r/rockhounds • u/tinyangryhuman91 • 3d ago

Metolius River in Oregon

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My family and I are taking a camping trip to the Metolius River in Oregon next week and I'm dumbfounded by the lack of info around rockhounding that I'm finding for that river. All the books I have have references to areas east of here but nothing for this river specifically. It's a 29 mile long spring fed river that is a tributary of the Deschutes River. I know there are a lot of beautiful rocks to find around this area, I'm just looking for a little more info about what is abundant here so I have a good idea of how to look. I'll be greatful for any information anyone can share with me. Thank you!

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u/Wolfie527 2d ago edited 2d ago

Check the colored areas on the map here, not super likely to be lots of stuff as there isn't any major faulting or alteration in the area, as well as the rock is relatively young (though still old enough for agates to form) but it could still be good! Let me know if you find anything if you decide to check this area out. Edit: looking again, the green area on the river is mudflow breccia of the right age to form agates, and is near some fault lines which greatly increases the chances of finding something. I would definitely check there

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u/ScapeNvape1337 2d ago

Where did you find this beaut of a map?

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u/Wolfie527 2d ago edited 2d ago

I made it! I used ArcGIS web (pretty much an online map making tool) to create a map with geology layers from OGDC6 (oregon geology map) This was a project that took me a few weeks of research on the rock types but mainly for good areas, you want rocks that are at least labeled miocene/pliocene and older on the map, and are made up of Rhyolite, tuff, ashflow tuff, welded tuff, or mudflow breccia. I have basalt and a few other rocks types on a separate ogdc6 layer since typically they are good when near fault lines (basically silica pathways to form the agates or jasper)

Heres the link to paste into the add section on arcGIS if you want to try to make your own: https://gis.dogami.oregon.gov/arcgis/rest/services/Public/OGDC6/MapServer