I'm just some guy in Puget Sound on Tiger Mountain with no background in geology, but after binge watching your videos I've put together the entire geohistory of my own back yard and neighborhood, which happens to include several granite glacial erratics, carried all the way down from BC. The largest of which is the size of a van. You make rocks interesting, Nick. That's quite a gift.
Given that the current Glacial Age began approximately 3MY (1) it seems obvious that there were prior large floods in the PNW as well as other regions. 1) In the Northern Hemisphere st any rate. In the Southern Hemisphere we need to go back around 34MY to when permanent ice sheets bagan to form over Antarctica. This shows just how important Plate Tectonics and the arrangement of continental landmasses is to having glacial conditions.
I graduated from Central in 1979 with a minor in geology. Good memories of field trips with Dr. Ralph Higgins and Dr. Don Ringe. Central was a great place to get out and look at geological features. Nick's videos really are enjoyable at explaining many things I wondered about but never got around to exploring.
I'd like to hear more about this ~780,000 year old mega flood. That lines up real well with the Mid-Pleistocene Transition and the AA Tektite field formation.
Well, you taught me that the earth has been in an ice age for the last 3 million years with 33 glacial advances and retreats. The latest glacial advance about 16,000 years ago. With an average cycle time of roughly 100,000 years, this deposit wudda been about 10 cycles ago if one million years old. We are lucky to have this example of older flood deposits. Thanks, Nick.
Thanks a heap for making these videos. Literally better than Game of Thrones because you actually get answers to mysteries instead of wondering what it was really all about.
I love Karl's field guides!!!! 😍👍 They are stand alone wonderful resources that answer all sorts of questions about so many wonderful places. Thank you Nick for pointing out this site and getting us to think about the older floods.
I would love for Nick to talk about the entire geology of the United States, or the entire continent of north America. I don't even have an interest in pacific northwest geology, but Nick makes it interesting.
That property is owned by the Grant County Public Works, not to say that the land is open to the public. I absolutely love Nicks videos and have been following him for years. He really made me think about the land in a very different way.
I really enjoy your lectures and field trips. I was a member of the Rochester academy of sciences in the mid 70's as a teenager. I've been at least a rockhound/geologist since then. I now reside in Hawaii, on Hawaii. I just went on a Palm Society trip 2 weeks ago and two days ago went to the guides personal garden. You remind me of him so much. You are informative and speak at a level that is easy to understand. Thanks.✨✨✨✨🌟
When I came to the PNW in 2013 to follow the floods from Missoula to the Pacific Ocean a guide led me to a similar deposit but it was beside a road cut. Some where I have a bag with a rock that is at least 780,000 years old.
Great site. It looks like you've found a site that can tell some stories from the deeper past. The color differences are very stark. And it's obviously a fluvial deposit in the lower region. It looks like flood and river at the top, then a lake or aquifer combined with volcanism in the middle over many thousands of years, and fluvial at the lower. It looks like you can even go older and deeper below. It looked like river cobles in the lower level. When you opened a coble with your hammer it was strange to me. It looked like a conglomerate rock like you'd find in a cemented rock made from flash floods, but one that had then been ground smooth by a river over time. And it had many colors. It was not a dense, consistent tone like every river coble I've ever seen. So it must be from an old river with cobles of different formation than what we are used to in the past 1 million years or so. I'm not a geologist. I'm just a commenting out loud. I know nothing.
Thanks for the great info about older ice age floods Nick! That is close enough that I can easily make a little excursion, and will be excited to learn of any other old flood deposits on the plateau. Now we will all be on the lookout for calcrete and cobbles, lol.
Nick on the rocks!!! I lived nearby down in Crescent Bar (2006-2008) and really miss all the awesome geography in and around Grant County, thanks for the videos🤙🏼
Hmm...😏How are those seemingly much older Ice Age Floods outcrops found under Calcrete meaningful in telling about the much bigger picture of the Ice Age Foods is the question, yep!!💗✨
Hey Nike, Are you attending the GSA festivities in Reno later this month? I’m hoping to pop in to see some exhibits if any are open to the public. My granddaughter is graduating from UNR about the same time as the GSA events. If you are attending, say hello to Stacia and thank her for being a guest on your RU-vid channel.
