At 64 years of age, I've spent a lifetime in a career I love....accounting. Then on November 30, 2018 at 8:29 AM a 7.1 earthquake struck Alaska. After shaking off my rattled nerves I went on a mission to find out what happened to the earth beneath my feet. Now, almost five years later, I've come to the realization that my career path should have been geology. I am completely and utterly fascinated about earth beneath my feet. I will be retiring soon. I'm toying with the idea of going to school to get just a basic degree in geology even if I never work in the field.
As a professor and academician myself, I can with relevant experience say that Nick Zenter is a rare and exceptional lecturer, scholar, leader, and thinker. He is the best of the best. When you come across someone with his talents for conveying information and knowledge, listen and watch carefully. They are wise and caring. This is the caliber and character we should demand for the highest offices in the land. The Nick Zentners of American should be in charge. FInd them and vote them into he highest offices in the land. Do not settle for less. It is the only hope for this nation. With great admiration and respect. Thank you Nick Zenter. You are an amazing scholar and leader.
Truer words have not been spoken. A great tribute to a man who has inspired thousands. He gave us much needed relief and enlightenment throughout the COVID period. Can’t do much much more for humanity. Nick is such an inspiration.
At 44.12 is a piece of animation I did as a Student at UCSB for Tanya in 1984 or 85. This was all hand drawn in pencil then inked and cell painted then shot with a 16mm Bolex camera on a hand made animation stand. One of three I did with Tanya. Great to see it still being used. Thanks Tanya for letting me get my start in scientific animation… still doing it today.
I am 86 years old and have been watching Nick Zentner's programs for a couple of years now. I have told several people who also live in the KCHA building we live in about this place we call Earth that Professor Nick has taught me! To me, it is so amazing! He is the teacher every person should have! I live in Auburn, WA just over the "HILL" from Ellensburg where he gives the lectures. Thank you very much for all that you have taught me so far! 🧓🐈⬛🐈⬛ My kitties Teo and TwoTwo and me
I spent 10 years in university getting 4 degrees and live nowhere near the Pacific Northwest - and i had no interest in geology. During covid I stumbled across one of your lectures, and got sucked in. Not really because of the content, but because of the teaching technique. You are one of the best instructors I've ever encountered. You make a subject I'm rather neutral on engrossing and entertaining and understandable. I've watched almost every lecture you've released dating back to terrible lighting/video quality - and I've enjoyed every one. Nick - thank you for renewing my interest in learning in the university lecture style. You are an amazing teacher.
YOU WATCH ITCHY BOOTS! HOW ABOUT THAT! I almost fell out of my chair last night when you said, "That's where Noraly is now." I've always had a yearn to learn how features on the Earth got that way. I visit and ride the Rockies on my Harley Davidson Motorcycle Camping Trips every year. As I ride, I've wondered how the Rockies formed. They didn't look volcanic to me, although on Trail Ridge Road, there are "lava cliffs" at almost 12,000 ft elevation. And the mountains look totally different in Glacier NP, even though they're part of the Rockies. So I watch your lectures and try to learn. I love it when Noraly goes into teaching moments about geology. She just touches the surface in very layman terms, bit she has kindled my interest enough that I found your lectures. Wish I wasn't so old . . . I could see myself majoring in geology (if I could start over).
I thank God I am a geologist and retired. It gives me the opportunity to watch and re-watch Nick and such great geologic minds. I'm doing an Idaho field trip along a "suture" in August.. cannot wait. And for what it is worth, I'm not a geo-tech guy, but the old explanation (I'm ten years Nick's senior) of how the Rocky Mountains formed didn't sit well with me. I always though it very unlikely that a submerging plate would go "flat" and give the uplifted needed. Couldn't explain why other than it just didn't seem to make sense. After fifty years, I'm feeling good about my doubts! Yeah Nick! Very well done.
I'm not a geologist, but the "shallow subduction" explanation for the Rocky Mountains has always seemed ad hoc and contrived to me. The apparent fact that seismic tomography doesn't support it doesn't surprise me at all. From this and other presentation by Nick Zentner, I am starting to believe that the geologic past of the west coast of North America was much more complex than the traditional model.
The traditional explanation has been that the Farallon plate started subducting at a steeper angle past the Sevier thrust zone. This would've allowed mantle upwelling to form the Rockies. A nice explanation, but not backed up by the newer seismic tomographic evidence.
@@russlehman2070: I'm not buying this guys explanation on "millions" of years ago. Scientists have no way to accurately figure how old things are unless they actually have something tangible in their hands with a date stamped on it. Their carbon dating method is severely flawed. They talk about how long it takes for coal to form "millions" of years ago, however a father and son team of shade tree scientists took a piece of wood, soaked it in water, put it inside an airtight box that had a heater in it and added pressure into it also, they turned it on for a week, or two and 'POOF!' When they opened the box, the wood was turning into coal, so their theory of "MEELIONS" of years doesn't hold up in my opinion. SO, how do these trees end up so deep below into the earth? I think the answer has been happening in certain states pretty recently actually, we've been seeing stories on t.v. about 'sink holes' opening up in different parts of the world. There was a mining company in Louisiana years ago that was mining salt hundreds of feet below and partly under a large lake. A drilling company had a drill rig floating on the lake and was test drilling for a different type of product. What they did was make a mistake in their calculations and accidently drilled into the roof of the salt mine, which caused the water in the lake to fallow the drill bit down into the salt mine below. The water started pouring into the mine like a jet stream. It was a miracle that all the men working below were able to escape without any injuries or deaths. As the water followed the drill bit, it began to open the bore hole more and more until it was so big, that it swallowed the entire drill rig, then the hole started pulling the trees that were growing nearby the the edge under water and then under ground. The earth swallowed a whole Grove of trees and they sank hundreds of feet beneath. It also emptied all the water in the lake and almost pulled a fisherman and his boat down with it. Hundreds of years from now, some liberal professor will come along, find the wreckage using ground penitrating sonar and swear that "MILIIONS of years ago, man used DRILLING RIGS!" No, just an accidental miscalculation HUNDREDS of years earlier by a guy who wasn't paying close attention and drilled into a salt mine by accident. But those TREES are STILL down there and WILL BECOME COAL. There's sink holes that open up under our feet still all around the planet and swallow trees into the earth. This is how I beleave that wood finds its way underground, gets squeezed under pressure and turned into coal in most likely THOUSANDS of years, NOT "MILLIONS". In order for scientists to be able to accurately calculate "MILLIONS", they would have to take their calculator machine, travel MILLIONS of years back in time, CALCULATE it, then travel BACK to the present time to be able to use it correctly and until THAT'S possible, their calculations are SEVERELY flawed. 👎
Nick, I did my Masters research in the Sierra Nevada working on Paleozoic roof pendent. I made some discoveries finding previously unreported Paleozoic folds within the Nevadan folds and cleavages along with rare intact stratigraphy. Now years later, your videos and presentations have given me new understanding of the significants of my findings. I'm retired and not involved now but hopefully my published work has added to deciphering the tectonic history. Your presentations are wonderfully understanding even for the layman, thank you.
Robert, add this in to your understanding: So, basically, the entire Pacific Rim was formed during the last "Feast of Sphenes", which was a terra-forming event said to be how G_d separated the waters from the firmament. Does it fit with your knowledge?
I tried to search for the feast you mention because I never heard of it. Got the Feast of Stephen. He was the first martyr after Jesus died. Obviously nothing to do with the separating of the earth from the sky. It has been a long time since I read Genesis. I looked up firmament too to check its definition. I didn’t check its etymology. I did notice that there was a “vault” mentioned for other biblical definitions but did not pursue that. Unless something like that is part of the meaning of the original phrasing in the oldest known written version, which might be cuneiform, it is from the imaginations of men. The oldest written “Ark” and flood story is in cuneiform. and the ancient tablet was acquired by the British Museum within the last 30 years. Look up Irving Finkel’s “The Ark Before Noah”. Many think Abraham was from Mesopotamia. I theorize the stuff separated from the “sky” was lots of solid objects we call asteroids. Perhaps even larger more rounded objects that might have had a core. Obviously not an already formed planet. At any rate, the “firmament” in the Torah predates the formation of this planet. Your reference doesn’t seem to apply to the subject.
