Makah Formation--A Deep*Marginal*Basin Sedimentary 

$equence of Late Eocene and Oligocene Age in the 

Northwestern Olympic Peninsula, Washington

GEO :LdXHCAL SURVEY P R OF E S SI O N A L P A P E R I 1 i6 2 - B
Makah Formation--A Deep-Marginal-Basin Sequence of 

Late Eocene and Oligocene Age in the 

Northwestern Olympic Peninsula, Washington

By P.O. SNAVELY, JR., A.R. NIEM, N.S. MAGLEOD, J.E. PEARL, and W.W. RAU

SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHY

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1162-B

A study of stratigraphy, petrology, paleontology, and paleogeology 

of a marine sedimentary sequence of the Olympic Peninsula

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON: 1980
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

H. William Menard, Director

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Washington, D.C. 20402
CONTENTS

Page Page

Abstract. ........................... 1 Physical characteristics Continued

Introduction................................1 Falls Creek unit.....................15

Acknowledgments.............................2 Unnamed sandstone unit............... 15

Geologic setting and contact relations......3 Petrography................................ 15

Physical characteristics....................7 Reservoir potential of turbidite

Baada Point Member.......................9 sandstone members........................ 16

Dtokoah Point Member.................... 12 Age and regional correlations.............. 17

Carpenters Creek Tuff Member............ 12 Depositional environment...................21

Klachopis Point Member.................. 13 Paleogeology...............................22

Third Beach Member...................... 13 Paleodispersal pattern..................24

Jansen Creek Member..................... 14 Source areas ............................25

Other units............................. 15 Summary....................................26

	References cited...........................27

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page 

Figure 1. Sketch map of northern Olympic Peninsula showing area of report and distribution

of upper Eocene and Oligocene strata.......................................................................2

2. Generalized bedrock geologic map of the northwest Olympic Peninsula showing the

relation of the Makah Formation to other Tertiary units....................................................4

3. Generalized geologic map showing the distribution of the Makah Formation at its

composite reference section along the Hoko River...........................................................6

4. Composite type section of the Makah Formation from Waadah Island and Baada Point

to Kydaka Point............................................................................................7

5. Composite reference section of the Makah Formation along the Hoko River......................................8

6-8. Photographs showing:

6. Northeast-trending sandstone dikes cutting a sandstone channel and thin-bedded

siltstone and sandstone in the upper part of the Makah Formation.......................................9

7. Aerial view toward southeast of prominent headlands formed by the four turbidite

members in the lower part of the Makah Formation....................................................... 9

8. Medium- to very thick-bedded turbidite sandstone beds of the Baada Point

Member of the Makah Formation......................................................................... 1 0

9. Generalized stratigraphic sections of the four turbidite members of the Makah Formation at

their type sections.......................................................................................11

10-11. Photograph showing:

10. Flute casts at base of thick amalgamated sandstone of the Dtokoah Point

Member at its type section........................................................................... 12

11. Thick beds of turbidite sandstone in the Klachopis Point Member........................................ 13

12. Ternary diagram showing composition of sandstones in the Makah Formation.................................... 15

13-14. Photograph showing:

13. Calcite-cemented biotite-bearing arkosic sandstone in the Third

Beach Member......... ................................................................................16

14. Lithic arkosic wacke from Baada Point Member........................................................... 16

15. Paleogeographic map showing the inferred margins of the Tofino-Fuca basin relative to other

deep-water marginal basin facies in the Pacific Northwest.................................................23

16. Rose diagrams showing orientations of flute casts and groove casts in the Makah Formation

and three of its members..................................................................................24

TABLES

Table 1. Checklist of foraminifers from the Waadah Island section of the Makah Formation showing

frequency of occurrence...................................................................................18

2. Checklist of foraminifers from the Hoko River section of the Makah Formation showing

frequency of occurrence...................................................................................20

III

Makah Format!on--A Deep-Marginal-Basin Sedimentary Sequence

of Late Eocene and Oligocene Age in the 

Northwestern Olympic Peninsula, Washington

By P.D. Snavely, Jr., A.R. Niem, N.S. MacLeod, J.E. Pearl, and W.W. Rau

ABSTRACT

The Makah Formation of the Twin River Group crops 

out in a northwest-trending linear belt in the northwesternmost part of the Olympic Peninsula, Wash. This 

marine sequence consists of 2800 meters of predominantly thin-bedded siltstone and sandstone that encloses six distinctive newly named members four 

thick-bedded amalgamated turbidite sandstone members, 

an olistostromal shallow-water marine sandstone and 

conglomerate member, and a thin-bedded water-laid tuff 

member. A local unconformity of submarine origin 

occurs within the lower part of the Makah Formation 

except in the central part of the study area, where it 

forms the contact between the older Hoko River Formation and the Makah. Foraminiferal faunas indicate 

that the Makah Formation ranges in age from late 

Eocene (late Narizian) to late Oligocene (Zemorrian) 

and was deposited in a predominantly lower to middle 

bathyal environment.

The Makah Formation is part of a deep-marginalbasin facies that crops out in the western part of the 

Olympic Peninsula, in southwesternmost Washington and 

coastal embayments in northwestern Oregon, and along 

the central part of the coast of western Vancouver 

Island. On the basis of limited subsurface data from 

exploratory wells, correlative deep-marginal-basin 

deposits underlie the inner continental shelf of 

Oregon and the continental shelf (Tofino basin) along 

the southwestern side of Vancouver Island.

Directional structures in the Makah Formation indicate that the predominantly lithic arkosic sandstone 

that forms the turbidite packets was derived from the 

northwest. A possible source of the clastic material 

is the dioritic, granitic, and volcanic terranes in 

the vicinity of the Hesquiat Peninsula and Barkley 

Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Vertical 

and lateral variations of turbidite facies suggest 

that the four packets of sandstone were formed as 

depositional lobes on an outer submarine fan. The 

thin-bedded strata between the turbidite packets have 

characteristics of basin-plain and outer-fan fringe 

deposits.

INTRODUCTION

The Makah Formation is part of a thick deep-water 

marine sequence of upper Eocene to lower Miocene sandstone, siltstone, turbidite sandstone, and conglomerate that crops out in the northwestern part of the 

Olympic Peninsula (fig. 1) in a northwest-trending 

linear belt more than 100 km long. The Makah Formation was named and briefly described by Snavely, Niem, 

and Pearl (1978) from detailed geologic mapping in the 

western 35 kilometers of this belt, which includes the 

Makah Indian Reservation in the northwestern part of 

the study area. The Makah consists chiefly of wellbedded siltstone and thin-bedded turbidite sandstone 

and contains six lithologically distinctive and mappable members, described and formally named in this 

report, and two informal sandstone units. The named 

members are four thick-bedded amalgamated turbidite 

sandstone members, a thin but distinctive tuff member, 

and a penecontemporaneously deformed allochthonous 

sandstone and conglomerate member that initially was 

deposited in shallow water.

The type locality of the Makah Formation, designated by Snavely, Niem, and Pearl (1978) as the shore 

cliffs and wave-cut platform exposures along the 

Strait of Juan de Fuca from Waadah Island and Baada 

Point to Kydaka Point (fig. 2), is herein redesignated 

the type section. Rocks exposed in the lower reaches 

of the Sekiu and Hoko Rivers were selected as reference sections (Snavely and others, 1978).

The Makah Formation is equivalent to the middle 

member of the Twin River Formation of Brown and Gower 

(1958). Snavely, Niem, and Pearl (1978) raised the 

Twin River Formation to group rank and divided the 

Twin River Group into three new formations, from oldest to youngest, the Hoko River, the Makah, and the 

Pysht Formations.

Excellent exposures in the mapped area make it 

possible to collect detailed sedimentological data on 

dispersal patterns and lateral and vertical facies 

changes in the turbidite sandstone units. These data 

are used in this report to interpret the depositional 

environment, provenance, and paleogeology of the Makah 

Formation during late Eocence and Oligocene time.
MAKAH FORMATION--A DEEP-MARGINAL BASIN SEQUENCE

124°30' 124° 123°30'

48°30'h48»15'h48°00'HVANCOUVER ISLAND ^ VICTORIA

EXPLANATION

Marine sandstone, siltstone, and conglomerate; minor nonmarine beds in upper part (early Miocene) 

Thin-bedded marine sandstone, siltstone, turbidite sandstone, and conglomerate (early Miocene to late Eocene)

Massive to thin-bedded siltstone, sandstone, and conglomerate; contains lens of mudflow breccia (late and middle Eocene)

Melange and broken formation consisting of thick-bedded sandstone, conglomerate, and thin-bedded siltstone and sandstone; 

contains olistostromal blocks of pre-Tertiary rocks at Point of the Arches and Eocene(?) pillow basalt at Portage Head (late 

and middle Eocene)

Pillow lava and breccia with interbedded basaltic sandstone and siltstone (middle and early Eocene)

Figure 1. Sketch map of northern Olympic Peninsula showing area of report and distribution of upper Eocene and 

Oligocene strata (dot pattern) in relation to other stratigraphic units.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The valuable data on the age and depositional environment of mollusks in the Makah Formation was provided by Warren O. Addicott. His contribution to this 

report is gratefully acknowledged. Holly C. Wagner 

and Howard D. Gower improved the quality of the report

by their helpful suggestions. Mobil Oil Canada, Ltd. 

generously lent the authors slides of foraminifers and 

thin sections of correlative stratigraphic units from 

Vancouver Island, Canada. The authors express their 

appreciation to Diane Lander and Wendy Niem, who 

assisted in the preparation of illustrations and editing.
GEOLOGIC SETTING AND CONTACT RELATIONS

GEOLOGIC SETTING AND CONTACT RELATIONS

The Makah Formation occurs in the western part of a 

broad belt of uppermost Eocene and Oligocene strata 

that crops out along the northern Olympic Peninsula 

(fig. 1). The Makah is a steeply northward-dipping 

homoclinal sequence of strata in the upper part of a 

middle Eocene to lower Miocene marine sedimentary sequence that is more than 6000 m thick. This marine 

sequence overlies lower and middle Eocene submarine 

pillow basalt and breccia of the Crescent Formation 

(fig. 2) that are interpreted as oceanic ridge basalts 

and associated seamounts by Snavely and his coworkers 

(Snavely and others, 1968; MacLeod and Snavely, 1973; 

Snavely and MacLeod, 1977) and Glassley (1974).

The Makah Formation overlies the upper Eocene Hoko 

River Formation. The contact between the Makah Formation and the Hoko River Formation (Snavely and others, 

1978) is mostly covered. This covered interval is 

less than 50 m wide along Carpenters Creek, Ozette 

Road, and Little Hoko River. The massive, hackly 

fractured iron-stained siltstone and very thin bedded 

sandstone of the Hoko River (fig. 2) are readily distinguished from the well-bedded siltstone and turbidite sandstone of the Makah. Subordinate thick lenses 

of dark-gray lithic (phyllite- and basalt-rich) sandstone are interstratified with thick-bedded channelized lithic conglomerate and minor pebbly mudstone 

that occur locally in the Hoko River Formation. These 

lithologies are uncommon in the Makah Formation.

East of the mapped area, in Pysht, Lake Crescent, 

Joyce, and Port Angeles quadrangles, Brown and Gower 

(1958) and Gower (1960) indicate a conformable contact 

between the lower and middle members (Hoko River Formation and Makah Formation equivalents) of their Twin 

River Formation. Similarly, in the Little Hoko River 

and in roadcuts along nearby logging roads in the center of sec. 34, T. 32 N., R. 13 W. (D on fig. 3), the 

exposed lower contact of the Makah Formation appears 

to be conformable and gradational over a 50-m interval. At these two localities, two to three units (10 

m or thicker) of thin-bedded strata of the Makah containing clastic dikes alternate with beds of massive 

siltstone (10 m or thicker) which are more typical of 

the underlying Hoko River Formation. Although beds of 

massive siltstone like that of the Hoko River Formation occur higher in the Makah, well-bedded turbidite 

strata dominate the Makah.

