You know what I love the most about your videos (and you as an educator)? Is that you are a true scientist. You are always asking questions, seeking new and updated information, you are not afraid to say "I don't know", and invite us all along for the ride. Thanks, Nick. Had I had to do my career over again, I think I might have chosen geology (although, I still do love nursing as a profession).
I think many people move away from science because of theoretical physics and big bang cosmologists and astrophysics, where they are SO confident in what is going on with almost no evidence to support their claims. When in geology all the evidence is there, you can touch it and it poses more questions. Nick is a true scientist indeed.
Then we are two :-) I have been following Nick Z´s video adventures and great teaching for 3 years now. I found his channel looking for explanations to the Ice age floods and have been following along since.
@@noeraldinkabam Well it's just like California and the idea that it will fall into the ocean. Quite the opposite it's getting shoved inland to make more mountains (People just wish it would fall away)
Honestly, I'd be more surprised if you didn't have questions when visiting a spot you haven't been before. (Or, even been to in a while.) One of the things that makes it entertaining to watch, is the process you share with us of how you look at things, and what to look for as we venture out into our own "natural world." Thank you.
We passengers accompanying this speck of dust on it’s journey through the cosmos, are an inquisitive bunch and there’s nothing more satisfying than learning about another’s enthusiasm for their subject also being on the same journey of exploration. These horizons but particularly so the much thicker bottom layer’s appear to be the furthest most reaches of those surge’s and the deposits of pebbles that stop suddenly, look like pulses similar to an after shock as rebounded material eventually catches up with the flow and running out of energy just as they reach their final resting place. Just a thought, brilliant analysis. It’s important to come away with question’s
So cool! I’m from Wyoming and I’ve seen this in many areas in Wyoming! Looking, your first thought is layering! But now, wow! Makes so much more sense. I love geology, thank you so much, I just subscribed to your channel.
When I was studying geology/volcanology (a long time ago), nothing solidified better in my brain then these field trips to road cuts and hikes that led out to volcanic features with the professor showing us exactly what he was trying to teach in the classroom. I do hope you use this feature to teach those taking Geology 101 and inspire some to become geology majors as I was by my Geology 101 professor.
When I took geology 101 from Professor Hinthorne, his TA took us to that spot and said that lahar was moving 110 mph flowing out of the Cascades! Thanks for doing these videos. I love you too. My favorite part of Covid was you teaching geology from your back yard! It was so sweet of you to come up with that idea; help get us through the isolation.
Hi Nick-so judging by the ancient location of the former Cascade arc associated with these deposits, and the fact that they follow ancient river valleys, not to mention their friable composition and lack of induration/welding and lack of internal flow-banding, and the presence instead of cross bedding and other fluvial structures, it is almost certain that these do not represent actual ash flow/surge deposits, but rather reworked volcanosedimentary deposits. Pyroclastic flows do not travel such far distances except in the most extreme “supervolcano” cases, and there is no known ignimbrite sheet flow that would correlate with this, between here and the ancient cascades arc. Given that these lahars were produced by a combination of erupted material and melted glacial ice that followed paleodrainages, it seems most likely that proximal ash flow tuffs on the flanks of the volcano, along with more distal ash fall tuffs and lahars were picked up by flowing water in these ancient river valleys and the material was reworked several times into these graded and stratified deposits. Actual emplaced surge deposits/pyroclastic flows do not demonstrate fluvial crossbedding, but rather internal flow banding, or otherwise rheomorphic structures, pumice fiamme, volcanic bombs, and many times (not all the time) can be welded and indurated into a more competent rock because they are emplaced at high temperature. So again just to summarize, I would classify these as reworked volcanic ash in a fluvial setting, interbedded with lahars that traveled along the same paleodrainages, due to their structures, composition, and relatively distal location from the ancient arc. I believe there are ash flow deposits to be found in the Ellensburg Formation within more proximal sedimentary basins, such as the Nile basin, however.
With all due respect Avana, intending not to argue, especially with your mineralogy, just to clarify: Where’s the cobbles with this alleged drainage flow then? We know that lahars can travel 100k’s or more. Could the stratified layers also be ash/tephra fall? Could the flow have buried the channel, escaped further water transport by redirecting the river’s path, and then continued to be buried with ash fall and subsequent lahars? If there’s doubt to an event’s ability to eject rocks @100k’s, perhaps they may have been deposited on top of the lahar at a closer range, then transported further as part of that lahar.
@@crashoveride1288 yes there could definitely be some ash fall deposits. (As I mentioned) But most likely they are reworked as well. Pristine ash fall deposits wouldn’t last long in fluvial settings. My comment was mostly in response to what Nick asked in the video about surge deposits. The usual length of your typical stratovolcano pyroclastic flow is up to about 20km. Like I said, only in the most extreme “supervolcanic” cases, do you see runouts much longer than that, and if that were the case, there would be evidence of the rest of the deposit leading back to the source, a giant ignimbrite sheet that is not known to exist.
