I’m a geologist who did a masters thesis mapping the Valley and Ridge geology in Hampshirite and Hardy counties, WVA. I appreciate your efforts to clearly explain the geologic history to lay people. From the comments, looks like your work is much appreciated. Good refresher for me, too.
wow i studied mechanical engineering but i was close to switching to geology. in the end i thought there were less jobs and lower pay but now i realize i could have made far more money working for an oil and gas company as a geologist... or a mechanical engineer for that matter meh no regrets.
@@psilocybemusashiI think starting pay is generally higher for engineers. Civil Engineering firms in Europe and US+Canada have been hiring geologists for maybe more than a generation now. Mining includes water and non-fossil-fuels too!
Between you and Nick Zentner, I am finding a sincere love for geology. I love this stuff. Nick has taught me so much about the Pacific Northwest. And now you're teaching me about our east coast. Now I wish I could find something to teach me about Missouri Geology.
As a sixth grader in 1962 I looked at a map on the wall and told the teacher that the continents all fit together nicely, and she assured me I was wrong. Plate tectonics couldn't come quick enough for this inquisitive young man.
I remember being an elementary school also in the late 60s and thinking that all the continents fit together like a puzzle and I somehow knew that they once had been one continent without ever really learning about it till later
@@kekkicI love stories like this. I've anecdotally heard that people noticed these things ever since decent maps started being produced, but technology had to advance a long way before we as a species could explain it.
@GregDaniels But everyone knows that "authorities" have perfect and complete knowledge about everything and are to be unquestioningly believed and obeyed. Don't think for yourself, the authorities have your best interest at heart and if you don't brainlessly believe and obey them, you'll hurt yourself! /s That was pretty much the upbringing I had as a kid in the 1970s; be deferential to "authorities" and live by and internalize "the orthodoxy". Yeah, right. It's amazing how many people who are scientists are fiercely tribal, holding to their tribe's orthodoxy, their set of sacred dogmas, their "sacred truths" that are not allowed to be questioned. On the other hand, just being contrary and oppositional just to feel powerful, i.e., being a troll, is a pretty horrible state to live in. Given what some of us humans have learned since about just how partial human knowledge is and how fragile human reason is, I've found it better to chart the middle course and live by the motto, "Examine everything carefully; cling firmly to that which you find to be good." And always ask, "How do I know what I think I know, what I believe to be true?" Keep on asking questions, young man! :D
I just want to know the identity of the teacher. Add a name and face here. She was so so wrong 😅. Find her relatives. Send a card that says you were right.
This was awesome. The Appalachians are my home mountains, I’m glad to understand them more. It’s so nice to spend time with someone who is also just thrilled by the story of the earth.
I grew up in the Catskill range of the Appalachia Mountains. Rockland County NY to be exact. I was taken by rocks as a kid because everywhere I put a shovel to dig worms for fishing, I would hit a rock. They interested me in learning how they got there. All school taught us was the “Ice Age”….
Great video about an area that is sadly ignored. I am a rock hound and live in Maryland. There are so many deposits of all kinds jumbled around me. Fantastic metamorphic schist, a mica mine and even red sandstones with iron and dinosaur tracks. This area was the source of Colonial iron ore and granite too! We are still classed as a moderate earthquake zone due to remaining stresses.
It's never too late! Seriously find out if you can sit in on some geology classes at a university near you. Lots of profs in smaller universities/colleges would love to talk to you and share their ideas - a Geologist's son
@@tangerine199 A lot of professors don't mind. You can also take classes thru Open University no matter what your age is. When I was in my early twenties and taking a Physical Geology class I remember there was a much older looking gent, perhaps in his 60's or more, auditing the class.
As a geologist (BS - VA Tech, MS - CO School of Mines), I assure you it has been the love of my life and you can appreciate it everywhere you go. I wouldn't want to be in any other profession. You learn to think in 3D. I worked in the environmental industry.
The example of sheets of paper and the exercise ball really drove home the thinnest of the crust to me for the first time. Also your use of drone cameras in your videos is outstanding. Thank you
I really enjoyed this, Myron! I live in PA, have traveled the east coast extensively and have seen lots of roadway cutouts which looked exactly like the one pictured at 0:10 in this video. Now I know what I’m looking at and have a whole new appreciation for the sheer beauty of this geology. Thanks!
I can not even begin to tell you how much I appreciate this video! I watched it three times this morning. I’ve lived in the PA Appalachian mountains all my life and was always fascinated by the different formations, but never was able to put a visual on the how truly big they actually were. As a little kid, my babysitters husband gave me fossils he would find and told me “my” mountains were once the biggest in the world! I grew up on the north face of a fold, not far from the Susquehanna. To get to Harrisburg, we would travel down 322 along the river where I could see these beautiful layers exposed. Thank you, Mr. Cook! You’ve got a friend in Pennsylvania!
I just found Byron’s show and love it! Because I love science, all of it. I’m now watching your videos about daily now. I have you added to my list of best TH-cam scientists: * Myron Cook Geology Read the Rocks *StarTalk *Crime Pays but Botany Doesn’t Thank you for you’re show!!
Globe "Planets" with oceans glued to a curved surface ? LOL ... LMAO Here kids, Earth is a level plane comprised of fossilized flesh. The actual term is called Nucleophilic Substitution, with level Earth the Substrate. Mega titan dragon creatures 🐉🐲died here long ago, and their bodies are now limestone and granite ⛰🏔 mountains, and island chains etc. This type of creature was airborne, fire breathing and it's actual venom is where Crude Oil, Shale, and Coal come from. These Dragons bodies 🐉are loaded with the 38 Transition Metals (e.g. - Fe, Au, Ag, Cu etc.) like the Appalachians Mts. 🏔 (dragon) on the East coast. Fossil Fuel is a correct term like biogenic oil, but there is no true "Jurassic period", just the reality that ancient mega Titan reptilian creatures existed and limestone/granite mountains are the physical remains (Substrate). Go to google earth, remove borders and labels, and see the Atlas Mts. in Morocco for a starter dragon (1000 mi. baby), and notice the two colorful blue/red glands which secreted the black venom (now Crude Oil). There's also a 500 mile long fish 🐠as the Sahara Desert, leaving it's Si Silicon, and SiO2 sands laying next to that dragon as well. The east coast Appalachians/Blue Ridge Mts. are another multi head dragon, a Monster-0 type (lol) leaving shale and the Mexican Gulf it's vast oil (Venom) deposits etc. The north Canadian Rockies are made of at least two separate dragon 🐉🐲creatures, leaving massive coal and crude oil deposits in Alaska and Yukon Territories etc. These mega-Titan fire breathing dragon creatures are the stuff of legends, and they are forever part of Earth Plane Topography (🐉=🏔), and our ancient level Earth's actual History. Now you know where gasoline, and metals for tooling comes from, 🐲🐉! 😉 lol ... Dragons !
😅im not a geologist & I'm way closer to Antarctica than to the US. Its interesting how one becomes aware of the terminology unknowingly, its to do with the calibre of the presentations. i do find deep time difficult... contemplating a billion years, really understanding it , isnt something i know how to do. I'll be watching this gentleman's other videos, very comfortable viewing.
@@joemug4079 here are some others that may interest you : Cody's Lab - misc science/nerd Nile Red - chemistry Nile Blue - chemistry Journey To The Microcosmos - microbiology Thoisoi - chemistry Sixty Symbols - physics Mathologer - maths 3 Blue 1 Brown - maths Ben Eater - electronics
Thanks Myron. As a Merrylander who got his historical geology training in the region, I appreciate your covering this. Like you say, though the Rockies are far more spectacular, the Appalachians have their own charm (maybe that's why Baltimore is called "Charm City" ;) especially in terms of it's long history and series of orogenies. As is said, Maryland is "American in Miniature," not only in terms of geography, but also geology. From Precambrian to Pleistocene Terraces, the only thing we're missing at the surface is the Jurassic Period and the Oligocene Epoch. For about a year now I've been dating a lady who grew up in Huntsville AL, which is located in the N.E. part of the state. Naturally I checked out the geology there, and I was rather surprised to find geologic formations that were identical to ones here. For instance, the Pennsylvanian Pottsville Formation runs from Pennsylvania, through western Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, and Alabama. "It is a major ridge-former in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians." When you mention “deep underground,” understanding that was an early major insight for me. The faults and folds here are very complicated. I was fortunate in the fact that Dr. Beem, the person I took honors geology with for 4-years, liked to do field work, which was an incredible help in my being able to put the puzzle together in my mind. And it’s not just the Valley & Ridge that are interesting. Running here through Frederick Countie’s Triassic sediments, is the Newark Supergroup. It starts in Newfoundland and runs through to South Carolina, and also has areas of Jurassic sediments. It represents an early Rift Zone that failed, as Pangea began to pull apart. In N.E. Frederick county are found Grallators, that are thought to be made by the the early dinosaur, Coelophysis. Precise identification is difficult, because the animal(s) appeared to have been running. Another point of interest in Frederick County, the western side has two ridges that contain greenstone Metabasalts, remnants of volcanism occurring towards the east during the Paleozoic Era. One last thing, about 20 miles west of Baltimore is the town of Granite, named so for obvious reasons. The rocks there are thought to be the remains of the core of an ancient volcano :)
A good way to visualize a foreland basin is to pile books, one at a time, onto a sofa cushion. As the pile of books get taller, the 'basins' adjacent to the books gets deeper. Small mountains ranges - a small pile of books - will create shallow basins on either side of it, and an immense pile of books will create very deep basins. The depth and extent of the basin can be used as a proxy for the length and height of the mountain range that created it.