A local unconformity occurs within the lower part 

of the Makah Formation from a point about 2 km west of 

Jansen Creek eastward to near Charley Creek (fig. 

2). From Jansen Creek to the Hoko River, it forms the 

contact between the Hoko River and Makah Formations. 

In the area of the Hoko and the Little Hoko Rivers, 

the unconformity is intraformational, truncating a 

small syncline and faults that involve the strata in 

the lower part of the Makah Formation (fig. 3). The 

unconformity appears to extend eastward almost as far 

as Charley Creek but was not observed along the Clallam River in the easternmost part of the study area. 

West of Jansen Creek, the local unconformity probably 

does not extend as far west as Rasmussan Creek, for it 

was not observed in the almost continuous sequence of

the Makah and Hoko River Formations exposed in the 

stream bed.

The local unconformity is readily apparent in the 

central part of the mapped area (fig. 2), where it 

forms the contact between the Hoko River and Makah 

Formations. There the Makah laps onto a broad northeast-trending anticlinal high in the underlying sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Several members of the 

Makah that are exposed elsewhere in the lower part of 

the Makah are missing, whereas members above the 

unconformity extend uninterrupted across the structure. The absence of basal conglomerate, the local 

nature of the unconformity, and the occurrence of 

deep-water upper Eocene strata directly above and 

below the unconformity suggest that it is of submarine 

origin.

The small northeast-trending faulted syncline that 

lies between the Hoko and Little Hoko Rivers (figs. 2 

and 3) is interpreted as a small flexure that 

developed on the east flank of the broad northeasttrending anticlinal fold. The structural trends of 

strata in both the Hoko River and Makah Formations define this small asymmetric syncline that formed prior 

to the local unconformity. A thrust fault in the upper part of the Hoko River Formation along the western 

flank of the syncline may account for the asymmetry of 

the fold (fig. 3). The axial part of the syncline is 

complicated by several small thrust faults. These and 

other faults not recognized in the poorly exposed axial part of the syncline probably account for the 

thicker section of strata apparent between the lowest 

member of the Makah and the local unconformity (figs. 

3 and 5).

The Makah Formation underlies the upper Oligocene 

and lower Miocene Pysht Formation a sequence of 

thick-bedded sandstone, boulder-and-pebble conglomerate, and massive siltstone and mudstone (figs. 2 and 

3). In most places in the study area, the contact between the Makah and Pysht Formations is masked by glacial drift. The contact between them is conformable 

in a cut on a side road 0.8 km southwest of Eagle 

Point (NW1/4 sec. 14, T. 32 N., R. 13 W.), where very 

thick bedded sandstone and channelized boulder-topebble conglomerate of the Pysht Formation are 

intercalated with thin-bedded siltstone and sandstone 

typical of the Makah. Where exposed in quarry and 

roadcuts immediately north of the airport 0.6 km 

northwest of Sekiu, a submarine channel conglomerate 

and sandstone of the Pysht Formation rests unconformably upon an irregular surface cut into thin-bedded 

siltstone and sandstone of the Makah with as much as a 

meter of relief; these relations indicate that submarine erosion has taken place locally.

A thickness of more than 2800 m for the Makah Formation is estimated at the type section from the base 

of the unit near the town of Neah Bay to the upper 

contact at Kydaka Point (figs. 2 and 4). The minimum 

thickness of the composite section along the Hoko and 

Little Hoko Rivers is approximately 2500 m (figs. 3 

and 5). The Makah thins over the broad anticlinal 

high in the central part of the mapped area, where 

about 550 meters of strata in the lower part of the 

formation is missing.
MAKAH FORMATION-A DEEP-MARGINAL-BASIN SEQUENCE

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GEOLOGIC SETTING AND CONTACT RELATIONS

EXPLANATION

DESCRIPTION OF MAP UNITS

PYSHT FORMATION

MAKAH FORMATION 

Falls Creek unit 

Jan sen Creek Member 

Third Beach Member 

Klachopis Point Member 

Carpenters Creek Tuff Member 

Dtokoah Point Member 

Baada Point Member

HOKO RIVER FORMATION

LYRE FORMATION 

ALDWELL FORMATION 

Tme I I MELANGE AND BROKEN FORMATION 

t=Ts=j SANDSTONE AND SILTSTONE 

CRESCENT FORMATION

Contact

Local unconformity

CORRELATION OF MAP UNITS

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Fault-Dotted where concealed; queried where doubtful; 

U, upthrown side; 0, downthrown side

Left-lateral strike-slip fault

Thrust fault Dotted where concealed; queried where doubtful; 

sawteeth on upper plate

Anticline 

Syncline 

Synform

Strike and dip of beds 

Inclined 

Overturned
MAKAH FORMATION-A DEEP-MARGINAL-BASIN SEQUENCE

STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA ,

.39, ' • • /_ • • •

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EXPLANATION 

CORRELATION OF MAP UNITS

DESCRIPTION OF MAP UNITS

TWIN RIVER GROUP:

Lower part of Pysht Formation-Siltstone, sandstone, 

and conglomerate

Makah Formation 

Falls Creek unit 

Klachopis Point Member 

Carpenters Creek Tuff Member 

Unnamed tuff 

Baada Point Member 

Unnamed sandstone unit

Hoko River Formation Siltstone with sandstone and 

conglomerate interbeds

Contact

Local unconformity

Fault-D, downthrown side; U, upthrown side 

Thrust fault-Sawteeth on upper plate 

Strike and dip of beds 

0 2 KILOMETERS 

j

T. 32 N., R 13 W

Figure 3. Generalized geologic map showing the distribution of the Makah Formation at its composite reference section 

along the Hoko River from point A (1.6 km east of its mouth) to point B (near the center of section 28) and near the 

Little Hoko River (between points C and D).
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The most common litholigic type in the Makah Formation is siltstone in beds 1 to 10 cm thick rhythmically alternating with thin beds of turbidite sandstone (figs. 4 and 5). The sandstone is fine to very 

fine grained, medium gray, and quartzo-feldspathic. 

It is generally parallel laminated to micro-cross laminated, has sharp bottom and top contacts, and forms 

resistant ledges or ribs in outcrop. In wave-cut exposures, the thin sandstone beds typically display 

Bouma (1962) turbidite sequences that lack the basal 

"a" division (Tb-e through Tde) f although some beds 

are entirely ripple micro-trough cross laminated 

throughout the bed thickness. The siltstone is medium 

light gray and hackly fractured and commonly contains 

very fine grained sandstone stringers and carbonaceous 

laminae. Siltstone interbeds do not stand out as 

boldly as the numerous sandstone beds that form ribs 

and ledges. Thin-bedded strata of this typical lithology occur in the Makah between several thickbedded amalgamated sandstone members and are well 

exposed in the roadcuts along Ozette Road adjacent to 

the Hoko River and on the wave-cut platform along the 

Strait of Juan de Fuca (figs. 2 and 3). In the stream 

beds of Rasmussan Creek and the Clallam River, thick 

units of laminated siltstone occur in the lower part 

of the Makah and beds of sandstone are rare.

The thick- to very thick bedded amalgamated sandstone units commonly contain Bouma sequences that 

start with the basal "a" division. Typically, these 

sandstone beds consist of a thick structureless "a" 

division overlain by a much thinner carbonaceous parallel-laminated "b" division and less commonly an 

overlying convolute or rarely micro-cross-laminated 

"c" division. Some very thick beds form a series of 

amalgamated Bouma "a" divisions.

Calcareous concretions are found throughout the 

Makah Formation; they range in size from small spheroids to 60 to 150 mm in diameter in the thin-bedded 

units to resistant zones of ellipsoidal to interconnected elongate concretions 0.5 to 4 m in length in 

the thick amalgamated sandstone units. Some spheroidal concretions in the siltstone contain concentrations of worm burrows; others have formed around 

pseudomorphic crystals of calcite similar to those 

described by Boggs (1972). Many small calcareous concretions lack obvious nucleii, but a few contain fragments of crustaceans or carbonized plant debris. 

Scattered throughout the thick-bedded amalgamated 

sandstone at the type section are tiny spherical pyrite concretions with oxidized rims.

Clastic dikes occur throughout the Makah Formation 

(fig. 6). The sandstone in these dikes is fine to 

medium grained, moderately well sorted, and quartzofeldspathic in composition. Most dikes are nearly 

vertical and pinch and swell along strike. Some have 

been injected along small faults or fractures that had 

minor displacements, whereas others have been emplaced 

in an en enchelon pattern along fractures with no 

apparent displacement. The general trend of the 

clastic dikes perpendicular to the strike of the Makah 

suggests that the dikes were intruded along small tear 

faults formed when segments of the upper part of the

-7-

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Falls Creek unit (projected)

Jansen Creek Member

Third Beach Member

METERS

2,880 

-2,800

-2,400

-2,000

-1,600

-1,200

Klachopis Point Member

Dtokoah Point Member

Baada Point Member

Sandstone

EXPLANATION

Concretionary sandstone 

Conglomerate 

| /f | Clastic dike

Allochthonous penecontemporaneous deformed strata

Figure 4.—Composite type section of the Makah Formation from Waadah Island and Baada Point to Kydaka 

Point. Numbers in parenthesis are foraminifer 

sample locality numbers (table 1), Waadah Island.
MAKAH FORMATION A DEEP MARGINAL-BASIN SEQUENCE

Hoko River

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Zemorrian Refugian ••<> 

Narizian

FORMATION

tfKation =] Makah Formation 

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LITHOLOGY

Top not exposed

•--•••••••:•••:

Unexposed

Unexposed

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J EXPLANATION

\^y^\ Conglomerc 

\ |-':V';'v:-;| Sandstone 

-(7609) g^l Concretionc 

l^--"! Siltstone

| (/its \ Peneconten

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^y Sandstone < —(5423) "-" —— '

) 

—(5783, 5784) 

-400 METERS

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^(5786)

—(5182,5187,7190) —

— (7191,5787)

^-(7192) 

^(7193) 

^-(7194,5788) _ 0 

N5789) 

1^(5790) 

—(7195)

/— (5791) 

I— (5726)

— (5186) 

— (5792)

Little 

Hoko River 

area

Carpenters Creek ~^~ ' ~~ ' ~~ I

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_(8242) —— Unnamed tuff ——————— l^rlZl !r±l< 

^(7387) •— • — -a>-

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Carpenters Creek Tuff Member 

Unnamed tuff 

Local unconformity

Baada Point Member 

Unnamed sandstone unit

Figure 5. Composite reference section of the Makah Formation along the Hoko River from point A in section 14 (1.6 km 

southeast of its mouth) to point B (near the center of section 28) and between points C and D near the Little Hoko 

River. Locations are shown on figure 3. Numbers in parenthesis are foraminifer sample locality numbers (table 2).
BAADA POINT MEMBER

Figure 6. Northeast-trending sandstone dikes cutting 

a sandstone channel (0.7 m thick at axis) and thinbedded siItstone and sandstone in the upper part of 

the Makah Formation on wave-cut platform 0.4 km west 

of the mouth of the Sekiu River. Man for scale in 

left center.

thick sedimentary prism crept basinward or that the 

sand was injected along fractures perpendicular to the 

direction of minimum compressional stress in a manner 

similar to that of basalt dikes (Nakamura, 1977).

The sandstone dikes range in width from 20 ram to 1 

m and commonly form carbonate-cemented resistant 

ridges that stand above the adjacent strata. On the 

wave-cut platform on the southern shore of Waadah 

Island, a distinctive set of resistant dikes, 0.9 m 

and 0.75 m wide, can be traced for more than 300 m 

southwestward across the lowest thick-bedded turbidite 

member and the underlying thin-bedded strata before 

they extend so far below sea level that they can no 

longer be seen. At Klachopis Point, a 1-m-wide 

quartzo-feldspathic sandstone dike can be traced for 

37 m before it disappears beneath the Strait of Juan 

de Fuca.

Zones of penecontemporaneously deformed strata to 

several meters thick occur locally in the thin-bedded 

sandstone and siltstone of the Makah sequence. The 

disrupted turbidite sandstone beds in these zones 

appear to have been hydroplastically deformed. Broad 

slump folds, pull-apart structures, and small recumbent folded sandstone blocks in structureless concretionary siltstone are the most common features.

