I've been to Dotsero and even have a couple rocks from the place (I mean they're literally quarrying it so a few loose rocks really isn't much). Its a neat area, and pretty wild to see quaternary volcanics in the Rockies so famous for the uplift. Even crazier to think that a volcano in some sense "erupted" Paleozoic sandstone. I didn't even realize that there was surrounding volcanic features, they look very well preserved too, perhaps even more so than Dotsero. Its surprising how obscure Dotsero is, considering that its magma helps to feed the rather famous hot springs at Glenwood Springs. I do wonder how a volcanic field ended up in the Rockies of all places, it kind of reminds me of the small scale volcanoes/volcanic fields in Tibet.
Based on the seismic tomography in Nick Zentner's A to Z Baja BC controversy series appears to Dotsero lay above a major deep rooted thermally buoyant discontinuity in Earths mantle which is contiguous to Yellowstone the Snake River Plain the Rio Grand rift valley the Juan de Fuca Ridge and the East Pacific Rise when it reemerges into the ocean from beneath New Mexico and Arizona. Moreover everything to the southwest of this region exhibits a distinctive clockwise rotation which has a trajectory consistent to the relative motion between North America and the Pacific plate with two regions the Colorado plateau and the Great Valley Sierra Nevada microplate exhibiting more rigid body rotation rather than direct deformation. Moreover there is the fact that Yellowstone and Siletzia based on igneous petrology have a shared chemical signature consistent with ocean island basalt with a contribution of Mid Ocean Ridge basalt and an increasing rate of continental contamination between Siletzia's formation approach and eventual accretion onto North America. Additionally to the North East of this hot buoyant discontinuity we see evidence for subducted slabs and denser older (more continental) mantle that appear to have gotten squeezed up to this discontinuity. Around 17 Ma activity changed with two coincident events the onset of modern Basin and Range extension and the Columbia River flood basalts the latter of which surprisingly have been shown by igneous petrology to be chemically distinct from the Yellowstone hot spot in a way that can't be explained in modeling crystal fractionalization and crustal leeching (which raises more questions than anything). Notably we see the start of what would result in part of North Americas craton getting deformed/detached now known as the Colorado plateau. Putting this all together we get Robert S. Hildebrand's general model of western Geology where slab pull from the still ongoing Subduction in Cascadia and Mexico has continued to pull North America over the East Pacific Rise and the associated Yellowstone hotspot however the buoyant mantle flow of the East Pacific Rise has continued to proceed driving the otherwise quite sudden shift from compression to extension beginning towards the North along the Laramides in the Eocene and propagating south through the Oligocene and Miocene corresponding with the Tertiary ignimbrite flare up event of North America. As this all happened North America's deeper cratonic roots in the mantle had gotten stuck at the buoyant ridge structure and the associated kink/cog/fold in the EPR discontinuity unable to pass despite slab pull continuing to drag the continent southwest likely serving as the source of the dramatic ripping apart of the old Laramide mountains. However in this model by 17 Ma the strain from the sheering tectonic torque and the blowtorching hot mantle currents from below became too much for the underlying North American craton after nearly 30 million years of began to structurally fail and rip apart a process which continues to this day. In this picture because the EPR spreads far faster than the Atlantic and Arctic ridge systems combined do so long as the subduction continues North America can only continue to be dragged apart as slab pull is the dominant driver of plate motion weakening and further extending the crust. Igneous petrology paper mentioned: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666277920300046
@@Dragrath1 I kinda figured it was due to a similar cause to the rest of the volcanism between the Cascades and Rockies. Interesting how the region of buoyant mantle underneath North America has caused noticeable uplift and only minimal volcanism essentially leaking through the cracks (more common of course where the old continent is getting stretched in the Basin and Range province) and hasn't formed a rift zone yet. Especially considering the kinda sorta rift that is the Rio Grande rift. Even in east Africa the East African Rift has torn straight through extremely ancient cratonic crust, as did some of the rift zones at the breakup of Gondwana. Maybe it has to due with the fact that that region has the African LLSVP producing true deep mantle hotspots to help blowtorch their way through old crust? In that case, I guess North America provides a great example of what happens when a mantle upwelling tries to tear apart cratons without the help of deep mantle hotspots... though even then, the Basin and Range managed to stretch old cratonic crust with nothing but slab pull. Very odd situation. North America and Africa by far have my favorite geology, so many weird, dynamic processes deforming the entire continental landmasses and creating volcanoes where conventional logic says there shouldn't be any.
