preview

Painted Hills Research Paper

Decent Essays

The Painted Hills, a unit of the John Day Fossil Bed National Monuments, is a beautiful phenomenon exhibiting different time periods throughout Eastern Oregon's history. 40 million years ago,during the Eocene epoch, the creation of painted rocks began. At the time, weather condition were tropical/sun-tropical. This is validated by the consistent ash fall in the area which fossilized organisms like palm trees, avocados and crocodiles.This time is when the rocks/the Clarno formation were created throughout the Oligocene epoch, climate became temperate. Starting the Miocene epoch, climate changed dramatically due to the rising Cascades. The plants and animals were different than before. Oak trees and deer replaced the palms and crocodiles . Low silica eruptions occurred in this time covering the area …show more content…

Some of the most common bunchgrasses are basin wildrye and blue-bunch wheatgrass. They are typically found on the sloped areas. In the lower land cheatgrass and medusahead rye are invasive nonnative grasses, and must be maintained in order to preserve the native plants. Near the streams visitors will find cottonwoods, willows, alder, and hawthorn trees. Once it’s April the wildflowers begin to take bloom. In more recent years bitterroot has bloomed covering the most land. Other wildflowers found in this area are gold bee plants, prairie stars, fiddle neck and false dandelion. Climate Painted hills are affected by the rainshadow effect in Eastern Oregon. The area is very dry and arid, good for preserving fossils. Precipitation varies from 9-16 inches a year with snow in the winter time. The coldest time of the year is in January with temperatures ranging from 42ºF to 24ºF. July and August tend to be the hottest with temperatures from 86ºF to 52ºF. Vegetation is sparse but you can expect to find wildrye or sage brush. The previous climates gave coloration to the painted hills. Importance to Science

Get Access