Several diastems with angular discordance of as 

much as 10° are present within the thin-bedded sequences of the Makah exposed in roadcuts adjacent to 

the Hoko River. These unconformities involve several 

tens of meters of thin-bedded turbidite strata. The 

angular discordances probably resulted from minor

Figure 7. Aerial view toward southeast of prominent 

headlands formed by the four turbidite members in 

lower part of the Makah Formation. Headland in 

foreground is formed by turbidite of the Baada Point 

Member. The second headland is formed by the 

Dtokoah Point Member; the third, the Klachopis Point 

Member; the fourth, the Third Beach Member.

slumping and rotation of large cohesive blocks of sediments that were later covered by hemipelagic silt and 

turbidite sand. Some angular discordance between juxtaposed sequences of thin-bedded strata may be caused 

by broad channeling and deposition of turbidite sand 

beds within the channels with initial dips different 

than those of the underlying truncated strata.

The six newly named members of the Makah Formation 

differentiated on the map (fig. 2) are described below 

from oldest to youngest.

BAADA POINT MEMBER

The stratigraphically lowest packet of thick-bedded 

amalgamated turbidite sandstone in the Makah Formation 

is here named the Baada Point Member for exposures at 

its type section at Baada Point. The type section is 

designated as the wave-cut platform and headland exposures at Baada Point (SE1/4NW1/4 sec.12, T. 33 N., R. 

15 w.; fig. 7). The member is also well exposed on 

the wave-cut platform of Waadah Island northwest of 

Baada Point (fig. 8). At its type section, the Baada 

Point member is 120 m thick and occurs approximately 

450 m above the base of the Makah Formation. Here the 

member displays gradational contacts with the overlying and underlying thin- to medium-bedded strata of 

the Makah; the contacts are arbitrarily chosen at the 

lowest and uppermost amalgamated sandstone beds that 

exceed 1.2 m in thickness.

The Baada Point Member can be mapped southeastward 

for about 12.5 km to where it abruptly terminates 

against the west side of an anticlinal high and is un 
10 MAKAH FORMATION--A DEEP MARGINAL BASIN SEQUENCE

Figure 8. Medium- to very thick-bedded turbidite sandstone beds of the Baada Point Member of the Makah Formation 

exposed on the northwest wave-cut platform of Waadah Island along the Strait of Juan de Fuca north of Baada Point. 

Note dark-colored zones of calcareous concretions. Man for scale in left center foreground.

conformably overlapped by younger strata of the Makah 

in the central part of the mapped area (fig. 2). East 

of the Hoko River, the Baada Point Member crops out 

again in a northeast-trending faulted syncline and extends relatively undeformed southeastward for a distance of about 13 km to the eastern limits of the 

mapped area and beyond. The member forms a mappable 

couplet with a thinner unnamed amalgamated sandstone 

unit that occurs 75 m below it in the area between the 

Hoko River and Charley Creek (figs. 2, 3, and 5).

The member thins from 120 m at the type section to 

43 m in the Clallam River in the easternmost part of 

the mapped area. Between these two localities, the 

sandstone-to-siltstone ratio decreases from 2.5:1 to 

1:1. On Waadah Island and at Baada Point, 3- to 5-mthick amalgamated sandstone beds are common in the

member, whereas in the Clallam River, the thickest 

sandstone bed is 1.2 m. More than 100 individual medium to thick beds of sandstone occur at the type section. Significant variations in total thickness and 

number of sandstone beds in the member occur along 

strike between the type locality and the Clallam 

River, perhaps related to channeling and lensing of 

some of the sandstone beds.

The sandstone in the Baada Point Member is typically light olive gray on fresh surfaces and weathers 

to a "dirty appearing" yellow brown. It is porous, 

quartzo-feldspathic in composition, predominately fine 

to medium grained, and moderately well sorted.

The member consists of several ridge-forming units 

of thick-bedded amalgamated turbidite sandstone and 

intervening sequences of less resistant thin-bedded
BAADA POINT MEMBER 11

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Sandstone 

Concretionary sandstone

m Laminated micaceous sandstone

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Figure 9. Generalized stratigraphic sections of the four turbidite members of the Makah Formation at their type 

sections. Beds represented by R and S referred to in text. See figure 4 for position of the members in type section 

of the Makah.

sandstone and siltstone (fig. 9). In shoreline exposures, the sandstones form prominent ribs and thinbedded sandstone and siltstone form inlets that are 

partly covered during high tides (figs. 7 and 8). 

Layers of resistant light-brown calcareous concretions 

are common throughout the thick amalgamated sandstone 

(fig. 8). Concretions are lenticular to spheroidal in 

shape, are light medium gray when freshly broken, and 

display a case-hardened honeycomb weathering pattern 

on the wave-cut platform.

Bedding in the thick amalgamated sandstone is defined by surface indentations produced by differential 

erosion of less resistant thin units of laminated to 

convolute carbonaceous sandstone and rare siltstone 

(fig. 8). Normal grading in the amalgamated beds is 

characterized by an upward change from massive finegrained sandstone to laminated or convolute-bedded 

very fine grained carbonaceous sandstone that forms 

the upper several centimeters of each 0.5- to 3-inthick bed. In the northwestern part of the outcrop 

area, scattered dark coarse-grained lithic fragments 

(coarse tail grading) and concentrations of small 

light-gray siltstone rip-ups serve to differentiate 

thinner turbidite beds within seemingly structureless 

thick amalgamated sandstones. Bouma fa, fab, and Tabc 

sequences are common in thick beds, whereas in the 

thin sandstone beds in the intervening sandstonesiltstone units, Bouma Tbcd and Th-e sequences are 

most common. The sharp bases of many thick sandstone 

beds contain load casts and, less commonly, burrow, 

flute, and groove casts.
12 MAKAH FORMATION--A DEEP MARGINAL BASIN SEQUENCE

DTOKOAH POINT MEMBER

The packet of turbidite sandstone that occurs approximately 165 m above the Baada Point Member is here 

named the Dtokoah Point Member for exposures at 

Dtokoah Point (figs. 2 and 7). The type section is 

designated as the exposures on the point and wave-cut 

platform in the NW1/4SE1/4 sec. 12, T. 33 N., R. 15 

W. The Dtokoah Point Member is separated from the underlying Baada Point Member by 165 meters of very thin 

bedded siltstone and very fine grained sandstone of 

the Makah (fig. 4), exposed during low tides. At its 

type section the Dtokoah Point Member is 65 m thick 

and displays gradational lower and upper contacts with 

the thinner bedded strata enclosing it. The bottom 

and top of the member are arbitrarily defined as the 

lowest and uppermost sandstone beds greater than 0.3 m 

thick. The member has been mapped for 9 km southeast 

to where it apparently pinches out east of Bullman 

Creek (fig. 2).

The sandstone in the Dtokoah Point Member is fine 

to very fine grained, moderately well sorted, and 

weathers to olive gray. The sandstone appears to be 

compositionally and texturally similar to sandstone in 

the Baada Point Member; it is rich in matrix, contains 

lithic fragments, and is quartzo-feldspathic. Sandstone in the Dtokoah Point Member is commonly much 

thinner bedded than that in the Baada Point Member, 

the beds generally ranging in thickness from 20 mm to 

0.4 m, and contains only a few thick amalgamated beds 

(fig. 9).

At the type section of the Dtokoah Point Member, it 

forms a low, commonly tide-covered wave-cut platform 

composed of numerous thin- to medium-bedded sandstone 

ribs with intervening swales of less resistant laminated medium-gray siltstone beds, 20- to 70-mmthick. The more than 170 sandstone beds in the member 

commonly display sharp bottom and top contacts. Common features are parallel laminations, convolute bedding, micro-trough or micro-ripple cross-laminations, 

and graded bedding. Bouma Tb-e, ibc, and Trie 

sequences predominate.

A 2-m-thick amalgamated sandstone bed near the top 

of the unit forms a broad lens that pinches and swells 

laterally (R on fig. 9). Graded beds within this 

sandstone are defined by concentrations of siltstone 

rip-ups, shell fragments, convolute and parallel 

laminations, and phyllite- and basalt-rich grits. 

Overlying this sandstone lens is 2 to 4 meters of thin 

turbidite beds that are channelized, pinch out laterally, and display cross-cutting stratigraphic relations (fig. 9).

A distinctive 3-m thick amalgamated sandstone 

marker bed occurs near the base of the member (S on 

fig. 9). This concretionary sandstone forms a prominent ridge and contains well-developed flute marks 

that indicate a dispersal pattern to the southeast 

(fig. 10). Spheroidal calcareous concretions to 0.2 m 

in diameter are scattered throughout the member.

Figure 10. Flute casts (above hammer) at base of 

thick amalgamated sandstone of the Dtokoah Point 

Member at its type section showing southeastward 

(arrow) dispersal pattern.

CARPENTERS CREEK TUFF MEMBER

The Carpenters Creek Tuff Member, here named for 

exposures in Carpenters Creek, is generally 1 m thick 

and consists of seven thin water-laid tuff beds 40 to 

150 mm thick intercalated with 30- to 150-mm-thick 

siltstone beds. Its type section is in the NW1/4NW1/4 

sec. 17, T. 32 N., R. 13 W. It was recognized only in 

the eastern part of the study area, where it has been 

mapped for a distance of about 20 km (fig. 2). Near 

the Little Hoko River, the tuff member occurs approximately 325 m stratigraphically above the Baada Point 

Member (fig. 5).

The tuff is calcified and silicified, even bedded, 

forms thin resistant ledges, weathers to light-yellowish-gray blocks and chips, and displays sharp bottom 

and top contacts with the intervening, less resistant, 

hackly fractured siltstone. Individual tuff beds are 

generally structureless to faintly laminated. More 

rarely, they are cross laminated. This member may be 

significant in correlating other units in the Makah 

along the north side of the Olympic Peninsula because 

it defines a time horizon.

The Carpenters Creek Tuff Member is best exposed 

near the top of a 20-m-high roadcut in thin-bedded 

strata of the Makah along Ozette Road east of the Hoko 

River in the NE1/4 sec. 28, T. 32 N., R. 13 W. Other 

good exposures of the member occur in the Little Hoko 

River and along an abandoned railroad grade adjacent 

to the west bank of the Hoko River (figs. 2 and 3).
KLACHOPIS POINT MEMBER 13

Another tuff unit consisting of two to three 20- to 

50-mm-thick light-yellowish-gray beds with thin intervening siltstone occurs 100 m below the Carpenters 

Creek Tuff Member (fig. 5); it can be traced for 

approximately 3 km east of Ozette Road (fig. 3). In 

the easternmost part of the study area along the 

Clallam River, several additional tuff beds occur 

below the Carpenters Creek Tuff Member in the lower 

part of the Makah Formation. Since these tuff beds 

have not been recognized west of the Clallam River, 

the source of the ash probably was from the east.

KLACHOPIS POINT MEMBER

The packet of thick-bedded turbidite sandstone that 

occurs 155 m stratigraphically above the Dtokoah Point 

Member (fig. 4) is here named the Klachopis Point 

Member for exposures at Klachopis Point. This 73-mthick member forms the third wave-resistant platform 

and headland east of Neah Bay at Klachopis Point, the 

type section for the member (NE1/4SE1/4 sec. 12, T. 33 

N., R. 15 W.; figs. 7, and 9). The member displays a 

gradational contact with the underlying thin-bedded 

siltstone and sandstone of the Makah Formation. At 

the type section, the upper contact is covered with 

beach sand. The contacts are arbitrarily drawn at the 

lowest and uppermost sandstone beds that exceed 0.7 m 

in thickness.