@@AvanaVana “Pristine ash fall deposits wouldn’t last long in fluvial settings.” I agree, unless the fluvial setting became a baked dry channel which permanently moved the fluvial setting away. “... the usual length of your typical Stratovolcano pyroclastic flow is up to about 20km.” Usual? Where? This setting may have had an elevation drop of at least 5,000’ from the proposed source @Mt. Aix to the deposit; so limiting a search to “the usual” isn’t optimal. A similar example is Mt. Hood’s Sandy River lahar which flowed 90k’s from Hood’s edifice to the Columbia River @1500 years ago. “Only in the most extreme “super volcanic” cases...”? Considering we’re talking probabilities between now and @10MA, and further considering that Mazama was a VEI-7 event, isn’t that rather absolutist and perhaps an overly exclusionary dismissal of alternatives? “...and if that were the case, there would be evidence of the rest of the deposit leading back to the source.” Unless it was eroded away in the 10M years as its source was.
Our geology is indeed as interesting as the NW, however we lack a geologist who can weave the stories of the Grenville, Avalonian, Taconic, as well as Appalachian orogenies. Ned Zinger is one of a kind.
Bedding was not from erosion. Pyroclastic flows have bedding behavior all the way down to millimeter layering. You can get out a microscope and see the bedding. That fine. You want fine, look up Mexican imperial jasper, and Gary Green jasper to get a sense of how fine. Then, supercritical conditions for each superimposed concentric structures on top of the primary lamellar grading. So stuff can be deposited, and reheated with more flows and get reworked. That much higher temperature did not occur here. It is still unconsolidated or maybe only locally so. If boudins are found (elliptical or lensatic stony structures) then it got hotter at some point. Gary Green has boudins.
I work at the Terrace Heights landfill. We are currently digging out a deep pocket of pumice. It's surrounded by (above & below) a vast amount of fine sand. Your videos are great & easily understood. Thank you.
Hi Nick and gang, we just watched the video, and when we saw the closeup of that nice, fat layer, we yelled, Lahar! Lahar! I guess we've learned a lot! 😀
Excellent subject! Used to see this frequently driving by but now the highway has moved. Fascinating layering. Couldn't see the sparkles but I know what you're talking about. Neat stuff. Sound volume is too low. Hold the camera still when you are up close. Keep it coming, Nick!
I have traveled that road many times. My son graduated from CWU and I loved taking the old highway into E-burg. When I toured through Thorp, say that 5 times fast, I remember the huge horse pavilion in the tiny burg. I hope my memory hasn’t flowed like that mudflow.
Found your videos 1 year ago and still watching. Your knowledge, enthusiasm and still learning keeps your viewers full attention. Thank you for sharing the earth's fantastic beauty.
Nick - really nice outcrop for study. Always makes me chuckle when you comment 'why havent i been coming here for 30 years!!!' ... you still have time to redeem your shattered reputation ;))))) Lovely volcaniclastics and fluvial sediments for unit description, cross-section drawings, clast analysis, bedding, etc ... Keep up the fantastic content Prof Zinger!
We are fortunate to live in Central Washington State. We can visit a multitude of different Geologies without having to travel far. I live in Union Gap, from my house I can see Ahtanum Ridge, Rattlesnake Ridge, the 'Gap', Yakima River, Yakima Ridge, Cowiche Mountain, Mount Clemens, Yakima Valley, East Valley, West Valley, Moxee, and City of Yakima. Also within view is Mt Rainier and Mt Adams. Mt Saint Helen's used to be visible from rest area just past Selah, but it lost over 1,300 feet off the top during 1980 eruption. Also, have front row seat to watch the massive and slow moving landslide on Rattlesnake Ridge. The fissure at top is now over 150 wide. Slide is still moving at around 1 foot per week. Over 4 million cubic yards are moving downhill towards the old quarry. Along the ridges and gap, can see multiple layers of Columbia Flood Basalt. Towards the west, there are Andesite flows from ancient volcanoes. We have layers of volcanic ash from old volcanoes, and Mt. Saint Helen's. We have slack water silts from ancient Lake Lewis. Looking forward to your lectures in 2022. Love the way your make it all so personal.
@@SJR_Media_Group if you've watched Indiana Jones Raiders of the lost Ark, they use the warehouse at the end of the film. That is were the UK keeps all its samples of different rocks the UK is made up from.
Fascinating - now I want to go there (preferably with a volcanologist)! These videos are like cherries on a dessert, and we all get to play ''Where's Nick?'' on Google maps!
I must admit, Nick, I discovered you on accident. I was researching the Willamette valley soils and the Missoula floods, and how they affect the terroirs, of wine. It was amazing to become reacquainted with the Washington High Desert, Lake Chelan, Grand Coulee, and your amazing teaching style... plus my third graders love you!!! Thanks foe reconnecting me with my childhood and fostering a greater love of the miraculous geology of our precious PNW!!!
we have tuff layers here Napa valley, Sonoma blast zone , they can be six feet deep each single layer , just strait fall, it buried whole forests and if you look the layers are 6 feet sometimes, on slopes with forest still in place, so it can fall thick I was a boy in new port when mt st Hellens went , carried the ash all that way out to the coast and buried our cars each day in a half a foot, still got some in jars. cool stuff ! thank you again !
An alternative suggestion: St Helens style volcano blows it's top setting off a large lahar - after that the volcano is still active and putting out local pyroclastic flows but no longer so high thus the subsequent lahars would be smaller, carrying less mud but with a higher in proportion meltwater content, which transports the pumice readily forming thinner layers like those seen. I speculate that there may be other older large lahars deeper underneath the large one seen.
wow ...ok.....i'm seeing something here thats gonna make me go back and look at some tuff beds here , north end of Lake Berryessa Ca. im realizing I saw stuff like this in layers there , I hadn't thought about mudflows, I think we have some exposures like this that aren't layers but flow... wow, new mission. but yes .....I see the pumice, ..eruptions melting ice causing the ash and pumice to all mix ? mudflows off the sides of ..anything tall near by ? i'm picturing older volcanic stuff then being incorporated into a new event....got my brain going, thank you !
