Painted Hills facts for kids
The Painted Hills are an amazing natural area in Wheeler County, Oregon. They are part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, which also includes Sheep Rock and Clarno. The Painted Hills cover about 3,132 acres (12.67 km2) and are located 9 miles (14 km) northwest of Mitchell, Oregon. Many people consider them one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon because of their unique beauty.
The hills get their name from the incredible layers of color you can see. These colors were formed over millions of years as the climate changed from very wet to very dry. The different colors come from the types of soil, like mudstone, siltstone, shale, and lignite.
Contents
How the Painted Hills Formed
A Story in Layers
The Painted Hills started forming about 35 million years ago. Imagine huge volcanic eruptions happening far away in the Cascade Mountains. Ash and tiny bits of rock called pumice flew through the air for 100 miles and settled over this area.
Over time, natural forces like flowing water, growing plants, and moving animals mixed these ash and sediments. This mixing caused the ash on the surface to react with oxygen, changing its color. As more layers of ash and dirt piled up, the buried ash was pressed down and hardened into soil. With even more time and weather, the outer parts of the Painted Hills slowly turned into clay. Today, they are mostly made of hard claystone layers.
Why So Many Colors?
The amazing colors of the Painted Hills come from different elements that arrived with the volcanic ash. These include things like aluminum, Silicon, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Sodium, Calcium, Phosphorus, Titanium, Potassium, Oxygen, and Hydrogen.
When the ash first landed, it was light in color. But as it mixed with soils and other elements, it formed minerals that give the hills their bright reds, yellows, and blacks.
The red and tan layers you see tell a story about the climate. Between 34 and 28 million years ago, the weather kept changing. Sometimes it was warm and wet, and other times it was cool and dry. When the warm, humid Eocene period ended and the cooler, drier Oligocene period began, the tropical climate shifted.
- Red soils formed during the warmer, more tropical times. They are rich in iron and aluminum. These rust-colored layers are full of iron oxide, which is like rust.
- Yellow layers formed during drier and cooler times. They get their yellow color from iron and magnesium oxide.
- Black soil is lignite, which was once plant matter that grew along ancient floodplains.
- Grey coloring comes from mudstone, siltstone, and shale. The black marks on the hills get their color from manganese oxide.
Fossils in the Hills
Finding fossils in the Painted Hills is quite rare. The volcanic ash fell unevenly, which wasn't great for preserving plants and animals. Most organic matter simply decayed.
However, if you look carefully, you might find leaf fossils from ancient lake beds. These fossilized leaves show us that plants and trees like redwood, cinnamon, fig, and alder once grew here. This tells us that the climate was much warmer and more humid when the hills first formed.
The larger area around the Painted Hills is very important for scientists who study ancient animals. They have found many fossil remains of early horses, camels, and rhinoceroses here!
Visiting the Painted Hills
The Painted Hills are truly one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon. You can visit them all year round. However, it's very important to stay on the marked trails. If visitors step off the trails, they can damage the delicate mineral layers and the beautiful colors of the hills.
There are several well-marked trails for you to explore. Visitors are asked to promise to stay on the trails by following the rules: 'Don't Hurt the Dirt' and 'Leave No Trace'.
The colors of the Painted Hills can look different depending on the weather and how much moisture is in the ground. When the hills are wet, the light reflects differently, making the colors appear brighter or change their shades.
In 2017, a special event happened at the park. The Great American Eclipse passed right over the Painted Hills. Visitors could experience over two minutes of total darkness during the day!
Images for kids
-
Painted Hills in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. This is a panorama stitched from five images.
-
The unique colors of the Painted Hills.
-
A close-up view of the colorful layers.
