OREGON GEOLOGY published by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries 1931 VOLUME 58, NUMBER 3 MAY 1996 Hyrachus eximius Alnus heterodonta Telmatherium manteoceras Orohippus major corsonr Patriofelis ferox IN THIS ISSUE: Reconstructions of Eocene and Oligocene Plants and Animals of Central Oregon OREGON GEOLOGY In memoriam: Volunteer Shirley O'Dell IISSN 0164-3304) Shirley O'Dell, volunteer at the Nature of the North­ west Information Center, died March 30, 1996. VOLUME 58, NUMBER 3 MAY 1996 Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she spent most of her Published bimonthly in Jaooary, Mardl, May, July, Sq:Kember, Md November by the Oregon Dcp.vncn of life in Portland, Oregon. She was a secretary at Charles F. Geology and MintnI IrnkJstries. (Volumes 1 tl'I'ough 40 wereemtJed The On Bin.) Berg, at an investment company, and at Columbia Grain Governing Board John W. Stephens, Chair .......................................................... Portland Company. After her retirement, she worked as a volunteer Jacqueline G. Haggerty ............................................ Weston Mountain at St. Vincent's Medical Center Gift Shop and at the Na­ Ronald K. Culbertson ...................................................... Myrtle Creek ture of the Northwest Infomation Center. She was a mem­ ber of the Geological Society of the Oregon Country State Geologist ............................................................ Donald A Hull Deputy State Geologist ........................................... John D. Beaulieu (GSOC) for more than 30 years and held various elective Publications ManagerlEditor ................................... Beverly F. Vogt and appointive offices, including secretary and auditor. Production Editor ........................................... Klaus K.E. Neuendorf Shirley was an avid worldwide traveler. She is missed Production Assistants ................................................... Geneva Beck Kate Halstead at the Center because she contributed so much as a volun­ teer-her knowledge about Oregon, interest in geology, Main Office: Suite 965, 800 NE Oregon Street # 28, Portland 97232, phone (503) 731-4100, FAX (503) 731-4066. and willingness to do careful, meticulous work. Baker City Field Office: 1831 First Street, Baker City 97814, phone She is survived by one brother and many friends. 0 (541) 523-3133, FAX (541) 523-5992. Mark L. Ferns, Regional Geologist. Grants Pass Field Office: 5375 Monument Drive, Grants Pass DOGAMI will map tsunami hazard zones at 97526, phone (541) 476-2496, FAX (541) 474-3158. Thomas l,Wiley, Regional Geologist. Newport and Seaside-Gearhart Mined Land Reclamation Program: 1536 Queen Ave. SE, Albany The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Indus­ 97321, phone (541) 967-2039, FAX (541) 967-2075. Gary W. Lynch, Supervisor. tries (DOGAMI) has received support to produce tsunami The Nature of the Northwest Information Center: Suite 177, 800 hazard maps for the Yaquina Bay area of Newport and for NE Oregon Street # 5, Portland, OR 97232-2162, phone (503) 872- the cities of Seaside and Gearhart. The Seaside-Gearhart 2750, FAX (503) 731-4066, Donald J. Haines, Manager. project is funded by a grant of $132,000 from the Petroleum Second class postage paid at Portland, Oregon. Subscription rates: 1 year, $10; 3 years, $22. Single issues, $3. Address SUbscription or­ Antitrust Grant Program administered by the Oregon De­ ders, renewals, and changes of address to Oregon Geology, Suite 965, partment of Justice. The Newport project is funded by a 800 NE Oregon Street # 28, Portland 97232. POSTMASTER: Send grant of $85,000 from the National Earthquake Hazard Re­ address changes to Oregon Geology, Suite 965, 800 NE Oregon Street # 28, Portland 97232-2162. duction Program of the U.S. Geological Survey. Oregon Geology is designed to reach a wide spectrum of readers Both projects will produce maps of expected tsunami interested in the geology and mineral industry of Oregon. Manuscript flooding from undersea earthquakes on the nearby Cascadia contributions are invited on both technical and general-interest sub­ jects relating to Oregon geology. Two copies ofthe manuscript should subduction zone fault system. Great (magnitude 8-9) earth­ be submitted. If manuscript was prepared on common word­ quakes on this fault system have caused large tsunamis to processing equipment, a file copy on diskette should be submitted in strike the Oregon coast every 300 to 500 years, the last one place of one paper copy (from Macintosh systems, high-density diskette only). Graphics should be camera ready; photographs should being 300 years ago. Such tsunamis strike the coast within 30 be black-and-white glossies. All figures should be clearly marked; fig­ minutes or less after the earthquake, so