When we grow old, we don't stop learning. At the same time, our insights deepen. And the reality and the meaning of the past hits harder. It's humbling and very emotional. Thank you professor Nick. And thank you Randy Lewis.
I think it was Victor Hugo who said in one of his novels, "Great Empires conceal great crimes". As we go forward let us not forget how poorly we have accounted for the costs of our greatness.
@@royboy7401 True that Roy. Substitute the British, or the Chinese, Dutch, Belgians, Ottomans, Spanish, The Romans, Egyptians.....it's turtles all the way down.
Thanks Nick for the plug on “Northern Reaches” guidebook. Atwater and Kiver have done a lot of work on the Lk Columbia terraces over the last several decades that shed light on terrace formation there.
I was in Spokane last weekend. My family did a Columbia river cruise to celebrate my parents’ 60th wedding anniversary. I have learned SO MUCH from you! The cruise was all about Lewis and Clark so I took it upon myself to share a tiny bit about the geology of the area. What a thrill for me to visit some of the places you have already taken us to! Unfortunately, the boat moved at night! So, I didn’t see nearly as much as I had hoped to; like the lodge pole petrified tree, the huge ripples that were proof of the huge floods, etc. I did see TONS of German chocolate cake!!! And so did 15 of my favorite people - my family! Thank you Nick! I wanted to see more after the cruise with our rental car but we all 5 in my family had covid by the end of the trip. So we stayed in our hotel room in Clarkston. I’ll be back!
on those days when I'm feeling a little misanthropic (something I'm sure we all get every once in a while), a little wander in the mostly natural world with Prof Zentner chatting away about this and that, and that final thought on the shortness of our modern vision of the world and our place in it, does me no harm, and more than a little good...
When in Wenatchee a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of running into Randy Lewis at the Public Market. I introduced myself as a fan of his through your videos. We had a nice, albeit brief, conversation.
I have been watching your videos for a couple of years now and I greatly appreciated your reaching out to Randy for the indigenous perspective from someone who wasn't shy about stating just a small portion of some very hard and terrible truths. In New Zealand we have a similarly toxic history of colonization and the legacy of forcible dispossession is only now starting to be addressed. To everyone who thinks politics don't belong in geology- land is EVERYTHING, and as a resource is the most fundamental element of politics. We won't progress until we acknowledge and try to remedy the past in good faith. Good faith requires engagement. Put on your adult pants and think about what we've all done. Thanks Nick.
Geologist here: We have all kinds of terrace deposits in Minnesota. Setting aside the fluvial (river) terraces, the glacial lake terraces in MN are similar to these- coarse material that is often mined for aggregate and landscaping boulders. The sorting is the result of wave action removing the fine material, leaving the sand, gravel, cobbles, and boulders. The larger sized material is often imbricated if it's relatively undisturbed. This kind of sorting can be observed in modern lacustrine environments, just at a smaller scale (although there are the Great Lakes, where Ive seen the beach shingle and sand but have not seen the bottom sediments). The fines will be found in the deeper parts of the lakebed sediments, often varved and with dropstones. If it wasn't arid there, you'd probably see springs at the bottom of each terrace. Look for articles on Glacial Lake Agassiz terraces and you'll see essentially the same stuff, just much, much less topographic relief.
Looks like the area (vegetation)is about 6 to 8 weeks ahead us here in Central Alberta. Cool wet spring this year. Sunshine Village BNP is reopening for Sking this weekend. Neat spot .Thanks Again Nick.
I’m just so glad to hear you acknowledge the original people of this beautiful land! Again you make this channel what it is! I can learn geology on other channels, and I do, but you keep me coming back because your just as beautiful as the land your talking about!
As a white person in the UK I took it as a part of growing up that when you watch "Cowboy & Indian" films and you suddenly realise your're bucking against what the director wants you to think & you're on the side of the indigenous people that lived there already. It's then you take a step back & suddenly "Cowboy & Indian" films become horror stories. Each one a glorification of a genocide that is largely ignored today, even though it really wasn't that long ago. As a child I met my Great Grandmother twice before she died. Her room was a Victorian parlour. Drapes over everything & yes, an Aspidistra in the corner. I asked her what her earliest memory was. She told me that she could remember her parents discussing The Battle of Little Big Horn & the death of Mr. Custer (She used Mr, not General) around the breakfast table one morning. Not that long ago...