"The depth and extent of the basin can be used as a proxy for the length and height of the mountain range that created it." That is an excellent point. Since the basin will resist erosion for a much longer period than the much more exposed mountains themselves. Most of the mountain range will have been eroded away, while the still largely below ground basin will still persist.
Globe "Planets" with oceans glued to a curved surface ? LOL ... LMAO Here kids, Earth is a level plane comprised of fossilized flesh. The actual term is called Nucleophilic Substitution, with level Earth the Substrate. Mega titan dragon creatures 🐉🐲died here long ago, and their bodies are now limestone and granite ⛰🏔 mountains, and island chains etc. This type of creature was airborne, fire breathing and it's actual venom is where Crude Oil, Shale, and Coal come from. These Dragons bodies 🐉are loaded with the 38 Transition Metals (e.g. - Fe, Au, Ag, Cu etc.) like the Appalachians Mts. 🏔 (dragon) on the East coast. Fossil Fuel is a correct term like biogenic oil, but there is no true "Jurassic period", just the reality that ancient mega Titan reptilian creatures existed and limestone/granite mountains are the physical remains (Substrate). Go to google earth, remove borders and labels, and see the Atlas Mts. in Morocco for a starter dragon (1000 mi. baby), and notice the two colorful blue/red glands which secreted the black venom (now Crude Oil). There's also a 500 mile long fish 🐠as the Sahara Desert, leaving it's Si Silicon, and SiO2 sands laying next to that dragon as well. The east coast Appalachians/Blue Ridge Mts. are another multi head dragon, a Monster-0 type (lol) leaving shale and the Mexican Gulf it's vast oil (Venom) deposits etc. The north Canadian Rockies are made of at least two separate dragon 🐉🐲creatures, leaving massive coal and crude oil deposits in Alaska and Yukon Territories etc. These mega-Titan fire breathing dragon creatures are the stuff of legends, and they are forever part of Earth Plane Topography (🐉=🏔), and our ancient level Earth's actual History. Now you know where gasoline, and metals for tooling comes from, 🐲🐉! 😉 lol ... Dragons !
Absolutely fascinating! Myron, you have the gift of making complex subjects like geology seem easy to the extent that even dummies like me ‘get it’. Thank you 🙏
What a coincidence you posted this video! I just got back from mapping the Valley and Ridge province for a project as well as writing a paper on the orogenies that had occurred in creation of the Appalachian mountains all semester! I was able to see physically all the incredible folds and deformation of rock.
Fantastic presentation. I can now look out my back yard at the foothills and valleys and understand how they were formed. Driving around here in East Tennessee and western North Carolina I can also understand these huge rock folds that dominate the mountains. Been waiting for this and you delivered it brilliantly. 😊
My 8th grade earth science teacher introduced us to “The Theory of Continental Shift” back in 1973. The term “plate tectonics” wasn’t known to me until some years later. At the time, it wasn’t considered mainstream science, but within about 5-10 years, it was accepted as scientific fact. Once we put cameras down at the bottom of the Atlantic Rift and actually saw new crust being created, thus pushing the continents apart, it was pretty much proven.
@@myroncook Thanks for reassuring my memory. That teacher was one of my all time favorites. He ignited an interest in science that pervades to this day.
Sea floor magnetic anomaly “stripes” also were indicative. Magma rising was magnetized differently depending on the shift of the Earth’s magnetic pole, creating symmetrical, parallel magnetic bands parallel to the Mid-Atlantic Rift.
I'm from Eastern PA and I love looking at the rocks when I'm out driving. I live right on the Blue Mountain and the next ridge over is pure sand; it's so interesting to think that that ridge is made up of a smooshed ocean floor and mine was from somewhere to the east, more or less. Thanks for the great video.
Myron, it's simple. I love you - your joy-infused teaching is incomparable. Where were you in my grade-school??? I'd likely be sitting here in a glorious pile of rocks rather than the horticultural spread I enjoy. You are a 'national treasure', even if I'm Canadian. Bless your work.💐
Your demonstration of plate tectonics using the exercise ball is incredible. For the first time, the power of these plates to build these mountains makes logical sense. I knew some of this from college geography 101, but it took your demonstration to bring it home to me. I asked my spouse to come in to watch it, and it rocked her world (punny?) too. Keep teaching. You have an incredible talent. Thank you!
So glad to see you covering our neck of the woods, Myron! As a native of Pennsylvania, I grew up as one of those who underappreciated our local mountain range in lieu of the spectacular Rockies, but over time I've come to love the subtle beauty and lush forests that these old and fairly stable mountains have to offer.
Thank you for the great video Myron! We were just down hiking in Red River Gorgw and the foothills of the Appalachians today. The geologic processes at work in the gorge are simply amazing and we are often left with limestone and sandstone arches, tall cliffs, rock outcroppings, caves etc. Great to see geology at work!
This was fascinating! I had no idea that the erosion of the Appalachian mountains filled in the interior ocean. I’m impressed by your high quality preparation, the teaching aids (yay, white board,), cool maps, and your good-humored and very well-spoken narration, plus your filming of it all (the drone shots are astounding): topics and teaching are always great. Thank you so much!
Wow! I live in the Hudson Valley, and I have the Catskills to my west and the Taconics and Berkshires to my east. We have some amazing folds of layers of limestone in rock cuts, with well pressed fossils. These were the creatures who were buried in the Foreland* basin, that were covered by the Catskill Delta. Would love to know more! Thanks for this!
I love your videos and teaching style. What a stunning backstory on the appellation orogeny. Some of the map orientation was difficult to follow, so a North marker on the maps would help a great deal for non-northern Hemisphere folk.
I love the way you explain it all and use geological terms but explain them immediately in simple terms. Thanks for this video. Also I like your shirt and sombrero, very fitting for a geologist of the America's in my opinion. 😊
Love the ball and paper example. Better than any of my old textbooks. Great information regarding the accretion of eastern So the. Pennsylvania coal is from peat in the basin!
I am 63 and I still feel incredible excitement when I hear you speak with a great love of geology. Thank you, Myron for keeping geology a satisfying distraction from the necessary pains of daily life.
Thx so much for this! For us in the east, the Appalachians are as keenly interesting as the rockies are to you guys! Have been looking for this kind of clear, easy to understand history for so long. (Only found dry lectures with bad sound and hard to see charts). You’re a great and enthusiastic teacher. Going to watch again in a few minutes.
I agree completely! I'm from eastern PA and also spent ten years in Tennesee's Smoky Mountains, where you can see those beautiful waves of hills at the beginning of your video. I spent many days walking my dogs at Wilbur dam in Carter County, TN, looking in awe at the huge cuts in the mountainsides. Their many-layered folds, tilted at steep angles, are the live version of your clay model. Myron, the model and your explanation of the whole process make it easy to grasp and understand! And I knew the Appalachians were once as tall as the Himalayas, but had no idea their erosion spread as far as Arizona! Puts it into an even larger perspective...the Appalachians show the future the Rockies and the Himalayas!
Very interesting, I love the clay model and the explanation of erosion was very helpful as I’ve had trouble grasping the scale of that. Thank you Myron!
Your channel is an amazing break from the hustle and bustle of every day life. It is like a 60 minute meditation. I sincerely appreciate the effort you CLEARLY put into these videos. THANK YOU!
Globe "Planets" with oceans glued to a curved surface ? LOL ... LMAO Here kids, Earth is a level plane comprised of fossilized flesh. The actual term is called Nucleophilic Substitution, with level Earth the Substrate. Mega titan dragon creatures 🐉🐲died here long ago, and their bodies are now limestone and granite ⛰🏔 mountains, and island chains etc. This type of creature was airborne, fire breathing and it's actual venom is where Crude Oil, Shale, and Coal come from. These Dragons bodies 🐉are loaded with the 38 Transition Metals (e.g. - Fe, Au, Ag, Cu etc.) like the Appalachians Mts. 🏔 (dragon) on the East coast. Fossil Fuel is a correct term like biogenic oil, but there is no true "Jurassic period", just the reality that ancient mega Titan reptilian creatures existed and limestone/granite mountains are the physical remains (Substrate). Go to google earth, remove borders and labels, and see the Atlas Mts. in Morocco for a starter dragon (1000 mi. baby), and notice the two colorful blue/red glands which secreted the black venom (now Crude Oil). There's also a 500 mile long fish 🐠as the Sahara Desert, leaving it's Si Silicon, and SiO2 sands laying next to that dragon as well. The east coast Appalachians/Blue Ridge Mts. are another multi head dragon, a Monster-0 type (lol) leaving shale and the Mexican Gulf it's vast oil (Venom) deposits etc. The north Canadian Rockies are made of at least two separate dragon 🐉🐲creatures, leaving massive coal and crude oil deposits in Alaska and Yukon Territories etc. These mega-Titan fire breathing dragon creatures are the stuff of legends, and they are forever part of Earth Plane Topography (🐉=🏔), and our ancient level Earth's actual History. Now you know where gasoline, and metals for tooling comes from, 🐲🐉! 😉 lol ... Dragons !