evacuation guided by ure captions should be together at the end of the text. Style is generally that of U.S. Geological Survey publications. accurate knowledge of possible flooding zones is essential. (See USGS Suggestions to Authors, 7th ed., 1991, or recent issues of DOGAMI is working in collaboration with the Oregon Oregon Geology.) Bibliography should be limited to references cited. Graduate Institute of Science and Technology and the Geol­ Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the bibliographic refer­ ences. Include names of reviewers in the acknowledgments. ogy Department of Portland State University to generate the Authors will receive 20 complimentary copies of the issue con­ necessary data for these maps. For information about the taining their contribution. Manuscripts, letters, notices, and meeting projects, contact George Priest at the Portland office of announcements should be sent to Beverly F. Vogt, Publications Man­ ager, at the Portland office (address above). DOGAMI, phone 503-731-4100.0 Permission is granted to reprint information contained herein. Credit given to the Oregon Departroent of Geology and Mineral in­ dustries for compiling this information will be appreciated. Conclu­ DOGAMI now has Internet home pages sions and opinions presented in articles are those ofthe authors and are The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Indus­ not necessarily endorsed by the Oregon Departroent of Geology and tries (DOGAMI) can now be found on the Internet with its Mineral Industries. own home pages: Cover illustration The general Department address http://sarvis.dogami.state.or.us Collage of samples from reconstructions of plants and The Nature of the Northwest Information Center: animals frpm fossils of the John Day Fossil Beds National http://www.naturenw.org Monument. illustrations and discussion of such reconstruc­ tions are contained in the article beginning on next page. The Mined Land Reclamation Program: http://www.proaxis.com/-dogamilmlrweb.shtml 0 50 OREGON GEOLOGY, VOLUME 58, NUMBER 3, MAY 1996 Reconstructions of Eocene and Oligocene plants and animals of central Oregon by GregoryJ. Retallack, ErickA. Bestland, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403- 1272, and Theodore J. Fremd, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, He 82 Box 126, Kimberly, OR 97848-9701 ABSTRACT Central Oregon has long been known as an important Tertiary fossil plants and mammals of the Clarno and region for Cenozoic nonmarine fossils now conserved in Painted Hills units of the John Day Fossil beds have now the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (Figure 1). been placed within a stratigraphic framework created by ex­ Fossil leaves were discovered in the Painted Hills by sol­ cavating trenches through poorly exposed parts of the se­ diers using the military road from John Day to The Dalles quence. The middle-late Eocene Nut Beds locality in the in the 1860s. Thomas Condon, then a missionary in The Clarno Formation of the Clarno area is at the top of a se­ Dalles, made the first scientifically useful collections of quence of volcanic mudflows, that include fossil plant lo­ plant and mammal fossils from the region in 1865 (Clark, calities near the Hancock Tree and the Fern Quarry of about 1989) and shipped them east for expert description (Marsh, the same geological age. Reconstructions are presented here 1873, 1874, 1875; Newberry, 1898; Knowlton, 1902). Ex­ of an extinct tree (lI4eliosma beusekomii), a tortoise peditions from the University of California at Berkeley (Hadrian us corson i) and a variety of fossil mammals revisited these sites at the turn of the century and dis­ (Telmatherium manteoceras, Hyrachyus eximius, Orohip­ covered plant fossils in the Clarno area (Merriam, pus major, Patriofelis ferox) from the Nut Beds, and of an 1901a,b, 1906; Sinclair, 1905; Merriam and Sinclair, extinct plane tree (Macginitiea angustiloba), from near the 1907). The most significant sites in the Clarno area were Hancock Tree. Also reconstructed are late Eocene mam­ first developed by amateurs, the Nut Beds by Thomas mals (Protitanops curryi, Plesiocolopirus hancocki, Tele­ Bones, beginning in 1943 (Stirton, 1944; RA. Scott, 1954; taceras radinskyi, Haplohippus texanus, Diplobunops cras­ Bones, 1979; Manchester, 1994a), and the Mammal Quarry sus, Hemipsalodon grandis) similar to those from the by Lon Hancock in 1955 (Mellett, 1969; Hanson, 1973, Mammal Quarry of the uppermost Clarno Formation. 1989; Pratt, 1988). The fossil riches of the area are far from Newly discovered in the Clarno area but in the lower John Day exhausted, and paleontological research is still active Formation are fossil plants and mammals of late Eocene age. (Retallack, 1991a,b; Manchester and Kress, 1993; Man­ Early