The Klachopis Point Member consists of 40 or more 

thick to very thick beds of amalgamated sandstone that 

form a strike ridge entirely across the mapped area, a 

distance of 32 km (fig. 2). It gradually thins eastward. At Charley Creek, in the eastern part of the 

area (fig. 2), the member is 49 m thick. It is well 

exposed on Bullman and Rasmussan Creeks, along the 

Hoko River (fig. 11) and Sekiu River, and along State 

Highway 112. Sandstone of the Klachopis Point Member 

is characteristically more micaceous and feldspathic 

and better sorted than that of the Baada Point and 

Dtokoah Point Members. Coarse-grained flakes of muscovite and biotite are ubiquitous. The sandstone typically is iron stained, fine to medium grained, moderately well sorted, and porous. At the type section on 

the coast, this unit, like the Baada Point Member, 

contains resistant layers of interconnected dark 

olive-black-stained calcareous concretions.

The lower one-third to one-half of the member 

typically consists of well-laminated micaceous, carbonaceous sandstone with siltstone interbeds (fig. 

9). Varying concentrations of carbonized plant debris 

and muscovite and biotite flakes along laminae impart 

a distinctive platy character to the sandstone. Each 

sandstone bed has sharp upper and lower contacts with 

the intercalated medium-dark-gray siltstone and very 

fine grained carbonaceous sandstone.

The upper one-half to two-thirds of the member 

forms a thick resistant ridge composed of several 

even-bedded, predominantly structureless amalgamated 

sandstone beds (fig. 9). These beds are 1 to 5 m 

thick and are separated by very thin intervals of less 

resistant laminated siltstone and thin- to mediumbedded sandstone. Sandstone-to-siltstone ratios vary 

from 10:1 to 60:1.

Each amalgamated sandstone bed is composed of two 

or more predominantly structureless parts that range 

in thickness from 0.15 m to 1 m. Stratification is 

defined by minor concentrations of siltstone rip-ups, 

scattered coarse sand-size lithic fragments, and thin 

beds of less resistant very fine grained carbonaceous 

sandstone. The carbonaceous sandstone that commonly 

forms the thin upper part of many structureless beds 

is parallel laminated to convolute laminated, rarely 

cross laminated. Bouma Ta, Tab, and T-bc sequences 

are common.

Other sedimentary features in the sandstone beds of 

the Klachopis Point Member are sharp bottom contacts 

and gradational upper contacts, bifurcating ScaLari,— 

tuba worm burrows, rare dish structures, and flute, 

frondescent load, and groove casts.

THIRD BEACH MEMBER

The 43-m-thick packet of turbidite sandstone that 

occurs 290 m stratigraphically above the Klachopis 

Point Member is here named the Third Beach Member for 

exposures in the headland east of Third Beach (fig. 

7). The type section of the Third Beach Member is 

designated as the resistant wave-cut terrace and headland immediately east of the beach (SE1/4SW1/4 sec. 7, 

T. 33 N., R. 14 W.; fig. 9). The Klachopis Point and 

Third Beach Members are separated by an interval of 

rhythmically alternating very thin- to thin-bedded 

siltstone and very fine grained sandstone that is seasonally covered by beach sand.

Figure 11. Thick beds of turbidite sandstone in the 

Klachopis Point Member exposed at boundary between 

sees. 21 and 28, T. 32 N., R. 13 W., along the 

Ozette Road, Hoko River area.
MAKAH FORMATION A DEEP-MARGINAL-BASIN SEQUENCE

The Third Beach Member forms a spectacular linear 

dip-slope seacliff from the type section 2 km southeastward to Sail River. The member terminates abruptly at Bullman Creek (fig. 2), possibly the result of 

post-depositional uplift and slumping, as biotite-rich 

arkosic sandstone blocks similar in composition to 

sandstone in the Third Beach Member occur in a younger 

penecontemporaneously deformed siltstone unit 5 km 

farther east near Jansen Creek (fig. 2). The position 

of the siltstone unit approximately 100 m stratigraphically above the Third Beach Member precludes 

their origin by submarine landsliding of sandstone of 

the Third Beach Member alone; rather, the sandstone 

was buried and indurated before it was uplifted and 

slumped in the basin.

Because the lower and upper contacts on the Third 

Beach Member are generally covered by beach sand at 

the type section, the contacts are arbitrarily placed 

at the uppermost and lowest amalgamated sandstone beds 

more than 3 m thick.

The sandstone in the Third Beach Member is similar 

to that in the upper half of the underlying Klachopis 

Point Member, being predominantly thick- to very 

thick-bedded, concretionary, clean, micaceous, and 

feldspathic (fig. 9). It differs by containing more 

abundant and larger (to 1.5 mm), ubiquitous black 

biotite flakes that impart a distinctive salt-andpepper appearance to fresh hand specimens. More than 

45 sandstone beds occur in the member. The sandstone 

weathers to an iron-stained grayish orange to light 

gray and is fine to medium grained.

At its type section, the Third Beach Member consists of three very thick bedded amalgamated sandstone 

ridges separated by a few beds of less resistant thinto medium-bedded turbidite sandstone and siltstone 

(fig. 9). Each sandstone ridge consists of three or 

more 0.5- to 6-m-thick predominantly structureless 

concretionary beds. Less resistant laminated and convolute-bedded very fine grained carbonaceous sandstone 

in the upper part of each bed delineates stratification within the amalgamated sandstones. Trough crosslaminations, large penecontemporaneous slump folds, 

siltstone rip-ups, and rare dish structures are present. Bouma TKL, Tab, and less commonly, Tabc sequences, occur.

Between the amalgamated sandstone ridges, several 

thin rib-forming sandstone beds are intercalated with 

laminated siltstone and very fine grained carbonaceous 

sandstone. The fine- to medium-grained sandstone beds 

have sharp bottom and gradational upper contacts, even 

bedding, load casts, rare siltstone rip-ups, and Tab, 

Tabc, and rsa-e Bouma sequences.

JANSEN CREEK MEMBER

The Jansen Creek Member, here named for exposures 

along the shoreline adjacent to the mouth of Jansen 

Creek (SE1/4SE1/4 sec. 26, T. 33 N., R. 14 w.) , is 

composed of large tabular and penecontemporaneously 

deformed strata of shallow-water marine conglomerate 

and fossiliferous sandstone enclosed in deep-water 

marine siltstone and sandstone. The type section of 

this olistostromal unit is designated as the discontinuous exposures in the sea cliffs, wave-cut platforms, and sea stacks from the headland 0.5 km east of 

Bullman Creek to a point 0.7 km southeast of Brush 

Point (NE1/4NW1/4 sec. 6, T. 32 N., R. 13 W.; fig. 

2). The Jansen Creek Member is approximately 200 m 

thick and is separated from the underlying Third Beach 

Member by about 250 meters of thin-bedded siltstone 

and sandstone. In the type section of the Jansen 

Creek Member, large tabular blocks, 5 to 100 meters in 

length, of interbedded fossiliferous shallow-marine 

basaltic sandstone and pebble conglomerate are 

common. These blocks are infolded or are aligned subparallel to the enclosing deep-water marine thinbedded turbidite sandstone and siltstone and massive 

hackly fractured concretionary siltstone. The type 

section contains very thick bedded fossiliferous shallow-water marine sandstone that forms massive resistant overhanging cliffs that can be traced for several 

kilometers along strike. In places the sandstone beds 

are folded into broad antiforms and synforms. The 

yellowish-gray basaltic to feldspathic sandstone is 

mottled and bioturbated and contains irregular olivegray calcareous concretionary masses. Scattered fossils in the allocthonous fine- to medium-grained sandstone include the mollusks Conchocele, Lueinoma, and 

OstY>ea, and a few bryozoans and Ter>edo-bored carbonized wood fragments. Several thin coquina-like beds 

consist of pelecypods, gastropods, and encrusting 

stromatolitic calcareous algae.

The sandstone beds are interbedded with, and 

overlain by, well-stratified basalt-pebble conglomerate as much as 10 m thick. The calcite-cemented 

olive-black conglomerate beds are best exposed at low 

tide on the wave-cut terraces, where they form resistant ribs or large loose blocks. Individual conglomerate layers are moderately to poorly sorted and range 

in thickness from 80 mm to 0.2 m. The well-rounded to 

subrounded pebbles and cobbles consist predominantly 

of finely crystalline to aphanitic basalt, discoid to 

spherical in shape and locally imbricated.

On the wave-cut platform from Seal Rock to Shipwreck Point, basaltic pebble conglomerate and shallowmarine sandstone form a series of disharmonic folds 

with axes dipping as much as 50° to the north or 

south. The amplitude of these infolds is as much as 

100 m. Locally, undeformed clastic dikes cut across 

the penecontemporaneously deformed strata.

The basal contact of the allochthonous shallowmarine sandstone and conglomerate blocks with the underlying undeformed deep water marine strata of the 

Makah Formation is planar to irregular with little or 

no shearing. In the wave-cut platform at the mouth of 

Rasmussan Creek, the contact between the Jansen Creek 

Member and older strata is sharp and appears conformable. In several roadcuts along State Highway 112 between Bullman Creek and Rasmussan Creek, the basal 

contact is discordant. Thin siltstone beds within 

overturned blocks of the massive shallow marine sandstone display 60° to 90° disparity in attitude with 

the underlying strata. The Jansen Creek Member is 

overlain by undeformed thin-bedded siltstone and sandstone of the Makah that contain a few broad channels 

of sandstone. This upper contact is sharp in the few 

places where it is exposed during very low tides.
PETROGRAPHY 15

Near Brush Point the member is overlain by interbedded basaltic sandstone and pebble conglomerate of 

the Makah Formation that contain displaced shallowwater mollusks. These basaltic strata are exposed at 

Brush Point and eastward on the wave-cut platform as 

far east as the mouth of the Sekiu River. In these 

coastal outcrops, they are gently flexed and are interbedded with typical thin-bedded siltstone and feldspathic sandstone of the Makah. The similarity in 

composition of the basaltic sandstone and conglomerate 

to that of some detached blocks and infolds in the 

Jansen Creek Member suggests that the basaltic sediments were derived from a source area similar to that 

of the basaltic beds of the olistostromal Jansen Creek 

Member but were deposited by normal sedimentary processes.

OTHER UNITS

Falls Creek unit

A poorly exposed sequence of amalgamated turbidite 

sandstone beds, informally called the Falls Creek 

unit, crops out in the northeastern part of the mapped 

area (fig. 2). This thick-bedded lithic arkosic sandstone forms a dip slope along the southwestern margin 

of Clallam Bay and is well exposed in Falls Creek 1.1 

km southeast of Sekiu Point. It is overlain by numerous beds of thin- to medium-bedded siltstone and sandstone, exposed along the beach at low tide. The Falls 

Creek unit is more than 30 m thick and is separated 

from the underlying Jansen Creek Member by an estimated 450 meters of poorly exposed thin-bedded sandstone and siltstone of the Makah Formation (fig. 4). 

Although the unit is poorly exposed, it probably extends along strike for about 5 km from Falls Creek 

westward to the junction of State Highway 112 and the 

Ozette Road. Here a poorly exposed sandstone bed more 

than 5 m thick is exposed in the roadcut.

Unnamed sandstone unit

A 15-m-thick unnamed unit, composed of approximately 11 beds 0.15- to 1.5-m-thick of fine-grained 

sandstone, crops out between the Hoko and Little Hoko 

Rivers (fig. 3) approximately 75 m stratigraphically 

below the Baada Point Member (fig. 5). The sandstone 

beds display sharp to amalgamated contacts and convolute bedding. The unit may correlate with a similar 

thick 11-bed unit that crops out in the Clallam River 

about 8 km east and perhaps with thicker sandstone 

units exposed below the Baada Point Member in Charley 

Creek about 5.5 km east.

PETROGRAPHY

Sandstone of the Makah Formation and its members 

ranges in composition from basaltic to arkosic wacke 

and arenite but is predominantly lithic arkose (fig. 

12). It is generally fine to medium grained and is 

compositionally and texturally immature to submature. Most sandstone in the Makah is moderately 

sorted (range: very poorly sorted to moderately well

sorted) and is composed of angular to subangular 

grains.