I have watched this post again and will watch it over and over until I fully understand it. I am just a laser sheet metal worker that works in manufacturing. I have NO Collage, or geology skills. I am just a common person that Loves Geology. I live in Alabama and were at one time a pretty good caver. I LOVE ALABAMA and its Geology. I am so pleased to have found this channel and want to learn more. Who has time for games when you can feed your mind with information. Thank you for replying. I have a basic concept about the basic geology in my area. As ignorant as I am, have learned a lot from watching you. Thank you for your Great work. You have your ducks in a row.
Thank you for your story, Paul. I love to hear about people like you...it is inspiring to me. For me the "common man" is the absolute backbone of our country.
When I took geology at VA Tech, all of our classroom lectures and field trips were spent in the valley and ridge region. Driving west of campus on Rt. 460, one passes through huge road cuts showing a side view of massive anticlines and synclines. We did make one visit into West Virginia, where our prof announced we were on the North American craton, and of course, the WVa mountains had a totally different erosional pattern. It was a great location to study geology. I do wish our professors had a clay model like yours, though, as I had difficulty with some of the necessary 3-D thinking. That clay model is so helpful!
This was really fantastic, you have a really nice way of presenting 101 information very concisely. Although, you and I need to have a serious discussion of the pronunciation of those mountains, lol. Geologist in the Western highlands of Virginia here, by the way. One thing, on a serious note, would be if you wanted to continue the discussion a little further… Is the graben that has occurred as the Atlantic rift opens up, and to the west, talking about the Appalachian plateau, where it goes to about a 3° western dip but otherwise it's flat lying. After the uplift brought all the coal up to shooting distance, a lot of people think that West Virginia became mountainous, which it really didn't; it's all erosional with the settlement going to the Gulf. Just lots of interesting stuff you can get into in our Appa-LATCH-IN mountains 😂
Thank you for covering this! The Appalachians are such an interesting group of mountains, and super important culturally and historically to so many, but often overlooked just because they're 'short.' I'd love to see something on the Mississippi Embayment and even more so on the formation of the Ouachitas. Most of the Ouachitas are very similar to the basin and range geology of the Appalachian system, but they have some unique features. Top of mind are the McKinley Rocks and the Potato Hills in the Kiaminchi valley area, as well as the novaculite seams that are--from what I've been told--the only major metamorphic rocks known in the whole Ouachita system. Supposedly, there is an odd lack of associated vulcanism as well.
Globe "Planets" with oceans glued to a curved surface ? LOL ... LMAO Here kids, Earth is a level plane comprised of fossilized flesh. The actual term is called Nucleophilic Substitution, with level Earth the Substrate. Mega titan dragon creatures 🐉🐲died here long ago, and their bodies are now limestone and granite ⛰🏔 mountains, and island chains etc. This type of creature was airborne, fire breathing and it's actual venom is where Crude Oil, Shale, and Coal come from. These Dragons bodies 🐉are loaded with the 38 Transition Metals (e.g. - Fe, Au, Ag, Cu etc.) like the Appalachians Mts. 🏔 (dragon) on the East coast. Fossil Fuel is a correct term like biogenic oil, but there is no true "Jurassic period", just the reality that ancient mega Titan reptilian creatures existed and limestone/granite mountains are the physical remains (Substrate). Go to google earth, remove borders and labels, and see the Atlas Mts. in Morocco for a starter dragon (1000 mi. baby), and notice the two colorful blue/red glands which secreted the black venom (now Crude Oil). There's also a 500 mile long fish 🐠as the Sahara Desert, leaving it's Si Silicon, and SiO2 sands laying next to that dragon as well. The east coast Appalachians/Blue Ridge Mts. are another multi head dragon, a Monster-0 type (lol) leaving shale and the Mexican Gulf it's vast oil (Venom) deposits etc. The north Canadian Rockies are made of at least two separate dragon 🐉🐲creatures, leaving massive coal and crude oil deposits in Alaska and Yukon Territories etc. These mega-Titan fire breathing dragon creatures are the stuff of legends, and they are forever part of Earth Plane Topography (🐉=🏔), and our ancient level Earth's actual History. Now you know where gasoline, and metals for tooling comes from, 🐲🐉! 😉 lol ... Dragons !
Growing up in Pa. I've seen this firsthand. I remember seeing coal seams coming right out of the ground in places when hunting. Strip mining around eastern Pa. looks for the coal which is close to the surface. Today most mining in Pa. has stopped, but I now understand better the way coal seams were laid down. In Wyoming you don't have all the green vegetation covering up the land and you can see all the ground features easily. Both places have their own beauty.
Thank you for your continued sharing of your knowledge and for once again expanding my understanding and nurturing my curiosity of the processes that form our landscapes…all of which I delight in. The scaled down earth images, models, and white board images helped greatly.
Always interesting. Always enjoyable. Thanks again. I had the good fortune to visiting the Black Thunder coal mine outside of Wright a few years ago and was amazed by what they showed us with regard to the amount of coal that is deposited in Wyoming. It would sure make an interesting video...
You have such a gentle and understandable way of presenting this geology. This would be a good learning video for people of any age. Thanks for a video on my home mountains.
The range is over a billion years old. Great place to hike. Beautiful river gorges and waterfalls. My understanding (before watching the vid) is the Appalachians used to be 36000', higher than Mount Everest. It eroded down to the current 6000' leaving the river valleys chocked full of quadrillions of rocks of all sizes.
Thoroughly enjoyed this presentation. I did my mapping in the Coast Mountains of B.C., but also did a long field trip in the East, which I often think about to this day, over 50 years later.
This so reminds me of my geology 101 course taught by a professor who was not the nice person you obviously are, but was an excellent teacher. He inspired me with a love of studying geology and subsequent courses were more of a detailed review of the concepts he introduced, with fill-in detail added. I appreciate your recognition of the importance of petroleum and coal diagenesis despite the really bad press "fossil" energy is currently receiving. Yes, CO2 from coal and hydrocarbons is an increasingly serious problem, but the fact is that the rise of our modern civilization and so much of the scientific innovation that is so vital to our lives can all be traced to James Watt's Cornish mine engines run on coal and Colonial Drake's well in Titusville, Pennsylvania. My ancestor's career was in drilling for oil in North-Western Pennsylvania (near Titusville) and that's where I'd spend my summers as a child in the folded Allegheny Mountains. Interesting to ponder that this region was on the Western edge of the Appalachian Foreland Basin. By the way, what we now call "Foreland Basin" development buried so deep as to have granitic intrusions was part of the Geosyncline Theory (taught by my Prof.) that proceeded the (then) brand new (and not totally accepted) Plate Techtonics Theory.
I am enjoying watching this video. I live in Gatlinburg and retired from the Great Smoky Mtns Nat’l Park. I was there when BBC came through to make videos for their production of ‘Making of a Continent’. For those that did not see the videos, they were great.
I grew up near Pittsburgh and learned my college geology at Juniata College in the heart of the ridge and valley province in the early 80's. Drs. Trexler and Washington would take us up horrible fire roads to overlooks where we could see the land spread out all the way to the next ridge and see the synclines and anticlines almost as clearly as if we were looking at a map.
Thanks Myron, lived on east coast and explored geology from maine to florida-living in the SW USA it's another world I also study the landscape - love Blakey and Ranney book Ancient Landscapes of Colorado Plateau
How deep, or thick, is the atmosphere that surrounds the earth? Let an onion about 4 inches in diameter (100 mm) represent the earth. (That's a fairly large onion.) The thickness of the atmosphere is about the same as the papery thin outer peel of the onion. That is, it's very thin. I'm aware that the atmosphere gets less dense as you go higher until it gradually thins to the vacuum of space. But one-half of all the air lies below an altitude of 18,000 feet, which is about one-half the cruising altitude of an airliner. Now, to get a bit depressing, think about all the cars, power plants, and cement production facilities squirting CO2 and who knows what else into that thin layer of air above our heads. I suspect it may have some significant effect, but I don't know exactly what nor what can be done about it.