Every night. I’ve watched my favorites so much that it’s my sleeping noise now, but before I knew the lectures word for word I would be up until 03:00 in rapt attention.
hahahaha Yeah, I was thinking the SAME thing! I am coming up on retirement age, planning to travel and move to Thailand (cheap retirement). Thinking maybe I should fly out of Seattle, and take a little drive over to Ellensburg. I was born in Moses Lake but don't remember it. Might just have to take a two week vacation prior to my flight, thanks to Nick!
I made a point of driving to Ellensburg to attend this lecture (my bald head is in a sea of bald heads on the left) because it's the first downtown series he's done in awhile and it's intending to put the entire Baja/BC theory in a condensed form the rest of us can absorb in four hours. It was well worth the four-hour drive, plus I toured Discovery Hall which itself is a marvel; the displays and maps and the Earth's geologic time line etched into the hallway there is something to behold, and puts our existence into stark perspective. Ellensburg itself appears to be a pleasant town -- a college town no doubt but it also has the agricultural economy to build off of. I couldn't stay for all four lectures but the one I picked wound up being the most intriguing one.
@@M167A1 Nah, _Wenatchee_ is the Palm Springs of Washington now, didn't you know? Nick changed it. Can't remember now which lecture that was but he said we gotta fix the sign.
I love how education is so widely avaliable in todays age. Just a click away whereas 15 years ago you would need to spend big bucks on a degree to learn from guys like you.
Agree. Yeah, there’s a lot of misinformation because a lot of people think they’re giving education online, but they’re doing the exact opposite and many many people don’t really know where to go for good accurate information/education
I would have enjoyed having Nick as my Geology teacher (in any level of education). He makes it fun. He doesn't regurgitate theories he's never seen or explored. He's been there and seen it. Some stuff is still theoretical, but he shows why it can work (or not work).
That is so true! Nick is a gem! I was a geology major fifty years ago when plate tectonics had recently gained acceptance in the US. A very exiting time to be studying geology. Nick takes me back to that era every time I watch one of his live streams or videos.
He strikes me as a real truth seeking scientist. His book knowledge is quite vast, its fun when he spots an anomaly in the field he gets visibly disappointed with the books.
@@davedavis5809 I like that if he doesn't know something, he is humbe enough to say so. Then after a similar concept comes up in questions later on, he'll give an answer if his research shows a new fact has come up.
I miss the time when professors didn't waste words, were organized and didn't think geology (or any science) had to be casual to interest the public and when they didn't shy away from presenting tough theories without looking dumb and didn't act like 12 years old. Clearly this lecturer style is not my cup of tea.
As a university lecturer, I find your lectures to be incredibly inspirational. I aspire to be half as enthralling a lecturer as you, sir. Keep the content coming!
Nick's a hard act to follow, isn't he. That can only come from love -- love for the subject, love for teaching, and love for his students. And BTW, he suffers no fools. If he sees you're not making the effort to pay attention, he's only too happy to call you out. Good for him.
When a “educated” person like this has bought into the unprovable age of earth as millions and millions of years old I find it hard to believe everything thing else he says. With all his “education” he has ignored the most important history book in existence. The Bible. Genesis 1:1-2 states: 1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth. 2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God MOVED upon the face of the waters. Then skip to verse 9. And God said, Let the waters under heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry appear: and it was so. 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering of the waters called he Seas. The separation of the continents came after that. Since it is clear from God’s word the the earth is not millions of years old.
Oh, my holy heck. Yaaay! THIS. 😊 This makes sense to me. I am giggling. I'm 73 yrs. old and finally, a logical explanation for the formation of the beautiful Rockies. Wow. THANK YOU. .. It's 1 AM and evidently, I'd rather watch your videos than sleep.
Mr Zentner's mind is SO clear in understanding that his explanations just make sense !!! I LOVE listening to him on so many topics - his students are so very fortunate to have such a prized communicator opening their minds, not closing them.
Nick Zentner, every thing I know about Geology I learned watching your lecture videos'. What I would have given to have had a teacher like you when I was growing up. I surely would have gone into a physical science instead of the medical field. I don't know how but you take as subject I knew nothing about and made it exciting to me. I watch as many of your videos as I have time to set and enjoy one of your lectures. Keep up the good work. A devoted fan Tom.
Whoa! Nick Zentner's speech is clean. He verbally illustrates his points with imagery and without the baggage of filler words ("ummm", "you know", "OK, I guess"). A lot better than many professional National Public Radio commentators and hosts.
We are retired, bought a motorhome, sold the house, and spend our summers in the Western US mountains. This summer we spent seeing the vertical sandstone upthrusts of Farden of the Gods, the hogbacks of Vedauwoo near Laramie, the chaos of Creede Colorado, the pizzaboxes of Escalante/Grand Staircase and the Arizona Strip, and most of Utah including the OMG of I-70 at Capitol Reef NP and Bryce Canyon. I watched this video as soon as it was released looking for clues about how Garden of the Gods came to be, and then we changed our plans entirely! Thanks, Nick - what a wonderful summer we've had!
You nailed it! I have been here for every lecture of every series from the backyard until today, and this one finally visually cemented the theory in my head. I am a big idea person, and I like to see the essence. Your ability to distill this information in comprehensible form for the untrained geology aficianado is a gift, and one that I am eternally grateful that you continue to share with us. What a journey that geological sciences have been on in the past hundred years, and kudos to all those dedicated scientists who continue to expand and elucidate as we move forward.
Sharon You can now take the next step. Look at all the Expanding Earth Videos , Neal Adams, Samuel Warren Carey, James Maxlow, and videos showing the seas covering the continents, and then leaving the continents, and intertwine them with the Videos by Nick Zentner. This is your Top Gun Maverick Moment. Launch !!!!
This makes so much more sense than the “Farallon plate obducting” story I was taught at Stanford in the 1980’s. And it neatly ties in the train wreck of terranes in BC as a big part of the story. There is just no substitute for hard data! Without the mantle tomography results, paleomagnetism results, there is just no way to tell you are stuck in the wrong mindset.
I've traveled the world analyzing mountains. Let me save you time. 70% are broken off tree trunks 25% are mining tailings. 5% IDK. Laugh, Ignore or Accept.
Today is a new day..finding your recommended lectures. Returned from Newfoundland, Canada this week. I purchased a book while there the Geology of Newfoundland. My whole trip was changed by this...the earths mantle exposed and on and on. I am an enthusiast but this was astounding. I would love a guided geology trip of this place. Took a trip to the west in the 80's and was so intrigued by the rock formations I bought a roadside geology book..returned home and applied to college to major in geology. I wish you had been the prof...I might have stayed with it. I still have the love for learning in my life. Im my business I sell rocks and gemstones. Tik toc has introduced preteens to "stones" and they love it. Good way to getthem interested in science. Its hard to explain the ex citement of Geology!
A pity I only discovered Nick Zentner’s online lectures in recent years. I am in my mid-60’s now. Rocks, rock formations, fossils, etc. have always fascinated me. Throughout our travels here in Australia, I find Central Australia the most interesting. It has rock formations and dry mountain ranges that looks very ancient. I wish we have an Australian version of Nick Zentner who can tell the geological story of the Red Centre the same way Nick does with the Pacific Northwest. I love your online lectures Mr. Zentner. I will continue to be your follower here in Australia. Please keep them coming. You are giving this retiring girl a new lease of life, learning. More power to you and your colleagues!
I'm just a casual enjoyer of geology...and I cannot get over how fantastic this lecture was. I didn't even know the rockies could be this interesting 👏👏
I find geology a fascinating subject. Mr. Zentner, i have been following your channel and lectures for years. I would like to say, for the sake of feedback, you have taught me well . I followed almost everything you said, and may have been a bit ahead at some points. This is absolutely, mostly, due to your lessons. Thank you so much, and i truly wish you the best, in everything you do.
