The Ancient Supermassive Eruption in Oregon; The Crooked River Caldera

Within central Oregon is the remnants of a supermassive eruption, the first of many which would originate from the Yellowstone Hotspot. This eruption devastated the landscape for as much as 105 miles in every direction, and deposited hundreds of feet thick of ash. This is the story of the 29.56 million year old Crooked River Caldera, whose rim today encompasses the towns of Prineville, Terrebonne, and Powell Butte. Many features were created by this caldera, including the towering spires in Smith Rock State Park.
Thumbnail Photo Credit: Schaefer, J. R. G., Alaska Volcano Observatory / Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys, avo.alaska.edu.... This image was mirrored vertically (left became right and right became left), cropped, overlaid with text, and then overlaid with GeologyHub made graphics (the image border & the GeologyHub logo).
Note: This video's thumbnail image attempts to display what the Crooked River's caldera forming eruption may have looked like 29.56 million years ago via displaying an eruption plume created by Alaska's 2008 eruption of the Okmok volcano.
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Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers
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Sources/Citations:
[1] U.S. Geological Survey
[2] The Google Earth KMZ file used in this video used to show the Geologic Map of Oregon was downloaded from: U.S. Geological Survey, Oregon geologic map data, at mrdata.usgs.go...
[3] Seligman, Angela & Bindeman, Ilya & McClaughry, Jason & Stern, Richard & Fisher, Christopher. (2014). The earliest low and high δO caldera-forming eruptions of the Yellowstone plume: implications for the 30-40 Ma Oregon calderas and speculations on plume-triggered delaminations. Frontiers in Earth Science. 2. 1-9. 10.3389/feart.2014.00034., CC BY 4.0.
[4] McClaughry, Jason & Ferns, Mark & Gordon, Caroline & Patridge, Karyn. (2009). Field trip guide to the Oligocene Crooked River caldera: Central Oregon’s supervolcano, Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson Counties, Oregon. Oregon Geology. 69. 25-44.
[5] Age dates displayed for the Crooked River Caldera's post caldera lava domes was primarily sourced from a graphic at www.deschutesl..., with that graphic being a derivative of a graphic from McClaughry, Jason & Ferns, Mark & Gordon, Caroline & Patridge, Karyn. (2009). Field trip guide to the Oligocene Crooked River caldera: Central Oregon’s supervolcano, Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson Counties, Oregon. Oregon Geology. 69. 25-44.
0:00 An Ancient Eruption
0:18 A Devastated Landscape
0:57 Volcanic Coloration
1:53 Yellowstone Hotspot
3:15 The Powerful Eruption
4:42 Post Caldera Eruptions

[@alphax4785]

"Only 29.5 MYA..." Darn, just missed it!

[@sabishiihito]

*Snaps finger*

[@anna9072]

Yeah, geologically just yesterday.

[@Samuel42069]

​@@anna9072 Like people sometime write this crap but it doesnt make sense. There is no dating in geology, any supervulcano may blow up today easily. It doesnt happen periodicaly as some people think.

[@KarynLewisBonfiglio]

Geology time 😂

[@KillberZomL4D42494]

Dang, me too. That would have been a magnificent sight to see. Well then, i'm off to my time machine, I hope it can travel back million years, if it did, I hope it won't break then I'd be stuck there.

[@robdiesel2876]

You forgot to mention the clock wise motion of the plate that moved this caldera to its current position in Oregon.

[@deanfirnatine7814]

Yep, thus it not being in line with the string of all the others from the Yellowstone hot spot like McDermitt Crater.

[@angiezacapala378]

I do live in Prineville, thank you for covering this. And covering it accurately.

[@outlawbillionairez9780]

This is video number 18 on his Oregon playlist! He's been very generous covering our beautiful State.

[@coopachew]

Yes I agree I live in Prineville too it’s what got me interested in geology moving here from the valley where all the cool rocks are coverd with dirt trees and hippies 😂 btw it’s pronounced och-o-ko 😅

[@tnokes9247]

Been waiting on this one for years! BTW Terrebonne = Ter-ra-bon Ochoco Reservoir = O-cha-ko

[@TheSpaceEnthusiast-vl6wx]

Thanks as always, Geology Hub. It may be me, but eruptions like that which created the Crooked River caldera are among the most fascinating types of volcanic phenomena, alongside Large Igneous Provinces.

