The mountain is composed of mainly volcanic rock with some sedimentary rocks.[6]
Like much of the northern section of the Oregon Coast Range, the origins began around 40 million years ago during the Eocene period. During this era, sandstone and siltstone formed in the area.[7]
Additionally, igneous rocks and basalt flows combined with basaltic sandstone to create many of the mountainous formations. The volcanic rocks come from basalt flows that originated from fissures in the central portion of Oregon and covered much of the state.[8]
Additional sedimentary rock was formed more recently, around 20 million years ago.[7]
All of the coast range lies over a convergent tectonic margin interacting with the Juan de Fuca Plate that is subducting beneath North America tectonic plate in the Cascadia subduction zone.[9]
The mountains are created by the plunging structural arch of sedimentary and Tertiary volcanic strata that is being uplifted.[8]
In the northwest part of the county, the mountain is in private forest land owned by Weyerhaeuser.[14]
Trask Mountain makes up a portion of the North Yamhill River headwaters that drain to the Willamette River.[6] On its north side, drainage is to the Trask River which flows west to the Pacific Ocean.[10] The mountain receives over 135 inches (3,400 mm) of precipitation each year.[6] The mountain is home to a U.S. Geologic Survey seismograph station that was installed in 1991.[15]
Previously, the peak was home to a fire lookout station that was abandoned in the 1970s.[16]
There are plans to construct a 50 Megawatt wind power facility atop the mountain beginning in 2009.[17]
In 1997, Dundee, Oregon, resident Lee John Knoch beat Robert Allen Holliday nearly to death and buried him alive on Trask Mountain.[18]
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Macnab, James A. (January 1958). "Biotic Aspection in the Coast Range Mountains of Northwestern Oregon". Ecological Monographs. 28 (1). Ecological Monographs, Vol. 28, No. 1: 21–54. doi:10.2307/1942274. JSTOR1942274.