Looking forward to your introduction of new to CWU's Dr. Hannah Shamloo to Thorp's White Cliff Lahar... she is so dynamic sooner is better than waiting till Fall...
One thing I've noticed that is also curious about that site is that the smaller layers are lighter at the bottom and grow progressively darker going up. I wonder if this is due to more light material like pumice being deposited in the yearly erosional floods and then mixing in darker sediment later as the pumice got broken down and bonded into place by vegetation regrowth on the volcanic slope? It makes me want to see a cross-section of Mt. St. Helens' downriver flow. Would we see a large lahar layer for 1980 with smaller erosional deposit layers for Spring 1981, 1982, etc.? Thanks again for featuring this area. We stop here often for lunch when we come over to visit the Thorp fruit and antique market. It's a great spot.
Awful that you have to walk around such a terrible place..Great little update video Nick really enjoy them no where of what you are looking at. Stunning scenery and a nice bit of weather too. Think many folks struggle with conceptualising the topography of ancient times that produced these features. I certainly do… but as you approached the ‘bluff’ I could see evidence of what may have occurred..maybe come up with 5% accuracy. Looking forwards to the next instalment. Thanks from Scotland
I'm seeing a layer at the top that is beige and then the bottom 50 to 60% is grey. My amateur thories... 1. the top layer was the first to be exposed to the atmosphere and the bottom grey layers were more recently exposed. The color shift is because the upper layers are more oxidised than the lower grey ones. 2. The lahar was a rapid event at the time of the eruption and the more recent layers are like seasonal flash floods that spread out over the lahar. If the surface of the lahar was flat maybe they flowed in a braided stream pattern. This would account for the strange discontinuities in the roughly horizontal layers. These field trips are always fun to see. A pleasant relief from the big picture stuff of the rotating conveyor belt and Mexican Mt Srewart.
We have a large legacy of a huge volcanic mudflow in Placer County, California. Tall ridges along I-80 and Sierra College Blvd that consist of rock hard mud.
Hi Nick, your totally my go to place to learn geology. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around western Australia and the Washington and Oregon coasts having matching geological properties.
Nick, you videos are amazing. When I lived in Moses Lake I would watch all your videos. I loved visiting all the areas you videotapes. Thank you so much for doing these.
You should visit Ash Creek in the Galuiro Mountains in S. Arizona. Some nice ancient 25 million yr old muds flows with beautiful agate. Coronado National Forest.
Could the upper layers be from seasonal rain/snow melt washing ash/pumice/cobbles down over the top of the large lahar? What a beautiful formation!!! Gotta go find that one on my way to Seattle sometime.
I just love it, I miss being able to get up close with the geology. The mud flow layer also appears to be laid down on another mudflow layer rather than a regular surface or bedrock. I suspect this location has a series of stories to tell and great to see this canvas is free from spray can graffiti. Thank you thank youthank you.
Oh how I now want to know more about this lahar! I have traveled that road hundreds of times since 1962. I always thought that must be sandstone. Wow one of my life obsessions has been WA volcanos. Mt St Helen's even came to live in my yard when I lived in Moses Lake in '80. Do your classes learn about the landslide that blocked that road in...hmm I don't remember the date, late 70s or 80s. Have you ever canoed the Yakima in that stretch? The haystacks at Throp are fun to play in if you know how to do them safely and have a support group. Kittitas County was my stomping grounds for many years. I. am so glad to begin learning some of the geology.
Are the pumice generally round? Could be airborne pumice that fell into the mud? If not and the shapes are highly irregular, also in size and weight - from one to the other (taking into account any possible grinding by flow rounding) - then may be crust breakage from upstream? Oh and great video, I lived north of there for many years myself, great country to go rock hounding in.
Also there's Pinnacle Mountain state park - there's some debate as to what the mountain is?? Is it a extinct volcano with a granite plug in it or a mountain with a giant granite boulder sitting at its peak??
Rewatching Nick's old vid on Thorpe Mudflow, wow, its 10 million years ago from lost volcano to SW 50miles by White Pass Washington using rivers that flowed NE in a path that nowadays is blocked by new hills of Manastash Ridge which formed to black any further flow like that.
Thanks Nick! Amazing to see the layering and fine details up close, and awesome to see the whole wall from across the road! I’ll be interested to learn more about the pumice!!
New eyes on an outcrop you have seen but seemingly never focused on could make for new perspectives and thoughts. Perhaps a series of pyroclastic flows over a period of time might explain the layers of pumice amidst the other layers of finers particulates. It is always a pleasure to learn from you Nick because you are always asking questions to make your audience think, and learn. That is what a teacher should aspire to.
We want more Tieton Andicite! It would be interesting to know as you mentioned in earlier videos why there were so many volcanoes in that particular area that were about the same age.
Hallo Nick! I watched MANY of your geology lectures here on TH-cam a few years ago. I spent last year entranced by both the Iceland and LaPalma volcanoes. Now I’m back home (figuratively) and looking forward to your adventures here in Washington State. I’m heading to Vantage next month.