As a retired Engineering Geologist that worked and lived on the Pacific Plate of North America And who is planning a road trip through the Appalachian area, the video is a great refresher of the Historical Geology of a region that I never truly appreciated. Mr. Cook does an excellent job of putting together some large puzzle pieces in an understandable manner. Thank you for complimenting my old Historical Geology text regarding the Appalachian region and the geologic provinces that I had never appreciated. Excellent presentation!
Hey Myron, just started this video and I’m sure I’ll love it, but I’d like to comment early with a question for a possible future video.. I am from Louisiana and spent 11 years in the Gulf of Mexico running Wireline and the last 5 in the Permian. Every once in a while I will drive by different erroded hillsides in New Mexico and even into colorado with a reddish almost purple formation that erodes easily and usually has a greenish gray band or 2 maybe a foot thick that also seems to erode at the same rate. Sometimes it’s under a cap rock of limestone or in a tuft or sandstone so I know it’s not just a soil profile although it seems to erode almost as easily like. I can’t seem to find anything explaining what it is. One example you may be aware of is off of New Mexico 84 between Abiquiu and echo amphitheater. I’m not sure if I described it well enough but if you do know what I’m talking about any response would be appreciated! Thanks for the great content!
@@myroncook Oh ok. I see outcrops of what appear to be the same formation almost always beneath a harder cap rock all over New Mexico all the way down to the Texas border north to southern Colorado and nothing comes up with any google searches describing it. Being so widespread and different than most other easily identifiable types of formations I find it strange that it’s so hard to find out what it is. Is there a way to send some pictures of it maybe you your website? I understand you may be busy and no time for this so don’t want to bother you but figure it’s worth a shot asking.
@@myroncook actually no need to send you pictures, watching your video of the 50 million year old mammal tracks and from around 9:20 until the end you are walking around in the same type of landscape I’m talking about, only deeper reddish purple with greenish gray colors. What created the scenery in the end of that video?
Thank you for this. As a native Georgia resident who moved to Texas 10 years ago I miss learning about these mountains and the local geology and natural history
Hi Myron! I have always been fascinated by rocks and the incredible geological history of our planet. I have referenced the information I’ve gained from this video in conversation at least 10x since watching it. Because of this video, I was able to confidently explain how the Appalachian mountains came to be, which was especially satisfying when talking to my friend in Kentucky about them. No matter how many books I’ve read or diagrams I’d seen, it never really clicked until I heard you explain it so well. So I just wanted you to know that I love your content and I’m really happy I found your account :)
As an old coal miner from WV your presentation was much appreciated. My uncle pioneered the practice of reclamation and schooled us on the importance of caring for the terrain.
@@myroncook When I look at Appalachia today on Google Earth it is heartbreaking to see the devastating effects of strip mining. Areas near where we grew up are unrecognizable from above as the visual landmarks are gone. Only GPS works.
I’ve driven along the Hudson River in northern manhattan . There are giant exposures of Precambrian rocks sloping down towards the river. Always amazing to see.
Subscribed, and enjoying the education! Hope you can inform us all (maybe you have.. a lot of videos to go through) about the mountains and processes of Arkansas and Oklahoma. Guessing they are related to this episode. Thank you Dr. Cook.
I’m studying geology right now and since my school is in the Appalachian plateau we’ve been learning about the geology of the area and it’s made me have so much more appreciation for the region
You use your voice well, with enough variations in pitch, speed, and emphasis to keep our attention. Your pace is excellent, not too slow, yet allowing your listeners time to process the information you present. I’m glad I found your channel and am eagerly anticipating more videos. Thank you for sharing your talents with us.😊😊😊
I was a farm kid within the Valley and ridge around Blacksburg VA and ended up with a Va Tech geology degree. Your presentation really is a wonderful context for the Appalachians. The white board is so appreciated- the clay model is super too. 😊
Thank you Myron, Very interesting and thanks for expanding my knowledge of the Appalachians. Thank also for pointing our the time periods in which all this happened.
What a wonderful explanation! Myron you are an incredible natural down to earth teacher with a love and passion of Geology. Thank you for a great presentation of the Appalachians.
Big science guy, love your stuff. I learn tons. You also have a phenomenal voice to lull me to sleep on occasion, an added bonus. Then i just rewatch that clip. Thanks Myron!
I have had many people correct me for the pronunciation of Appalachian. There are two pronunciations that people of the region use. I have no dog in the fight. I use the one I have heard over the years. I mean no offense to anybody. The important thing to me is how amazing they are and the impact they have on the geologic history of North America. What beautiful mountains!
What a great video. Myron does it again. It is very hard to find good videos for regular people about Appalachian geology. And, the cliffhanger- Appalachian zircons in Arizona. Can’t wait to hear an explanation for that!
Very interesting presentation. In school we learned about plate tectonics but never to this detail. I worked in the oil and gas industry for many years as an electronics tech. I've talked with Geologists and really became interested in that field. Thank you for the educational videos. Carolina bays created by an impact to the ice sheet near the great lakes?
Man, I've always been interested in geology and always watch in awe of the changing landscape any time I drive in or out of the Appalachians from my home right near the "triple point" between the glacial, plains, and mountain landscapes of Ohio. But your ability to teach this subject just sparked such a deep interest in me, and I want to thank you for that. It's always been a subject of interest, but this video made me appreciate it so much more and I'll be going on a deep dive because of it. You have a wonderful personality for this and I'm grateful that I chose to watch this. It was an excellent primer on the subject and your excitement and awe is infectious. You'll probably be my number one source of "edutainment" while I work on my little guitar shop for the next few weeks at least. Thanks again! Very happy I found your channel!
these videos make me glad im doing my undergrad in geology, so interesting, I'm excited to become more familiar with the amazing geology all over the world.
This was great Myron!! I drive along the Ohio River all the time and try to figure out how in the world the rock looks the way it does this will give me plenty to think about on my next trip!!
You helped to explain to me the tremendous powers of erosion and how the sediment can be carried vast distances over time. Looking at the Grande Canyon, you can see in the negative space the amount of missing material. The Colorado carried sediment downstream, filling in the plains and creating alluvial fans that we live and drive our vehicles on. Thanks for helping to imagine the timescale of these processes.
Myron, you are absolutely right! I drove down off of Philipsburg mountain I looked at what I saw with new eyes. These mountains were huge. What we are looking at is the skeletal remains of the world's greatest mountain range. Please do more episodes on the Appalachian mountain range.
I’m a geologist who did a masters thesis mapping the Valley and Ridge geology in Hampshirite and Hardy counties, WVA. I appreciate your efforts to clearly explain the geologic history to lay people. From the comments, looks like your work is much appreciated. Good refresher for me, too.
That was in 1977. I’m old! But not as John Denver sang, “older than the mountains…”
Excellent, next time I drive through the mountains I will appreciate the 'how did that happen? ' question.
wow i studied mechanical engineering but i was close to switching to geology. in the end i thought there were less jobs and lower pay but now i realize i could have made far more money working for an oil and gas company as a geologist... or a mechanical engineer for that matter meh no regrets.
@@psilocybemusashiI think starting pay is generally higher for engineers. Civil Engineering firms in Europe and US+Canada have been hiring geologists for maybe more than a generation now. Mining includes water and non-fossil-fuels too!
that area has some of the purest aquifers, right?
Between you and Nick Zentner, I am finding a sincere love for geology. I love this stuff. Nick has taught me so much about the Pacific Northwest. And now you're teaching me about our east coast. Now I wish I could find something to teach me about Missouri Geology.
I love to hear this!
Nick is also great 👍
Watch Shawn Wolsey. He is also great!
Missoula flood fans unite!
These two Professors have opened a whole new world-view for me. Geologically and philosophically. It’s wonderful, frankly.
As a sixth grader in 1962 I looked at a map on the wall and told the teacher that the continents all fit together nicely, and she assured me I was wrong. Plate tectonics couldn't come quick enough for this inquisitive young man.
I remember being an elementary school also in the late 60s and thinking that all the continents fit together like a puzzle and I somehow knew that they once had been one continent without ever really learning about it till later
@@kekkicI love stories like this. I've anecdotally heard that people noticed these things ever since decent maps started being produced, but technology had to advance a long way before we as a species could explain it.
@GregDaniels But everyone knows that "authorities" have perfect and complete knowledge about everything and are to be unquestioningly believed and obeyed. Don't think for yourself, the authorities have your best interest at heart and if you don't brainlessly believe and obey them, you'll hurt yourself! /s
That was pretty much the upbringing I had as a kid in the 1970s; be deferential to "authorities" and live by and internalize "the orthodoxy".
Yeah, right. It's amazing how many people who are scientists are fiercely tribal, holding to their tribe's orthodoxy, their set of sacred dogmas, their "sacred truths" that are not allowed to be questioned.
On the other hand, just being contrary and oppositional just to feel powerful, i.e., being a troll, is a pretty horrible state to live in.
Given what some of us humans have learned since about just how partial human knowledge is and how fragile human reason is, I've found it better to chart the middle course and live by the motto, "Examine everything carefully; cling firmly to that which you find to be good." And always ask, "How do I know what I think I know, what I believe to be true?"