There's nothing as effective as keeping it real to young minds and old. Making it relatable is the epitome of making it real. Pigs and pizza boxes; if the nation still gets this, then there's still a chance left for us, even after all the damage that has been done to us in the last 3 years. I love it. But now I'm getting hungry for a pizza with bacon on it! I shall wait until the end of the lecture in case you mention some other things I should put on my pizza!
Such a stimulating lecture and maps etc wonderful food for thought. Does make sense most likely closer to the true history and explanations for the continental movements and mountain building. Thanks Nick fascinating and fun
Oh the old “hog’s back” Laramide analogy!! One of my favorite lectures from some 25 years ago from Nick’s Geology of National Parks class…slightly modified if I remember correctly😂 Still my favorite class/lecturer!
I truly enjoy these videos and always learn something new. Just because I have snow on the roof, doesn’t mean I stop learning. This man makes learning fun- wish he had been one of my teachers!!
I worked as an intern at USGS 30 years ago, but I was a software engineer for the mapping division. It never occurred to me that the "G" in USGS was such an impressively multidisciplinary, yet also very deep field. But here we are, everything from manual labor to serious computer science to particle physics and probably at least 12 other disciplines I haven't noticed yet. It's only been the last few weeks that I stumbled upon this collection of stuff you've put together. The way you make this bewilderingly complex field so accessible is amazing, and I hope you keep making these for many more years.
Nick, was fascinated by your talk. I’m not a geologist but as a petroleum reservoir engineer have worked with several geology experts during my career. With this model how do you explain the thermal maturity increase in all the Pigs back sub basins going from east to west in CO, WYO, Utah and NM. The eastern sub basins like the PRB and DJB are in the oil window at least in the Pre Tertiary section and become gassier as you go west in these basins. Then you go west and the WRB, BHB and Uinta are in the gas window. And the SJB kind of includes both. I always thought as the Laramide orogeny progressed through time, these sub basins were being pushed deeper and deeper into the kitchen going from east to west. And at some point they all popped up towards the end of the Laramide 35mya? Also, All the Rocky Mountain peaks in Colo in the area bounded by the DJB, Uinta Basin and SJB are all about 14k’ in elevation suggesting a large slab was uplifted and has since eroded away leaving the present day peaks. Would that area all be one of these pigs backs popping up?
Nick Zentner, I love your lectures and truly appreciate the larger view you've been taking lately, as I live in BC and think the whole western side of North America is interesting geology. I learned about BC's piling up of exotic terranes comprising so much of our province, but always thought of 'us' as stationary and the continent fragments as moving eastward and crashing into us. Cool - very cool - to think they were the hard place we crashed into. That island chains and their subduction zones can be more dominant 'hard places' than continents blows my world perspective. Thanks again Nick!
@@RYOkEkEN My bald head was one of them. I noticed the same thing when I played this back a couple weeks after the lecture. A whole lot of us who attended were dating ourselves just having our backs to the camera.
This was a great intro class. I think I'll watch the 1st one you did before this. This was so good I just stayed here for whole lecture. I'm so glad I found this! I have a new discipline to add to my ongoing learning. Thankyou Nick !
35 years of teaching geology 101. You've educated and enlightened many students as well as countless video followers . We all owe you a big debt of gratitude for your amazing ability to make understandable the many fascinating ways of geology . Thank You Nick ❤
Flying over the Rocky Mountains between Toronto and Vancouver, recently, with a perfect weather to take in the landscape, I could see those pizza boxes all stacked up at angles of about 45-60 degrees. The explanation here is amazingly revealing. This is the shock absorbing effect of the slamming of North America at high speed (1 centimeter a year?) into a mass in the Pacific. That should convince you to always wear your seat belt...
It’s not only the Rocky Mountains between Alberta and Vancouver, There are other separate mountain ranges , And even west of Vancouver Vancouver island has its own range , And even a little more west the Olympic mountain range of North West Washington State
This is absolutely brilliant. I am a geologist at heart. I'm in Vancouver BC and I have always found the geology here incredibly breathtaking and have always wondered why the Rockies are so different and why the range is so far into the east. Yes, growing up I was taught the old model and yes, I agreed with it. But I still had many questions debating that whole old idea. Then in college, I was taught that BC was made of various slabs of ancient continents ramming into us again and again, thus why the geology here on the west coast has different makeups than the surrounding. I thought THAT was mind-blowing. Now today, I heard this whole new hypothesis from you. My mind has now been blown across the water and this makes much more sense to me and pretty much answers all those anomalies and wonders I've had since I was a kid on how the Rockies formed. And also the fact that it's believed that we're actually drifting westward and not the other way around was so surprising for me! Anyway, I'm so glad your video has stumbled into my autoplay list. You, sir, are now my most favourite teacher. You've got a new follower! Love this ❤
It's easy to get caught up in the idea that these exotic terranes were plowing into US when in fact WE were plowing into THEM - albeit obliquely. But when you step back to look at the _entire_ picture and not focus on the west coast as a stationary monolith, this all makes far more sense than the prevailing narrative.
As a 39 year old kid, I get enthralled by the info delivered. Being someone who struggled through high school, all I can say is keep up the amazing work teaching the world! You have an ability to do well what you work at and that's teaching. If the world was full of teachers and professors like yourself, there would be zero kids struggling in school!
Thanks again for the animations, Nick! Those more than anything really help me understand what supposedly happened! The labeled photos really explain a lot, too!
Thanks for posting your lectures. I'm retired from a completely different field, and I appreciate this opportunity to keep learning instead of turning my mind into inactive lukewarm oatmeal. Also appreciated the shout out to Noraly.
Wonderful lecture. I’ve been an amateur student and observer of geology since a boy along Pennsylvania Appalachia mountains, hiking and backpacking there and now home in Bighorn Basin Wyoming. There is some wonderful exposed rock here in road cuts and exposed rocky hillsides and block uplifts . As a pilot I’m a keen observer of the ground topography and patterns. Sometimes I need to look inside the cockpit to take care of business.
As a young Geologist from the UK beginning in her career, thank you so much for creating these fascinating and illuminating lectures. ❤ You now have a fan from near the Monian Supergroup of Wales ❤! Over here much of my teaching is Europe/UK centric and I have largely been having to educate myself about North American geology. I could see that the Farallon plate model did not quite explain the Rocky Mountains and geophyical studies I have seen only proved the location/existence of the Farallon. Thank you for allowing me to not only understand the reality better but sharing the latest research and understanding. I hope to visit the Pacific North West for the first time next summer and am so excited to see the incredble geology present.
@@MotoXplor ooo well goodness! You should look into Anglesey! It is a small place but encompasses incredible geology which has traces of Earth past from the Neoproterozoic periods. The Slate is amazing - did you visit Blanau Ffestiniog? Or Dogellau? :)
Very interesting. This is where the science gets really interesting, when something new is discovered, challenges the status quo and adds the our understanding. I always enjoy Professor Zentner's lectures because he doesn't lecture, he draws you in with a mystery wrapped in an enigma, surrounded by a riddle with the promise of an answer at the end.
And could I just say that Nick exemplifies how research is vital and important, but TEACHING, based on highly developed ability to digest complicated information and, even more important, to COMMUNICATE it to nonexperts, is also extremely valuable and not appreciated nearly enough. I hope CWU realizes what a treasure they have in Mr. Zentner!
A great example of how combining disciplines, in this case geophysics and geology, can completely change previously accepted theories. Science at its best!
Thank you!!!!! In 1982 I took a college course called "The Geography of the National Parks" and did my presentation on the canyonlands of the western US. The Laramide was the most important part of my report - and at that time totally unexplained. I remember seeing the Farallon model in the 90s and to me it seemed clear that it was either wrong or incomplete - it just didn't model well in my little thinking-in-pictures brain. Now I watch you presenting this new model and I could see where it was going every step of the way! It makes perfect sense, IT FITS, and my guess for the location of the suture was exactly where your map later showed it! This is the most exciting news to come out of geology in the last 40 years! In my opinion, anyway. Thanks again for finally giving me a model of the Laramide that actually makes sense to me!
