
Neskowin Ghost Forest - Oregon
Posted by:
Volcanoguy
N 45° 05.756 W 123° 59.340
10T E 422181 N 4994083
A forest of Sitka Spruce stumps exposed in beach south of Proposal Rock at Neskowin.
Waymark Code: WMHCW9
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 06/24/2013
Views: 6
Buried forests covered by beach sands occur at 33 sites along the Oregon Coast. These forests of stumps include over 500 stumps rooted in the current surf zone and buried by sands. These forests record subsidence along the coast due to large 8 to 9 magnitude earthquakes along the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
The Neskowin Ghost Forest is the largest and best preserved of these buried forests on the Oregon Coast with more than 200 stumps. The stumps extend from the north base of Proposal Rock south for about 2900 feet to Cascade Head, with the largest concentration of stumps being to the south. Dating of the stumps indicate that the death of the trees is roughly equivalent to a major Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake 1,600 years ago. Subsidence due to the earthquake resulted in the drowning of a Sitka Spruce forest which was then buried and preserved by sand.
References:
Neskowin’s Ghost Forest (
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Hart, R., and C. Peterson, 1997. Episodically buried forests in the Oregon surf zone. Oregon Geology, 59:131- 144. (
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Hart, R., and Peterson, C., 2006. Late Holocene buried forests on the Oregon coast. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 32:21--220 DOI: 10.1002/esp.1393 (
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