Keep on asking questions, young man! :D
@@MinnesotaGuy822no that’s religion.
I just want to know the identity of the teacher. Add a name and face here. She was so so wrong 😅. Find her relatives. Send a card that says you were right.
This was awesome. The Appalachians are my home mountains, I’m glad to understand them more. It’s so nice to spend time with someone who is also just thrilled by the story of the earth.
I grew up in the Catskill range of the Appalachia Mountains. Rockland County NY to be exact. I was taken by rocks as a kid because everywhere I put a shovel to dig worms for fishing, I would hit a rock. They interested me in learning how they got there. All school taught us was the “Ice Age”….
Great video about an area that is sadly ignored. I am a rock hound and live in Maryland. There are so many deposits of all kinds jumbled around me. Fantastic metamorphic schist, a mica mine and even red sandstones with iron and dinosaur tracks. This area was the source of Colonial iron ore and granite too! We are still classed as a moderate earthquake zone due to remaining stresses.
You have us mesmerized, we wish we were 50 years younger and were studying to be geologists. You are an inspiration. Allan and Carmon
Yup!😆
I know I wish I was younger and studying geoogy!
It's never too late! Seriously find out if you can sit in on some geology classes at a university near you. Lots of profs in smaller universities/colleges would love to talk to you and share their ideas - a Geologist's son
@@tangerine199 A lot of professors don't mind. You can also take classes thru Open University no matter what your age is. When I was in my early twenties and taking a Physical Geology class I remember there was a much older looking gent, perhaps in his 60's or more, auditing the class.
As a geologist (BS - VA Tech, MS - CO School of Mines), I assure you it has been the love of my life and you can appreciate it everywhere you go. I wouldn't want to be in any other profession. You learn to think in 3D. I worked in the environmental industry.
The example of sheets of paper and the exercise ball really drove home the thinnest of the crust to me for the first time. Also your use of drone cameras in your videos is outstanding. Thank you
Thanks for sharing!
You know it's gonna be a good day when Myron drops a fresh video! 😊
Love the nolage. Please keep teaching me.
I really enjoyed this, Myron! I live in PA, have traveled the east coast extensively and have seen lots of roadway cutouts which looked exactly like the one pictured at 0:10 in this video. Now I know what I’m looking at and have a whole new appreciation for the sheer beauty of this geology. Thanks!
Same!! Hello fellow Pennsylvanian!
I can not even begin to tell you how much I appreciate this video! I watched it three times this morning. I’ve lived in the PA Appalachian mountains all my life and was always fascinated by the different formations, but never was able to put a visual on the how truly big they actually were. As a little kid, my babysitters husband gave me fossils he would find and told me “my” mountains were once the biggest in the world! I grew up on the north face of a fold, not far from the Susquehanna. To get to Harrisburg, we would travel down 322 along the river where I could see these beautiful layers exposed. Thank you, Mr. Cook! You’ve got a friend in Pennsylvania!
Thank you for your story, Skippy! I'm so happy it added some knowledge/appreciation for your homeland.
I just found Byron’s show and love it! Because I love science, all of it. I’m now watching your videos about daily now. I have you added to my list of best TH-cam scientists:
* Myron Cook Geology Read the Rocks
*StarTalk
*Crime Pays but Botany Doesn’t
Thank you for you’re show!!
Globe "Planets" with oceans glued to a curved surface ? LOL ... LMAO Here kids, Earth is a level plane comprised of fossilized flesh. The actual term is called Nucleophilic Substitution, with level Earth the Substrate. Mega titan dragon creatures 🐉🐲died here long ago, and their bodies are now limestone and granite ⛰🏔 mountains, and island chains etc. This type of creature was airborne, fire breathing and it's actual venom is where Crude Oil, Shale, and Coal come from. These Dragons bodies 🐉are loaded with the 38 Transition Metals (e.g. - Fe, Au, Ag, Cu etc.) like the Appalachians Mts. 🏔 (dragon) on the East coast. Fossil Fuel is a correct term like biogenic oil, but there is no true "Jurassic period", just the reality that ancient mega Titan reptilian creatures existed and limestone/granite mountains are the physical remains (Substrate). Go to google earth, remove borders and labels, and see the Atlas Mts. in Morocco for a starter dragon (1000 mi. baby), and notice the two colorful blue/red glands which secreted the black venom (now Crude Oil). There's also a 500 mile long fish 🐠as the Sahara Desert, leaving it's Si Silicon, and SiO2 sands laying next to that dragon as well. The east coast Appalachians/Blue Ridge Mts. are another multi head dragon, a Monster-0 type (lol) leaving shale and the Mexican Gulf it's vast oil (Venom) deposits etc. The north Canadian Rockies are made of at least two separate dragon 🐉🐲creatures, leaving massive coal and crude oil deposits in Alaska and Yukon Territories etc. These mega-Titan fire breathing dragon creatures are the stuff of legends, and they are forever part of Earth Plane Topography (🐉=🏔), and our ancient level Earth's actual History. Now you know where gasoline, and metals for tooling comes from, 🐲🐉! 😉 lol ... Dragons !
😅im not a geologist & I'm way closer to Antarctica than to the US. Its interesting how one becomes aware of the terminology unknowingly, its to do with the calibre of the presentations. i do find deep time difficult... contemplating a billion years, really understanding it , isnt something i know how to do.
I'll be watching this gentleman's other videos, very comfortable viewing.
@@joemug4079 here are some others that may interest you :
Cody's Lab - misc science/nerd
Nile Red - chemistry
Nile Blue - chemistry
Journey To The Microcosmos - microbiology
Thoisoi - chemistry
Sixty Symbols - physics
Mathologer - maths
3 Blue 1 Brown - maths
Ben Eater - electronics
Thanks Myron. As a Merrylander who got his historical geology training in the region, I appreciate your covering this. Like you say, though the Rockies are far more spectacular, the Appalachians have their own charm (maybe that's why Baltimore is called "Charm City" ;) especially in terms of it's long history and series of orogenies. As is said, Maryland is "American in Miniature," not only in terms of geography, but also geology. From Precambrian to Pleistocene Terraces, the only thing we're missing at the surface is the Jurassic Period and the Oligocene Epoch. For about a year now I've been dating a lady who grew up in Huntsville AL, which is located in the N.E. part of the state. Naturally I checked out the geology there, and I was rather surprised to find geologic formations that were identical to ones here. For instance, the Pennsylvanian Pottsville Formation runs from Pennsylvania, through western Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, and Alabama. "It is a major ridge-former in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians."
When you mention “deep underground,” understanding that was an early major insight for me. The faults and folds here are very complicated. I was fortunate in the fact that Dr. Beem, the person I took honors geology with for 4-years, liked to do field work, which was an incredible help in my being able to put the puzzle together in my mind. And it’s not just the Valley & Ridge that are interesting.
Running here through Frederick Countie’s Triassic sediments, is the Newark Supergroup. It starts in Newfoundland and runs through to South Carolina, and also has areas of Jurassic sediments. It represents an early Rift Zone that failed, as Pangea began to pull apart. In N.E. Frederick county are found Grallators, that are thought to be made by the the early dinosaur, Coelophysis. Precise identification is difficult, because the animal(s) appeared to have been running.
Another point of interest in Frederick County, the western side has two ridges that contain greenstone Metabasalts, remnants of volcanism occurring towards the east during the Paleozoic Era.
One last thing, about 20 miles west of Baltimore is the town of Granite, named so for obvious reasons. The rocks there are thought to be the remains of the core of an ancient volcano :)
fascinating!
We followed the Appalachians to/ through the gasped peninsula.
Myron, Thanks for the time and effort you put into making this. Your explanations are flawless.
A good way to visualize a foreland basin is to pile books, one at a time, onto a sofa cushion. As the pile of books get taller, the 'basins' adjacent to the books gets deeper. Small mountains ranges - a small pile of books - will create shallow basins on either side of it, and an immense pile of books will create very deep basins. The depth and extent of the basin can be used as a proxy for the length and height of the mountain range that created it.
That's a terrific visual!
good idea!
"The depth and extent of the basin can be used as a proxy for the length and height of the mountain range that created it."
That is an excellent point. Since the basin will resist erosion for a much longer period than the much more exposed mountains themselves. Most of the mountain range will have been eroded away, while the still largely below ground basin will still persist.