Having watched the Crazy Eocene and the Baja BC from A-Z lectures series made this easy to follow . I am going to Watch some or all of those Lectures again .
Like Mr Medina, above, I grew up at the " tail end " of the S Rocky Mountains, and I was educated by my dad, who was a geologist and a mining engineer: said education having commenced almost 80 years ago. This new information will have to be " thought upon" for a while in order to see how it matches these many years of traditional education; I would love to see more explanation as regards the Sierra Nevada batholith that runs through 400 mi of California and a bit of Oregon. Very interesting, I am a subscriber and a fan! Thank you, Sir;
Thank you Mr. Zentner for another informative lecture. I enjoy learning about the earth and our geological past. Fascinating to wonder how many times the earth has been turned over ( like a plow turns over the soil ). How many cities are built one on top of another. Petrified wood is my favorite to collect. We moved to the PNW after retirement. On our morning walks we look to see who can find the first, best or most unusual rock! I find many different looking pieces of petrified wood in the rivers here. I am currently looking to find the source of all the blackened pieces from I think is the Boring Oregon eruptions field.
I used to find the geology of the west past the continental divide as kind of overwhelming. I had a semester in college of "Earth's Physical Systems" that made the landscape come alive, to my great delight, ever since. But I'd always wondered about the Rockies and the variety of landforms in the west. NOW I get it! It IS complicated. I had to watch this 3 times to absorb it, plus a couple of the closely related lectures. When I finally got it, it blossomed as a mixture of thise animations, maps and the clear, simple explanations; pizza boxes, hog backs, lime jello - It IS complicated - but Nick, you are the master at waking up a hunger to understand and then feeding it in bite sized pieces, linked together. My brain is still digesting all this and utterly thrilled to have such good stuff to chew on. Many Thanks!
I am also getting the impression that there are fixed features in the mantle associated with hot spots, with generation of a different sort of continental mass, these fixed arcs as you are calling them. This was a great lecture!
My father (born in 1914) often told us "kids" (I'm 70 now) about things he learned during the one geology class he took in college. Listening to your lecture made me wish I had taken geology courses too! I guess it's never too late to learn something new!
I am so glad that I found Nick. I stumbled upon one of his lectures about a week or two ago and I really love thos guy. He talks about one of my favorite areas of the world too. PNW.❤️
Near the end, when the subducting crust broke off and bounced back up, lit the light bulb for me. It makes total sense for furthering uplift. This is such an excellent review of Baja to BC a to z. I started the series thinking maybe it all moved. Now I say, of course, it moved. I'm so enjoying these lectures. I can see that I will be rewatching all of the Baja to BC material later this year. Right now, the ice age floods material is coming at the perfect time. Last year, I was growing in curiosity and amazement of the size of the floods. I'm doing reading in addition to Nick's videos. I'm also beginning to dip into volcanism because that is my true passion in geology. I am finding that with each bit I learn, I need to learn other ideas. Because of that glaciation, plate tectonics, earthquakes, etc. are on my list. Everything is interconnected and needed to further understanding of the big picture. What an amazing planet we live on!
Great stuff! Having grown-up in the Cascades of Oregon, and hiked the Cascades and the Coast Range of Oregon and Washington and now living on the eastside of Pikes Peak in Colorado, I can see this as I drive around Colorado and hike the Rockies. Great lecture! Thank you once again.
I wish I could have had Nick to watch, especially in the beginning years of my nearly 60 year long interest in geology. But that's OK because I've been learning so much from his various series. Nick, thank you so much for putting your lectures online. I'm getting a great late-life geological education from you, Myron Cook and others.
If it wasn't for TH-cam we wouldn't have this gift. I've gotten to see and hear from some of the preeminent geologists on the continent through Nick, and some I just stumbled on, like Myron Cook and Shawn Willsey, among others. Every one of them are so good at _teaching_ this stuff, perhaps if I'd had instructors this engaging when I was in college I might've stuck it out.
@@briane173 College instructors could definitely take hints about how to teach a class from these gentlemen. I have ADHD issues from FASD, but I can listen to teachers like Nick and Myron because they manage to engage my interest, so I can get through a whole ecture and learn.
It keeps getting clearer to me thanks to you and your guests. This deep history knowledge is very satisfying since I have spent 50+ year's tromping around the subject matter. It's consoling somehow to wrap your mind around the expanse of change and follow along with this learning process and I'm quite grateful.
What a fascinating lecture. It took me back to my college days taking Geology 101. But Nick explains everything so much better. I couldn't believe when he mentioned Noraly of Itchy Boots on TH-cam being in Mauritania. He just mentions her and continues on without saying who she is. Does everyone there know her? I've watched every single one of her videos. She's so fascinating and I have learned so much about different countries, geography, people and the geology of places she goes to. I'm frankly shocked that he knows her. But then everyone seems to know her.
Nick, I just listened to the "Headwaters" podcast season 3 episode 3, Becoming Unfrozen. They cover the Missoula floods and also and also animal and human finds from the period. They get some into Native American oral stories that appear to have been rooted in flood stories. This a podcast put out by the Glacier N.P. Foundation.
I have watched this presentation 3 times now - you are lucky Nick that I don't live close-you would be tired long ago of seeing my face in your classes! However I will "timeout" before! - I'm 77 yrs old Interesting occupation - Geology!
At 64 years of age, I've spent a lifetime in a career I love....accounting. Then on November 30, 2018 at 8:29 AM a 7.1 earthquake struck Alaska. After shaking off my rattled nerves I went on a mission to find out what happened to the earth beneath my feet. Now, almost five years later, I've come to the realization that my career path should have been geology. I am completely and utterly fascinated about earth beneath my feet. I will be retiring soon. I'm toying with the idea of going to school to get just a basic degree in geology even if I never work in the field.
You and me both.
That would be pretty cool if you did that!
Do Not just think about it, do it.
Follow what you love
Do it dude, life is too short. Do what makes you happy, especially if you have the money to do so.
Just love this explanation of the Rockies formed. Makes so much sense. Always be open to learn new concepts.
As a professor and academician myself, I can with relevant experience say that Nick Zenter is a rare and exceptional lecturer, scholar, leader, and thinker. He is the best of the best. When you come across someone with his talents for conveying information and knowledge, listen and watch carefully. They are wise and caring. This is the caliber and character we should demand for the highest offices in the land. The Nick Zentners of American should be in charge. FInd them and vote them into he highest offices in the land. Do not settle for less. It is the only hope for this nation. With great admiration and respect. Thank you Nick Zenter. You are an amazing scholar and leader.
Truer words have not been spoken. A great tribute to a man who has inspired thousands. He gave us much needed relief and enlightenment throughout the COVID period. Can’t do much much more for humanity. Nick is such an inspiration.
Wholeheartedly agree. And I’ve seen a lot of professors at my time getting my University degree. A1 teacher here.
Geology has fascinated me for years. Still I'm picturing a large pig swimming in jello.
"I'm not retarded but I like rocks"
-Kill Tony on TH-cam 2023
❤a❤-❤8😢.❤/ I a a❤ mmm DDS Isaac w a😊m
Thank you Robert.
Thank You for a new view of the Rockies!
At 44.12 is a piece of animation I did as a Student at UCSB for Tanya in 1984 or 85. This was all hand drawn in pencil then inked and cell painted then shot with a 16mm Bolex camera on a hand made animation stand. One of three I did with Tanya. Great to see it still being used. Thanks Tanya for letting me get my start in scientific animation… still doing it today.
I am 86 years old and have been watching Nick Zentner's programs for a couple of years now. I have told several people who also live in the KCHA building we live in about this place we call Earth that Professor Nick has taught me! To me, it is so amazing! He is the teacher every person should have! I live in Auburn, WA just over the "HILL" from Ellensburg where he gives the lectures. Thank you very much for all that you have taught me so far! 🧓🐈⬛🐈⬛ My kitties Teo and TwoTwo and me
I spent 10 years in university getting 4 degrees and live nowhere near the Pacific Northwest - and i had no interest in geology. During covid I stumbled across one of your lectures, and got sucked in. Not really because of the content, but because of the teaching technique. You are one of the best instructors I've ever encountered. You make a subject I'm rather neutral on engrossing and entertaining and understandable. I've watched almost every lecture you've released dating back to terrible lighting/video quality - and I've enjoyed every one.
