| This red-colored hill is along the Painted Cove Interpretive
Trail (in the Painted Hills Unit). The red color reflects the conditions of
sediment deposition and soil development on an ancient floodplain. This ancient laterite soil
(now a paleosol) formed in warm, humid conditions, much like in the southeastern
United States today. The red strata occurs at the base of the John Day Formation.
Brightly colored outcrops of a rhyolite tuff bed of the upper Clarno Formation
also occur along the short interpretive trail. |