Globe "Planets" with oceans glued to a curved surface ? LOL ... LMAO Here kids, Earth is a level plane comprised of fossilized flesh. The actual term is called Nucleophilic Substitution, with level Earth the Substrate. Mega titan dragon creatures 🐉🐲died here long ago, and their bodies are now limestone and granite ⛰🏔 mountains, and island chains etc. This type of creature was airborne, fire breathing and it's actual venom is where Crude Oil, Shale, and Coal come from. These Dragons bodies 🐉are loaded with the 38 Transition Metals (e.g. - Fe, Au, Ag, Cu etc.) like the Appalachians Mts. 🏔 (dragon) on the East coast. Fossil Fuel is a correct term like biogenic oil, but there is no true "Jurassic period", just the reality that ancient mega Titan reptilian creatures existed and limestone/granite mountains are the physical remains (Substrate). Go to google earth, remove borders and labels, and see the Atlas Mts. in Morocco for a starter dragon (1000 mi. baby), and notice the two colorful blue/red glands which secreted the black venom (now Crude Oil). There's also a 500 mile long fish 🐠as the Sahara Desert, leaving it's Si Silicon, and SiO2 sands laying next to that dragon as well. The east coast Appalachians/Blue Ridge Mts. are another multi head dragon, a Monster-0 type (lol) leaving shale and the Mexican Gulf it's vast oil (Venom) deposits etc. The north Canadian Rockies are made of at least two separate dragon 🐉🐲creatures, leaving massive coal and crude oil deposits in Alaska and Yukon Territories etc. These mega-Titan fire breathing dragon creatures are the stuff of legends, and they are forever part of Earth Plane Topography (🐉=🏔), and our ancient level Earth's actual History. Now you know where gasoline, and metals for tooling comes from, 🐲🐉! 😉 lol ... Dragons !
Isostatic pressure
Absolutely fascinating! Myron, you have the gift of making complex subjects like geology seem easy to the extent that even dummies like me ‘get it’. Thank you 🙏
What a coincidence you posted this video! I just got back from mapping the Valley and Ridge province for a project as well as writing a paper on the orogenies that had occurred in creation of the Appalachian mountains all semester! I was able to see physically all the incredible folds and deformation of rock.
Very cool!
Valley and Ridge
Fantastic presentation. I can now look out my back yard at the foothills and valleys and understand how they were formed. Driving around here in East Tennessee and western North Carolina I can also understand these huge rock folds that dominate the mountains. Been waiting for this and you delivered it brilliantly. 😊
My 8th grade earth science teacher introduced us to “The Theory of Continental Shift” back in 1973. The term “plate tectonics” wasn’t known to me until some years later. At the time, it wasn’t considered mainstream science, but within about 5-10 years, it was accepted as scientific fact. Once we put cameras down at the bottom of the Atlantic Rift and actually saw new crust being created, thus pushing the continents apart, it was pretty much proven.
interesting!
@@myroncook I’m wondering if I’m correct on this. Please enlighten me. That was a long time ago, but I remember it distinctly.
@@LyleFrancisDelp You are correct!
@@myroncook Thanks for reassuring my memory. That teacher was one of my all time favorites. He ignited an interest in science that pervades to this day.
Sea floor magnetic anomaly “stripes” also were indicative. Magma rising was magnetized differently depending on the shift of the Earth’s magnetic pole, creating symmetrical, parallel magnetic bands parallel to the Mid-Atlantic Rift.
This is what I would have imagined a Bob Ross demonstration would have been like had he been a geologist.
I'm from Eastern PA and I love looking at the rocks when I'm out driving. I live right on the Blue Mountain and the next ridge over is pure sand; it's so interesting to think that that ridge is made up of a smooshed ocean floor and mine was from somewhere to the east, more or less. Thanks for the great video.
Brillant explanations and super helpful illustrations!
Love this channel!
Myron, it's simple. I love you - your joy-infused teaching is incomparable. Where were you in my grade-school??? I'd likely be sitting here in a glorious pile of rocks rather than the horticultural spread I enjoy. You are a 'national treasure', even if I'm Canadian. Bless your work.💐
Your demonstration of plate tectonics using the exercise ball is incredible. For the first time, the power of these plates to build these mountains makes logical sense. I knew some of this from college geography 101, but it took your demonstration to bring it home to me. I asked my spouse to come in to watch it, and it rocked her world (punny?) too. Keep teaching. You have an incredible talent. Thank you!
Thank you for that feedback!
Thank
You for publishing this. I really enjoy watching you and Nick Zentner on TH-cam
So glad to see you covering our neck of the woods, Myron! As a native of Pennsylvania, I grew up as one of those who underappreciated our local mountain range in lieu of the spectacular Rockies, but over time I've come to love the subtle beauty and lush forests that these old and fairly stable mountains have to offer.
I'm glad to hear that
Thank you for the great video Myron! We were just down hiking in Red River Gorgw and the foothills of the Appalachians today. The geologic processes at work in the gorge are simply amazing and we are often left with limestone and sandstone arches, tall cliffs, rock outcroppings, caves etc. Great to see geology at work!
I really appreciate the way you explain things, especially your use of those maps, and how you outline Pennsylvania. It provides a great reference.
I've been waiting on this . As I'm a east Tennessee Appalachian man . I appreciate this knowledge. Thank you
This was fascinating! I had no idea that the erosion of the Appalachian mountains filled in the interior ocean. I’m impressed by your high quality preparation, the teaching aids (yay, white board,), cool maps, and your good-humored and very well-spoken narration, plus your filming of it all (the drone shots are astounding): topics and teaching are always great. Thank you so much!
Wow! I live in the Hudson Valley, and I have the Catskills to my west and the Taconics and Berkshires to my east. We have some amazing folds of layers of limestone in rock cuts, with well pressed fossils. These were the creatures who were buried in the Foreland* basin, that were covered by the Catskill Delta.
Would love to know more! Thanks for this!
Foreland
Thank you for your feedback, Jillian! Keep visualizing and enjoying the geology...brings wonderment.
You are a very clear and patient teacher. Thank you for taking the time to construct such informative and exquisite videos.
I love your videos and teaching style. What a stunning backstory on the appellation orogeny. Some of the map orientation was difficult to follow, so a North marker on the maps would help a great deal for non-northern Hemisphere folk.
I love the way you explain it all and use geological terms but explain them immediately in simple terms. Thanks for this video.
Also I like your shirt and sombrero, very fitting for a geologist of the America's in my opinion. 😊
You're like if my dad liked rocks instead of planes.
Love the ball and paper example. Better than any of my old textbooks. Great information regarding the accretion of eastern So the. Pennsylvania coal is from peat in the basin!
I am 63 and I still feel incredible excitement when I hear you speak with a great love of geology. Thank you, Myron for keeping geology a satisfying distraction from the necessary pains of daily life.
My pleasure!
@@myroncook I would love to hear your analysis on the Richat structure in Africa.
Thanks for teaching me about my beautiful Pennsylvania home. Just fascinating Professor. Please keep it up!
Thx so much for this! For us in the east, the Appalachians are as keenly interesting as the rockies are to you guys! Have been looking for this kind of clear, easy to understand history for so long. (Only found dry lectures with bad sound and hard to see charts). You’re a great and enthusiastic teacher. Going to watch again in a few minutes.
I agree completely! I'm from eastern PA and also spent ten years in Tennesee's Smoky Mountains, where you can see those beautiful waves of hills at the beginning of your video. I spent many days walking my dogs at Wilbur dam in Carter County, TN, looking in awe at the huge cuts in the mountainsides. Their many-layered folds, tilted at steep angles, are the live version of your clay model. Myron, the model and your explanation of the whole process make it easy to grasp and understand! And I knew the Appalachians were once as tall as the Himalayas, but had no idea their erosion spread as far as Arizona! Puts it into an even larger perspective...the Appalachians show the future the Rockies and the Himalayas!
What a treat to hear my FAVORITE geologist give a talk on another fascinating aspect of a great science!!
I always look forward to a new video from you Myron, and anticipate what new things I can learn about geology. Great stuff as usual!
Great content and a presentation style that would make Mr. Rogers smile.
Very interesting, I love the clay model and the explanation of erosion was very helpful as I’ve had trouble grasping the scale of that. Thank you Myron!
Your channel is an amazing break from the hustle and bustle of every day life. It is like a 60 minute meditation. I sincerely appreciate the effort you CLEARLY put into these videos. THANK YOU!
If I were still teaching high school geoscience your videos would be my assistant.
Your ability to convey the whole geologic picture is great. Thanks
Globe "Planets" with oceans glued to a curved surface ? LOL ... LMAO Here kids, Earth is a level plane comprised of fossilized flesh. The actual term is called Nucleophilic Substitution, with level Earth the Substrate. Mega titan dragon creatures 🐉🐲died here long ago, and their bodies are now limestone and granite ⛰🏔 mountains, and island chains etc. This type of creature was airborne, fire breathing and it's actual venom is where Crude Oil, Shale, and Coal come from. These Dragons bodies 🐉are loaded with the 38 Transition Metals (e.g. - Fe, Au, Ag, Cu etc.) like the Appalachians Mts. 🏔 (dragon) on the East coast. Fossil Fuel is a correct term like biogenic oil, but there is no true "Jurassic period", just the reality that ancient mega Titan reptilian creatures existed and limestone/granite mountains are the physical remains (Substrate). Go to google earth, remove borders and labels, and see the Atlas Mts. in Morocco for a starter dragon (1000 mi. baby), and notice the two colorful blue/red glands which secreted the black venom (now Crude Oil). There's also a 500 mile long fish 🐠as the Sahara Desert, leaving it's Si Silicon, and SiO2 sands laying next to that dragon as well. The east coast Appalachians/Blue Ridge Mts. are another multi head dragon, a Monster-0 type (lol) leaving shale and the Mexican Gulf it's vast oil (Venom) deposits etc. The north Canadian Rockies are made of at least two separate dragon 🐉🐲creatures, leaving massive coal and crude oil deposits in Alaska and Yukon Territories etc. These mega-Titan fire breathing dragon creatures are the stuff of legends, and they are forever part of Earth Plane Topography (🐉=🏔), and our ancient level Earth's actual History. Now you know where gasoline, and metals for tooling comes from, 🐲🐉! 😉 lol ... Dragons !