You would think they are much further apart because of our familiarity with roads, but the direct distance to American Peak (above Bumping Lake) is only 35 1/2 miles, easily within "volcanic lahar" range as we have witnessed many other places in modern times. I am guesstimating where the originating volcano was, from what you have said in this and other videos. This is such cool information, made all the better for me, because I have been right there. And yes, I always thought it must have been a sedimentary situation. Thanks for the great lesson.
Nick, my take on this is the thick button all came in a t once. The upper layers came in one after another. In my opinion this is why the upper layers are mostly thin. I'm surely no expert but I have been well trained by you
great videos, one tip that I learned from making vids, sit still with the camera for a bit longer - well, like 10X as long - when you're filming rock and you want people to see diamond sparkly things. Like most people, you are continuously moving the camera and it makes it hard to focus on the rocks, especially in close shots.
Maybe it was the Yakima river , I do recall you telling us the terrain has uplifted and the river has continually eroded it's way down . The mud and ash could have choked the river at some point in time. Maybe even multiple eruptions have occurred over time thus the staggered layering. Just my thought .
Great video! Please, please, pretty please make a video with a volcanologist to interpret this outcrop. I am intrigued as to when, where and how this was formed.
Looking forward to when you bring the Vulcanologist out for a look-see. Very good spot near the campus to bring students. Hopefully, one of them will be able to do more comprehensive studies in the future.. Thanks for the video Nick!
Nick, I'd love to see a similar examination of the outcroppings along I-10 between Ft Stockton and El Paso. what starts out as sedimentary /limestone layering changes to what appears to my eye as olivine. I presume there was volcanic activity nearby. from Big Bend i assume?
Layering behavior changes with matrix grain size. If the grains are fine enough you get find interdigitation of bedding structures. Little microslumpiing features. Coarser rocks could have come later and sunk into the fine layers like liquefaction, differential settling. But a river with just pumice bedding between rocks, no. The rocks sink and the pumice rolls away. Rains on the deposit would make little slumping and flow structures. I would trench into the sloughed off debris and look for settling/slumping features from current erosion. The structure could also be from superheated microfluid flow maybe even supercritical fluid flow. Supercritical fluid has no surface tension behavior. The slumping would then have plastic kinetic behavior. Bedding structures in fine ash can be submillimeter in thickness which would infer that there can be charge effects going on.
I can show you a bunch of surge deposits south of the Snake River. The slanted patches are sand bars or dunes in cross section. Airborne volcanic surges above lahar deposits is my guess. Some water deposits near the top again.
I'm fine with (but amazed) by the multiple sheets. Depo all at one eruption or intermediate detritus cleared by next layer? But the real "What?" are those layers set at 10 or 15 degree to layers above and below.
This is amazing...I was just looking at a topical map of eastern washington and noticed all of the undulations on the land in some places...almost looks like the eddies of water that used to be there?...there seem to be wide swaths of them...do you know anything about this...was there water that covered the area long ago? I really look forward to your series. Thank you.
You know what I love the most about your videos (and you as an educator)? Is that you are a true scientist. You are always asking questions, seeking new and updated information, you are not afraid to say "I don't know", and invite us all along for the ride. Thanks, Nick. Had I had to do my career over again, I think I might have chosen geology (although, I still do love nursing as a profession).
Agreed, I couldn't have worded the comment any better.
I think many people move away from science because of theoretical physics and big bang cosmologists and astrophysics, where they are SO confident in what is going on with almost no evidence to support their claims. When in geology all the evidence is there, you can touch it and it poses more questions. Nick is a true scientist indeed.
I think its cool that the name "George" is related to "Geology"
Eh there are videos of Swiss lahars. and this is much larger. Frequent clogs up then rapidly drains then clog up again.
Well said!
I'm pretty sure I know more about Washington geology than most other Norwegians at this point.
I have lectured washingtonians on why Seattle will not go under in a tsunami. From the Netherlands.
Then we are two :-) I have been following Nick Z´s video adventures and great teaching for 3 years now. I found his channel looking for explanations to the Ice age floods and have been following along since.
@@noeraldinkabam The reverse happening however, although unlikely, is a faint possibility.(I ignored the period after 'tsunami')
@@benwinkel lol
@@noeraldinkabam Well it's just like California and the idea that it will fall into the ocean. Quite the opposite it's getting shoved inland to make more mountains (People just wish it would fall away)
I would absolutely love to see a Volcanologists take on this. Supremely interesting stuff!
Honestly, I'd be more surprised if you didn't have questions when visiting a spot you haven't been before. (Or, even been to in a while.)
One of the things that makes it entertaining to watch, is the process you share with us of how you look at things, and what to look for as we venture out into our own "natural world."
Thank you.
We passengers accompanying this speck of dust on it’s journey through the cosmos, are an inquisitive bunch and there’s nothing more satisfying than learning about another’s enthusiasm for their subject also being on the same journey of exploration.
These horizons but particularly so the much thicker bottom layer’s appear to be the furthest most reaches of those surge’s and the deposits of pebbles that stop suddenly, look like pulses similar to an after shock as rebounded material eventually catches up with the flow and running out of energy just as they reach their final resting place.
Just a thought, brilliant analysis. It’s important to come away with question’s
So cool! I’m from Wyoming and I’ve seen this in many areas in Wyoming! Looking, your first thought is layering! But now, wow! Makes so much more sense. I love geology, thank you so much, I just subscribed to your channel.
it is so obvious as you place your hand on the rocks that you love what you do and you have love and respect for the earth.