This video is a thrill for me. My daughter lives atop a mountain just NNW of your first stop at Ft Spokane. Her bedroom view is of the very end of that lake you were looking over. On my trips to visit her I had not thought at all about those being terraces along there. I will be interested in what you learn about this. I am also realizing that the features of the land of the northern half of eastern Washington is much more interconnected than I had realized. My mind is a bit blown today.
So interesting, the questions and observations. Also, I want to know more about indigenous histories. It is past time for truth and a larger understanding. Family and friends were also participating in Hoopfest. One team won their bracket. 👍
Glacial retreat lakebeds include all sizes of material as the glaciers surge and melt back. So the plain can consist of all manner of materials from flour clays to boulders, including sand, pebbles, and plant materials as the glacier front progressed and retreated both seasonally and annually.
I have seen similar flats in the Okanogan valley also with a similar river gravels. My speculation is the river gravels were deposited by a slow moving meandering river over some indeterminate long period of time. The terraces were made by a large flood scouring out vast quantities of material. Then the river returned to normal slow moving meandering aggregate depositing flow that created a lower level flat that was then scoured out, Wash rinse repeat I live 400 feet above the Okanogan river but there are obvious river deposits exposed on the property and are found at a depth of about 36 inches when digging post holes.
Great video! So glad you could visit my neighborhood! Not far from where you were filming there is a large granite boulder sitting on top of the basalt bedrock, near the Creston Rd. intersection with Hwy 25. There are terraces throughout the Upper Columbia. I live across the water from a huge one at Inchelium. Also, just 40 miles north on that same highway (State Rt. 25) is a county road called Addy-Gifford, which crosses a mountain range. At the summit (appx 2800 ft.) there is an enormous gravel pit, full of lovely rounded river cobbles! How did those get there? Had to be dropped by a receding glacier. Fascinating area! Hope you'll come back here soon! Next time make the side trip to Hawk Creek and see the wonderful waterfall shooting out of the basalt cliff!
This way great....You certainly have proposed what could be a fruitful and fascinating research project. I hope someone pursues it. Thanks also for letting us see a bit of the basketball.
The fact that you prefaced this discussion with your discussion of ice dams at Wallula gap, I see the rhythmites as recording the number of blockages of that narrows causing the water to rise, leaving it's silty deposits. Nice country you're in.
Interesting. I can see terraces on Google maps in 'terrain' mode. They continue down the Columbia/Lake Roosevelt and appear to go up side canyons. These are good questions to ask. We now need answers! So much for moving on from Ice Age Floods! :)
It would be fun to hear Bruce and you discussing the evidence, what is pretty settled, what puzzles there are to investigate, and what geological investigations are going on right now.
Nick, I just love your inquisitive mind! Asking the right questions and being open to all kinds of answers. Wanting to learn from all sources, of which the stories of Randy's people are not the least. I am humbled and thankful that you included us in your train of thought. Warm greetings to your family, I love you and hope to see you again soon!
Last August we took the Columbia river cruise ending in a lovely historic hotel in Spokane, the Davenport. It was high society in the 1880's and has been been beautifully restored. What a treat to have dinner in its lobby dining room! The central river ways park and museum made this little city a very pleasant surprise to us, from New York City and the Silicon Valley Bay area.
It is an amazing area. The pull out is on Hwy 25 on the North side of the bridge. Nick if you get the chance keep going north up Hwy 25. You’ll see many terraces and the whitish cliffs that very compacted sand but at lake level you’ll find cobble. I live on Lake Roosevelt and there are many very interesting areas up north.
Beautiful country with gorgeous views of the modern lake. All helps us to imagine subsequent ancient lake levels resulting in the various terraces that are so apparent. More thought provoking concepts for their construction as well. We all love you enabling us to join you on your various rambles around Washington State. Many thanks Professor Nick. 🐻
"no one is keeping score" I enjoyed the view, and the commentary. Like you I think the terraces look like river cobble, washed in! The Geology is as much a mystery, as how man treats man, and seems not much, haves changed thank you, ALL stay safe
Hello from South Australia. Nick, thank you so much for all your wonderful videos. Your corner of the world is so beautiful! Your videos inspired me to look up some of my local geology. I live on the Adelaide Geosyncline Formation. I've also heard it called the Adelaide Rift Complex. Question: IS A COMPLEX AND A FORMATION THE SAME THING? IF NOT, HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT? Have you already done a video on this that you can direct me to? Thanks again.