[@StuffandThings_]

The area around Prineville and the Ochoco mountains is incredibly rich in rocks known as thundereggs. These are not well understood, though it is known that they have a volcanic origin. They're quite beautiful rocks and popular with PNW rockhounds.

[@craigmiller4199]

Lots of great jaspers too.

[@jerrymeyers6]

I love your coverage especially in Oregon and Washington. Thank you.

[@87mattjt]

Check out Nick Zentner and his series about Baja BC and the ice age floods, he is a geology professor from Central washington Univ. Amazing in depth coverage thats easy to follow and usually includes the bleeding edge of research.

[@steventhompson399]

I heard (probably from a nick zentner video) the Yellowstone hotspot began with a flood basalt island building event in the pacific, known as siletzia, and there was a gap of some sort between the eruption under the sea and the first eruptions on land as the subducting farallon plate sort of blocked the hotspot for a time as north America moved west and siletzia was accreted And this caldera was part of the "line" of Yellowstone calderas but the tectonics rotated it northwest so it no longer lines up

[@deanfirnatine7814]

Yep, about where Oregon, Cali and Nevada meet there was that crustal rotation, thus this one does not line up with the next major one McDermitt crater on the Oregon Nevada border.

[@BrandonFox720]

I've been waiting for a video about this fascinating and overlooked Caldera. Highly recommend a visit to Smith Rock to see the beautiful tuff deposits.

[@pon2oon]

Thanks!

[@marksando3082]

I live in Portland and at first I was very confused because we live just a few miles from Powell Butte and I was completely unaware that the Crooked River Caldera also has the Powell Buttes in the center of the state. Great video!

[@WootTootZoot]

Redmond, Oregon here, thanks, this is my home, and I'm thrilled you're covering its volcanic history.

[@xwiick]

Thanks for all the hard work on these videos

[@johnnash5118]

Here's the thing, despite all of the North American plate and adjacent Exotic Terrane conveyance, the center of the Crooked River caldera (CRC) near Smith Rock rhyolite extrusion is on the same exact N44.36 degree latitude as the current Yellowstone caldera (YHS,) which it was on @30 million years ago; it's as if it only moved due West while the younger Yellowstone calderas moved due Southwest over the 30MA (million year) period. It requires extremely complicated mobility gymnastics including "Slab Roll-back" (theoretical,) Basin & Range extension and Northwest rotation over that period of time. There are other geologists who doubt the CRC-YHS track connection altogether because of the misplacement so far to the NE of where the original @30MA YHS track "should be" according to the track path, which would put it in N. California, over 200 miles South of the CRC. Moreover, not mentioned here are two more calderas to the East of the CRC in NE Oregon- Wildcat caldera, just 10 miles NE, but 10-12MA older, and the Tower Mtn. caldera about the same age as CRC, but @125 miles NE. The reverse directional aging of the Wildcat Caldera and the distant separation of the Tower Mtn. caldera doesn't correlate with the 17MA YHS path character. Assuming a CRC-YHS connection can still be made because the YHS path is on homogenous North American Craton, while the CRC and other calderas are on much less cohesive cordilleran lithosphere, which can explain the random placements i.e., Columbia flood basalt Province also connected with the YHS.

[@deanfirnatine7814]

Crustal rotation in that area is why it does not line up with McDermitt Crater etc

[@hunorcselovszky5906]

Yay another megaeruption video love theese videoes from you

[@DuneJumper]

Been to Smith Rock, I had no idea it was related to Yellowstone

[@petracastro6021]

This was new for me, thank you.

[@susiesue3141]

Great info! Thank you for sharing! 😊

[@ThatOpalGuy]

that was the old yellowstone hotspot. you can see the area burned out in its path through Idaho: the Snake River Plain.

[@deanfirnatine7814]

Next "in line" is McDermitt Crater but this is off line because of crustal rotation in that area.

[@paulkurilecz4209]

Fascinating! Thank you.

[@word42069]

Thanks for the NJ shoutout! lol.. really does help give a sense of scale though.

[@tomrutledge393]

I don't think your statement about the Crooked River caldera being the first from the Yellowstone Hotspot is correct. There is pretty good geological evidence that Siletzia, which docked with N.A. about 45 MYA (also coincides with the timing of the sharp bend in the Hawaii / Emperor seamount chain, and that's not coincidence), was a large igneous province born of the same hot spot. Likewise there's at least one piece of an exotic terrane in northern Canada which is geochemically linked to the hot spot. I enjoy your presentations .. keep up the good work!