When I was studying geology/volcanology (a long time ago), nothing solidified better in my brain then these field trips to road cuts and hikes that led out to volcanic features with the professor showing us exactly what he was trying to teach in the classroom. I do hope you use this feature to teach those taking Geology 101 and inspire some to become geology majors as I was by my Geology 101 professor.
When I took geology 101 from Professor Hinthorne, his TA took us to that spot and said that lahar was moving 110 mph flowing out of the Cascades!
Thanks for doing these videos. I love you too. My favorite part of Covid was you teaching geology from your back yard! It was so sweet of you to come up with that idea; help get us through the isolation.
Hi Nick-so judging by the ancient location of the former Cascade arc associated with these deposits, and the fact that they follow ancient river valleys, not to mention their friable composition and lack of induration/welding and lack of internal flow-banding, and the presence instead of cross bedding and other fluvial structures, it is almost certain that these do not represent actual ash flow/surge deposits, but rather reworked volcanosedimentary deposits. Pyroclastic flows do not travel such far distances except in the most extreme “supervolcano” cases, and there is no known ignimbrite sheet flow that would correlate with this, between here and the ancient cascades arc. Given that these lahars were produced by a combination of erupted material and melted glacial ice that followed paleodrainages, it seems most likely that proximal ash flow tuffs on the flanks of the volcano, along with more distal ash fall tuffs and lahars were picked up by flowing water in these ancient river valleys and the material was reworked several times into these graded and stratified deposits. Actual emplaced surge deposits/pyroclastic flows do not demonstrate fluvial crossbedding, but rather internal flow banding, or otherwise rheomorphic structures, pumice fiamme, volcanic bombs, and many times (not all the time) can be welded and indurated into a more competent rock because they are emplaced at high temperature. So again just to summarize, I would classify these as reworked volcanic ash in a fluvial setting, interbedded with lahars that traveled along the same paleodrainages, due to their structures, composition, and relatively distal location from the ancient arc. I believe there are ash flow deposits to be found in the Ellensburg Formation within more proximal sedimentary basins, such as the Nile basin, however.
I understood some of those words
With all due respect Avana, intending not to argue, especially with your mineralogy, just to clarify:
Where’s the cobbles with this alleged drainage flow then? We know that lahars can travel 100k’s or more. Could the stratified layers also be ash/tephra fall? Could the flow have buried the channel, escaped further water transport by redirecting the river’s path, and then continued to be buried with ash fall and subsequent lahars?
If there’s doubt to an event’s ability to eject rocks @100k’s, perhaps they may have been deposited on top of the lahar at a closer range, then transported further as part of that lahar.
yeah, what he said lost me at Hi Nick
@@crashoveride1288 yes there could definitely be some ash fall deposits. (As I mentioned) But most likely they are reworked as well. Pristine ash fall deposits wouldn’t last long in fluvial settings. My comment was mostly in response to what Nick asked in the video about surge deposits. The usual length of your typical stratovolcano pyroclastic flow is up to about 20km. Like I said, only in the most extreme “supervolcanic” cases, do you see runouts much longer than that, and if that were the case, there would be evidence of the rest of the deposit leading back to the source, a giant ignimbrite sheet that is not known to exist.
@@AvanaVana “Pristine ash fall deposits wouldn’t last long in fluvial settings.” I agree, unless the fluvial setting became a baked dry channel which permanently moved the fluvial setting away.
“... the usual length of your typical Stratovolcano pyroclastic flow is up to about 20km.” Usual? Where? This setting may have had an elevation drop of at least 5,000’ from the proposed source @Mt. Aix to the deposit; so limiting a search to “the usual” isn’t optimal. A similar example is Mt. Hood’s Sandy River lahar which flowed 90k’s from Hood’s edifice to the Columbia River @1500 years ago.
“Only in the most extreme “super volcanic” cases...”? Considering we’re talking probabilities between now and @10MA, and further considering that Mazama was a VEI-7 event, isn’t that rather absolutist and perhaps an overly exclusionary dismissal of alternatives?
“...and if that were the case, there would be evidence of the rest of the deposit leading back to the source.” Unless it was eroded away in the 10M years as its source was.
As I sit here amidst the oldest mountains in the world in Asheville NC and watch your videos I am wishing we had such interesting geology
Asheville, NC! Lovely area, was there quite a bit but many years ago for work stuff. Cheers from 'the other side' in Knoxville, TN!
Our geology is indeed as interesting as the NW, however we lack a geologist who can weave the stories of the Grenville, Avalonian, Taconic, as well as Appalachian orogenies. Ned Zinger is one of a kind.
It's always wonderful to see another video pop up. Thank you!!!
Beautiful!! Home sweet home!
It’s just amazing what time and erosion can do. The legacy of a volcano that no longer exists…is there in those mudflows. Great video dude.
Bedding was not from erosion. Pyroclastic flows have bedding behavior all the way down to millimeter layering. You can get out a microscope and see the bedding. That fine. You want fine, look up Mexican imperial jasper, and Gary Green jasper to get a sense of how fine. Then, supercritical conditions for each superimposed concentric structures on top of the primary lamellar grading. So stuff can be deposited, and reheated with more flows and get reworked. That much higher temperature did not occur here. It is still unconsolidated or maybe only locally so. If boudins are found (elliptical or lensatic stony structures) then it got hotter at some point. Gary Green has boudins.