Matrix abundance of both detrital and diagenetic 

varieties ranges from a trace to 22 percent. The more 

abundant diagenetic matrix was formed from m situ 

chemical alteration and crushing of volcanic-rock 

grains (pseudomatrix of Dickinson, 1970). The matrix 

consists of celadonite, chlorite, and scattered angular silt-size quartz, feldspar, and mica flakes.

Common cementing materials are calcite in the 

concretionary sandstone (10 to 50 percent; fig. 13) 

and diagenetic clays (including chlorite and celadonite) in the more abundant wacke. Other cements include hematite, limonite, and sparse laumontite. 

Sparry calcite cement apparently formed early in the 

burial history of the concretionary sandstone prior to 

formation of diagenetic clay matrix. Framework clasts 

are supported and partially replaced and embayed by 

the surrounding pore-filling calcite cement. The number of grain-to-grain contacts and percentage of clay 

matrix are abnormally low. As a result, the calcareous sandstone is compositionally arenite. Minor chlorite and/or celadonite cements are present as coatings 

on lithic grains and as pore fillings in some sandstone. Plagioclase grains in some samples are partially laumontized, and laumontite occurs locally as 

cement that preserves chlorite or celadonite coats.

Using a classification modified from Williams,

Turner, and Gilbert (1954), sandstone in the Baada

Point and Dtokoah Point members and in the intervening

thin-bedded strata of the Makah is chiefly lithic

Quartz, chert, quartzose

Feldspar 10

B Baada Point Member 

D Dtokoah Point Member 

K Klachopis Point Member 

T Third Beach Member

50 Unstable lithic 

fragments

M Thin-bedded sandstone of 

the Makah Formation

J Deformed sandstone in 

Jansen Creek Member

• Arenite 

o Wacke

Figure 12. Ternary diagram showing composition of 

sandstone in the Makah Formation and its members. 

Modified from Williams, Turner, and Gilbert (1954).
16 MAKAH FORMATION- A DEEP MARGINAL-BASIN SEQUENCE

Figure 13. Calcite-cemented biotite-bearing arkosic 

sandstone in the Third Beach Member. Horizontal 

field of view, 3.5 mm (crossed nicols).

arkosic arenite and wacke (figs. 12 and 14). Major 

framework constituents are quartz, feldspar, volcanic 

rock fragments, and micas together with minor amounts 

of heavy minerals and metamorphic rock fragments.

Subangular to subrounded quartz is the most abundant grain type, making up 10 to 34 percent of the 

sandstone. Quartz varieties include strained and unstrained monocrystalline quartz, polycrystalline 

quartz, and chert. Tiny fluid inclusions containing 

oscillating bubbles (2-phase fluid inclusions) are 

present in some monocrystalline quartz grains.

Feldspar constitutes 13 to 31 percent of the sandstone; it includes both albite-twinned plagioclase 

(Anog.) and minor potassium feldspar. The plagioclase-to-potassium feldspar ratio is approximately 

4:1. Orthoclase and microcline are the most abundant 

potassium feldspars. Lithic fragments are mainly basalt and andesite (3 to 10 percent), celadonitereplaced amygdaloidal basalt, metabasalt (greenschist 

facies), and silicic volcanic fragments. Other lithic 

fragments include minor elongate carbonaceous phyllite 

clasts, quartz mica schist, and metaquartzite fragments. Biotite flakes form 1 to 4 percent of the 

sandstone, chlorite flakes 1 to 7 percent. Traces of 

muscovite are present. Heavy minerals are dominated 

by clinozoisite, actinolite, epidote, zircon, pink and 

colorless garnet, hypersthene, apatite, magnetite, and 

pyrite.

Sandstone in the Klachopis Point and Third Beach 

Members ranges from micaceous arkosic to lithic 

arkosic arenite and wacke (fig. 12). The sandstone 

contains less matrix, has a somewhat higher abundance 

of quartz, micas, and feldspar, and contains fewer 

lithic fragments than sandstone in the Baada Point and 

Dtokoah Point Members (compare figs. 13 and 14). In 

general, the composition and relative abundance of the 

different lithic and mineral types in all four of 

these members are nearly the same except that sandstone in the Third Beach Member consistently contains 

more coarse-grained biotite flakes than sandstone in 

the other members.

The shallow marine sandstone in the Jansen Creek 

Member differs significantly from the turbidite sandFigure 14. Lithic arkosic wacke from Baada Point 

Member. Horizontal field of view, 1.25 mm (crossed 

nicols).

stone members in composition and texture; it is volcanic arenite (fig. 12) and is generally coarser 

grained. Metabasalt (greenschist facies) and basalt 

fragments make up as much as 24 percent of this sandstone. Other characteristic grain types are monocrystalline quartz, plagioclase, silicic volcanic rock 

fragments, actinolite (to 5 percent), clinozoisite, 

chlorite, and molluscan shell fragments. Minor constituents include biotite, augite, pyrite, magnetite, 

epidote, and algal stromatolites. Calcite cement is 

ubiquitous and constitutes as much as 53 percent of 

the rock.

Granule-and-pebble basalt clasts in conglomerate of 

the Jansen Creek Member are rounded to subrounded. 

Basalt, gabbro, and metabasalt are the predominant 

clast types. Other pebble constituents include minor 

silicic volcanic rock, metatuff, and molluscan shell 

fragments.

The Carpenter Creek Tuff Member is composed of 

abundant sickle and rarer bubble wall-glass shards set 

in a devitrified siliceous clay matrix. Shards are 

commonly altered to a cherty groundmass. Other constituents include scattered grains of plagioclase, 

monocrystalline quartz, biotite, muscovite, and chlorite flakes, rare cherty siliceous volcanic fragments, 

hypersthene, ilmenite grains altering to limonite, and 

clinozoisite. Patches of secondary sparry-calcite cement are locally abundant. Deposition of this rhyodacitic ash in a marine environment is indicated by 

the presence of a few foraminifers.

RESERVOIR POTENTIAL OF 

TURBIDITE SANDSTONE MEMBERS

Three surface samples from thick amalgamated turbidite sandstone of the Baada Point and Klachopis 

Point Members have relatively low permeabilities and 

moderately low effective porosities on the basis of 

quantitative laboratory analyses. The low porosities 

and permeabilities probably result from the abundance 

of detrital and diagenetically formed clay matrix and 

the calcite and less common limonite, hematite, and 

laumontite cements that have almost completely filled
AGE AND REGIONAL CORRELATIONS 17

the pore spaces between framework grains. This makeup is particularly evident in the two matrix-rich 

samples of the Baada Point Member, each with moderately low porosity (20.4 to 20.7 percent) and low permeability 2.0 to 7.5 millidarcies), and probably in the 

calcareous concretionary zones of all the members.

The samples from the Klachopis Point Member has the 

highest effective porosity and a moderately high 

permeability (24.6 percent and 657 millidarcies) and 

also tends to be more friable and cleaner in thin section than the sandstone from the Baada Point and 

Dtokoah Point Members. It could act as a permeable 

reservoir rock in the subsurface. At one locality, a 

1-m-thick sandstone bed in the Klachopis Point Member 

emitted a petroliferous odor when freshly broken. The 

arkosic sandstone of the Third Beach Member, like the 

sandstone of the Klachopis Point Member, generally 

contains less pore-filling clay matrix than the more 

lithic sandstone of the Baada Point, Dtokoah Point, 

and Jansen Creek Members and may represent an important permeable unit.

All the amalgamated sandstone members are enclosed 

by thick (hundreds of meters) sequences of thin- to 

very thin-bedded siltstone and turbidite sandstone 

that could act as both cap rocks and contiguous source 

rocks in the subsurface. Hydrocarbon analyses of 

surface samples by George Claypool (reported in 

Snavely, Pearl, and Lander, 1977, table 3), however, 

indicate that upper Eocene and Oligocene siltstone in 

this area is generally geothermally immature, 

containing only minor quantities of light hydrocarbons.

The Klachopis Point Member, being among the thickest, most widespread, and highest in permeability and 

porosity, and to a much ][.esser extent the Baada Point 

Member, probably have the highest reservoir potential. The Third Beach and Dtokoah Point Members 

have much more limited distribution and therefore 

lower reservoir capacity (particularly the thinner 

bedded sandstone of the Dtokoah Point Member). The 

olistostromal shallow-marine sandstone and conglomerate of the Jansen Creek Member are too discontinuous, 

chaotically arranged, and tightly cemented by calcite 

to represent an important reservoir unit in the subsurface.

Onshore, where the homoclinal sequence is breached 

by erosion, the petroleum potential of the four northward-dipping turbidite members is limited. Stratigraphic traps may exist in the lower part of the Makah 

Formation, where it laps onto the broad anticlinal 

high in the central part of the study area. As these 

units dip and strike beneath the Strait of Juan de 

Fuca, structural and/or stratigraphic traps may exist 

in this area.

AGE AND REGIONAL CORRELATIONS

Foraminiferal assemblages, sparse and varied 

throughout the Makah Formation, indicate that the sequence ranges in age from late Eocene to late Oligocene. Foraminifers from the lower part of the Makah 

at Waadah Island (table 1) indicate that the lower 325 

meters of section exposed below the Baada Point Member 

(fig. 4) ranges from the upper Narizian stage of

Mallory (1959) to the Refugian Stage of Schenck and 

Kleinpell (1936).

On the basis of the known range of species within 

the Tertiary of the Pacific Northwest (Rau, 1958, 

1964, 1966; Fulmer, 1975; Armentrout and Berta, 1977), 

the 100 meters of the Makah stratigraphically below 

the Baada Point Member on Waadah Island is best referred to the Refugian (fig. 4). This age assignment 

is based on the presence of Melon-Is halkyardi , 

Elphidium ealiformicum, Sigmomor^hina cf. S. schencki, 

and in particular Ceratobulimina uashbumi (table 

1). Foraminifers from the interval 100 to 325 m below 

the Baada Point Member on the east side of Waadah 

Island have greater affinities for the Narizian Stage 

than for the Refugian Stage. The high occurrence of 

Vulvulina curta, Anomalina garsaensis, Pleurostomella 

nutalli, and Quinqueloculina goodsveedi all signify a 

Narizian age.

The upper part of the Makah Formation, strata between the Third Beach Member and the base of the Pysht 

Formation (fig. 4), are Oligocene (Zemorrian) in 

age. The checklist of foraminifers (table 2) shows 

the occurrence of species in the middle and upper 

parts of the Makah in the Hoko River reference section 

(A to B on figs. 3 and 5). Dentalina quadrulata, 

Uvigerina cf. U. gesteri, and U. gallowayi are among 

diagnostic Zemorrian species occurring in the upper 

part of the section at Hoko River between localities 

7190 and 7609 (table 2, fig. 5).

The precise boundary between the Zemorrian and 

Refugian Stages is difficult to define in the Hoko 

River section, as several key species found elsewhere 

in the Pacific Northwest (Rau, 1958, 1964, and 1966) 

that define the Zemorrian Stage and the Refugian stage 

occur together in a 1200-m-thick stratigraphic interval (table 2, fig. 5, localities 7387 to 7190). If 

the total assemblage is considered, the RefugianZemorrian boundary is best placed between localities 

5789 and 5788 (table 2, fig. 5).

Several siltstone samples collected on Waadah 

Island and near the Little Hoko River contain foraminifers indicative of Ulatisian and early Narizian 

ages. These anomalous foraminifers are probably reworked from older Eocene strata. Submarine erosion 

across growing broad anticlinal highs in the pre-Makah 

strata, as at Cape Flattery and in the central part of 

the study area (fig. 2), undoubtedly contributed reworked older sediments and their Ulatisian to early 

Narizian microfossils to the younger strata that were 

being deposited in synclinal low areas.

Foraminiferal assemblages from the Makah Formation 

(see tables 1 and 2) clearly indicate deep-water opensea conditions. Almost all of those foraminifers 

consistently occurring throughout the formation suggest bathyal conditions. Moreover, most of these taxa 

support no less than middle bathyal depths. Many, 

such as Gyroidina soldanii, Stilostomella, hispid 

uvigerinids, Bulimina alsatica, and Pullenia 

bull aides, probably thrived at lower bathyal depths. 