Did nobody answer your question?? A formation is a consistent body of rock with properties that can be identified at different locations and its position in terms of age can be determined with respect to adjacent formations. This is usually but not necessarily sedimentary. A complex (as the name implies) is inconsistent and has a range of rock units of all types, igneous, sedimentary, and even metamorphic, whose age relationships are not clear vis-a-vis the adjacent rock units. A highly-faulted rift valley such as you mention, might not have all the relative ages or order of events worked out and for that reason is called a "complex". Australia is beautiful too!
These terraces look like the flood bars that are found on the inside curves of the Columbia and Snake Rivers elsewhere. Have LIDAR images been made of these areas to ascertain if there are ripples on top of these terraces?
Nick, thank you for another thought provoking video, I can see what your talking about as you descibe the features, yes that sediment needs to be reseached for sure.
What a serene place! Great scenery! I'm sure there's more geology under the surface. Washington is so big, it's hard to know everything about everywhere. But you're giving it a good try! But the big question is: did you get to meet John Stockton? Inquiring minds want to know! 😁
It appears that the CRB is above the terrace to the east. It seems that either the bedrock was stripped away and subsequently re filled to form the terrace, or the terrace is older than the overlying CRB. It would be interesting to find out if the terrace continues under the basalt.
Would it be possible that the catastrophic draining of Kootenay Lake in B.C might have deposited some of the heavier materials after the majority of the Missoula events. That flood would have come down the Columbia starting at Castlegar when the west arm of Kootenay Lake was opened up. There is lake shore evidence of a high water mark shoreline in the Kootenai Valley north of Bonners Ferry Idaho that shows a level some 400 feet above the now valley floor. Not a super lake like Missoula but still a sizable amount of water that would have drained some time later as the glacier in the Purcel trench melted back into B.C.
It only makes sense that at some points in the Ice Age past there were HUGE FLOODS from the north. I Mean cmon did the lobes only stay in certain areas everytime , or was there periodic shapeshifting IE was a lobe before the lake eastern edge?
Nick, would be interesting to see a topographic map of this area. Have you referenced topographic maps in your studies? I’ve seen a lot of your episodes and haven’t seen one or heard you reference them.
It looks as if some of the terraces could be moraines. If the cobbles are more or less gravity fed, they must be lake terraces. If the cobbles come from rock 300 miles away, it must be glacial deposits right?
So, your point is: What are cobbles and small boulders doing in this sediment if it's a lake deposit? Good question. I wonder if icebergs were calving off the ice sheet and dropping these? Are they drop stones?
I live in SE Vermont and see a half dozen terrace levels from glacial Lake Hitchcock in the West river valley extending NW from Brattleboro (itself located on the Connecticut river). School athletic fields, corn fields, and cemeteries (easy digging) are all on terrace remanents. They seem to be glacial sand and gravel bars deposited into the glacial lake waters, with the differing elevations reflecting periodic partial collapses of the ice dam at Rocky Hill CT.
I've been to that turnout, it does have a great view. Was it a lake bed that got a new channel was cut once the lower river opened up again? Maybe the current top was filled in by the later and smaller floods which impacted the lake and stopped. Then the lower dam opened up and the river could cut a new channel.
I love you too Professor. We both love the planet we live on. Were those terraces connected? Were the two once a single horizontal plain? How would you go about proving that? I think you may be able to do that. Keep doing what you are doing. Your work may have a much wider impact than you can see now.
The top picture at 11:12 is looking Northeast toward the confluence of the Spokane & Columbia Rivers near Fort Spokane. The book says looking Northwest.
Another fantastic video. If you ever get the time I’d love to know what history books you would recommend on Washington. I was stationed at Ft. Lewis in the late 90’s, fell in love with Washington and have been trying to read as much as possible on the history of this beautiful state.
also, where you parked your car on the overlook, was forever the after work beer drinking spot for casino workers, when the casino was still functional below ya....... I killed many a brain cell in that spot! Probably enough aluminum in the sandy hillside to really screw with future scientists trying to figure out WTF was there!