I have watched this post again and will watch it over and over until I fully understand it. I am just a laser sheet metal worker that works in manufacturing. I have NO Collage, or geology skills.
I am just a common person that Loves Geology. I live in Alabama and were at one time a pretty good caver. I LOVE ALABAMA and its Geology. I am so pleased to have found this channel and want to learn more. Who has time for games when you can feed your mind with information. Thank you for replying. I have a basic concept about the basic geology in my area. As ignorant as I am, have learned a lot from watching you. Thank you for your Great work. You have your ducks in a row.
Thank you for your story, Paul. I love to hear about people like you...it is inspiring to me. For me the "common man" is the absolute backbone of our country.
Thanks Myron. You are a superb teacher.
Thank you! You do such a good job of explaining complex topics simply so that the rest of us can understand and appreciate the wonders around us.
Great stuff, as always, Myron. Gives a little insight into the initial Pennsylvanian deposits in SE Kansas, and the coal mining in that area.
When I took geology at VA Tech, all of our classroom lectures and field trips were spent in the valley and ridge region. Driving west of campus on Rt. 460, one passes through huge road cuts showing a side view of massive anticlines and synclines. We did make one visit into West Virginia, where our prof announced we were on the North American craton, and of course, the WVa mountains had a totally different erosional pattern. It was a great location to study geology. I do wish our professors had a clay model like yours, though, as I had difficulty with some of the necessary 3-D thinking. That clay model is so helpful!
glad to hear that!
This was really fantastic, you have a really nice way of presenting 101 information very concisely. Although, you and I need to have a serious discussion of the pronunciation of those mountains, lol. Geologist in the Western highlands of Virginia here, by the way. One thing, on a serious note, would be if you wanted to continue the discussion a little further… Is the graben that has occurred as the Atlantic rift opens up, and to the west, talking about the Appalachian plateau, where it goes to about a 3° western dip but otherwise it's flat lying. After the uplift brought all the coal up to shooting distance, a lot of people think that West Virginia became mountainous, which it really didn't; it's all erosional with the settlement going to the Gulf. Just lots of interesting stuff you can get into in our Appa-LATCH-IN mountains 😂
It’s maybe the best educational geological channel of the entire TH-cam.
Thank you for covering this! The Appalachians are such an interesting group of mountains, and super important culturally and historically to so many, but often overlooked just because they're 'short.'
I'd love to see something on the Mississippi Embayment and even more so on the formation of the Ouachitas. Most of the Ouachitas are very similar to the basin and range geology of the Appalachian system, but they have some unique features. Top of mind are the McKinley Rocks and the Potato Hills in the Kiaminchi valley area, as well as the novaculite seams that are--from what I've been told--the only major metamorphic rocks known in the whole Ouachita system. Supposedly, there is an odd lack of associated vulcanism as well.
Globe "Planets" with oceans glued to a curved surface ? LOL ... LMAO Here kids, Earth is a level plane comprised of fossilized flesh. The actual term is called Nucleophilic Substitution, with level Earth the Substrate. Mega titan dragon creatures 🐉🐲died here long ago, and their bodies are now limestone and granite ⛰🏔 mountains, and island chains etc. This type of creature was airborne, fire breathing and it's actual venom is where Crude Oil, Shale, and Coal come from. These Dragons bodies 🐉are loaded with the 38 Transition Metals (e.g. - Fe, Au, Ag, Cu etc.) like the Appalachians Mts. 🏔 (dragon) on the East coast. Fossil Fuel is a correct term like biogenic oil, but there is no true "Jurassic period", just the reality that ancient mega Titan reptilian creatures existed and limestone/granite mountains are the physical remains (Substrate). Go to google earth, remove borders and labels, and see the Atlas Mts. in Morocco for a starter dragon (1000 mi. baby), and notice the two colorful blue/red glands which secreted the black venom (now Crude Oil). There's also a 500 mile long fish 🐠as the Sahara Desert, leaving it's Si Silicon, and SiO2 sands laying next to that dragon as well. The east coast Appalachians/Blue Ridge Mts. are another multi head dragon, a Monster-0 type (lol) leaving shale and the Mexican Gulf it's vast oil (Venom) deposits etc. The north Canadian Rockies are made of at least two separate dragon 🐉🐲creatures, leaving massive coal and crude oil deposits in Alaska and Yukon Territories etc. These mega-Titan fire breathing dragon creatures are the stuff of legends, and they are forever part of Earth Plane Topography (🐉=🏔), and our ancient level Earth's actual History. Now you know where gasoline, and metals for tooling comes from, 🐲🐉! 😉 lol ... Dragons !
Great graphics and explanation of valley and coal/oil/natural gas formation. Thanks
I grew up in PA and had no idea how the Appalachian Mountains were formed! Thank you for doing such a great informative video! 😊
Glad you enjoyed it!
Growing up in WVa, I have walked, climb and wondered through out these mountains. Very good description as one can see the difference in the rocks.
Growing up in Pa. I've seen this firsthand. I remember seeing coal seams coming right out of the ground in places when hunting. Strip mining around eastern Pa. looks for the coal which is close to the surface. Today most mining in Pa. has stopped, but I now understand better the way coal seams were laid down. In Wyoming you don't have all the green vegetation covering up the land and you can see all the ground features easily. Both places have their own beauty.
Thank you for your continued sharing of your knowledge and for once again expanding my understanding and nurturing my curiosity of the processes that form our landscapes…all of which I delight in. The scaled down earth images, models, and white board images helped greatly.
Always interesting. Always enjoyable. Thanks again. I had the good fortune to visiting the Black Thunder coal mine outside of Wright a few years ago and was amazed by what they showed us with regard to the amount of coal that is deposited in Wyoming. It would sure make an interesting video...
Hope to do that
You have such a gentle and understandable way of presenting this geology. This would be a good learning video for people of any age. Thanks for a video on my home mountains.
These videos should be shown in schools...
But Evolution vs the Bible
@katanaki3059 Geology isn't evolution, and the Bible is a little vague when it comes to geological processes.. what exactly are you trying to say?
Geology contributed to evolution.
@nancyw5779 yes.. it did.
It is so true of what you're teaching / depicting that you're rendering looks similar to Boulder, Colorado.
The range is over a billion years old. Great place to hike. Beautiful river gorges and waterfalls. My understanding (before watching the vid) is the Appalachians used to be 36000', higher than Mount Everest. It eroded down to the current 6000' leaving the river valleys chocked full of quadrillions of rocks of all sizes.
It's NOT over a billion years old. You've been indoctrinated
Thoroughly enjoyed this presentation. I did my mapping in the Coast Mountains of B.C., but also did a long field trip in the East, which I often think about to this day, over 50 years later.
Thanks for sharing!
This so reminds me of my geology 101 course taught by a professor who was not the nice person you obviously are, but was an excellent teacher. He inspired me with a love of studying geology and subsequent courses were more of a detailed review of the concepts he introduced, with fill-in detail added. I appreciate your recognition of the importance of petroleum and coal diagenesis despite the really bad press "fossil" energy is currently receiving. Yes, CO2 from coal and hydrocarbons is an increasingly serious problem, but the fact is that the rise of our modern civilization and so much of the scientific innovation that is so vital to our lives can all be traced to James Watt's Cornish mine engines run on coal and Colonial Drake's well in Titusville, Pennsylvania. My ancestor's career was in drilling for oil in North-Western Pennsylvania (near Titusville) and that's where I'd spend my summers as a child in the folded Allegheny Mountains. Interesting to ponder that this region was on the Western edge of the Appalachian Foreland Basin.
By the way, what we now call "Foreland Basin" development buried so deep as to have granitic intrusions was part of the Geosyncline Theory (taught by my Prof.) that proceeded the (then) brand new (and not totally accepted) Plate Techtonics Theory.
I am enjoying watching this video. I live in Gatlinburg and retired from the Great Smoky Mtns Nat’l Park.
I was there when BBC came through to make videos for their production of ‘Making of a Continent’.
For those that did not see the videos, they were great.