I used to spend my summers at a summer camp about ten miles up the Colorado River from Dotsero. The area has some really interesting evidence of a turbulent geologic history: On a dirt road descending from the girls' camp to the boys' camp, there is a 90° fold in the layers of sandstone. There are trilobite and other fossils of the creatures that got trapped as the earth seized to cause the folder. In addition to the Dotsero crater, if you go about ten miles down the Colorado, you find Glenwood Springs. Hot springs bubble up on the north shore of the river. The springs and vapor caves have been utilized to make the healing destination the town has been known for since the 1800s. The Glenwood Canyon is currently undergoing some dramatic events, too: The fires on the rim a few years ago have denuded much of the northern canyon wall of vegetation. As a result, over the intervening years, major mudslides have repeatedly occurred, some big enough to alter the flow of the river. I was really excited to see the topic of today's video, as you can probably tell. I adore this part of the state!
If that interests you, check out La Garita Caldera. It was created in the largest known eruption & explosion known to man, besides the impact that killed off the dinosaurs. It's entire magma chamber is said to have evacuated within about a millisecond, deeming it extinct. I live about 60 miles down wind from it, so I'm glad it is.
I used to live in the town of Dotsero. When i lived there, the (official) population was 15. When we left, it dropped to 9! There was (and may still be) a cinder block plant that used cinders from the dormant volcano up the hill. I used the broken blocks they'd throw out to make GI Joe forts. Lots of fun by that leech-infested pond...
Thanks. It can be astonishing to know that the most recent eruption in Colorado occurred only 4,000 years ago. As with the volcanics of the Southwestern United States, this ties into the rabbit hole of information about the Basin and Range province discussed in Nick Zenter's Geology lectures. Shoutout to Dragath1 for bringing this up!
Interesting! I live in Western Kansas, so any major volcanic events might cause issues for me. Could you do a video on the Spanish Peaks area of Colorado and its odd lava dikes? They are fascinating to me. Thanks!
I'm always so amazed at how much detail we can figure out about events from so long ago. Crazy detective work goes into reconstructing the age, speed, and size of events like this.
I live in Southern Colorado and appreciate this in-depth look at Dotsero. Thank you. Still, I know that the San Luis Valley area is the northern part of the Rio Grande Rift Zone and that same rift zone has active volcanoes in New Mexico. I find it strange that there are no known active volcanoes just across the state border in the same rift zone. Geology doesn't recognize political borders. Yet on the map there are interesting features there much like ones to the south, plus all the faults and hot springs. Could you cover why there is a difference in the north and south parts of this rift zone?
Raton has a magma plume and just South down I 25 in New Mexico is a volcanic field. The Rio Grande, rift is active even in the Northern section. The recent quakes near Pagosa Springs were volcanic tectonic quakes.
Rainier erupted several times in the 19th century and had a major eruption as recently as the 15th century. It produced one of the largest lahars ever discovered around 5000 years ago
I actually have been to both the Dotsero and Willow Peak and McCoy volcanoes which has sadly been mined And there is also the town of Basalt and another Lava Flow at Triangle Peak Nearby and Several Hot Springs exist in the region And there are also several fault lines and the Rio Grande Rift nearby
Dang I’m sad I missed this, I did a whole project about this volcano back in my volcanology class a few years ago. To add a bit your bubble zone likely should be a bit larger. Glenwood spring located bottom left of your map is an active hot spring spot showing there is still some geothermal activity in the area. Also if you read this can you do a video about the La Garita Caldera also in Colorado?
In the san luis valley in southern colorado, there's a bunch of cones near the rio grande that look volcanic. Are they volcanoes related to the rio grande rift?