Nick - thank you for renewing my interest in learning in the university lecture style. You are an amazing teacher.
It seems to me your passion is sitting in a classroom. Now, thanks to TH-cam, you can do it in the comfort of your very own home.
YOU WATCH ITCHY BOOTS! HOW ABOUT THAT!
I almost fell out of my chair last night when you said, "That's where Noraly is now."
I've always had a yearn to learn how features on the Earth got that way. I visit and ride the Rockies on my Harley Davidson Motorcycle Camping Trips every year. As I ride, I've wondered how the Rockies formed. They didn't look volcanic to me, although on Trail Ridge Road, there are "lava cliffs" at almost 12,000 ft elevation. And the mountains look totally different in Glacier NP, even though they're part of the Rockies. So I watch your lectures and try to learn.
I love it when Noraly goes into teaching moments about geology. She just touches the surface in very layman terms, bit she has kindled my interest enough that I found your lectures. Wish I wasn't so old . . . I could see myself majoring in geology (if I could start over).
I thank God I am a geologist and retired. It gives me the opportunity to watch and re-watch Nick and such great geologic minds. I'm doing an Idaho field trip along a "suture" in August.. cannot wait. And for what it is worth, I'm not a geo-tech guy, but the old explanation (I'm ten years Nick's senior) of how the Rocky Mountains formed didn't sit well with me. I always though it very unlikely that a submerging plate would go "flat" and give the uplifted needed. Couldn't explain why other than it just didn't seem to make sense. After fifty years, I'm feeling good about my doubts! Yeah Nick! Very well done.
I'm not a geologist, but the "shallow subduction" explanation for the Rocky Mountains has always seemed ad hoc and contrived to me. The apparent fact that seismic tomography doesn't support it doesn't surprise me at all. From this and other presentation by Nick Zentner, I am starting to believe that the geologic past of the west coast of North America was much more complex than the traditional model.
The traditional explanation has been that the Farallon plate started subducting at a steeper angle past the Sevier thrust zone. This would've allowed mantle upwelling to form the Rockies. A nice explanation, but not backed up by the newer seismic tomographic evidence.
From another geologist, more than any other science I am sure that geology works on things just not setting well leading to advances.
@@russlehman2070: I'm not buying this guys explanation on "millions" of years ago. Scientists have no way to accurately figure how old things are unless they actually have something tangible in their hands with a date stamped on it. Their carbon dating method is severely flawed. They talk about how long it takes for coal to form "millions" of years ago, however a father and son team of shade tree scientists took a piece of wood, soaked it in water, put it inside an airtight box that had a heater in it and added pressure into it also, they turned it on for a week, or two and 'POOF!' When they opened the box, the wood was turning into coal, so their theory of "MEELIONS" of years doesn't hold up in my opinion. SO, how do these trees end up so deep below into the earth? I think the answer has been happening in certain states pretty recently actually, we've been seeing stories on t.v. about 'sink holes' opening up in different parts of the world. There was a mining company in Louisiana years ago that was mining salt hundreds of feet below and partly under a large lake. A drilling company had a drill rig floating on the lake and was test drilling for a different type of product. What they did was make a mistake in their calculations and accidently drilled into the roof of the salt mine, which caused the water in the lake to fallow the drill bit down into the salt mine below. The water started pouring into the mine like a jet stream. It was a miracle that all the men working below were able to escape without any injuries or deaths. As the water followed the drill bit, it began to open the bore hole more and more until it was so big, that it swallowed the entire drill rig, then the hole started pulling the trees that were growing nearby the the edge under water and then under ground. The earth swallowed a whole Grove of trees and they sank hundreds of feet beneath. It also emptied all the water in the lake and almost pulled a fisherman and his boat down with it. Hundreds of years from now, some liberal professor will come along, find the wreckage using ground penitrating sonar and swear that "MILIIONS of years ago, man used DRILLING RIGS!" No, just an accidental miscalculation HUNDREDS of years earlier by a guy who wasn't paying close attention and drilled into a salt mine by accident. But those TREES are STILL down there and WILL BECOME COAL. There's sink holes that open up under our feet still all around the planet and swallow trees into the earth. This is how I beleave that wood finds its way underground, gets squeezed under pressure and turned into coal in most likely THOUSANDS of years, NOT "MILLIONS". In order for scientists to be able to accurately calculate "MILLIONS", they would have to take their calculator machine, travel MILLIONS of years back in time, CALCULATE it, then travel BACK to the present time to be able to use it correctly and until THAT'S possible, their calculations are SEVERELY flawed. 👎
Wait a second now, wasn’t the earth created 5,000 years ago.
Nick, I did my Masters research in the Sierra Nevada working on Paleozoic roof pendent. I made some discoveries finding previously unreported Paleozoic folds within the Nevadan folds and cleavages along with rare intact stratigraphy. Now years later, your videos and presentations have given me new understanding of the significants of my findings. I'm retired and not involved now but hopefully my published work has added to deciphering the tectonic history. Your presentations are wonderfully understanding even for the layman, thank you.
Robert, add this in to your understanding:
So, basically, the entire Pacific Rim was formed during the last "Feast of Sphenes", which was a terra-forming event said to be how G_d separated the waters from the firmament.
Does it fit with your knowledge?
I tried to search for the feast you mention because I never heard of it. Got the Feast of Stephen. He was the first martyr after Jesus died. Obviously nothing to do with the separating of the earth from the sky. It has been a long time since I read Genesis. I looked up firmament too to check its definition. I didn’t check its etymology. I did notice that there was a “vault” mentioned for other biblical definitions but did not pursue that. Unless something like that is part of the meaning of the original phrasing in the oldest known written version, which might be cuneiform, it is from the imaginations of men. The oldest written “Ark” and flood story is in cuneiform. and the ancient tablet was acquired by the British Museum within the last 30 years. Look up Irving Finkel’s “The Ark Before Noah”. Many think Abraham was from Mesopotamia.
I theorize the stuff separated from the “sky” was lots of solid objects we call asteroids. Perhaps even larger more rounded objects that might have had a core. Obviously not an already formed planet. At any rate, the “firmament” in the Torah predates the formation of this planet. Your reference doesn’t seem to apply to the subject.
One can get addicted to Nick's lectures.
You here for your fix too?
@@emergentcausality our Nick-fix?😁
Many have
Every night. I’ve watched my favorites so much that it’s my sleeping noise now, but before I knew the lectures word for word I would be up until 03:00 in rapt attention.
Yep! Same!
I need to plan a vacation to Ellensburg and time it when Nick is giving a lecture. You're the best, Nick!
hahahaha Yeah, I was thinking the SAME thing!
I am coming up on retirement age, planning to travel and move to Thailand (cheap retirement). Thinking maybe I should fly out of Seattle, and take a little drive over to Ellensburg. I was born in Moses Lake but don't remember it. Might just have to take a two week vacation prior to my flight, thanks to Nick!
I made a point of driving to Ellensburg to attend this lecture (my bald head is in a sea of bald heads on the left) because it's the first downtown series he's done in awhile and it's intending to put the entire Baja/BC theory in a condensed form the rest of us can absorb in four hours. It was well worth the four-hour drive, plus I toured Discovery Hall which itself is a marvel; the displays and maps and the Earth's geologic time line etched into the hallway there is something to behold, and puts our existence into stark perspective. Ellensburg itself appears to be a pleasant town -- a college town no doubt but it also has the agricultural economy to build off of. I couldn't stay for all four lectures but the one I picked wound up being the most intriguing one.
I spent a month there in fall 2021 and there's SO much to see there. Wow! I"m going to try to get back this fall for sure!
All the fun is in Yakima. It's the Palm Springs of Washington.
@@M167A1 Nah, _Wenatchee_ is the Palm Springs of Washington now, didn't you know? Nick changed it. Can't remember now which lecture that was but he said we gotta fix the sign.