The minor but consistent occurrence throughout the 

formation of planktonic taxa (Globigerina) supports 

open-sea conditions.
18 MAKAH FORMATION -A DEEP MARGINAL-BASIN SEQUENCE

Table 1. Checklist of foraminifere from the Waadah Island section 

of the Makah Formation

[Symbols of frequency of occurrence: C, common; F, few; R, rare; 

7, questionable identification]

Species

Pacific Northwest

Reference Collection No 

n

Quinqueloculina spp. ...............

Dentalina cf. ZJ. pauperata (d'Qrbigny) ......

Stilostomella sp. (large final chamber). .....

Nodosaria longiscata d'Qrbigny ..........

Pseudoglandul'ina inflata (Bornemann) .......

Gyroidina soldanii d'Qrbigny ...........

Melonis pompilioides (Fichtel and Moll). .....

Fursenkoina (Virgulina) sp. ...........

*Melonis halkyardi (Cushman) ...........

Cibicides cf. C. lobatulus (Walker and Jacob). . .

*Elphidium califomicum Cook MS. .........

Globigerina spp. .................

Guttulina irregularis d'Qrbigny. .........

Eggerella bradyi (Cushman) ............

Karreriella chilostoma (Reuss) ..........

*Cassidulina galvinensis Cushman and Frizzell. . . 

Globoaassidulina globosa (Hantken) ........

Cibicides cf. C. elmaensis Rau ..........

*Ceratobulimina washbumi Cushman and Schenck. . . 

Cibicides spp. ..................

Spiroloculina cf. S. texana Cushman and Ellisor. .

*Sigmomorphina cf. S. schencki Cushman and Ozawa . 

Vaginulinopsis saundersi (Hanna and Hanna) ....

Bulimina cf. B. instabilis Cushman and Parker. . . 

?Alabamina sp. ..................

Anomalina cf. A. californiensis Cushman and Hobson 

Eponides umbonatus (Reuss) ............

Pullenia bulloides d'Qrbigny ...........

Globobulimina cf. G. pacifica Cushman. ......

Martinottiella cf. M. nodulosa Cushman ......

Sigmoilina sp. ..................

Cornuspira sp. ..................

Stilostomella cf. S. sanctaecrucis (Kleinpell) . . 

Chilostomelloides cf. C. cyclostoma (Rzehak) . . . 

Cancris joaquinensis Smith ............

Gyroidina soldanii d'Qrbigny var. (rounded edges).

*Vulvulina curta Cushman and Siegfus .......

Nodosaria clavaeformis Neugeboren. ........

Nodosaria pyrula d'Qrbigny ............

Praeglobobulimina cf. P. pyrula (d'Qrbigny). . . .

*Anomalina garzaensis Cushman and Siegfus. ....

R R 

RR F 

7 -

F R

- R 

R -

F -

RR-RR-RRRR7--R---

RRRCFFRFF

--77-7-R?

-R-RRF--R

FRRF-FRRR

7R--R7R-R

----R7--R 

R--FR-R--

RRRR--R--

-P-7--7--

-R---RFRR

-7-RRRR-F

-R-7RFR-F 

?R-?-----

RF7FFRRRR

-RR--FFFR 

7--7R---- 

R---R-RF-

-7-FFF---

Mollusks are sparse in the deep-water sedimentary 

rocks of the Makah Formation and occur chiefly in 

olistostromal blocks of shallow-water basaltic sandstone and conglomerate in the Jansen Creek Member. 

Addicott (written communs., 1973-1977) identified the 

following species collected from the Jansen Creek 

Member on the coast near the southwest corner of sec. 

22, T. 33 N., R. 14 W. :

Gastropods:

Acrilla n. sp. ? aff. -4. olympicensis

Durham 

Naticid 

?Perse sp.

Turritella cf. T. porterensis Weaver 

Undet. fragments - 3 spp.
AGE AND REGIONAL CORRELATIONS 19

Table 1. Checklist of foraminifers from the Waadah Island section 

of the Makah Formation — Continued

Species

Plectofrondicularia cf . P. gracilis H. p. Smith. ........

Cibicides sp. (large, variable, incised sutures,

Pyrgo sp. ...........................

Quinqueloculina imperialis Hanna and Hanna ...........

*Key species

n

f>

Refugian

T

----RRR-R

C

(d H ' 

N

-*4 s

Late Eocene

Pacific Northwest 

Reference Collection No

CO

oooooor>oor»r»oor~r»r»oo

Pelecypods:

Conehoeele cf. <?. disjuncta (Gabb) 

TCrenella sp.

Cyoloaardia hannibali (Clark) 

Lucinoma cf. L. columbiana (Clark

and Arnold) 

Nemoeardium cf. N. ueaveri (Anderson

and Margin) 

Ostrea sp.

Scaphopods:

Dentalium r>or> ter>ensis weaver

Addicott assigned a late Eocene age (Lincoln Stage 

of Weaver, 1937) to this collection and suggested a 

middle or outer sublittoral environment of deposition 

for the basaltic sandstone. Foraminiferal assemblages 

in the Jansen Creek Member indicate a Refugian (late 

Eocene) age, a Lincoln equivalent, and a shallow-water 

depositional environment. The penecontemporaneously 

deformed member is both underlain and overlain by 

younger (Zemorrian) strata of the Makah that were 

deposited at lower to middle bathyal depths. This 

relation supports the interpretation that the shallowmarine sandstone and conglomerate of the Jansen Creek 

Member are allochthonous deposits derived from

uplifted older (Refugian) strata along an ancient 

narrow shelf that bordered the deep marginal basin of 

the Makah to the north. These shallow-water Refugian 

deposits were transported into the deep marginal basin 

by a large submarine slide during Zemorrian time.

The Makah Formation represents part of an upper 

Eocene to Oligocene deep marginal marine facies that 

crops out in the northwestern part of the Olympic Peninsula, on western Vancouver Island, in southwesternmost Washington, and in northwestern Oregon but is 

also widespread on the inner continental shelf of 

Oregon (Snavely and others, 1977). The Makah Formation is in part correlative with upper Eocene and 

Oligocene strata of the Hoh rock assemblage in the 

Hoh-Quillayette area of the western coastal area of 

the Olympic Peninsula (Rau, 1973, 1975, 1979).

Strata similar to the Makah Formation in lithology, 

age, and depositional environment are exposed in the 

Hesquiat Peninsula and Nootka Island area along the 

central part of the west coast of Vancouver Island, 

British Columbia. This sequence, described in detail 

by Jeletzky (1954, 1973, 1975) and Cameron (1971, 

1972, 1973, 1975, 1979), was named the Hesquiat 

Formation by Jeletsky (1975).

Shallow-water sandstone, siltstone, and conglomerate that correlate with the Makah Formation fringe 

the south side of Vancouver Island from Sombrio Point 

westward to near the entrance to Nitinat Lake. These
20 MAKAH FORMATION--A DEEP MARGINAL BASIN SEQUENCE

Table 2. Checklist of foraminifers from the Hoko River section 

of the Makah formation

[Symbols of frequency of occurrence: C, common; F, few; R, rare; 

?, questionable identification.]

Pacific Northwest 

Reference Collection No.

Species

Lenticulina cf. L. inormatus (d'Orbigny). . .

Stilostomella cf. S. sanctaeerucis (Kleinpell)

* Dental ina quadrulata Cushman and Laiming . .

Stilostomella advena (Cushman and Laiming). .

*Anomalina califormiensis Cushman and Laiming

Praeglobobulimina cf. P. ovata (d'Orbigny). . 

*Uviger>ina cf. U. gesteri Bar bat and von

Uvigerina garsaensis Cushman and Siegfus. . .

Globobulinina cf. G. pacified Cushman ....

Melonis pompilioides (Fichtel and Moll) ...

*Bulimina alsatica Cushman and Parker ....

Quinqueloculina weaveri Rau .........

Cassidulina crassipitnctata Cushman and Hobson 

Fursenkoina (Virgulina) sp. ......... 

Martinottiella cf. M. nodulosa (Cushman) ...

Pyrgo spp ..................

Epistomina eocenica (Cushman and Hanna) . . . 

Cibicides spp ................

*Cassidulinoides sp.. ...........

*Buccella mansfieldi oregonensis (Cushman,

CR---R--7-R---RR

«^

FF-R7---CFF-F7--

RF--F-77F-FFRRRR ___!} >___ > ^n 7

R--RR-R--FRR--R-

-R-RR-RR-RR--R-F 

-FRRRRRR--RR-RRF

-R-R----RR-----R 

-F---RR--RRR--RR 

-F--77F-----7R--

-C--F-7--7C-F7--

---FC-----------

r

"

-----RR--

R-7--7---

--7-77---

--7-7-7--

RRRRFRR-R 

CF--FR---

RF--R-C--

-R---RFRR

RRRFRRR-R

---R-R--- 

--R7F-F--

R-----?--

RR-P-R---

*'

strata were referred to the Carmanah Formation by 

Clapp (1912) and are mapped and described by Muller 

(1971, 1977).

The Makah Formation correlates in part with the 

Lincoln Creek Formation (Weaver, 1937; Beikman and 

others, 1967) of southwestern Washington, the deepwater marine Blakeley Formation of Weaver (1912) 

(Fulmer, 1975; McLean, 1977) of the Puget Sound 

area. In the southern and central Oregon Coast Range, 

the time-stratigraphic equivalents are the shallowmarine Eugene Formation on the southeastern flank of

the range and the deep-water marine Alsea Formation 

along the central Oregon coast (Snavely and others,

1975). In the northern Oregon Coast Range, the Makah 

Formation is in part coeval with the shallow-marine 

Pittsburg Bluff Formation (Schenck, 1927; Moore,

1976), the upper member of the Keasey Formation 

(Schenck, 1927; Moore and Vokes, 1953) in the northeastern part of the range, and the lower part of the 

deep-water marine muJstone of Oswald West on the 

northwestern flank of the range (Niem and Van Atta, 

1973).
DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT 21

rable 2.—Checklist of foraminifers from the Hoko River section 

of the Makdh Formation — Continued

Species

Pacific Northwest 

Reference Collection No.

Quinqueloculina cf. Q. imperialis Hanna and 

Hanna ...................

Spiroloculina cf. 5. texana Cushman

Chilostomelloides sp. ............

Plectofrondicularia cf. P. gracilis Smith . . 

Plectofrondicularia Vaughani Cushman. ....

Eggerella bradyi (Cushman). .........

Pullenia bulloides (d'Orbigny). .......

Siphonodosaria(?) verneuili (d'Orbigny) . . . 

Cassidulina cf. C. kernensis smith. .....

Lenticulina cf. L. texana (Cushman

Cibi'cides cf. C. pseudougerianus evolutus

Guttulina cf. G. frankei Cushman and Ozawa. . 

Pseudoglandulina aff. P. inflata (Bornemann). 

Plectofrondicularia sp. (thick) .......

Lagena cf. L. becki Sullivan. ........

Cyclogyra (Comuspira) cf. C. byramensis

*Karreriella chilostoma (Reuss) ....... 

?Elphidium sp ................ 

Guttulina problema d'Orbigny. ........ 

Eponides? sp. ................ 

*?Cibicides hodgei Cushman and Schenck. . . . 

Glomospira charoides corona Cushman and 

Jarvis. .................. 

TAnomalina sp..... ...........

*Key species

-----RR---RRR-R-

------RR-7---R-?

(\

n

Zemorrian ^

Oligocene r

RRR-RRR-- 

RR-7R-R--

RR-R--R-R

F

F????----

RRRRRR--R

w<

- Refugian

Late Eocene

DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT

The Makah Formation consists of a 2800-m-thick 

sequence of thin-bedded turbidite sandstone and siltstone punctuated by four distinct, areally widespread 

packets of thick-bedded amalgamated turbidite sandstone, one olistostromal unit of penecontemporaneously 

deformed shallow-marine strata, and a thin but distinctive tuff unit. The microfossil assemblages from 

siltstone beds throughout the formation indicate deposition in an open-marine lower to middle bathyal environment. The paleoecology, total thickness, turbidite
22 MAKAH FORMATION--A DEEP-MARGINAL-BASIN SEQUENCE

nature, and geometry of this upper Eocene and Oligocene sedimentary sequence indicate rapid deposition in 

a submarine-fan setting.