Not a mudflow, a pyroclastic flow. Much hotter. Maybe some cooler.
I like it when you want to learn something. That means were gonna learn something. Thats what makes you so cool Nick.
Thank you for being our geology dad. I've always driven by sites like these in Colorado and Utah. I've always wanted to know what those layers meant.
I work at the Terrace Heights landfill. We are currently digging out a deep pocket of pumice. It's surrounded by (above & below) a vast amount of fine sand. Your videos are great & easily understood. Thank you.
Just might be fine sand, or fine pyroclastic glass, not river sand.
Hi Nick and gang, we just watched the video, and when we saw the closeup of that nice, fat layer, we yelled, Lahar! Lahar! I guess we've learned a lot! 😀
Welcome home Nick! Poring over the Roadside Geology books for WA, OR and Mt just waiting for the rain to stop to start my weekend excursions!
Excellent subject! Used to see this frequently driving by but now the highway has moved. Fascinating layering. Couldn't see the sparkles but I know what you're talking about. Neat stuff. Sound volume is too low. Hold the camera still when you are up close. Keep it coming, Nick!
I have traveled that road many times. My son graduated from CWU and I loved taking the old highway into E-burg. When I toured through Thorp, say that 5 times fast, I remember the huge horse pavilion in the tiny burg. I hope my memory hasn’t flowed like that mudflow.
Found your videos 1 year ago and still watching. Your knowledge, enthusiasm and still learning keeps your viewers full attention. Thank you for sharing the earth's fantastic beauty.
Nick - really nice outcrop for study. Always makes me chuckle when you comment 'why havent i been coming here for 30 years!!!' ... you still have time to redeem your shattered reputation ;)))))
Lovely volcaniclastics and fluvial sediments for unit description, cross-section drawings, clast analysis, bedding, etc ...
Keep up the fantastic content Prof Zinger!
We are fortunate to live in Central Washington State. We can visit a multitude of different Geologies without having to travel far. I live in Union Gap, from my house I can see Ahtanum Ridge, Rattlesnake Ridge, the 'Gap', Yakima River, Yakima Ridge, Cowiche Mountain, Mount Clemens, Yakima Valley, East Valley, West Valley, Moxee, and City of Yakima. Also within view is Mt Rainier and Mt Adams. Mt Saint Helen's used to be visible from rest area just past Selah, but it lost over 1,300 feet off the top during 1980 eruption.
Also, have front row seat to watch the massive and slow moving landslide on Rattlesnake Ridge. The fissure at top is now over 150 wide. Slide is still moving at around 1 foot per week. Over 4 million cubic yards are moving downhill towards the old quarry. Along the ridges and gap, can see multiple layers of Columbia Flood Basalt. Towards the west, there are Andesite flows from ancient volcanoes. We have layers of volcanic ash from old volcanoes, and Mt. Saint Helen's. We have slack water silts from ancient Lake Lewis.
Looking forward to your lectures in 2022. Love the way your make it all so personal.
The UK has thousands of rock types, Holland has less than 20.
@@myview5840 I love learning new things about local geology.
@@SJR_Media_Group if you've watched Indiana Jones Raiders of the lost Ark, they use the warehouse at the end of the film. That is were the UK keeps all its samples of different rocks the UK is made up from.
@@myview5840 wow, that's amazing. I remember the warehouse in movie. Thought it was just a movie set. Thanks.
Fascinating - now I want to go there (preferably with a volcanologist)! These videos are like cherries on a dessert, and we all get to play ''Where's Nick?'' on Google maps!
A true geologist in his natural habitat, Spectacular!!
Please, please, please do a video with your vulcanologist!! I'm fascinated.
I must admit, Nick, I discovered you on accident. I was researching the Willamette valley soils and the Missoula floods, and how they affect the terroirs, of wine. It was amazing to become reacquainted with the Washington High Desert, Lake Chelan, Grand Coulee, and your amazing teaching style... plus my third graders love you!!! Thanks foe reconnecting me with my childhood and fostering a greater love of the miraculous geology of our precious PNW!!!
we have tuff layers here Napa valley, Sonoma blast zone , they can be six feet deep each single layer , just strait fall, it buried whole forests and if you look the layers are 6 feet sometimes, on slopes with forest still in place, so it can fall thick I was a boy in new port when mt st Hellens went , carried the ash all that way out to the coast and buried our cars each day in a half a foot, still got some in jars. cool stuff ! thank you again !
Please keep doing this. I've watched your classes and I truly enjoy seeing you on location with further explanation.
I kept expecting to hear "I can't hold it"... I guess I'll just have to wait for more interpretation later. Good one Nick.
An alternative suggestion: St Helens style volcano blows it's top setting off a large lahar - after that the volcano is still active and putting out local pyroclastic flows but no longer so high thus the subsequent lahars would be smaller, carrying less mud but with a higher in proportion meltwater content, which transports the pumice readily forming thinner layers like those seen. I speculate that there may be other older large lahars deeper underneath the large one seen.
That is a nice little spot/view.
So interesting. Nick thank you for bringing us along.
wow ...ok.....i'm seeing something here thats gonna make me go back and look at some tuff beds here , north end of Lake Berryessa Ca. im realizing I saw stuff like this in layers there , I hadn't thought about mudflows, I think we have some exposures like this that aren't layers but flow... wow, new mission. but yes .....I see the pumice, ..eruptions melting ice causing the ash and pumice to all mix ? mudflows off the sides of ..anything tall near by ? i'm picturing older volcanic stuff then being incorporated into a new event....got my brain going, thank you !