I love how education is so widely avaliable in todays age. Just a click away whereas 15 years ago you would need to spend big bucks on a degree to learn from guys like you.
Agree. Yeah, there’s a lot of misinformation because a lot of people think they’re giving education online, but they’re doing the exact opposite and many many people don’t really know where to go for good accurate information/education
I was about to make a similar comment. You beat me to it.
I would have enjoyed having Nick as my Geology teacher (in any level of education). He makes it fun. He doesn't regurgitate theories he's never seen or explored. He's been there and seen it. Some stuff is still theoretical, but he shows why it can work (or not work).
That is so true! Nick is a gem!
I was a geology major fifty years ago when plate tectonics had recently gained acceptance in the US. A very exiting time to be studying geology. Nick takes me back to that era every time I watch one of his live streams or videos.
He strikes me as a real truth seeking scientist. His book knowledge is quite vast, its fun when he spots an anomaly in the field he gets visibly disappointed with the books.
@@davedavis5809 I like that if he doesn't know something, he is humbe enough to say so. Then after a similar concept comes up in questions later on, he'll give an answer if his research shows a new fact has come up.
I miss the time when professors didn't waste words, were organized and didn't think geology (or any science) had to be casual to interest the public and when they didn't shy away from presenting tough theories without looking dumb and didn't act like 12 years old. Clearly this lecturer style is not my cup of tea.
⁹]😊
As a university lecturer, I find your lectures to be incredibly inspirational. I aspire to be half as enthralling a lecturer as you, sir. Keep the content coming!
Nick's a hard act to follow, isn't he. That can only come from love -- love for the subject, love for teaching, and love for his students. And BTW, he suffers no fools. If he sees you're not making the effort to pay attention, he's only too happy to call you out. Good for him.
When a “educated” person like this has bought into the unprovable age of earth as millions and millions of years old I find it hard to believe everything thing else he says. With all his “education” he has ignored the most important history book in existence. The Bible.
Genesis 1:1-2 states: 1 In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth. 2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God MOVED upon the face of the waters. Then skip to verse 9. And God said, Let the waters under heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry appear: and it was so. 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering of the waters called he Seas. The separation of the continents came after that.
Since it is clear from God’s word the the earth is not millions of years old.
@@larrywaltman3916Thank you, William Jennings Bryan.
Oh, my holy heck. Yaaay! THIS. 😊 This makes sense to me. I am giggling. I'm 73 yrs. old and finally, a logical explanation for the formation of the beautiful Rockies. Wow. THANK YOU. .. It's 1 AM and evidently, I'd rather watch your videos than sleep.
YESSS back to the classic format. I love it. And a topic I wished he'd cover for a while. Legendary.
Your knowledge is a great gift to me. Thanks very much. Greetings from Mexico City
Evidence of 35 years in the teaching business: good analogies, efficient instruction, and economy of words. I tip my hat!
Great to see that these community lectures have restarted in person!! What a wonderful resource Nick is for all of us!!
Mr Zentner's mind is SO clear in understanding that his explanations just make sense !!! I LOVE listening to him on so many topics - his students are so very fortunate to have such a prized communicator opening their minds, not closing them.
I sure enjoyed this. I’m glad for TH-cam. I am 75 and learning so much about how my world was made!
Nick Zentner, every thing I know about Geology I learned watching your lecture videos'. What I would have given to have had a teacher like you when I was growing up. I surely would have gone into a physical science instead of the medical field. I don't know how but you take as subject I knew nothing about and made it exciting to me. I watch as many of your videos as I have time to set and enjoy one of your lectures. Keep up the good work. A devoted fan Tom.
Whoa! Nick Zentner's speech is clean. He verbally illustrates his points with imagery and without the baggage of filler words ("ummm", "you know", "OK, I guess"). A lot better than many professional National Public Radio commentators and hosts.
We are retired, bought a motorhome, sold the house, and spend our summers in the Western US mountains. This summer we spent seeing the vertical sandstone upthrusts of Farden of the Gods, the hogbacks of Vedauwoo near Laramie, the chaos of Creede Colorado, the pizzaboxes of Escalante/Grand Staircase and the Arizona Strip, and most of Utah including the OMG of I-70 at Capitol Reef NP and Bryce Canyon. I watched this video as soon as it was released looking for clues about how Garden of the Gods came to be, and then we changed our plans entirely! Thanks, Nick - what a wonderful summer we've had!
You nailed it! I have been here for every lecture of every series from the backyard until today, and this one finally visually cemented the theory in my head. I am a big idea person, and I like to see the essence. Your ability to distill this information in comprehensible form for the untrained geology aficianado is a gift, and one that I am eternally grateful that you continue to share with us. What a journey that geological sciences have been on in the past hundred years, and kudos to all those dedicated scientists who continue to expand and elucidate as we move forward.
Sharon You can now take the next step. Look at all the Expanding Earth Videos , Neal Adams, Samuel Warren Carey, James Maxlow, and videos showing the seas covering the continents, and then leaving the continents, and intertwine them with the Videos by Nick Zentner. This is your Top Gun Maverick Moment. Launch !!!!
@@michaelclark5626 Wait for me Sharon!
This makes so much more sense than the “Farallon plate obducting” story I was taught at Stanford in the 1980’s. And it neatly ties in the train wreck of terranes in BC as a big part of the story.
There is just no substitute for hard data! Without the mantle tomography results, paleomagnetism results, there is just no way to tell you are stuck in the wrong mindset.
Great job Nick
I love your videos, Joey!
I am so glad my daughter and I attended this talk. Thank you again.
I know right
Great! Thanks for putting your lectures out here for the public.
- A viewer on the Olympic Peninsula.
That was FASCINATING. I only watched because, as a Washingtonian, our crazy geology is interesting and learning about it tickles my brain!
What a hard working lecturer. God bless you! Fascinating content.
I've lived in Washington state all my life and Nick has changed how I see everything I see in the north west!
I've traveled the world analyzing mountains. Let me save you time. 70% are broken off tree trunks 25% are mining tailings. 5% IDK. Laugh, Ignore or Accept.
Today is a new day..finding your recommended lectures. Returned from Newfoundland, Canada this week. I purchased a book while there the Geology of Newfoundland. My whole trip was changed by this...the earths mantle exposed and on and on. I am an enthusiast but this was astounding. I would love a guided geology trip of this place. Took a trip to the west in the 80's and was so intrigued by the rock formations I bought a roadside geology book..returned home and applied to college to major in geology. I wish you had been the prof...I might have stayed with it. I still have the love for learning in my life. Im my business I sell rocks and gemstones. Tik toc has introduced preteens to "stones" and they love it. Good way to getthem interested in science. Its hard to explain the ex citement of Geology!
A pity I only discovered Nick Zentner’s online lectures in recent years. I am in my mid-60’s now. Rocks, rock formations, fossils, etc. have always fascinated me. Throughout our travels here in Australia, I find Central Australia the most interesting. It has rock formations and dry mountain ranges that looks very ancient. I wish we have an Australian version of Nick Zentner who can tell the geological story of the Red Centre the same way Nick does with the Pacific Northwest.
I love your online lectures Mr. Zentner. I will continue to be your follower here in Australia. Please keep them coming. You are giving this retiring girl a new lease of life, learning. More power to you and your colleagues!
I'm just a casual enjoyer of geology...and I cannot get over how fantastic this lecture was. I didn't even know the rockies could be this interesting 👏👏
A great teacher! He can talk about dirt and be absolutely riveting!
Awesome to see a new video by Nick Zentner. Always enjoy them.
Thanks Nick!
This has got to be one of your best lectures Nick--well done.
Really Enjoyed that Thank You!
Have watched every episode since the start, and this really brought all the ideas and concepts together really well !
I find geology a fascinating subject. Mr. Zentner, i have been following your channel and lectures for years. I would like to say, for the sake of feedback, you have taught me well . I followed almost everything you said, and may have been a bit ahead at some points. This is absolutely, mostly, due to your lessons. Thank you so much, and i truly wish you the best, in everything you do.
