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Rogue Valley Area Geologic Trips |
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The Klamath Mountains are made up
of hard metamorphic and igneous rocks that were added to the North American
continent about 200 million years ago when the North American Plate began to move west and
collide with a series of oceanic plates underlying the Pacific Ocean. The Rogue Valley is underlain by
sedimentary rocks of Cretaceous and Eocene age. These rocks are soft and
easily eroded compared to the hard metamorphic and igneous rock of the
Klamath Mountains to the west and the hard volcanic rocks of the Cascade Range
to the east. Without these soft sedimentary rocks there would be no Rogue
Valley. The Cascade Range is made up of a
thick pile of volcanic rocks that accumulated from thousands of volcanic
eruptions over the last 40 million years. The magma for these volcanic rocks
formed deep within the subduction zone between the North American Plate and
the Juan de Fuca Plate during the collision between these two plates.
Rim Drive, Crater Lake National Park A geologic road log of Rim Drive
and Munson Valley Road. Potential damage in the Rogue
Valley Area. External Websites PBS:
Wikipedia: Return to:
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Rogue Valley Area Location Map |