"Old" Yellowstone in southern Idaho: amazing deposits of pyroclastic flows from explosive eruptions 

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I'm thrilled learning about OLD Yellowstone. It really is a progression of eruptions.

Another person who finds this fascinating. The diagram explanations followed up by real life illustrations are very illuminating.

Shawn Willsey is one of my favorite RU-vid geology teachers!

Awesome explaination of what you are showing us professor. You, Nick Zentner and Myron Cook have taught me so much on the geology of the Pacific Northwest that I soon expect my mind to explode!

Great video. Fascinating. It is nice to see beautiful landscapes, but if you can see the story told by the rocks, it adds so much! Explained so clearly. Thank you.

I didn't mind the "longer" video. Great explanation of these extremely interesting deposits. Old "yeller" left us something really worth seeing. Great video.

Big words always impress the Ladies. good advice, thanks Shawn.

Love the level of detail and descriptions you use, its just right to understand the subject without being too little or too much for me personally. Thank you

Best explanation of geological procexxes i have seen. The physical examples make the explanations much better.

Thoroughly enjoyable. My Masters degree in geology concentrated in clastic sedimentology - and we didn't have volcanics in Louisiana. So all of this was new to me. Loved it. Thanks

These talks are fantastic! I travel to Idaho nearly every summer (from Ohio) to hike and climb. The geology is fascinating. Now I understand it better. Thanks!

Fascinating! Browns Bench "obsidian" was very popular with the paleolithic and archaic Native Americans of the Great Basin, all the way south to at least Delta UT. When you work it into an arrowhead it clearly isn't an obsidian, but can certainly hold an edge like it is. I would love to go back in time and hang out with those guys and explain how it's a rheomorphic ignimbrite! I would be the coolest guy they know! 😁

Shawn! So good to hear your voice and see your smiling face! I met my wife in your 2005(?) CSI geology class. My first trip to Southern Utah and the Grand Canyon was with your class and you guided my efforts to apply to ISU where I eventually graduated with a Masters in Biology. Thank you for all you have done for us and allll the students you have supported. Thank you for sharing your love of geology with the interested minds of Idaho! hope you are doing well friend!

Second time I have watched this vid, I enjoyed it 3 months ago, even more this time round. Thanks for your efforts from the UK.

What an amazing video Shawn. Thank you so much for educating us!! Please don't stop posting

I love binge watching your videos! Your so easy to understand and the places you visit are so close to home! Thank you for taking the time to make these awesome videos💚

Really like these longer vids, rheomorphic ignimbrite, definitely a new one to me, lol

I appreciate your illustrations. You tailor them to explain views you subsequently present which helps illustrate the subject. I’m learning a lot. Thanks.

This was a great learning experience! Thanks

Lots of new words to learn. Love the folds. Thanks Shawn.

these geology treks are awesome !

Excellent! I love the enthusiasm and the knowledge!!

Fascinating how a hot enough pyroclastic flow can kind of turn back into "lava" when pressed under itself! I can't even begin to imagine the utter scale of those super-eruptions...

Really informative, and those isoclinal folds are spectacular

That was pretty dang cool. What a beautiful spot. Some day, I’m going to need to do a nice long road trip…

Thank you for your work and making it accessible. Such a privilege

That is so helpful! Thank you for bringing geology to life!!!!!

Excellent video. Thanks. Yes, your diagrams are helpful 👏. Fascinating topic. Your hard work , Shawn, is greatly appreciated

If I remember correctly, the Bruneau area was once over the Yellowstone Hotspot, We were out there a couple years ago visiting in Mtn Home. We went out by the USAF bombing range and there is a canyon with some signs telling about the area. The rocks look totally different. It would be cool to hear your explanation about the formation of this area. Thank you for your videos explaining rocks and minerals. I have spent a lot of time in the mountains and am intrigued by how we think they formed and the rocks that make them up. The folds that I have seen throughout my travels in the Rocky Mtns make me wonder how that happened and the amount of energy.

