Geo 1095: March 11, Day 800: Overturned Fold

My general approach to visiting Oregon Caves has been to get to the headquarters as quickly as possible in the morning, to get on the first cave tour. This means I've tended to look at surface geology nearby after I've been through the cave. Visitor parking is maybe a third of a mile away from HQ, but an easy, paved, flat walk, so dawdling on the way back to the car is sort of a must-do. There are some very pretty folds. Since carbonates tend to be particularly plastic, deforming easily, and since recrystallization has wiped out fine features that might serve to document stratigraphic "up," I can't say whether this is an anticline or a syncline. Instinct says "anticline," but instinct is too often misleading to count on it being right. A better way of describing my geological instincts, unsupported by evidence, is to call it an "off-the-top-of-my-head guess."

Photo unmodified. May 9, 2013. FlashEarth Location.