High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Touchet Formation or Touchet beds consist of large quantities of gravel and fine sediment which overlay almost a thousand meters (several thousand feet) of volcanic basalt of the Columbia River Basalt Group in south-central Washington and north-central Oregon. The beds consist of between 6 to 40 distinct rhythmites - horizontal layers of sediment, each clearly demarcated from the layer below. These Touchet beds are often covered by windblown loess soils which were deposited later; the number of layers varies with location. The beds vary in depth from 330 feet (100 m) at lower elevations where a number of layers can be found to a few extremely thin layers at the maximum elevation where they are observed (1,150 feet (350 m)).