I am here on my tractor planting wheat in Queensland Australia listening to and watching your wonderful videos and lectures wishing I had been a geologist!
I get the impression that the Cordilleran Ice Sheet grew passively through expanding areas of built up snowfall, instead of flow, like that of glaciers; but with glaciers interconnected creating flows within the passive expansion.
Just viewed the nova presentation on Mammoth finds and neanderthal tools in an ancient river bed (section of old river Thames )during the iceage.Dated 215000 yrs. Gosh, now you have directed our attention to an ancient iceage flood in George Washington.
More, more. This is very satisfying. No matter which aspect of origin is the discussion of the day its all tied together and part of our future understanding. Thanks Nick. You are a great teacher but even better you are making me think and ponder other than telling me what to think. Allowing someone to come to conclusion can bring unexpected results...confidence in oneself is important and going through the mental process is mandatory. Told knowledge is not necessarily learned knowledge.
Just looked up George, it's right by The Gorge! Also that community Wanapum that's tucked down in the river valley is a pretty cool little slice. Looks like a village that should be in Norway.
Perhaps the authorities should be notified about the smell of decomposing something in the gravel pit. They could bring a canine (cadaver) unit to locate the source of the foul smell. Might not be anything nefarious but it might be.
Went past George several times as a kid when we visited Oregon relatives when I lived near Seattle. Never got to stop, though. That was a fun late night snack when I got back from work tonight! Lots of food for thought....Thanks, Nick!
Nick, I like the way you ask questions in order to shed light on the geological past. Crazy Eozene, Baja BC and now 1MA flood deposits. Love it! If I was young again and had to make a choice again for a meaningful education, I would pick Geology instead of a military career as I did. Thanks for your insights!
I've been through there Cryin' shame folks dump trash off on somebody's property like that. Thought it had some interesting features Thanks for the rundown Nick P.S You can find those types of deposits all through the Coulee and Okanagan ranges
Fascinating. May bear comparison with similar exposed layers I've seen in southern California's Moreno Valley (city of Riverside outskirts, in the vicinity of March AFB and the national cemetery). But, hurry! The area is succumbing more and more to suburban expansion. Indeed, many features I remember from the 60s and 70s have gone or been relegated to yard features, preserved by developers in a very few cases.
Hmmm… I've been very interested in the whole "Ice Age Floods" story, and have visited several of the more well-known sites in person, though I live 1,500 miles east. What if 14,000 to 17,000 years ago won't tell us everything that's worth knowing about long-ago floods in Washington. Isn't the bedrock basis of science in general, and certainly geology, the asking of questions? Keep asking those questions, Professor…
Hiya Nick, a big thank you, I love your work and am grateful for your depth of exploration!!!! You helped me keep grounded through quarantine and give me great ideas to teach my third graders ... especially that Missoula Floods animation!!! The kids love it!!! I did a soil sample lab with them, would love to to share it with you!!!!
I used to do construction work in that area and remember digging in that stuff! It was noticeably different than glacial till in Seattle area and other Washington jobsites I worked.
A newer relative dating of bombardment depth by cosmic rays can bracket dates, makes an erosional rind by locale, 1st used to sequence moraines a flash. Great site 🍺
As usual, an interesting video. The 'older' floods are an under-told area of discussion. Here's a regional idea for you: An series of videos outlining the geologic history of the Columbia basin after the CRB up to the start of the "Missoula" floods. You've done bits an pieces over the years: the wanderings of the Columbia River, loess, Yakima fold-thrusting, calcrete, Ringold formations and lakes. I'd watch it!