Very intriguing!You explain things well Shawn 🌟

Thanks for another great geology lesson, with easy-to-remember diagrams and instant real-life reinforcement! The depth of the pyroclastic flows in the ignimbrite is both amazing and terrifying. The isoclinal folds are subtle at first, but the more you showed, the easier it was getting to pick them out. Maybe you should develop a special geology edition of Scrabble for all these great new terms...😁 Nice shirt, too!

Good video! Very informative.

Great video-thanks for making these videos for the public to learn from.

Amazing to think of the originally different characteristics of the rock all around you. (I couldn’t help thinking, “don’t slip!”) Your summation at the end is so true.

Very informative! Can't wait until my next Rabbit Springs geode collecting trip - will definitely take a ride to Salmon Falls to look at this interesting geology.

Amazing video Shawn 👊

I had taken your geology class during your first or second year as a professor at CSI. One student asked the question, how do we know there was no/low oxygen on earth in the past? This video is great. First give some background on how the rock layers got there. Then give diagrams and definitions for us to follow along with. And finally giving proof through visual observations.

What an amazing video!!!! Absolutely fabulous Shawn! Keep posting and educating!

Absolutely awesome video and certainly very informative and educational adding so much more to my interest in geology having watched so many over the years of Nick Zentner and now you. I am actually in the process of building scenery for an HO scale train layout at my train club and even yesterday we painted many different colours on gouged out foam to represent much of the strata and layering that you show and describe. And having travelled all over the world including spending time in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho and the Wasatch geology and history is like doing a big jigsaw puzzle bringing answers to so many questions that our inquisitive minds ponder during our own journey through life (as a 71 year old). Your style of presentation is excellent and you certainly live in one of the beautiful places on this planet. In fact North America and it seems especially the US has so many geologists etc who have the knowledge and skills to present great RU-vid videos for us all to learn from. It would be interesting if more geologists in other areas of the world could also present their local findings in similar fashion but so far they have been hard to find. For example the Siberian Traps and the Deccan traps and indeed even the geology of the Victoria Falls and Iguazú Falls (I have been to both and several more). I incorporate all of these memories into my scenery skills at the train club layout. Regards and cheers from the Train Lord in South Australia a long way away from this epic action.

It’s absolutely gorgeous there. Definitely putting this on the road trip list. Very interesting video as always.

Fascinating, I'm still awed by the idea of seeing & touching something that's 10 million years old & that tells the story of how it was made. Thank you, you rock (bet you never heard that before!).

Excellent lesson there. Thanks for putting all that together.

Thanks Shaw, this segment helped solve a mystery for me, now I understand the origin of the flow structures I noticed in some float samples from the Caliente-Indian Peak caldera area. Here the layering is fine, just 1-2 millimeter but nicely folded and twirled!

Just awesome to watch and see. I drive up and down the Lewiston Hill and others places in the area quite a bit. Watching these videos, I can now better understand what I see. Thank you!

I mentioned in a previous video that I'm reminded of the HBO program "From the Earth to the Moon" and in particular the show titled "Galileo Was Right" -- one of my two favorite shows in the series. In it, geologists Lee Silver and Farouk El-Baz teach the Apollo astronauts how to read the landscape and identify the various rock types they might encounter. The actor who played Lee Sliver, I forget his name, portrayed the geologist-as-teacher beautifully. I think we've found the one of the geologists to teach the next generation of astronauts to read the landscape. Oh, my second favorite show from the series is "Spider" -- about the Grumman team that designed and built the LEM. Both episodes are deeply inspiring...

Very excited to see the Grey's Landing ignimbrite on a RU-vid thumbnail! I did my master's project on this eruption

Mahalo for sharing!!!! This was a wonderful video. Your diagrams were perfect!

