FROM NEOPROTEROZOIC ‘PRE-CURSOR’ CLAMS TO THE KLAMATHS: DOCUMENTING THE PALEOGEOGRAPHIC EVOLUTION OF THE EASTERN KLAMATH TERRANES, AN EDUCATION OUTREACH MODEL

This project combines original graphics and writing in a set of educational outreach materials about the geologic history of the Klamath Mountain Province (KMP) in southwestern Oregon and northwestern California, with an emphasis on the movement of terranes in the late Neoproterozoic through mid-Paleozoic in the geologic province where the terrane concept was first developed. The project incorporates some of the most recent primary literature in the production of print and media publications that are accessible, readable and captivating to a public audience, assuming a baseline level of scientific literacy. Research was conducted through a GSA Geocorps Internship at Oregon Caves National Monument (ORCA) in collaboration with ORCA’s Resource Specialist John Roth, and geologic illustrator Audrey Ledford, as well as visits with Drs. Nan Lindsley-Griffin and John Griffin, primary authors on the Eastern Klamath terranes. The project focuses specifically on documenting evidence for the tectonic evolution of these terranes as they formed during the Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic.

As a public education outreach project, the ultimate goal of the piece is to address a critical gap in public understanding of contemporary geoscience research, especially as related to recent reinterpretations of terrane formation and accretionary processes so well exemplified in the Klamath province. Several short illustrated pamphlets were created, each of which stand individually but support each other as a whole.

The KMP boasts some of the highest diversity of terrane types and associated biological diversity per capita of any ecosystem in North America. This work highlights the geologic diversity, emphasizing the many unsolved mysteries of the Eastern Klamath terranes in such a way as to interest a public audience.