[@user-qm2zg2dk3s]

Thanks for this, I never really considered this method of how a hot spot could form.

[@Dragrath1]

Note that the specifics of the Yellowstone hotspot are complicated there is now evidence to suggest the plume has been active since 58 million years ago based on the oldest volcanic samples from the Yakutat terrain. This appears to have been emplaced along or near adjacent to the mid ocean ridge since its igneous petrology shows that while predominately plume derived Ocean Island basalt enriched in elements common deep below in the earth and depleted in the upper mantle there was/is a contribution of Mid Ocean Ridge Basalt suggesting it may have started about more like Iceland as a ridge aligned hot spot prior to its collision with North America. This is supported by the LIP associated with the hot spot being in 2 major pieces Siletzia which was due to still being young and hot primarily accreted to the continent starting 49 Million years ago and Yakutat which was carried Northwest with the Pacific plate and is currently subducting into the Aleutian trench. The chemical evolution of this hotspot can be traced out over time showing how the chemical composition of the sampled upper mantle has evolved over time as the plume approached the continent and eventually passed beneath the continent. You also need to account for the clockwise rotation to trace the hotspot back this appears to correspond to the relative differential in motion between North America and the East Pacific Rise+ Yellowstone hotspot system. There is a whole fascinating long history here which scientists have only just begun to piece together.

[@trimbalemrbale575]

my grandma lived in prineville. always wondered about the mtn on the NE edge of town

[@TinkerinWithTim]

Sweet! A good one about my home area! If Geology Hub wants any rocks from there let me know!

[@xsleep1]

FYI, the locals say 'tera-bone'

[@MJLovesNature]

Came here to say this lmao

[@leonacollins1785]

It's more like "terra bawn" isn't it?

[@Sphynx93rkn]

@@leonacollins1785Yep

[@shadovvlurking]

oh wow i just climbed smith rock a couple months ago, i had no idea

[@hairy-one]

there's a whole line of these features across northern CA, OR, and ID, and is currently in northern WY. 20 million years or so, it'll be somewhere in Montana.

[@NovaSilisko]

Hm, have you changed your preferred explanation of the cause of the yellowstone hotspot? I think I recall in the past you mentioning it being primarily caused by upwelling of subducted material from the Farallon plate, or I might be misremembering and mixing it up with another area. I did learn a while ago about the ongoing debate over the existence of(?)/significance of mantle plumes which is what made me think of it.

[@cacogenicist]

The YHS is probably at least 58 million years old. Earlier eruptions than the Crooked River Caldera (if indeed it is realted to the YHS) include the Tillamook volcanics in the northern Oregon Coast Range, which occured when the North American continent first overrode the YHS -- and, earlier still, the effusive eruptions which generated the oceanic large igneous province called _Siletzia,_ which accreted to the N. American plate and makes up the basement rock of much of Western Oregon and Washington. Crooked River might not actually be a YHS product. But if it is, it's out of line with the more recent track of YHS calderas because of clockwise rotation in the PNW -- caused by oblique subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate, the Sierra Nevada microplate moving to the NW, and I suppose Great Basin extension probably has something to do with it. ... Tillamook volcanics are even more out of line because of the rotation, and because of the Siletzia terrane's northward translation, after initial acretion. Other large calderas in Eastern Oregon include Wildcat Mountain and Tower Mountain.

[@user-wm9cd6gn9b]

I would like to see the explanation of the forming of the adirondack mountains of new york.

[@barney6888]

106 mile annihilations have a tendency to be anywhere from somewhat to extremely unsettling.

[@bettyswallocks6411]

“…a mere 29.56 mya…” Damn, damn, damn! I knew I should have set the alarm!

[@jerrymeyers6]

Best episode ever!

[@erwinrommel839]

If you look at Yellowstone, it looks like a bow wave with the orphan extinct volcanos on either side leading back to the edge of the continent as the northamerican plate moves over that hot spot

[@deanfirnatine7814]

If I remember local geology the reason this Yellowstone hotspot is not in a line with the others like McDermitt Crater is because about where Oregon, California and Nevada meet there is a twisting action that moved this one North?