Nice job showing the layers and the inner workings of the caldera,I am a firm believer of geology in the field.Bretz teachings were short lived by the educational system in Washington state due to pressure to teach in a classroom.Well done sir

Simply brilliant

You are correct, sir: fascinating. Thank you.

Beautiful... I have made many a trip into the Jarbidge Wilderness with my Friend Lowell Prunty and have always been taken back by the natural order of this awesome area..

Great video! Thank you! We really enjoy your work

♥️🌋, so interesting, loved the curvy rocks. I bet you and the family had a lovely time hauling those rocks home!! haha, done that a couple times myself. Wished I had a burrow.

Is there such a thing as Andesitic Tuff? Fabulous scenery, fabulous commentary, fabulous stratigraphy shown. I still dont know how things stick together with great heat. Too technical for me. Keep up the good work sir. Many thanks.

FANTASTIC " VIDEO ! Thanks 4 Posting! Cheers from Lewis County"jd

Hi Shawn, This is really great! It helps to answer quite a few questions I have had about some of the igneous rock formations that I have encountered in the Hagerman valley area! Thank you! ...You are the best!!!

It is SOOOOOO helpful to be able to see what is being talked about right there in the field. And, of course, your natural teaching ability helps even more. And the diagrams are great! They totally clarify what you are explaining. Thank you RU-vid for a recommendation that I actually REALLY like!!! I would LOVE to see you do the San Francisco Bay Area in California which is the wreckage of a subduction zone that has been sliced and diced by the San Andreas fault zone. I live here and am trying to understand the big picture. Your ability to explain what can be seen is some of the best I have ever seen.

I like the 2ne model, it recognizes the physics of fluid flow.

Awesome video explaining them layers. Always found that fascinating and usually look when I see them on trips.

This is mad interesting, thank you 🎉🎉🎉

Trying to imagine what it was like when these layers were first laid down is pretty horrific. Thanks.

Great presentation. Watch that ledge.

Absolutely brilliant.

The diagrams are very helpful.

Great communicator!

Thanks for the great video

Wow that's awesome, great information 👍

Thank You for this! Great explanation.

Wow! That was incredible! Thank you for the tour and great explanations.

Love your videos - thank you for making geology so clear and interesting.

Excellent! So informative.

A fantastic explanation. Really fascinating. Thankyou!

Thank you for your explanations.

such a good teacher. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and obvious passion .

Just imagine if these sorts of events occurred today. The earth is so much more calm than it was just a few million years ago. Thanks for the great lesson as always.

Absolutely fascinating! And explains many things I’ve wondered about. Thanks so much!

Great video; thanks for posting.

“Wow, your gravy flows like rheomorphic iignimbrite…”. things to say over a holiday gathering…and hope no one’s a geologist. 🤣. Great description of volcanic flow other than basalt. Thanks!

fascinating thank you

Pyroclastic flow: terrorizing, but not for long.

Loved seeing a video from one of the older "Yellowstone" eruption sites. Very interesting, easier to see the geological structures with less vegetation.

What an excellent video!

i learned something new...thanks.

GREAT VIDEO THANK YOU!

Thanks!

Thank you in support of all things with geology it's a very good flight to jump into an ultralight and go to the end of the flow or close to it around halfway Oregon there are a lot of bubbles that have popped and they are sometimes 50 60 ft wide and great big Bowls in the middle of this flow it is such a beautiful sight to fly over this in an ultralight

Fascinating. Subscribed.🤓

Great video. Very simple and clear explanation.

I could see a few folds they looked pretty Awesome. One you pointed at and one above. 👍

Awesome! Thank you so very much for this.

Awesome examples of folds!

Interesting! Thanks for showing us these amazing features.

Hey Shawn, such interesting stuff, geology of how things happened. Thanks.😊

XLNT -thank you!

This is great

Thank you for these amazing video !

Great video!

Thanks! Rheomorphic ignimbrite!!!

mindboggling---contact separation so visible