The Clarno Formation is a series of volcanic, volcaniclastic, and related intrusive rocks located in central Oregon. It is the westernmost extent of a broader Eocene magmatic belt that covers much the western United States. The magmatic belt stretches eastward from Oregon to western South Dakota, and from the Canadian Yukon to northern Nevada. While once attributed to subduction of the Farallon Plate under North America, more recent work suggests that a more complex tectonic regime involving extension was in place during the early Cenozoic. In the vicinity of Mitchell, Oregon, the Clarno Formation is well represented along with Mesozoic metamorphic and sedimentary units, and younger Tertiary volcanic and volcaniclastic units. In this area, Clarno volcanic activity occurred from ~52-42 Ma, producing mostly andesites and related volcaniclastic rocks. The Mitchell area is also underlain by related intrusive bodies ranging from basalt to rhyolite in composition. The Clarno was most active at ~49 Ma, and is dominantly calcalkaline. In addition, there are several coeval alkaline and peraluminous intrusives also scattered throughout the Clamo Formation. While these suites are less voluminous than the calc-alkaline magmatism, they offer insight into the tectonic and magmatic processes at work in this area during the Eocene. Whereas silicic intrusions are common in the Clarno, the high-silica rhyolite dike on the south face of Scott Butte is unusual due to its large garnet phenocrysts. The existence of primary garnet in rhyolitic magmas precludes middle to upper crustal genesis, a common source for silicic magmas. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age determinations of the biotite indicate an age of ~51 Ma. This is after andesitic volcanism had commenced, but prior to the most active period of extrusion. The presence of the almandine garnet indicates that the dike represents partial melting of lower crustal (18-25 km) material. The presence of a high field strength element (HFSE) depletion commonly associated with subduction are magmatism indicates that either the source material had previously been metasomatised, or that some subduction melts/fluids (heat source) mixed with the crustal melt. Two alkaline suites, a high-K calc-alkaline basanite (Marshall and Corporate Buttes) and alkaline minette/kersantite lamprophyres (near Black Butte and Mud Creek), were emplaced ~49 Ma, during the height of calc-alkaline activity. The basanite lacks the HFSE depletion common in the other Clarno rocks. Instead it has a HIMU-type (eg. St Helena) ocean island basalt affinity, resulting from partial melting of enriched asthenospheric mantle. In contrast, the lamprophyres represent hydrous partial melts of metasomatized litho spheric mantle veins and bodies. Alkaline magmatism was not limited to the most active periods of calc-alkaline activity. The emplacement of an alkali basalt (Hudspeth Mill intrusion) at ~45 Ma occurred four million years after the largest pulse of volcanism, but still during calcalkaline activity. This alkali basalt represents partial melting of metasomatized lithospheric mantle. The occurrence of these alkaline suites coeval with the calc-alkaline activity is significant in that it disputes prior subduction theories for the broader Eocene magmatism that are based on spatial and temporal variations from calc-alkaline to alkaline magmatism. These suites also give further insight into the complex tectonic regime that existed in Oregon during the Eocene. The occurrence of asthenospheric melts not caused by fluid fluxing, along with lower lithospheric alkaline melts, are normally associated with extension. Extension provides these magmas with both the mechanism for melting, and the ability to reach shallow crust with little or no contamination. Extension is in agreement with both White and Robinson's (1992) interpretation that most Clarno Formation deposition occurred in extensional basins, and with other provinces in the broader Eocene magmatic belt. / Graduation date: 2002

The Oligocene and Miocene faunas of the John Day Basin are diverse and very well-studied, including a large number of small mammal species. Though Eocene floras from Oregon are well-known, Eocene faunas include relatively few taxa from only two described localities in the Clarno area. The first Eocene rodents from the John Day Basin also include the first ischyromyids from the Pacific Northwest. Several rodent incisors were recovered from the Hancock Mammal Quarry at Clarno, representing the first rodent specimens known from the Clarno Formation. The Hancock Mammal Quarry lies between tuffs dated 42.7 and 39.22 Ma, meaning these rodents are latest Uintan or earliest Duchesnean in age. Several ischyromyids are also described from the Big Basin Member of the John Day Formation. From a Duchesnean locality between tuffs dated 39.22 and 38.4 Ma a single tooth of Pseudotomus was recovered, which is as large as any known ischyromyid. Another Big Basin Member site yielded a new genus and species of ischyromyid. That site lies above an ash dated 36.21 Ma and biostratigraphy confirms a Chadronian age. These rodents help fill important gaps in the fossil record of the John Day Basin and will facilitate comparisons with other Eocene sites in North America and Asia.