[@bits_for_bytes]

Terry Bonny is a great place to live.

[@deanfirnatine7814]

Lol

[@AankerStoneshield]

Also a topic covered by Nick Zentner, it’s crossover time!

[@StuffandThings_]

I've actually been to this area, its a spectacular landscape though the caldera rim is not obvious at all

[@daveheider6081]

Where was this area located during that time frame? If memory serves I seem to think maybe off shore of Present northern California?

[@swainscheps]

Most interesting thing to me is that this was standard subduction volcanic action that for whatever reason permanently weakened the crust and birthed a hot spot that has remained active long after the Farallon plate disappeared. Do crust hotspots ever heal? Or once created do they live forever and therefore their number steadily increases as earth ages?

[@outlawbillionairez9780]

Smith Rock is accessible by a short walk from the parking area. Hwy 242, from Sister, will get you to the top of the Cascades and most recent lava flows.

[@weridebikes1000]

242 is closed for road construction FYI

[@richardknapp570]

Excellent episode! Is there any way to know if the caldera collapse was sudden or gradual? Would it depend on how deep and large the now empty magma chamber was?

[@cyndikarp3368]

Area just east of Crooked River Caldera, could be another unidentified caldera filled with Crooked River & Crater Lake ash.

[@wiredforstereo]

Do calderas actually get empty and collapse, or is it like Kilaeua in 2018 where the caldera collapses progressively as the eruption happens?

[@baystated]

Do drained magma chambers actually have void filled with gas separating a lake surface and a ceiling, like shown in diagrams, or are they just filled with magma at such low pressure that it doesn't hold up the ceiling anymore, the ceiling disintegrating falling and whoosh expelling the rest of the magma?

[@keegandutto6976]

I believe they don’t create voids, its the low pressure thing you mentioned

[@nigelterry9299]

29.6 MYA? Seems like yesterday.....

[@Sphynx93rkn]

In geological term, yes.

[@zacharyarons6950]

Just wondering, did the Yellowstone hotspot create any prior volcanic edifices such as lava domes or stratovolcanoes before it's caldera-forming eruption?

[@lazerman121]

All the maps of prior hotspot eruptions I have found show the earliest ones being way farther south on the border of Oregon and Nevada?

[@Daneelro]

I would really love a more in-depth explanation of caldera formation. You always show the magma chamber part-emptying before collapsing. But what would bring out the magma? I would think that as the magma escapes to the surface, the pressure gradually drops, and before emptying the magma chamber, the pressure would drop to a level at which it can no longer propel the magma to the surface. So what would make sense to me is the magma chamber roof collapsing as the pressure in the chamber drops, and the weight of the collapsed roof helps emptying some more magma. Is that correct or did I miss some physical process?

[@jackbelk8527]

Rhyolite super eruptions are explosive. The 'chamber' empties just like a car radiator when overheated and the cap removed.

[@Daneelro]

@@jackbelk8527 Bad analogy. A car radiator contains water which turns into steam, that's how it can completely drain the car radiator from liquid stuff. But rhyolite magma does not turn into gas. The gas inside it does expand, and if I am not mistaken the end result is pumice, which can be less dense than water and have a porosity up to 85%, but it's not thin air, and rhyolite is so viscous that it should not bubble out. So even after the pressure is balanced, there should be magma left. Am I wrong somewhere?

[@jackbelk8527]

@@Daneelro It is the water in high silica crust that causes the largest super eruptions. Ground inflation cracks the crust and releases the pressure of the magma chamber. Hundreds of km3 are erupted. I live on 3000 feet of Yellowstone HS deposits.

[@Daneelro]

@@jackbelk8527 I know that, I'm not asking about the cause of super eruptions.

[@skateboardingjesus4006]

Can't beat NTS nuke test footage.

[@willcE2MC2E2X1]

So that's how all the cinder came about throughout that area including burns

[@keegandutto6976]

Burns has a younger eruption, the Rattlesnake Tuff at something like 8 MYA

[@willcE2MC2E2X1]

@@keegandutto6976 hey thanks for the reply

[@willcE2MC2E2X1]

@@keegandutto6976 hey thanks for the reply

[@justinw7323]

Question is why aren't US main land volcanoes erupting more often? Like in Europe or Asia?

[@Furry-xr4hp]

Vid about desert landscapes in Greece?