Great hog blocks rising through green jello. EXCELLENT!!! ❤
There's nothing as effective as keeping it real to young minds and old. Making it relatable is the epitome of making it real. Pigs and pizza boxes; if the nation still gets this, then there's still a chance left for us, even after all the damage that has been done to us in the last 3 years. I love it. But now I'm getting hungry for a pizza with bacon on it! I shall wait until the end of the lecture in case you mention some other things I should put on my pizza!
Such a stimulating lecture and maps etc wonderful food for thought. Does make sense most likely closer to the true history and explanations for the continental movements and mountain building. Thanks Nick fascinating and fun
Greatest Of All Time Geology Lecture!!!!! Even I could understand the basics. Thank You Sir!
Oh the old “hog’s back” Laramide analogy!! One of my favorite lectures from some 25 years ago from Nick’s Geology of National Parks class…slightly modified if I remember correctly😂 Still my favorite class/lecturer!
Awesome video and lecture. Thanks for the information! Love the passion
Superb!
Thank you, Myron! I love your videos.
Watching your lectures has really revealed how wildly interesting geology truly is, can’t wait to see more!
You are a fantastic teacher and speaker. I enjoyed, and learned, a great deal from this. Thank you!
I truly enjoy these videos and always learn something new. Just because I have snow on the roof, doesn’t mean I stop learning. This man makes learning fun- wish he had been one of my teachers!!
I LOVE NICK'S TEACHING STYLE!!!❤❤❤ I've watched other geology profs, but Nick Zentner is the best, in my books! 😊
I worked as an intern at USGS 30 years ago, but I was a software engineer for the mapping division. It never occurred to me that the "G" in USGS was such an impressively multidisciplinary, yet also very deep field.
But here we are, everything from manual labor to serious computer science to particle physics and probably at least 12 other disciplines I haven't noticed yet.
It's only been the last few weeks that I stumbled upon this collection of stuff you've put together. The way you make this bewilderingly complex field so accessible is amazing, and I hope you keep making these for many more years.
Nick, was fascinated by your talk. I’m not a geologist but as a petroleum reservoir engineer have worked with several geology experts during my career. With this model how do you explain the thermal maturity increase in all the Pigs back sub basins going from east to west in CO, WYO, Utah and NM. The eastern sub basins like the PRB and DJB are in the oil window at least in the Pre Tertiary section and become gassier as you go west in these basins. Then you go west and the WRB, BHB and Uinta are in the gas window. And the SJB kind of includes both. I always thought as the Laramide orogeny progressed through time, these sub basins were being pushed deeper and deeper into the kitchen going from east to west. And at some point they all popped up towards the end of the Laramide 35mya? Also, All the Rocky Mountain peaks in Colo in the area bounded by the DJB, Uinta Basin and SJB are all about 14k’ in elevation suggesting a large slab was uplifted and has since eroded away leaving the present day peaks. Would that area all be one of these pigs backs popping up?
I have been waiting SO long for an in depth lecture on this topic on youtube. The Rockies are such a mystery
Lived in Colorado basically all my life thank you very very informative great show
Nick Zentner, I love your lectures and truly appreciate the larger view you've been taking lately, as I live in BC and think the whole western side of North America is interesting geology. I learned about BC's piling up of exotic terranes comprising so much of our province, but always thought of 'us' as stationary and the continent fragments as moving eastward and crashing into us. Cool - very cool - to think they were the hard place we crashed into. That island chains and their subduction zones can be more dominant 'hard places' than continents blows my world perspective. Thanks again Nick!
The Intermontaine Superteraine is the Third largest exotic Terraine that makes up North America, so when North America hit it, it hit hard!
that's LOT of bald heads 😮
@@RYOkEkEN My bald head was one of them. I noticed the same thing when I played this back a couple weeks after the lecture. A whole lot of us who attended were dating ourselves just having our backs to the camera.
This was a great intro class. I think I'll watch the 1st one you did before this. This was so good I just stayed here for whole lecture. I'm so glad I found this! I have a new discipline to add to my ongoing learning. Thankyou Nick !
Greetings from Sweden!
I just love your lectures, Sir!
Excited to see this pop up! Watching now ! Thanks:)
Fascinating lecture & brilliantly presented. Thanks for posting!
35 years of teaching geology 101. You've educated and enlightened many students as well as countless video followers . We all owe you a big debt of gratitude for your amazing ability to make understandable the many fascinating ways of geology . Thank You Nick ❤
Excellent presentation and intriguing lesson. Thank you.
Flying over the Rocky Mountains between Toronto and Vancouver, recently, with a perfect weather to take in the landscape, I could see those pizza boxes all stacked up at angles of about 45-60 degrees. The explanation here is amazingly revealing. This is the shock absorbing effect of the slamming of North America at high speed (1 centimeter a year?) into a mass in the Pacific. That should convince you to always wear your seat belt...
I'm for some reason reminded that the crash test dummies are named Larry and Vince. 😀
It’s not only the Rocky Mountains between Alberta and Vancouver, There are other separate mountain ranges , And even west of Vancouver Vancouver island has its own range , And even a little more west the Olympic mountain range of North West Washington State
This is absolutely brilliant. I am a geologist at heart. I'm in Vancouver BC and I have always found the geology here incredibly breathtaking and have always wondered why the Rockies are so different and why the range is so far into the east. Yes, growing up I was taught the old model and yes, I agreed with it. But I still had many questions debating that whole old idea. Then in college, I was taught that BC was made of various slabs of ancient continents ramming into us again and again, thus why the geology here on the west coast has different makeups than the surrounding. I thought THAT was mind-blowing. Now today, I heard this whole new hypothesis from you. My mind has now been blown across the water and this makes much more sense to me and pretty much answers all those anomalies and wonders I've had since I was a kid on how the Rockies formed. And also the fact that it's believed that we're actually drifting westward and not the other way around was so surprising for me!
Anyway, I'm so glad your video has stumbled into my autoplay list. You, sir, are now my most favourite teacher. You've got a new follower! Love this ❤
It's easy to get caught up in the idea that these exotic terranes were plowing into US when in fact WE were plowing into THEM - albeit obliquely. But when you step back to look at the _entire_ picture and not focus on the west coast as a stationary monolith, this all makes far more sense than the prevailing narrative.
So good to see new lectures from Nick. I enjoy his presentation style. Two thumbs up!
As a 39 year old kid, I get enthralled by the info delivered. Being someone who struggled through high school, all I can say is keep up the amazing work teaching the world!
You have an ability to do well what you work at and that's teaching.
If the world was full of teachers and professors like yourself, there would be zero kids struggling in school!
Thanks again for the animations, Nick! Those more than anything really help me understand what supposedly happened! The labeled photos really explain a lot, too!
Love, love, love your lecture(s)/talks…. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for posting your lectures. I'm retired from a completely different field, and I appreciate this opportunity to keep learning instead of turning my mind into inactive lukewarm oatmeal. Also appreciated the shout out to Noraly.
Wonderful lecture. I’ve been an amateur student and observer of geology since a boy along Pennsylvania Appalachia mountains, hiking and backpacking there and now home in Bighorn Basin Wyoming. There is some wonderful exposed rock here in road cuts and exposed rocky hillsides and block uplifts . As a pilot I’m a keen observer of the ground topography and patterns. Sometimes I need to look inside the cockpit to take care of business.
As a young Geologist from the UK beginning in her career, thank you so much for creating these fascinating and illuminating lectures. ❤
You now have a fan from near the Monian Supergroup of Wales ❤!
Over here much of my teaching is Europe/UK centric and I have largely been having to educate myself about North American geology. I could see that the Farallon plate model did not quite explain the Rocky Mountains and geophyical studies I have seen only proved the location/existence of the Farallon. Thank you for allowing me to not only understand the reality better but sharing the latest research and understanding.
I hope to visit the Pacific North West for the first time next summer and am so excited to see the incredble geology present.
The geology of Wales must be fascinating. I'm not a geology student but visited there when I was young. I'd love to learn about all of the slate.
