Lush greenery rich in Douglas fir and hemlock trees covers the Triangle Lake valley of the Oregon Coast Range. Today, however, geologists across the country are more focused on sediment samples dating back 50,000 years that were dug up by University of Oregon scientists.
The sediment indicates that the mountainous region, which was not covered in glaciers during the last ice age, was a frost-covered grassy landscape that endured erosion rates at least 2.5 higher than today's, an eight-member team reports in a paper in the journal Science Advances.
The research raises the possibility that non-glaciated terrain across North America was similar to that found 40 miles northwest of Eugene. The findings also suggest that mean annual temperatures were about 11 degrees Celsius cooler than modern temperatures, and that frost cracking -- not rainfall -- drove erosion as the region began emerging out of the Last Glacial Maximum.
Core samples containing telling signatures of frost were drilled up from 200 feet below today's surface near Little Lake. The valley, also home to the much larger Triangle Lake, is the result of a massive landslide 50,000 years ago. Eroding sediment then continued to fill a large lake and transform the valley floor.
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