Hey Nick, I found a vein of opal next to the railroad below Hayward Hill road. It's pretty thin about 1/8 to 1/4 in. but nice looking.
Great views from this landscape photographers perspective...
Its beautiful, keep teaching us more and more!!!
I was attending Central Washington University when the mountain blew May 18, 1980.
That was interesting and the area that it might have came from… wow, I want to see that explained on a map!!
Looking forward to your introduction of new to CWU's Dr. Hannah Shamloo to Thorp's White Cliff Lahar... she is so dynamic sooner is better than waiting till Fall...
One thing I've noticed that is also curious about that site is that the smaller layers are lighter at the bottom and grow progressively darker going up. I wonder if this is due to more light material like pumice being deposited in the yearly erosional floods and then mixing in darker sediment later as the pumice got broken down and bonded into place by vegetation regrowth on the volcanic slope? It makes me want to see a cross-section of Mt. St. Helens' downriver flow. Would we see a large lahar layer for 1980 with smaller erosional deposit layers for Spring 1981, 1982, etc.?
Thanks again for featuring this area. We stop here often for lunch when we come over to visit the Thorp fruit and antique market. It's a great spot.
hi nick I'm from another country but I look at ur videos all the time.... will really like you to make a video about the present Yellowstone floods
Very cool deposit! Look almost like the glacial deposits here in MI!
Awful that you have to walk around such a terrible place..Great little update video Nick really enjoy them no where of what you are looking at. Stunning scenery and a nice bit of weather too. Think many folks struggle with conceptualising the topography of ancient times that produced these features. I certainly do… but as you approached the ‘bluff’ I could see evidence of what may have occurred..maybe come up with 5% accuracy. Looking forwards to the next instalment. Thanks from Scotland
I'm seeing a layer at the top that is beige and then the bottom 50 to 60% is grey.
My amateur thories...
1. the top layer was the first to be exposed to the atmosphere and the bottom grey layers were more recently exposed. The color shift is because the upper layers are more oxidised than the lower grey ones.
2. The lahar was a rapid event at the time of the eruption and the more recent layers are like seasonal flash floods that spread out over the lahar. If the surface of the lahar was flat maybe they flowed in a braided stream pattern. This would account for the strange discontinuities in the roughly horizontal layers.
These field trips are always fun to see. A pleasant relief from the big picture stuff of the rotating conveyor belt and Mexican Mt Srewart.
I do like that your enthusiasm for this subject is infectious, which is why i end up on your channels frequently.
We have a large legacy of a huge volcanic mudflow in Placer County, California.
Tall ridges along I-80 and Sierra College Blvd that consist of rock hard mud.
Hi Nick, your totally my go to place to learn geology. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around western Australia and the Washington and Oregon coasts having matching geological properties.
Nick, you videos are amazing. When I lived in Moses Lake I would watch all your videos. I loved visiting all the areas you videotapes. Thank you so much for doing these.
You should visit Ash Creek in the Galuiro Mountains in S. Arizona. Some nice ancient 25 million yr old muds flows with beautiful agate. Coronado National Forest.
Could the upper layers be from seasonal rain/snow melt washing ash/pumice/cobbles down over the top of the large lahar? What a beautiful formation!!! Gotta go find that one on my way to Seattle sometime.
That was my thought as well, seeing the larger clasts imbedded in the thin layers. I'm thinking the larger clasts are reworked upstream material...
Anyone tell you how awesome you are today?! Thanks sharing!!
Really interesting Nick
Thanks for sharing it with us
Looking forward to future videos, hoping you get that new vulcanologist out there with you! I am intrigued!
I just love it, I miss being able to get up close with the geology. The mud flow layer also appears to be laid down on another mudflow layer rather than a regular surface or bedrock. I suspect this location has a series of stories to tell and great to see this canvas is free from spray can graffiti. Thank you thank youthank you.
The thick layer has been well and wet blended by a "cement mixer", while the thin, stacked layers have not.
Oh how I now want to know more about this lahar! I have traveled that road hundreds of times since 1962. I always thought that must be sandstone. Wow one of my life obsessions has been WA volcanos. Mt St Helen's even came to live in my yard when I lived in Moses Lake in '80. Do your classes learn about the landslide that blocked that road in...hmm I don't remember the date, late 70s or 80s. Have you ever canoed the Yakima in that stretch? The haystacks at Throp are fun to play in if you know how to do them safely and have a support group. Kittitas County was my stomping grounds for many years. I. am so glad to begin learning some of the geology.
Thanks Nick for showing us this fantastic geology! So much to think about regarding this video about how all of the layers were formed.
you live in such a beautiful place, thx for your videos
Are the pumice generally round? Could be airborne pumice that fell into the mud? If not and the shapes are highly irregular, also in size and weight - from one to the other (taking into account any possible grinding by flow rounding) - then may be crust breakage from upstream?
Oh and great video, I lived north of there for many years myself, great country to go rock hounding in.
Also there's Pinnacle Mountain state park - there's some debate as to what the mountain is?? Is it a extinct volcano with a granite plug in it or a mountain with a giant granite boulder sitting at its peak??
