrysts of plagioclase and olivine and exhibits both subophitic and diktytaxitic textures. Includes Picture Rock Basalt of Hampton (1964), radiometrically dated by potassium-argon methods as middle(?) and late Miocene in age (see Fiebelkorn and others, 1983), flows of Deer Butte Formation of Kittleman and others (1967), and extensive unnamed flow sequences in the Basin-Range and Owyhee Upland Provinces of southern Lake, Harney, and Malheur Counties that are younger than Steens Basalt, dated at about 15 Ma (Baksi and others, 1967) and the Owyhee Basalt, dated at about 14 Ma (Bottomley and York, 1976; see also Fiebelkorn and others, 1983), and older than 7 or 8 Ma. Partly coeval with the Saddle Mountains Basalt of the Columbia River Basalt Group (Swanson and others, 1979)

Lithology: basalt; andesite; tuff; mixed clastic/volcanic

Silicic vent complexes (Pliocene, Miocene, and upper Oligocene) (Miocene) at surface, covers 2 % of this area

Large, rhyolitic to dacitic vent areas in the Cascade Range that commonly include multiple intrusions and much associated silicic eruptive breccia and erosional debris and some flows

Lithology: rhyolite; dacite

Ridge-capping basalt and basaltic andesite (Pliocene and upper Miocene) (Late Miocene to Pliocene) at surface, covers 1 % of this area

Flows and flow breccia of basaltic andesite and lesser diktytaxitic to intergranular olivine basalt. Includes some dense, aphyric flows, commonly with either cryptocrystalline or pilotaxitic to trachytic texture, and porphyritic flows with phenocrysts and glomerocrysts of olivine, hypersthene, and labradorite. A few flows contain both hypersthene and calcic augite phenocrysts. Olivine mostly fresh or slightly altered to iddingsite in flows high in section; flows low in section show some alteration to clays (nontronite and saponite), secondary silica minerals, and calcite; pinkish-brown glass in some flows unaltered. Locally includes some andesite and dacite. Some flows of this unit are lithologically similar to flow rocks of the High Cascade volcanic sequence and some are more like flows that in the past have been mapped as part of the Sardine Formation (Peck and others, 1964) and Elk Lake Formation of McBirney and others (1974) and Sutter (1978). Potassium-argon ages of rocks from this unit range from about 4 to 8 or 9 Ma. Includes some rocks formerly mapped as Rhododendron Formation by Peck and others (1964)

Lithology: mafic volcanic rock

John Day Formation of east-central Oregon (lower Miocene, Oligocene, and uppermost Eocene?) (Late Eocene to Early Miocene) at surface, covers 10 % of this area

Lithology: mudstone; mixed clastic/volcanic

Mafic vent and intrusive rocks (Eocene?) (Eocene) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Mostly plugs, dikes, and irregular intrusive bodies of basaltic andesite and porphyritic hornblende or pyroxene andesite. Represents some of vents for unit Tca and possibly for unit Tas

Lithology: andesite; basalt

Glaciofluvial deposits (Pleistocene) at surface, covers 0.2 % of this area

Poorly sorted

Lithology: glacial drift

Columbia River Basalt Group and related flows (Miocene) (Miocene) at surface, covers 0.7 % of this area

Subaerial basalt and minor andesite lava flows and flow breccia; submarine palagonitic tuff and pillow complexes of the Columbia River Basalt Group (Swanson and others, 1979); locally includes invasive basalt flows. Flows locally grade laterally into subaqueous pillow-palagonite complexes and bedded palagonitic tuff and breccia. In places includes tuffaceous sedimentary interbeds. Joints commonly coated with nontronite and other clayey alteration products. Occurs principally in the Willamette Valley from Salem north to the Columbia River, and in the northern Coast Range. Unit includes correlative Cape Foulweather and Depoe Bay Basalts in the Coast Range (Snavely and others, 1973, 1976a, 1976b; Swanson and others, 1979; Wells and others, 1983). In Eastern Oregon, occurs principally in Deschutes-Umatilla Plateau and in the Blue Mountains. K-Ar ages range from about 6 to about 16.5 Ma (McKee and others, 1977; Swanson and others, 1979; Sutter, 1978; Lux, 1982). Locally separated into Tcs, Tcw, Tcg, Tcp, and Tci

Lithology: basalt; andesite

Tuffaceous sedimentary rocks and tuff (Pliocene and Miocene) (Miocene to Pliocene) at surface, covers 14 % of this area

Semiconsolidated to well-consolidated mostly lacustrine tuffaceous sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, concretionary claystone, conglomerate, pumicite, diatomite, air-fall and water-deposited vitric ash, palagonitic tuff and tuff breccia, and fluvial sandstone and conglomerate. Palagonitic tuff and breccia grade laterally into altered and unaltered basalt flows of unit Tob. In places includes layers of fluvial conglomerate and, in parts of the Deschutes-Umatilla Plateau, extensive deposits of fanglomerate composed mostly of Miocene basalt debris and silt. Also includes thin, welded and nonwelded ash-flow tuffs. Vertebrate and plant fossils indicate rocks of unit are mostly of Clarendonian and Hemphillian (late Miocene and Pliocene) age. Potassium-argon ages on interbedded basalt flows and ash-flow tuffs range from about 4 to 10 Ma. Includes the Drewsey Formation of Shotwell and others (1963); sedimentary parts of the Rattlesnake Formation of Brown and Thayer (1966); an interstratified ash-flow tuff has been radiometrically dated by potassium-argon methods at about 6.6 Ma (see Fiebelkorn and others, 1983); Bully Creek Formation of Kittleman and others (1967); Dalles Formation of Newcomb (1966, 1969); Shutler Formation of Hodge (1932), McKay beds of Hogenson (1964) and Newcomb (1966) (see also Shotwell, 1956); Kern Basin Formation of Corcoran and others (1962); Rome beds of Baldwin (1976); parts of the (now obsolete) Danforth Formation of Piper and others (1939), Idaho Group of Malde and Powers (1962), Thousand Creek Beds of Merriam (1910); the Madras (or Deschutes) Formation, the "Simtustus formation" of Smith (1984), and the Yonna Formation (Newcomb, 1958). In areas west of Cascade crest, includes the Sandy River Mudstone and the Troutdale Formation of Trimble (1963) and the lower Pliocene Helvetia Formation of Schlicker and Deacon (1967)

Lithology: sandstone; siltstone; mudstone; conglomerate; pumice; diatomite; tuff; conglomerate

Mafic vent complexes (Miocene) (Miocene) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Intrusive plugs and dike swarms and related near-vent flows, breccias, cinders, and agglutinate of basaltic andesite, basalt, and andesite; commonly in the form of eroded piles of red, iron-stained thin flows, cinders, and agglutinate cut by mafic intrusions

Lithology: basalt; andesite; volcanic breccia (agglomerate)

Rhyolite and dacite domes and flows and small hypabyssal intrusive bodies (Miocene to upper Eocene?) (Late Eocene to Miocene) at surface, covers 0.2 % of this area

Mostly light-gray to red, dense, flow-banded, nonporphyritic and porphyritic rhyolite and dacite in nested domes, small intrusive bodies, and related flows. Includes some near-vent breccias, pumice-lapilli tuffs, and coarse pumicites. Commonly associated with mercury mineralization. Includes several small hypabyssal intrusions of diorite, granodiorite, and quartz monzonite exposed in Paisley Hills of Lake County (Muntzert, 1969; Muntzert and Field, 1968). In many places represents vents for lava flows and tuff of unit Tsf

Lithology: rhyolite; dacite; tuff