To get a better understanding of terraces look north of Rathdrum Idaho following a line near the high bench by Sturgeon, then on past Twin Lakes, Spirit Lake, Lone Mountain ending around Clagstone & Harlem. Use the terrain mode of Google Earth to see it, the high point is about elv 2624 ft East of Spirit Lake & the low near Harlem at 2145 ft. That’s about 475 ft of change. If water first lay down the gravel here (Rathdrum Prairie) then subsequently cut it into terraces over 10 miles wide, why wouldn’t it do the same at the Fort Spokane confluence at only 2 miles wide. For those who claim that ice pushed all the gravel onto the R Prairie I would have many questions for you starting with how did ice push the gravel flat behind the south west side of Lone Mountain to an elevation of 2600 ft ?
Come to Keller ferry and look west. There is a 1100 foot wall of rock you can see the preceding layers of granite below the basalt. Also across lake roosevelt to the north west a few miles from Keller ferry there is basalt on the north side of the river that the river or something carved through.
Is it possible that it's glacial spoil? With it being multiple sizes, it sounds like a glacier dumped it rather than the river. It's certainly possible with 2.4 million years worth of glacial advance/retreat. I think.
One thing I am curious about, is there a spot there where you can actually see the fine sediments from Glacial Lake Columbia? Perhaps they have been eroded away since then. Those sediments you are looking at could be from before the latest ice age floods as well. To me it appears that these terraces have been eroded recently, not deposited.
Flood deposits without layering🤔. Once the water stopped that would settle out in minutes. There's no fines on top because they carried on with the water or were these terraces given a buzz cut by the next flood? There's so much there, a cenrury or two worth of reasearch for sure.
My theory . . . downstream ice dams controlled the lake level, upstream ice dams independently controlled the floods rushing in. Tumbling rocks in the incoming floods hit the lake at whatever level it was at for that time, lost momentum, and settled into a terrace.
What is a awesome, yet tragic parallel to the glacial lakes is the current disappearance of lakes all over California and Arizona. Seeing the terraces form in real time ought to be educational to some geologist somewhere.
Thanks, Nick, for another fun geohike! Lots of food for thought, and I don't mean just chocolate cake. Rough but not rounded boulders make me think flooding or riding atop a glacier. Smaller rough rock sounds like avalanches. Perhaps rivers after lake receding then lower level erosion causing upper layers to fall in? 🤔 Just random thoughts, but wondering about faults in the area....
I'm sitting here going "Is it all that far-fetched to consider the possibility of glacial outwash or even moraines in a repetitive cycle?" given the coarseness of the sediment.
I slid down a moraine hiking once. Not fun. Lots of smoother stones, so really hard to get stopped. I had to grab a small tree and have friends use long sticks to pull me off to the side. Ouch.
I think your last few minutes of narration speaking about the Native American society that was wiped out is very important. The video was great as usual but that was a point that needed telling. I grew up in an area with a lot of Native Americans. Actually Canadians, and that history of dominance of one group over another is something we have never really discussed in general. As a kid and even when older I wasn’t aware or cared about their living conditions. Sadly the situation today of “reservations” is ignored. Manifest Destiny was a name for cultural dominance. Hopefully we know better now.
I want to make this comment from an angle of 'glass half full or half empty'. I love ALL your materials presented @NickZentner , in all different mediums used. However, as I have been following along this journey from the outer realm of cyber space on the ice age topic. I keep hearing of the effects of [ dumping sediment = pushing forces from above = construction ] , yet what about the [ drawing of sediment = pull forces from below = destruction ]. What forces happen when the water is suddenly released ( on the transformation of features ), as being stored as potential energy and converted to kinetic energy? I think there are answers to be found from the downward side to compliment the terrace story. That will be all for now.
Hey Nick, absolutely love your videos. As a studen of evolution, it is amazing to see the parallels to geology. In fact one of the things I love so much, is the way you draw parallels too; especially from planetary level events to your local geography. On this topic, the following lecture from the Royal Tyrell Museum on the end Permian extinction event suggests that flood volcanism ignited coal and left a footprint in the stone of mercury amongst other pollutants: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VnUq33HCLzU.html. First I hope you will be as fascinated by the content as me. Second, has this ignition of flamable rock layers happened with any evidence on any smaller scales you know of? I really can't state how much I admire your videos, both as a scientist myself, but also someone whos chief goal is to become a good communicator of it to all generations.
Glacial lake terraces: The mound near the water you couldn't identify with course rocks, I'm thinking it might be wherw the developers put the debre that was shaved off the terraces
