Part one of term paper
Our story starts back before the Miocene Age. Little is known about this time, however what we do know is that the shore line was much further in than it is now on the west coast; In fact back then the ocean was totally covering what we now know as Oregon. In the Miocene age, 17 million years ago, the pacific plate was drifting in towards t ...

Part two of term paper
... of lava and volcanic ash from these mountains creating the plateau. The area that we saw on the field trip was made at this time as well. In the early Miocene Age the basin got covered with a thin layer of ash and lava from the close volcanoes and the Western Cascades. This layer of rock is called Sintustus formation. This rock is easily distinguished from the Deschutes formation because of the coarseness of the Deschutes compared to the Sintustus. There was then a break in geologic activity ...