I grew up near Pittsburgh and learned my college geology at Juniata College in the heart of the ridge and valley province in the early 80's. Drs. Trexler and Washington would take us up horrible fire roads to overlooks where we could see the land spread out all the way to the next ridge and see the synclines and anticlines almost as clearly as if we were looking at a map.
Fellow JC alumnus- trexler/mutti era
@@RobbieMcT97 Cool!
Thanks Myron, lived on east coast and explored geology from maine to florida-living in the SW USA it's another world I also study the landscape - love Blakey and Ranney book Ancient Landscapes of Colorado Plateau
The 11-papers analogy is a very effective way of showing how thin the crust is and easily penetrated from below👍
How deep, or thick, is the atmosphere that surrounds the earth? Let an onion about 4 inches in diameter (100 mm) represent the earth. (That's a fairly large onion.) The thickness of the atmosphere is about the same as the papery thin outer peel of the onion. That is, it's very thin.
I'm aware that the atmosphere gets less dense as you go higher until it gradually thins to the vacuum of space. But one-half of all the air lies below an altitude of 18,000 feet, which is about one-half the cruising altitude of an airliner.
Now, to get a bit depressing, think about all the cars, power plants, and cement production facilities squirting CO2 and who knows what else into that thin layer of air above our heads. I suspect it may have some significant effect, but I don't know exactly what nor what can be done about it.
@@clarencegreen3071 that's thoughtful interpretations 👍
As a retired Engineering Geologist that worked and lived on the Pacific Plate of North America And who is planning a road trip through the Appalachian area, the video is a great refresher of the Historical Geology of a region that I never truly appreciated. Mr. Cook does an excellent job of putting together some large puzzle pieces in an understandable manner. Thank you for complimenting my old Historical Geology text regarding the Appalachian region and the geologic provinces that I had never appreciated. Excellent presentation!
thanks!
Hey Myron, just started this video and I’m sure I’ll love it, but I’d like to comment early with a question for a possible future video.. I am from Louisiana and spent 11 years in the Gulf of Mexico running Wireline and the last 5 in the Permian. Every once in a while I will drive by different erroded hillsides in New Mexico and even into colorado with a reddish almost purple formation that erodes easily and usually has a greenish gray band or 2 maybe a foot thick that also seems to erode at the same rate. Sometimes it’s under a cap rock of limestone or in a tuft or sandstone so I know it’s not just a soil profile although it seems to erode almost as easily like. I can’t seem to find anything explaining what it is. One example you may be aware of is off of New Mexico 84 between Abiquiu and echo amphitheater. I’m not sure if I described it well enough but if you do know what I’m talking about any response would be appreciated!
Thanks for the great content!
I'm not familiar with that particular area
@@myroncook Oh ok. I see outcrops of what appear to be the same formation almost always beneath a harder cap rock all over New Mexico all the way down to the Texas border north to southern Colorado and nothing comes up with any google searches describing it. Being so widespread and different than most other easily identifiable types of formations I find it strange that it’s so hard to find out what it is.
Is there a way to send some pictures of it maybe you your website? I understand you may be busy and no time for this so don’t want to bother you but figure it’s worth a shot asking.
@@myroncook actually no need to send you pictures, watching your video of the 50 million year old mammal tracks and from around 9:20 until the end you are walking around in the same type of landscape I’m talking about, only deeper reddish purple with greenish gray colors. What created the scenery in the end of that video?
Bump,
for notice by Myron Cook
@@AdamCourville
What an excellent presentation! Thank you.
I hope you don’t mind me saying, but you’re like the new Bob Ross. I hope your channel breaks through in a major way!
What a great video! I always enjoy learning from you Myron! Thank you!
You remind of a time when learning science (geology) was fun and actually meant something
Geomorphology is always interesting. It is hard to wrap your head around it all, but Mr. Myron Cook makes it easy.
Thank you for this. As a native Georgia resident who moved to Texas 10 years ago I miss learning about these mountains and the local geology and natural history
I'm so pleased I discovered your videos! You have a passion for geology that shines through, and an excellent, clear presentation style.
Hi Myron! I have always been fascinated by rocks and the incredible geological history of our planet. I have referenced the information I’ve gained from this video in conversation at least 10x since watching it. Because of this video, I was able to confidently explain how the Appalachian mountains came to be, which was especially satisfying when talking to my friend in Kentucky about them. No matter how many books I’ve read or diagrams I’d seen, it never really clicked until I heard you explain it so well. So I just wanted you to know that I love your content and I’m really happy I found your account :)
I Love to hear this!
As an old coal miner from WV your presentation was much appreciated. My uncle pioneered the practice of reclamation and schooled us on the importance of caring for the terrain.
fascinating
@@myroncook When I look at Appalachia today on Google Earth it is heartbreaking to see the devastating effects of strip mining. Areas near where we grew up are unrecognizable from above as the visual landmarks are gone. Only GPS works.
I’ve driven along the Hudson River in northern manhattan . There are giant exposures of Precambrian rocks sloping down towards the river. Always amazing to see.
Subscribed, and enjoying the education! Hope you can inform us all (maybe you have.. a lot of videos to go through) about the mountains and processes of Arkansas and Oklahoma. Guessing they are related to this episode. Thank you Dr. Cook.
Thank you for your videos! Dutch hugs 🌷🌷🌷
I’m studying geology right now and since my school is in the Appalachian plateau we’ve been learning about the geology of the area and it’s made me have so much more appreciation for the region
The blue ball and the pages of paper was a great visualisation! Thank you so much for that!!
You use your voice well, with enough variations in pitch, speed, and emphasis to keep our attention. Your pace is excellent, not too slow, yet allowing your listeners time to process the information you present. I’m glad I found your channel and am eagerly anticipating more videos. Thank you for sharing your talents with us.😊😊😊
Thank you! 😃
I was a farm kid within the Valley and ridge around Blacksburg VA and ended up with a Va Tech geology degree. Your presentation really is a wonderful context for the Appalachians. The white board is so appreciated- the clay model is super too. 😊
Thank you Myron, Very interesting and thanks for expanding my knowledge of the Appalachians. Thank also for pointing our the time periods in which all this happened.
What a wonderful explanation! Myron you are an incredible natural down to earth teacher with a love and passion of Geology. Thank you for a great presentation of the Appalachians.
Big science guy, love your stuff. I learn tons. You also have a phenomenal voice to lull me to sleep on occasion, an added bonus. Then i just rewatch that clip. Thanks Myron!
Fantastic lesson Myron! I really appreciate you taking the time to put this together.
I have had many people correct me for the pronunciation of Appalachian. There are two pronunciations that people of the region use. I have no dog in the fight. I use the one I have heard over the years. I mean no offense to anybody. The important thing to me is how amazing they are and the impact they have on the geologic history of North America. What beautiful mountains!
What a great video. Myron does it again. It is very hard to find good videos for regular people about Appalachian geology. And, the cliffhanger- Appalachian zircons in Arizona. Can’t wait to hear an explanation for that!
What a great video! It is obvious that Mr. Cook not only KNOW the subject but also LOVES it!
Very interesting presentation.
In school we learned about plate tectonics but never to this detail.
I worked in the oil and gas industry for many years as an electronics tech. I've talked with Geologists and really became interested in that field.
Thank you for the educational videos.
Carolina bays created by an impact to the ice sheet near the great lakes?
Man, I've always been interested in geology and always watch in awe of the changing landscape any time I drive in or out of the Appalachians from my home right near the "triple point" between the glacial, plains, and mountain landscapes of Ohio. But your ability to teach this subject just sparked such a deep interest in me, and I want to thank you for that.
It's always been a subject of interest, but this video made me appreciate it so much more and I'll be going on a deep dive because of it. You have a wonderful personality for this and I'm grateful that I chose to watch this. It was an excellent primer on the subject and your excitement and awe is infectious. You'll probably be my number one source of "edutainment" while I work on my little guitar shop for the next few weeks at least.
Thanks again! Very happy I found your channel!
Thanks!
these videos make me glad im doing my undergrad in geology, so interesting, I'm excited to become more familiar with the amazing geology all over the world.
I have always loved geology and your easy, diagramed presentations are amazing and so informative, Myron.
This was great Myron!! I drive along the Ohio River all the time and try to figure out how in the world the rock looks the way it does this will give me plenty to think about on my next trip!!
You helped to explain to me the tremendous powers of erosion and how the sediment can be carried vast distances over time. Looking at the Grande Canyon, you can see in the negative space the amount of missing material. The Colorado carried sediment downstream, filling in the plains and creating alluvial fans that we live and drive our vehicles on. Thanks for helping to imagine the timescale of these processes.
Myron, you are absolutely right! I drove down off of Philipsburg mountain I looked at what I saw with new eyes. These mountains were huge. What we are looking at is the skeletal remains of the world's greatest mountain range. Please do more episodes on the Appalachian mountain range.
Wow, I am learning so much from your videos Myron. Thank you for your straightforward explanations.