Found it by the new name. Marine Isotope Stage 11, from 424 to 374 thousand years ago, right after a pretty intense Wisconsin class ice age, MIS 12. A flood from that seems very reasonable. 😉 Being from central Wisconsin I believed in the ice age before I believed in geology. It wasn't until I came out west that I actually saw rocks in layers. Home was sand and miscellaneous rocks piled up on granite bedrock.
Being from the SE part of the State the geology is even more boring. Glacial Moraine and Drumlins. Along with lakes formed from left behind chunks of glacier. Was up in Door County last month and you can definitely see the layers of limestone just below the surface. The most interesting thing by me is I'm about a mile from Lake Michigan while about three or four miles from a sub continental divide.
Interesting. I looked up Kansan Glaciation jest now and discovered that and the Nebraskan have been formally dissolved and it's all pre-Illinoian now. Going from memory of David Archer's book, ( The Long Thaw) I recall a very long interglacial about 400,000 years ago. That might have enough time to make the caliche.
Actual new ground! It must be exciting to be exploring these deposits and putting the pieces together. It (CWU) must be a great place to study earth science
What I don't fully understand is how all those rocks can get that rounded during a flood. Wouldn't the flood have to rush along for thousands of years, to get those cobbles and boulders that rounded? Thanks so much, NIck.
Thank you, Professor Nick. I love geology so much and look at the landscape with a deeper respect since I have been watching/studying with you on RU-vid. And I like how you start every chalkboard diagram with a Sunny Day!
Im an avid rockhounder on the southern washington coast. Its facinating to me how the floods deposited layers all the way out here, and you can find the different ones by seeing the different matrix of rocks. Its cool for example, all the sudden you will start finding tons of quartzite and then keep walking for hours and not see any.... Im really curious about the floods/pleisticene gravels here on the coast..
I'm left wondering why the earlier, older Spokane glacial advances and floods were so different from the more recent Wisconsin episodes? If Lake Chelan was dug by lobes of the older Spokane advances, is there anything around Lake Chelan worth looking at again?
*_Interesting back story of older mega floods... it happened before, can it happen again?_* Have some not so fond memories of thick Caliche. Lived on a farm in Selah and needed to build fences. Lucky if there was 2 feet of soil above hardpan layer. If not enough soil, breaking through the cemented layer was near impossible even with a rock bar and post hole digger. Dynamite would have been preferred method if available. *_I tell people I live in the 'other' Washington (state)..._*
@@Grandpa82547 Thanks for comment... Grandpa's are pretty smart. Back in the old days anyone could buy Dynamite. Had friend with large ranch with their own quarry. He brought over a stick and some caps. Cut into (4) 1/4 sticks, dropped into 4 starter holes, backfilled, then set them off. It broke up the hardpan enough to get the rock bar through. I only had to dig 20 more the hard way...
Nick, l doubt that Grant County would deny you and your classes access to the site. As long as you sign waivers. The "visitors" to the site that they would likely seek to keep out are those engaged in night time activity.
Yay! Thanks! and especially for integrating with the recent excursions into "cooleycrete" AND, just a stray thought, anyone delving into where in the world all tthe calcium is coming from that infiltrates the paleosol above the (what will become) calcrete?
So I wondered why those coulees were so deep. Is it possible that an earlier melt of ice age ice occured ( > 100,000 yrs) when the basalt flows were occuring and water flows actually cooled basalt flows in those places and destroyed them? That may explain why the huge difference in height from surrounding land and the coulee base level. Boy I would have loved to see if that was even a possibility! Hot flows of basalt moving slowly and being hit by the rapidly moving high water flows streaming 3000 feet above them! The results were what was left and Nick just visited one of those places.
Nick, this was not your most picturesque field location you’ve streamed from. The strewn garbage, broken fences, and boring colored dry arid rocks were not pretty. Geology is not always about streaming from panoramic field sites. But, this brief streamed video definitely added more food for thought to the ongoing narrative called The Ice Age Floods.