[@gator3-234]

How do these super massive calderas get recognized? I can barely tell there is anything there. But you circle where it is.

[@str8shogun]

It looks like an eruption just happened today in oregon

[@johnnamorton6744]

So no loger is it the Yellowstone super plume but a new superplum in California?

[@johnnamorton6744]

Nevermind... It's so confusing

[@trimbalemrbale575]

its said as O cha co reservoir.

[@pon2oon]

3:14 Das an atom bomb. 3:43 Das an atom bomb too.

[@simix6915]

Would have been hilarious to imagine what it would've been like to anything living in the Southwest (Near what would become the town of La Garita).

[@heinmadsen-leipoldt2341]

They know how old a volcano or tree or mountains are but just a couple of years ago they discovered DNA, I had it all a long

[@marumiyuhime]

that was a nuke 3:15

[@tallthinwavy3]

Not far from me

[@misterjones8385]

interesting hypothesis... not the only one however. I personally will take some time to accept this one as theory as I have been previously sold on the deep impact idea in the vicinity of south east Oregon/ N. California. A gap in the subducting plate ..."speculations on plume-triggered delaminations" hmmmmm. I like the sentence, "the yellowstone volcano continues to erupt because it continues to erupt" quoting Alt and Hyndman. (As it erupts, the pressure is released from the exceptionally hot rock below it and mantle material rises to take the place of what was removed.) One thing is certain, the plume is huge. I am assuming that you expect your viewers to be educated enough to understand the mechanics of a migrating hot spot. Thanks for the new and fresh interpretation of the genesis of Yellowstone... Seligman, Angela & Bindeman, Ilya & McClaughry, Jason & Stern, Richard & Fisher, Christopher. (2014) huh? I guess i am needing to catch up on my reading. thanks again -e

[@freddiecarganilla9477]

Dutchsinse is spot on…..he had been talking about hot spots in the PNW for a while now….kudos to Dutch

[@markrobinowitz8473]

A fear monger channel best ignored.

[@user-fj4qp5eo5j]

I was scrolling by really fast and had to come back. I thought it said, "Ancient Supermassive orgasm in Oregon." 🙄

[@mattellington9463]

At 2:42, “this building phase continued for thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years…..” obviously they’re guessing about the whole thing.

[@W7ENK]

Terrebonne is pronounced "Terra-bon."

[@CebuanaDrama]

Is it an understatement to say it seems like every active volcano in the world is going off?

[@davidcranstone9044]

It is a considerable overstatement.

[@markrobinowitz8473]

The internet merely makes it easy to notice what's happening on the other side of the planet.

[@CebuanaDrama]

Well I been following this channel for a while and it sure seems volcanic action is happening increasingly more often

[@petracastro6021]

About 50 - 70 volcanoes erupt every year. You can look it up on the internet.

[@xwiick]

@@CebuanaDrama "Well I been following this channel for a while and it sure seems volcanic action is happening increasingly more often" Did you not pay attention then? you think this wasn't happening before you started paying attention?

[@user-nt6lb8td4v]

Я що перший?😊

[@robertmanella528]

What fool lives next to a volcano!!

[@leschatssuperstars1741]

a lot of them actually Most volcanoes don't erupt that often, or make small enough eruptions to not be considered a threat by settlers that may settle during a phase where i just looks like a cool mountain, especially in areas where people are usually uneducated. Another factor is that the soil around a volcano is usually incredibly fertile, due to it containing large amounts of minerals that are beneficial to plantlife. Because of this, it can take less than 10 years for even very explosive volcanoes to become green again after an eruption. This means that people who don't know that a mountain may be a volcano because they aren't educated about it might settle there because crops grow well on the soil. It's also important to remember that a lot of settlements near volcanoes were made in a time where people just didn't know that the big mountain with smoke was a danger or only heard about it through legends and thought nothing more of it.

[@xwiick]

Billions.

[@leschatssuperstars1741]

@@xwiick i like how i bother with being an absolute nerd and you just say "billions"

[@xwiick]

@@leschatssuperstars1741 yeah I don't have the energy anymore for stupid

[@leschatssuperstars1741]

@@xwiick lmao

[@wetsaltypickle]

I know you try with pronunciations and you do really well. But the way you pronounce Terrebonne is just hilarious😅😅😅