The Painted Hills are a 3,132-acre unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Wheeler County, Oregon, about 9 miles northwest of Mitchell. They began forming about 35 million years ago, when pumice and ash from volcanic eruptions in the Cascade Mountains traveled roughly 100 miles east and settled over the area; over time, water, plant growth and animal activity mixed those materials, oxidizing and compacting them into layered soil. The hills' alternating red and tan bands date to a period of cycling warm-wet and cool-dry climate roughly 34 to 28 million years ago, with the red layers formed from iron-rich laterite soils of the warmer periods and the yellow-tan layers from cooler, drier ones; black streaks mark ancient vegetation preserved as lignite, and gray tones come from mudstone and siltstone. Together the bands record the transition from the warmer Eocene epoch to the cooler, more temperate Oligocene. This entity documents the Painted Hills specifically as a geological formation.
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Protected StatusNational Monument or Landmark 1 Connections
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Source Painted Hills (Wikipedia)
Source Painted Hills (Wikipedia)
Source Painted Hills (Wikipedia)
Source Painted Hills (Wikipedia)
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1. Painted Hills (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia article lead, protection designation
eeler County, Oregon that is one of the three units of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument along with Sheep Rock and Clarno. It totals 3,132 acres (12.67 km2) and is loca
In Discipline: Geology, Lead paragraph
The Painted Hills is a geologic site in Wheeler County, Oregon
Associated With: Siltstone, Lead paragraph
The different layers of colors are due to the soil being composed of a combination of mudstone, siltstone, shale and lignite.
Associated With: Shale, Lead paragraph
The different layers of colors are due to the soil being composed of a combination of mudstone, siltstone, shale and lignite.
Associated With: Eocene, Lead, age Eocene
The layers of color for which the site is named can be traced back to cycling periods of wet and dry climate conditions associated with the transition from the Eocene epoch to the cooler, more temperate Oligocene epoch.
Associated With: Oligocene, Lead, age Oligocene
The layers of color for which the site is named can be traced back to cycling periods of wet and dry climate conditions associated with the transition from the Eocene epoch to the cooler, more temperate Oligocene epoch.
Associated With: Mudstone, Lead, rock Mudstone
The different layers of colors are due to the soil being composed of a combination of mudstone, siltstone, shale and lignite.
Associated With: Siltstone, Lead, rock Siltstone
The different layers of colors are due to the soil being composed of a combination of mudstone, siltstone, shale and lignite.
Associated With: Shale, Lead, rock Shale
The different layers of colors are due to the soil being composed of a combination of mudstone, siltstone, shale and lignite.
In Group: Cenozoic and Ice Age Fossil Sites, Lead sentence
The layers of color for which the site is named can be traced back to cycling periods of wet and dry climate conditions associated with the transition from the Eocene epoch to the cooler, more temperate Oligocene epoch.
View the SourceWikidata: Painted Hills, Oregon
Wikidata Q5978455, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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