Applying the criteria developed by Mutti and Ricci 

Lucchi (1972, 1975) for recognizing turbidite facies 

in ancient submarine-fan sequences, the vertical and 

lateral turbidite facies variations of the Makah 

Formation best fit the depositional lobe setting of an 

outer submarine fan. The amalgamated sandstone members appear to have been deposited as lobes; the thick 

sequences of thin-bedded strata between the sandstone 

packets have the sedimentary characteristics of basinplain and outer-fan fringe deposits.

In the turbidite facies scheme of Walker and Mutti 

(1973), the sandstone strata of the Baada Point, 

Klachopis Point, and Third Beach Members appear to be 

a sequence of alternating proximal C and B turbidite 

facies with minor intervening D facies. The high 

sandstone-to-siltstone ratio, several thickeningupward cycles (as in the Baada Point Member), abundant 

Ta, Tah, and Ttdba Boutna sequences, thick even bedding, 

coarse tail grading, and overall sheetlike geometry 

are characteristic of turbidite sands deposited as a 

depositional lobe of an outer submarine fan (Mutti and 

others, 1978). The minor sequences of thin-bedded 

turbidite within each thick amalgamated sandstone member (facies D of Walker and Mutti, 1973) may reflect 

deposition between shifting lobes. Variations in individual sandstone thickness along strike within the 

members may reflect the influence of submarine topography and other depositional factors (Mutti and 

others, 1978).

The Dtokoah Point Member, being thinner bedded and 

less amalgamated (fig. 9) and having more Tbed 

turbidite sequences and a lower sandstone-to-siltstone 

ratio than the other turbidite sandstone members, may 

represent a transition from sedimentation on a depositional lobe to sedimentation on an outer-fan fringe. 

The local thin-bedded channelized strata in this member appear to be a channel margin of interchannel 

facies of a depositional lobe as described by Mutti 

(1977). The very thick bedded amalgamated facies B 

turbidite sandstone units of the Klachopis Point and 

Third Beach Members at their type sections (fig. 9) 

with thick intervals of Bouma "a" divisions and some 

dish structures may reflect a transition from depositional-lobe to a middle-fan channelized facies.

In the thick sequences of thin-bedded sandstone and 

siltstone strata between the amalgamated sandstone 

members, the sandstone-to-siltstone ratio is low. 

Thin to very thin, sharp, even turbidite sandstone 

beds alternate with siltstone beds, and internal sedimentary structures occur in Bouma Tb-e through Td-e 

sequences. No systematic upward thickening or thinning cycles are recognized. These features are characteristic of sediments deposited in the basin-plain 

or outer-fan fringe environment (turbidite facies D 

and G of Walker and Mutti, 1973; Mutti and Ricci 

Lucchi, 1972; Ricci Lucchi, 1975). Deposition on a 

slope and subsequent overloading and slumping of the 

sedimentary pile are indicated by minor intraformational unconformities and by clastic dikes and 

prolapsed bedding observed throughout the formation.

Higher in the section, conglomerate in the olistostromal blocks of the Jansen Creek Member that contains a displaced Refugian fauna consists of wellrounded basalt clasts that are well bedded, moderately 

sorted, and imbricated and contain scattered broken 

molluscan valves. These features suggest that the 

conglomerate was originally deposited in a littoral 

zone in Refugian time. Massive bioturbated basaltic 

sandstone that is interstratified with the conglomerate contains coquina of disarticulated fossil shells 

and scattered articulated gastropods, pelecypods, particularly Ostrea, and stromatolitic algae. These 

characteristics and faunas (Addicott, written 

communs., 1972-1977) indicate that sand deposition 

occurred under fluctuating high-energy conditions at 

neritic water depths.

At the present time, no lithologically similar 

shelf facies of Refugian age is exposed on the southwestern part of Vancouver Island, but the Oligocene 

section there is incompletely preserved. The nearest 

outcrops of compositionally similar thick-bedded 

basaltic sandstone and conglomerate containing molluscan coquinas and metabasalt clasts are in the younger 

Sooke Formation of southern Vancouver Island (Clapp, 

1912, 1913; Clapp and Cooke, 1917), an upper Oligocene 

and lower Miocene strandline formation, also derived 

from erosion of the underlying Eocene Metchosin 

Volcanics (correlative of the Crescent Formation). 

The Sooke Formation depositional setting may therein 

be analogous to the environment that produced the compositionally and lithologically similar, but older, 

Refugian Jansen Creek Member that slid into the Makah 

marginal basin in Zemorrian time.

The olistostromal blocks and penecontemporaneous 

folds of the Jansen Creek Member form a thin stratigraphic unit that is traceable for 9 km. The linear 

trend of this olistostromal belt parallel to the presumed shelf margin suggests that the lithified blocks 

slid off an ancient fault scarp or elongate high along 

the northern margin of the basin of deposition of the 

Makah Formation.

PALEOGEOLOGY

During late Eocene and Oligocene time, deep-water 

sediments were deposited in the Pacific Northwest in 

several marginal basins that may have been interconnected but had different sediment-source areas 

(Snavely and Wagner, 1963). The Makah Formation is 

part of this deep marginal basin facies that now crops 

out only in the northwestern Olympic Peninsula, in 

southwestern Washington and northwestern Oregon, and 

along the coast of central western Vancouver Island. 

On the basis of limited subsurface data from exploration wells, correlative deep-marginal-basin deposits 

of late Eocene and Oligocene age also underlie the inner continental shelf of Oregon (Snavely and others, 

1977) and the Tofino basin along the western side of 

Vancouver Island (Shouldice, 1971). In all but the 

northernmost basin, Tofino-Fuca basin (fig. 15), the 

upper Eocene and Oligocene strata consist chiefly of 

deep-water siltstone with minor sandstone interbeds. 

The Tofino-Fuca basin in which the Makah occurs was 

unique because of the abundance of turbidite sands deposited in it.
PALEOGEOGRAPHY 23

127° 125° 123"

EXPLANATION

MARINE DEPOSITS

Tuffaceous sand and silt; shelf facies

Silt and minor sand, deep marginal 

basin facies

Turbidite sand and thin bedded sand and 

silt in Tofino-Fuca basin

CONTINENTAL DEPOSITS

Pyroclastic and epiclastic deposits

Pre-late Eocene rocks

Volcanic vent

?.? Source areas of coarse clastic turbidite 

debris

Inferred disposal pattern 

———— Inferred contact 

• 5 Shell-Canada test wells

50 100 150

KILOMETERS

43°

Figure 15. Paleogeographic map showing the inferred margins of the Tofino-Fuca basin relative to other deep-water 

marginal basin facies in the Pacific Northwest during the late Eocene and Oligocene. Modified from Snavely and 

others (1975). B, Brooks Peninsula; N, Nootka Island; H, Hesquiat Peninsula; BS, Barkley Sound; PSJ, Port San Juan; 

LR, Lyre River; O, Ozette Island; MCB, Minter Creek Basin; and F, Forks. Numbers represent Shell Canada Ltd. offshore exploration wells: 1, Apollo; 2, Zeus 1-65; 3, Zeus D-14; 4, Pluto; and 5, Prometheus.
24 MAKAH FORMATION- A DEEP-MARGINAL-BASIN SEQUENCE

The Tofino-Fuca basin (fig. 15), an elongate deep, 

narrow depositional basin or trough, is inferred to 

have extended from the Kyuquot uplift near the Brooks 

Peninsula in northern Vancouver Island (Tiffin and 

others, 1972) southeastward to, and perhaps east of, 

the Lyre River on the central part of the northern 

flank of the Olympic Peninsula, a distance of more 

than 350 km (fig. 15). The southwestern margin of the 

basin, though now difficult to delineate because of 

post-early Miocene deformation, erosion, and cover by 

younger strata, may once have been along a welt of 

lower and middle Eocene volcanic rocks. This welt may 

have been defined by the Prometheus magnetic high off 

southwestern Vancouver Island (Shouldice, 1971; 

MacLeod and others, 1977) and a ridge formed by volcanic rocks of the Crescent Formation along the northwestern flank of the Olympic Mountains (figs. 1 and 

2). Upper Eocene and Oligocene deep-water marine turbidite strata on Nootka Island and the Hesquiat Peninsula (Cameron, 1973, 1975) suggest that the northeastern margin of the late Eocene and Oligocene basin 

probably was several kilometers shoreward of the present coastline of Vancouver Island between the Brooks 

Peninsula and Barkley Sound (Tiffin and others, 

1972). Southeast of the sound, this margin must have 

been southwest of the present shoreline, for neritic 

strata of late Eocene and Oligocene age (Carmanah 

Formation of Clapp, 1912; see also Muller, 1971) crop 

out locally along the Vancouver coast between Barkley 

Sound and Sombrio Point. This deep marginal basin 

would therefore encompass the Tofino basin on the Vancouver shelf (Shouldice, 1971) and the Fuca basin 

along the northwestern flank of the Olympic Mountains 

(fig. 15).

Paleobathymetry based on foraminiferal assemblages 

suggests that the Fuca part of this marginal basin was 

deep from late Eocene through late Oligocene time 

during deposition of the Makah Formation (fig. 2) and 

the overlying Pysht Formation (fig. 2). Shoaling and 

filling in early Miocene time were marked by deposition of shallow-water and nonmarine strata of the 

overlying Clallam Formation (Gower, 1960; Addicott, 

1976).

PALEODISPERSAL PATTERN

Dispersal of clastic material into the Olympic part 

of the Tofino-Fuca basin during Makah time was from 

two distinct directions. The turbidite sandstone was 

introduced from the northwest by longitudinal filling 

from sources that may have existed between Barkley 

Sound and the Hesquiat Peninsula (fig. 15). The other 

more northerly dispersal direction is represented by 

submarine landslide blocks in the Jansen Creek Member 

that were derived from slumping of shallow-water 

marine strata off the southern Vancouver Island shelf 

margin. The abundant basalt and metabasalt clasts in 

sandstone and conglomerate of the Jansen Creek Member 

were most likely derived from the locally metamorphosed basalt in the Metchosin Volcanics that crops 

out along the southern margin of Vancouver Island.

A northwestern source area for the four thick 

amalgamated turbidite members of the Makah Formation 

and the intervening thin-bedded strata is indicated by

Flute casts Groove casts 

Baada Point Member

Makah Formation

O Total flute 

(63 readings) (6 readings) COStS

(116 readings)

Dtokoah Point Member

(25 readings)

Klachopis Point Member

(28 readings

Total groove 

casts

(95 readings)

(89 readings)

(Number of 

readings)

Figure 16. Rose diagrams showing orientation of flute 

casts and groove casts in the Makah Formation and 

three of its members. Bearings are plotted to the 

nearest 30° after correcting for tectonic tilt of 

beds.

a general coarsening and thickening of turbidite sandstone beds and increase of total thickness of each 

member in that direction and because paleocurrent directions of flute marks in these units display a south 

to southeastward dispersal pattern parallel to that of 

groove cast orientation (fig. 16). It is possible 

that post-Makah tectonic rotation may have had minor 

effect on these observed paleodispersal trends.

Projecting the dispersal pattern and thickening 

trend of the Makah turbidites northwestward, thick 

turbidite sandstone beds are expected to occur in the 

Tofino basin. The Hesquiat Formation, which crops out 

on the Hesquiat Peninsula and Nootka Island area of 

western Vancouver Island (the northeasternmost part of 

the late Eocene and Oligocene Tofino-Fuca basin; fig. 

15), lies along this northwest trend. This correlative unit consists predominantly of a sequence of 

sandstone and siltstone more than 1500 m thick and 

minor channel conglomerate (Jeletzky, 1954, 1973, 

1975; Cameron, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975).