@@MotoXplor ooo well goodness! You should look into Anglesey! It is a small place but encompasses incredible geology which has traces of Earth past from the Neoproterozoic periods.
The Slate is amazing - did you visit Blanau Ffestiniog? Or Dogellau? :)
Very interesting. This is where the science gets really interesting, when something new is discovered, challenges the status quo and adds the our understanding.
I always enjoy Professor Zentner's lectures because he doesn't lecture, he draws you in with a mystery wrapped in an enigma, surrounded by a riddle with the promise of an answer at the end.
I would love to hear more about the formation of the Black Hills since I live there now.
African American hills
😂😂😂😂
Absolutely great presentation have so enjoyed this series.
And could I just say that Nick exemplifies how research is vital and important, but TEACHING, based on highly developed ability to digest complicated information and, even more important, to COMMUNICATE it to nonexperts, is also extremely valuable and not appreciated nearly enough. I hope CWU realizes what a treasure they have in Mr. Zentner!
I love your lectures. You kind of remind me of my favorite geology professor back in the early 90's.
Excellent lecture. Glad I found it.
This guy needs an award.
A great example of how combining disciplines, in this case geophysics and geology, can completely change previously accepted theories. Science at its best!
Thank you!!!!! In 1982 I took a college course called "The Geography of the National Parks" and did my presentation on the canyonlands of the western US. The Laramide was the most important part of my report - and at that time totally unexplained. I remember seeing the Farallon model in the 90s and to me it seemed clear that it was either wrong or incomplete - it just didn't model well in my little thinking-in-pictures brain. Now I watch you presenting this new model and I could see where it was going every step of the way! It makes perfect sense, IT FITS, and my guess for the location of the suture was exactly where your map later showed it! This is the most exciting news to come out of geology in the last 40 years! In my opinion, anyway.
Thanks again for finally giving me a model of the Laramide that actually makes sense to me!
Oh, I see my comment was posted under my in-progress channel name. Oops!
Grieg Pedersen
Having watched the Crazy Eocene and the Baja BC from A-Z lectures series made this easy to follow . I am going to Watch some or all of those Lectures again .
Like Mr Medina, above, I grew up at the " tail end " of the S Rocky Mountains, and I was educated by my dad, who was a geologist and a mining engineer: said education having commenced almost 80 years ago.
This new information will have to be " thought upon" for a while in order to see how it matches these many years of traditional education;
I would love to see more explanation as regards the Sierra Nevada batholith that runs through 400 mi of California and a bit of Oregon.
Very interesting, I am a subscriber and a fan!
Thank you, Sir;
Thank you Mr. Zentner for another informative lecture. I enjoy learning about the earth and our geological past. Fascinating to wonder how many times the earth has been turned over ( like a plow turns over the soil ). How many cities are built one on top of another. Petrified wood is my favorite to collect. We moved to the PNW after retirement. On our morning walks we look to see who can find the first, best or most unusual rock!
I find many different looking pieces of petrified wood in the rivers here. I am currently looking to find the source of all the blackened pieces from I think is the Boring Oregon eruptions field.
love this kinda professor...true educator to his core (no pun intended)
I used to find the geology of the west past the continental divide as kind of overwhelming. I had a semester in college of "Earth's Physical Systems" that made the landscape come alive, to my great delight, ever since. But I'd always wondered about the Rockies and the variety of landforms in the west. NOW I get it! It IS complicated. I had to watch this 3 times to absorb it, plus a couple of the closely related lectures. When I finally got it, it blossomed as a mixture of thise animations, maps and the clear, simple explanations; pizza boxes, hog backs, lime jello - It IS complicated - but Nick, you are the master at waking up a hunger to understand and then feeding it in bite sized pieces, linked together. My brain is still digesting all this and utterly thrilled to have such good stuff to chew on. Many Thanks!
I am also getting the impression that there are fixed features in the mantle associated with hot spots, with generation of a different sort of continental mass, these fixed arcs as you are calling them. This was a great lecture!
@48:00 Looks like the broken subduction zone ribbons created not just the rockies, but the Appalachians and Ozarks too!
so cool. Great vid.
My father (born in 1914) often told us "kids" (I'm 70 now) about things he learned during the one geology class he took in college. Listening to your lecture made me wish I had taken geology courses too!
I guess it's never too late to learn something new!
Terrific lecture yet again, thank you Prof Zentner. You're the best geology presenter alive today, pencils down.
Thank you, Professor! This is wonderfully fascinating!
I am so glad that I found Nick. I stumbled upon one of his lectures about a week or two ago and I really love thos guy. He talks about one of my favorite areas of the world too. PNW.❤️
Near the end, when the subducting crust broke off and bounced back up, lit the light bulb for me. It makes total sense for furthering uplift. This is such an excellent review of Baja to BC a to z. I started the series thinking maybe it all moved. Now I say, of course, it moved. I'm so enjoying these lectures. I can see that I will be rewatching all of the Baja to BC material later this year. Right now, the ice age floods material is coming at the perfect time. Last year, I was growing in curiosity and amazement of the size of the floods. I'm doing reading in addition to Nick's videos. I'm also beginning to dip into volcanism because that is my true passion in geology. I am finding that with each bit I learn, I need to learn other ideas. Because of that glaciation, plate tectonics, earthquakes, etc. are on my list. Everything is interconnected and needed to further understanding of the big picture. What an amazing planet we live on!
Geology is so cool that way!!
Exactly!
I look out at the Stuart Range from my home. Now I can imagine that the pluton was only the caboose of a long northbound train. Thanks Professor!
Great stuff! Having grown-up in the Cascades of Oregon, and hiked the Cascades and the Coast Range of Oregon and Washington and now living on the eastside of Pikes Peak in Colorado, I can see this as I drive around Colorado and hike the Rockies. Great lecture! Thank you once again.
I wish I could have had Nick to watch, especially in the beginning years of my nearly 60 year long interest in geology. But that's OK because I've been learning so much from his various series. Nick, thank you so much for putting your lectures online. I'm getting a great late-life geological education from you, Myron Cook and others.
If it wasn't for TH-cam we wouldn't have this gift. I've gotten to see and hear from some of the preeminent geologists on the continent through Nick, and some I just stumbled on, like Myron Cook and Shawn Willsey, among others. Every one of them are so good at _teaching_ this stuff, perhaps if I'd had instructors this engaging when I was in college I might've stuck it out.
@@briane173 College instructors could definitely take hints about how to teach a class from these gentlemen. I have ADHD issues from FASD, but I can listen to teachers like Nick and Myron because they manage to engage my interest, so I can get through a whole ecture and learn.
@@briane173 I forgot to add that Nick and others are a big reason that I refer to TH-cam as my "free university".
It keeps getting clearer to me thanks to you and your guests. This deep history knowledge is very satisfying since I have spent 50+ year's tromping around the subject matter. It's consoling somehow to wrap your mind around the expanse of change and follow along with this learning process and I'm quite grateful.
Absolutely excellent lecture on an indeed a complicated topic. I can not wait to see the part 2. Thank you.
Odd that I searched for how the Rockies formed just yesterday and this popped up, posted only 12 days ago. Good lecture, very interesting and fun.
What a fascinating lecture. It took me back to my college days taking Geology 101. But Nick explains everything so much better.
I couldn't believe when he mentioned Noraly of Itchy Boots on TH-cam being in Mauritania. He just mentions her and continues on without saying who she is. Does everyone there know her? I've watched every single one of her videos. She's so fascinating and I have learned so much about different countries, geography, people and the geology of places she goes to. I'm frankly shocked that he knows her. But then everyone seems to know her.
What a treat to listen to. Thanks Nick!
Nick, I just listened to the "Headwaters" podcast season 3 episode 3, Becoming Unfrozen. They cover the Missoula floods and also and also animal and human finds from the period. They get some into Native American oral stories that appear to have been rooted in flood stories. This a podcast put out by the Glacier N.P. Foundation.
I have watched this presentation 3 times now - you are lucky Nick that I don't live close-you would be tired long ago of seeing my face in your classes! However I will "timeout" before! - I'm 77 yrs old Interesting occupation - Geology!