But the team has found geologic features no one ever knew existed. We've really narrowed down the best sites for exploration and feel strongly that some spots have good potential. The next step, Niem said, will be for private industry to review the maps and data in the new report and make decisions on whether to drill wells.
Further exploration is warranted.
The area, geologically referred to as the Southern Tyee Basin, is in the southern Oregon Coast Range, dominated by Douglas- fir forest and streams, and includes about 3,500 square miles in Douglas and Coos County, and small portions of Lane and Curry County. But 50 million years ago, the picture was quite different. Then, during the Eocene epoch, the Tyee Basin was the site of massive deltas and subtropical, coal-forming swamps fed by huge rivers. This basin was filled over millions of years with about four miles of sedimentary rock that lies on top of a volcanic basement. Parts were crushed against and thrust under the Klamath Mountains.