Foraminifers from stratigraphic sections from the 

Hesquiat Formation along the Vancouver Island coast 

kindly loaned to the U.S. Geological Survey by Mobil 

Oil Canada, Ltd., are late Eocene (Refugian) and 

Oligocene (Zemorrian) in age. These microfossils indicate cold deep-water conditions that ranged from 

upper bathyal to middle bathyal.
SOURCE AREAS 25

The sandstones of the Hesquiat and Makah Formations 

have similar amounts of quartz, feldspar, muscovite, 

and biotite. The proportions of lithic components are 

nearly identical; basalt, andesite, and felsic 

volcanic-rock fragments predominate over phyllite and 

schist clasts.

The marked similarities in age, depositional environment, and lithology of the two units suggest that 

these strata are coeval and were deposited in the same 

deep marginal basin. Accordingly, from paleocurrent 

patterns in the Makah Formation and from age and 

lithologic data, the turbidite sandstone of the Makah 

Formation was transported along the axis of the 

Tofino-Fuca deep marginal basin, possibly from sources 

between the Hesquiat Peninsula and Barkley Sound area 

(fig. 15). The Fuca part of the basin in which the 

Makah Formation occurs was apparently deeper, as it 

acted as a sink for turbidite deposits and as a result 

is 1000 m thicker than the Hesquiat sequence that 

Cameron (1979) considers to represent proximal turbidites.

A difficulty with this paleogeographic reconstruction is that thick sandstone units are absent in two 

offshore wells drilled in the west-central part of the 

Tofino basin between the outcrops of upper Eocene and 

Oligocene sandstone on the Hesquiat and Olympic 

Peninsulas. These two wells, Shell Canada Ltd. Zeus 

1-65 and Pluto (wells 2 and 4 on fig. 15), penetrated 

a predominantly deep marine siltstone section of late 

Eocene and Oligocene age (Shouldice, 1971). The absence of upper Eocene and Oligocene turbidite sandstone in these two test wells can be interpreted in 

three ways: (1) a structural high existed along the 

southwestern margin of the Tofino basin during the 

late Eocene and Oligocene, and turbidite sands were 

not deposited across it; (2) most sands from the 

Hesquiat Peninsula source area bypassed the Tofino 

basin and were deposited as a turbidite facies in the 

deeper part of the marginal basin (Fuca basin) to the 

southeast. Because the upper Eocene and Oligocene sequence in the study area is almost twice as thick as 

that reported by Shouldice (1971) for the correlative 

sequence in the Tofino basin, this part of the deep 

marginal basin must have subsided at a faster rate 

than the Tofino basin during the late Eocene and Oligocene, forming a natural depositional sink for turbidite sand transported through the Tofino basin; (3) 

post middle Miocene left-lateral strike-slip movement 

along the offshore extension of the Calawah fault 

(fig. 2), which lies along the seaward margin of the 

Tofino-Fuca basin (MacLeod and others, 1977), offset 

correlative turbidite sandstone of the Makah south of 

the fault to the southeast and brought a predominantly 

siltstone sequence into the position of Shell Canada's 

Zeus 1-65 and Pluto wells (fig. 15).

The third hypothesis is supported by the presence 

of infolded strata and blocks (broken formation) of 

Oligocene and lower Miocene turbidite sandstone that 

occur in melange along the northwestern Olympic coast 

as on Ozette Island and in Minter Creek basin, 14 km 

south of Forks (fig. 15). Some of these infolded 

sandstone masses and blocks are compositionally similar to the micaceous quartzo-feldspathic sandstone of 

the Makah Formation. We suggest that these Oligocene

turbidite sandstone units were originally deposited 

along the southwestern margin of the Tofino basin and 

were offset to their present locations by left-lateral 

movement along the Calawah fault (fig. 2) in postmiddle Miocene time. If this interpretation is correct, then the Oligocene section penetrated in Shell 

Canada's Pluto and Zeus 1-65 exploratory wells 

(Shouldice, 1971) would lie south of the offshore extension of the Calawah fault (MacLeod and others, 

1977) and was deposited farther northwest in the 

basin, away from the major source of the coarse 

clastic detritus derived in the Hesquiat Peninsula 

source area.

A 24-channel seismic reflection profile collected 

by the senior author aboard the U.S. Geological Survey 

research vessel 5. P. Lee across the offshore extension of the Calawah fault about 40 km northwest of 

Cape Flattery further supports the strike-slip hypothesis. This profile shows more than 2500 meters of 

northeastward-dipping strata on the northeast side of 

the fault to be unconformably overlain by a gently deformed unit of Miocenet?) and Pliocene(?) age. The 

2500-m section lies along the strike of the thick sedimentary sequences of the Hoko and Makah Formations on 

land. On the southwest side of the fault, this sequence of probable late Eocene and Oligocene age is 

missing, and the Miocene and Pliocene strata rest unconformably on a high-velocity acoustic basement, 

probably basalt of the Crescent Formation that forms 

the Prometheus magnetic anomaly (MacLeod and others, 

1977). Shell Canada's Prometheus test well (fig. 15) 

drilled 30 km north of the seismic profile (near the 

axis of the Prometheus magnetic anomaly) penetrated 

1785 meters of Miocene and younger strata unconformably overlying basalt similar to that of the Crescent 

Formation (Shouldice, 1971). Southwest of the Calawah 

fault, the upper Eocene and Oligocene turbidite strata 

either were never deposited, were removed by erosion 

following post-Oligocene uplift (Shouldice, 1971; 

Tiffin and others, 1972), or were displaced southeastward to the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula by 

left-lateral movement along the Calawah fault prior to 

the unconformable deposition of the upper Miocene and 

younger strata on the Crescent volcanic basement.

SOURCE AREAS

The abundant strained and unstrained monocrystalline quartz, coarse-grained flakes of biotite, especially in the Klachopis Point and Third Beach Members, 

and grains of sodic and calcic plagioclase, orthoclase, and microcline in the turbidite sandstone indicate a volumetrically important dioritic to granitic 

source for the Makah Formation. Extensive Eocene 

plutons and the middle Jurassic Island Intrusions 

(Muller, 1971, 1977; Carson, 1972) crop out on 

Vancouver Island east of the Barkley Sound-Hesquiat 

Peninsula area. These rocks may have been the granodiorite and gneissic sources for the quartzofeldspathic and micaceous turbidite sandstone of the 

Makah. Pearl (1977), in a scanning electron microscope study, noted the close similarity of Fe/Mg 

ratios of biotite in the turbidite sandstone beds of 

the Makah and biotite from a granodiorite intrusive 

body midway between Barkley Sound and Port San Juan.
26 MAKAH FORMATION A DEEP MARGINAL BASIN SEQUENCE

The subordinate amount of basalt, andesite, metabasalt, and silicic volcanic fragments and associated 

heavy minerals in the turbidite sandstone units of the 

Makah also indicates a contribution of lithic detritus 

from a volcanic terrane. On Vancouver Island, possible sources for the Makah include the Paleozoic Sicker 

and the Mesozoic Bonanza and Karmutsen Groups that 

surround the granodiorite intrusive bodies north of 

the San Juan fault (Muller, 1971, 1977). A southwestward dispersal pattern noted in the coeval Hesquiat 

Formation (Cameron, oral commun., 1978) suggests that 

west-central Vancouver Island probably was a major 

source area for the lithologically similar turbidite 

sandstone of the Makah (fig. 15).

The only other nearby source area likely to have 

been exposed during the late Eocene and Oligocene lay 

due north or northeast across the Strait of Juan de 

Fuca on southern Vancouver Island. If the paleodispersal of the turbidite sandstone of the Makah had 

been from the northeast before Olympic tectonism, 

graphitic schist and phyllite detritus from the Paleozoic Leech River Formation and basalt from the Eocene 

Metchosin Volcanics that form much of southern 

Vancouver Island (Muller, 1971, 1977) should be more 

abundant in these sandstone beds. This terrane does 

appear to be a source of detritus in the underlying 

Hoko River Formation, which contains abundant phyllite 

and basalt clasts in sandstone and conglomerate channels. Although these source rocks probably were exposed during Makah time, as in places they are major 

constituents in the coeval nearshore sedimentary rocks 

on southern Vancouver Island and the basaltic sandstone of the Jansen Creek Member, the mineralogy of 

the sandstone of the Makah suggests little contribution from these sources. A source area directly to 

the north is unlikely for the turbidite of the Makah 

because the coeval neritic facies rocks that crop out 

along the coast between Port San Juan and Barkley 

Sound (fig. 15) are predominantly of neritic massive 

tuffaceous siltstone and well-bedded to massive concretionary sandstone that contain abundant mollusks.

A volumetric problem exists when one attempts to 

explain the high abundance of framework minerals derived from dioritic and granitic rocks relative to 

volcanic and metamorphic clasts in the sandstone of 

the Makah Formation because the crystalline basement 

of Vancouver Island consists chiefly of Paleozoic and 

Mesozoic volcanic and metamorphic rocks (Muller, 1971, 

1977). Possibly the fine grain size of the sandstone 

of the Makah precludes the presence of many lithic 

fragments from other Vancouver source rocks, since 

metamorphic, volcanic, and intrusive clasts commonly 

are chemically altered to clays before they are reduced to a fine sand size (Petti John, 1975). The 

large Mesozoic Coast Range batholith on the British 

Columbia mainland may be an alternative source for the 

thick micaceous quartzo-feldspathic sandstone of the 

Makah. Detritus shed from this upland area in late 

Eocene and Oligocene time may have been transported 

via a major westward flowing river(s) across a lowlying ancestral Vancouver terrane to the late Eocene 

and Oligocene shoreline somewhere east of the present 

Hesquiat Peninsula-Barkley Sound area, and hence by 

turbidity flows into the Tofino-Fuca basin.

SUMMARY

In late Eocene and Oligocene time, a submarine fan 

that now forms the Makah Formation prograded over the 

hemipelagic siltstone and rarer interbedded phyllitic 

sandstone and conglomerate channels of the underlying 

upper Eocene (Narizian) sequence (Hoko River Formation, fig. 2), forming a gradational contact. The geometry of the sandstone packets, together with the 

paleocurrent orientations, suggests that growth of the 

fan was by sand and silt turbidity flows that swept 

southeastward down the axis of the Tofino-Fuca basin 

(fig. 15).

A we11-developed active submarine channel system on 

the upper and middle fan (presumably located northwest 

of the study area) temporarily funneled many sheetlike 

high-density flows into the outer-fan depositional environment in rapid succession to form thick widespread 

depositional lobes. Several changes in the channel 

system led to shifting of lobe sedimentation over 

outer-fan deposits to form the interstratification of 

thin-bedded outer-fan and basin-plain strata with four 

thick amalgamated sandstone members. The farthest extent of the prograding depositional lobe was the 

Klachopis Point Member, which spread across and beyond 

the study area.

A local submarine unconformity in the lower part of 

the Makah Formation that formed prior to deposition of 

the Klachopis Point Member was produced by minor 

compressional folding and faulting of underlying 

Eocene sedimentary and volcanic rocks as well as the 

lower part of the Makah Formation locally.

In middle(?) Zemorrian time, deposition of the 

Makah submarine-fan basin-plain strata was interrupted by a large landslide that carried olistostromal 

blocks of Refugian basaltic conglomerate and sandstone 

into the basin from the continental shelf to the 

north, thus producing the deformed zone of sedimentary 

rocks, the Jansen Creek Member. Basin-plain outerfan sedimentation of the Makah resumed after the 

Jansen Creek Member episode and was temporarily interrupted by progradation of a minor depositional lobe 

that formed the unnamed amalgamated turbidite unit at 

Falls Creek.

Outer-fan and basin-plain deposition of the upper 

part of the Makah Formation was followed by the accumulation of the conformably overlying upper Oligocene 

conglomerate, sandstone, and siltstone of the Pysht 

Formation (fig. 2). Clasts in these deep-water channel conglomerates and thick-bedded sandstones were derived from metamorphic and volcanic sources and from a 

neritic fossiliferous sandstone that lay northward 

across the Strait of Juan de Fuca on southern 

Vancouver Island.
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