The Scappoose Formation, considered to be late Oligocene to early Miocene in age, was originally believed to be disconformably separated from both the underlying Pittsburg Bluff Formation and the overlying Yakima subgroup of the Columbia River Basalt Group. Recent mapping and petrography show that it lies disconformably on both the Keasey and Pittsburg Bluff Formations, and interfingers with the Yakima Basalt.

The Scappoose is composed of fluvial sandstone, conglomerate, and carbonaceous to coal-bearing mud rock, intertongued with shallow neritic to estuarine siltstone, mud rock, and minor sandstone. Chemistry of basalt clasts from fluvial conglomerates reveals that they are derived from the Yakima subgroup. Basalt conglomerate and palagonitic sediments in the upper part of the formation are intercalated with Grande Ronde basalt (Yakima subgroup) flows at many localities. Flows of Yakima Basalt are also invasive into originally wet, unconsolidated Scappoose sediment. Grande Ronde basalt and the Frenchman Springs Member of the Wanapum basalt overlie conglomerate of the Scappoose. In places, the Scappoose Formation is absent, and Yakima Basalt lies directly on the Pittsburg Bluff and Keasey F rmations. The thickness of both the Scappoose Formation and the Columbia River Basalt Group varies widely, indicating that both were deposited over a paleotopography with a relief up to 800 ft (245 m).

The definition of the boundaries of the Scappoose Formation should be revised, owing to the disconformable relation of the Scappoose to both the underlying Keasey and Pittsburg Bluff Formations and to the Scappoose's intercalation with the overlying Yakima Basalt. Definition of age must also be revised, inasmuch as sedimentation of the formation was coeval with Columbia River Basalt volcanism.