Rewatching Nick's old vid on Thorpe Mudflow, wow, its 10 million years ago from lost volcano to SW 50miles by White Pass Washington using rivers that flowed NE in a path that nowadays is blocked by new hills of Manastash Ridge which formed to black any further flow like that.
Excellent again. Thank you, Nick, from England.
Thanks Nick! Amazing to see the layering and fine details up close, and awesome to see the whole wall from across the road! I’ll be interested to learn more about the pumice!!
New eyes on an outcrop you have seen but seemingly never focused on could make for new perspectives and thoughts. Perhaps a series of pyroclastic flows over a period of time might explain the layers of pumice amidst the other layers of finers particulates. It is always a pleasure to learn from you Nick because you are always asking questions to make your audience think, and learn. That is what a teacher should aspire to.
We want more Tieton Andicite!
It would be interesting to know as you mentioned in earlier videos why there were so many volcanoes in that particular area that were about the same age.
I did see some sparkly quality around 6:00. Before then I felt like the camera was moving a little rapidly for me to catch it. Beautiful day!!!
Hallo Nick! I watched MANY of your geology lectures here on TH-cam a few years ago. I spent last year entranced by both the Iceland and LaPalma volcanoes. Now I’m back home (figuratively) and looking forward to your adventures here in Washington State. I’m heading to Vantage next month.
You would think they are much further apart because of our familiarity with roads, but the direct distance to American Peak (above Bumping Lake) is only 35 1/2 miles, easily within "volcanic lahar" range as we have witnessed many other places in modern times. I am guesstimating where the originating volcano was, from what you have said in this and other videos. This is such cool information, made all the better for me, because I have been right there. And yes, I always thought it must have been a sedimentary situation. Thanks for the great lesson.
Nick, my take on this is the thick button all came in a t once. The upper layers came in one after another. In my opinion this is why the upper layers are mostly thin. I'm surely no expert but I have been well trained by you
great videos, one tip that I learned from making vids, sit still with the camera for a bit longer - well, like 10X as long - when you're filming rock and you want people to see diamond sparkly things. Like most people, you are continuously moving the camera and it makes it hard to focus on the rocks, especially in close shots.
im liking these videos. thank you for the info, you'r a good teacher !
A very grounding video! Thanks much!
Well you have definitely caught my att, can't till your next video.
Yet another video. Amazing the quality and quantity of great videos. Thanks Nick.
hot mud flow. I just read and saw a mud flow going on now.
Maybe it was the Yakima river , I do recall you telling us the terrain has uplifted and the river has continually eroded it's way down . The mud and ash could have choked the river at some point in time. Maybe even multiple eruptions have occurred over time thus the staggered layering. Just my thought .
Happy you are home. I am excited to hear about all the expertise at CTU.
Great video! Please, please, pretty please make a video with a volcanologist to interpret this outcrop. I am intrigued as to when, where and how this was formed.
Looking forward to when you bring the Vulcanologist out for a look-see. Very good spot near the campus to bring students. Hopefully, one of them will be able to do more comprehensive studies in the future.. Thanks for the video Nick!
That was one massive lahar.
Amazing ❤️👀👍
Nick, I'd love to see a similar examination of the outcroppings along I-10 between Ft Stockton and El Paso. what starts out as sedimentary /limestone layering changes to what appears to my eye as olivine. I presume there was volcanic activity nearby. from Big Bend i assume?
Layering behavior changes with matrix grain size. If the grains are fine enough you get find interdigitation of bedding structures. Little microslumpiing features. Coarser rocks could have come later and sunk into the fine layers like liquefaction, differential settling. But a river with just pumice bedding between rocks, no. The rocks sink and the pumice rolls away. Rains on the deposit would make little slumping and flow structures. I would trench into the sloughed off debris and look for settling/slumping features from current erosion. The structure could also be from superheated microfluid flow maybe even supercritical fluid flow. Supercritical fluid has no surface tension behavior. The slumping would then have plastic kinetic behavior. Bedding structures in fine ash can be submillimeter in thickness which would infer that there can be charge effects going on.
Wow, that's cool man! Good post.
I would be very interested in following up on these flows. 😁
beautiful view!
The thick layer seems to be discontinuous with a similar but softer and thick layer beneath it. Love Ya!
I can show you a bunch of surge deposits south of the Snake River. The slanted patches are sand bars or dunes in cross section.
Airborne volcanic surges above lahar deposits is my guess. Some water deposits near the top again.
Hey Nick, what about tidal deposits above the mudflow? Like high and low tides on a mudflow. They look like timed flows one on another.
I'm fine with (but amazed) by the multiple sheets. Depo all at one eruption or intermediate detritus cleared by next layer? But the real "What?" are those layers set at 10 or 15 degree to layers above and below.
This is amazing...I was just looking at a topical map of eastern washington and noticed all of the undulations on the land in some places...almost looks like the eddies of water that used to be there?...there seem to be wide swaths of them...do you know anything about this...was there water that covered the area long ago? I really look forward to your series. Thank you.
Thank you Professor Zentner
Very cool. At first I was thinking Lahar ashflow and snowmelt mixture.
1 lahar and yearly layers of sediment runoff? Old valley/channel?
Thanks Nick- your a treasure
Many fascinating cross-beds there, almost like ancient sand dunes. I'm only halfway through the video, so maybe Nick will mention those.
Thanks for the visit to the white bluff. It would probably be interesting to look at samples under my stereo microscope.
Thanks for another journey into geological history