You're looking at the San Juan Volcanic Locus, or Volcanic Field. That field is east of the Rio Grande Rift but you can find videos on this channel covering the volcanic features associated with the rift including the Socorro Magma Body which is a good start. If you go through the greater San Luis Field area, don't miss visiting the Capulin Volcano which you can drive to the top of. It's a tourist volcano, but the view is excellent.
Those volcanoes down there are amazing. If you go into NM there are entire lava fields that have black rocks around the I-40 interstate. San Antonio peak where US 285 is on the east shoulder in NM - amazing
Been noting Colorado has been having more earthquakes lately. Not to imply volcanic just meaning it's been reminding ppl it's still geologically active. Sat in some volcanic hotsprings w the snow capped peak of an old volcano in the background just a couple months ago in Colorado.
The area directly to the northwest of there, the Flat Tops, were formed in part as a flood basalt. There are also a few small vents there, but they are all up in a RARE II protected wilderness, so I rather doubt that anyone has done much geological work there. The whole area displays it's volcanic past with hot springs all the way from Glenwood Springs north to Steamboat springs and even further north. The basalt caps a layer of red sandstone, the type, age, and origin of which I do not know. I have read that the basalt was laid down in an eruption which took place around 200,000 years ago. The book, however, was written by someone who was not a geologist for the consumption of laymen, so I wouldn't count on that being an accurate age. Maybe someday this channel will do a piece on this and provide some solid information regarding the ages and mechanisms by which this area came to be.
Hot springs run all the way from Ouray to Princeton, to conundrum, to Glenwood to Steamboat and up to Saratoga in Wyoming. Nearly all of them cool enough to be safe for people to swim in.
@@mrvwbug4423 I suspect that the hot springs down in Ouray are part of a different system, though I don't absolutely know that for certain. It is interesting to note that there are many stones of volcanic origin strewn all across the Grand Valley. You start seeing them somewhere around Montrose, and you can still see a few in the area around Grand Junction. There are no really big chunks as one might expect if they were part of glacial action, and the terminal moraines in the area generally don't have much rock which show the signs of gas inclusions in them as do the rocks in the rest of the grand valley. The flood basalts in the Flat Tops area have been around since at least the last two glacial maxims, and possibly longer than that, and they show it. Almost all of the valleys in the area have that broad U shape which suggests the presence of glaciers, some of which were pretty large. Further south there are some notable exceptions, such as Black Canyon, but the Gunnison Plateau above that shows all sorts of signs of being carved by glacial activity, and one can find some quite large glacial erratics in that area. Once again, there are hot springs present, perhaps the best known of which is Tomichi Hot Springs. Personally, I have been unable to locate any examples of recent (within the last 500,000 years) volcanic activity. Other than a very few examples, I was unaware of the hot springs up in Wyoming. It's fascinating to know that they are more numerous than I had known, and I think you greatly for informing me of their existence. It just goes to show that the peaceful and idyllic looking Rockies have a past bathed in fire and ice. If I were younger and had the where-with-all to make a trip there, I would surely do it. Any information you can share regarding this area would be greatly and I would especially appreciate anything you could share regarding Wyoming, since that's an area I've only been through briefly on my way to my parent's ranch. I will also say that even though I grew up in western Colorado, I don't now all there is to know about it, and have many questions regarding how things came to be there. It would be really great to see this channel do a piece on the western slope, or some of the specific areas there, but that may be a bit much to wish for. I am currently living in a part of the country which has no visible evidence of vulcanism going back as far as when the Pennsylvania sand stones were laid down, and very likely much longer. You don't see much in the way of stone here. A good distance north there is the Ashfall Fossil Beds, but that ashfall didn't make it down to this area. In this area, if you take a core section, or look at one, you'll see nothing but sand, clay, and mud as far as you care to drill until you hit the sandstone which forms the Ogallala Aquafer. There isn't a trace of the Yellowstone ash beds, or any of the other ash beds which one would expect to be there. The reason is that it was all washed away when the Ice sheets melted. It's not exactly a place conducive to doing geology, and I miss that a lot. Thanks again for your reply. I do appreciate it.
@@Chompchompyerded Most of the more recent vulcanism in Colorado is probably related to the Rio Grande rift, which they think runs pretty far north - up into the Yampa Valley at least. With the exception of Willow Peak, most of the basalt up on the Flat Tops is older.
Could you do a video about the Colorado volcanic field and a few other volcanic fields in Colorado just mention them in a video I personally live in Colorado and the signs of volcanoes are everywhere I seen places where it came out of the landscape I've seen pipes I've also seen a caldera which you have mentioned in your video it's the La garita caldera
If I recall La Garita is one of the few sub-ranges in CO that is volcanic in origin, and the only one of the 58 14ers that is volcanic in origin as San Luis Peak is the hight point of the caldera rim.
The Gulpin Lake Caldera, has been heating up for several years. There has been a circular pattern of hot spots, intermittently on satellite. Several large fires have also broken out in that vicinity. Areas in Rocky Mountain National Park, has the same issue. Raton, has a magma plume .. Many volcanoes in Colorado, as well as the entire world are reactivating.
20,000 years from now, that outlying volcano will erupt, and Geology Hub's video will be seen on a random scan by a Colorado geologist at that time, and he will say, yep the guy was right. 😀
LIkely not in the same spot though. The western slope volcanoes in CO have all been monogenetic, meaning they only erupt once, then the next eruption takes place in a new spot nearby.
REQUEST: icelandic volcanoes all are different. A number of volcanoes are likely to become active in the next few hundred. For everyone of these volcanoes that are likely to become active, which volcanoes can have an effect on other European countries or even worldwide?
That info was from geological evidence in the local area. There might be some petroglyphs around documenting the eruption as the area was inhabited 5000ya, but I don't think the Arapahoe have any stories about it in their history, the Arapahoe are the most recent indigenous people to live in the area but their ancestors may not have lived in the area 5000ya.
From a geological perspective its also quite probable that more volcanism will occur in the geologic feature at least so long as the Rio Grande Rift and the basin and Range province continues to exist as the activity along the Colorado plateau is relatively recent and the underlying low sheer velocity zone appears to be part of a much larger geological structure in Earths upper mantle corresponding to the location of the East Pacific Rise which along with the Snake River plain and Yellowstone . I suspect these are linked.
@@Chompchompyerded Linked at depth in partial melt low shear wave velocity zones from deep crustal scale seismic tomography analyses. Unlikely to be linked in shallow behavior at your location.
For those of us who don't live within 50 miles of this place in Colorado (which is estimated to be over 95% of the viewers) it might have been helpful for you to show a basic map of the state with the rough location marked.
@@mrvwbug4423 This was Ute country, not Arapahoe. They came here once in a while, but usually got chased out. It is good that we now receive each other as friends. Wars are not a good way to settle anything. Yeh, so probably the ancestral Utes, and I-70 as it existed for them, as that was along one of the active trails which was used to get from the western slope to the eastern slope and on out onto the high plains. We didn't go over the divide where Eisenhower tunnel is now, but instead went over a little further south near present day Loveland. When I say, "we," I don't include myself of course. I am referring to my ancestors back in the 1800's before being pushed onto reservations.
I spoke with someone who had been fighting a forest fire on/near Dotsero. He said the smoke was very thick and then they came upon flowing lava and high-tailed it outta there.
Neat story. How the hell did your friend travel back in time 4,000 years ago to see this lava? Next time, watch the video before making up stories m'kay?
@@kevinderrick2787 Before Common Era and CE: Common Era. The more correct way of documenting that change of era. The old BC and AD designations were invested by the Catholic church in the 6th century CE. But the calendar we use was invented by pre-Christian Romans and later refined during the Renaissance
But it is still based on the birth and death of Christ? Seems kinda passive-aggressive, or at best dissonant-adverse. What else? Will they demand new names for the months, or change the Babylonian time system? Just the same; thanks for the clarification. @@mrvwbug4423
