I thank the siblings for keeping this location unspoiled, and off limits to all but academic study. We need places which are unspoiled, both for wildlife, and also for study. I don't care if I never know where this is. It is good to know that it will be there for some time to come. It's an absolutely beautiful place too!
I enjoyed the fact that you are finding more issues to question about the geology by your Saddle Mountain “Walkabout”. This is why the internet is such a wonderful tool. We all get to experience your wonder as you explore the area! After watching this series, I will never stare at a rock the same way again!
I'm a Scotsman watching you from my home on the Greek island of Rhodes. In the 1990's I lived in southern Alberta for 5 years and then Spokane for 9 months. You're bringing back a lot of memories for me with your wonderful images and the stunning landscape around you. Thank you.
Mind blowing images. My wife and I are amateur geologists in flat Lincolnshire, England so this is a bit outside our experience! Thank you for taking the time to show the area and try and explain it. Speaking as a retired teaching couple the ability to explain complex science to a non specialist audience is a gift and you have it in spades. Keep up the videos, they are the highlight of our week.
Geology is like time travel movie of the past in you mind if you can picture it. Where each frame might be a year or a decade depending on the film speed. Picture rivers coming and going. Mountains growing and then withering of erosion. Topped of with the rare events every now and then.
This is one amazing site. SO much geology happening in this one area, that starts revealing more questions than answers. The fault scarp itself is nothing short of amazing; but finding the stratified layers at different elevations along the escarpment prompts some of the biggest questions -- like WHY, for one.
Thank you to the Siblings for sharing a glimpse of their beautiful land with all of us! I’m glad it’s private land and protected for now. Stunning area. And thanks to you Nick for your enthusiasm and wealth of knowledge! Love the reverence and awe I can hear in your voice.
What a stellar location, and such fantastic footage on the fly. Your unbridled enthusiasm and passion combined with your knowledge, experience, and open-mindedness is truly a treasure. Thank you so much for all the work that goes into sharing these 'lectures'. What a gift!
It 's like watching the video of sykecooley's the other saddle mountains internet blog. Great stuff to see here Nick. The land owners gave us all a tremendous gift of your visit.
I so appreciate the work you are doing here. You've taught me a lot about Saddle Mountain, even though I grew up in its shadow and as a boy I wandered all over the eastern end of it. You are no doubt aware of the massive slide that occurred during one of the Ice Age Floods, where five miles of the face of the mountain collapsed into the Crab Creek valley below. It left an exposed cliff with a ledge near the top where that tuff was exposed. We used to climb up there after school. People carved their names in the tuff. The oldest date was from the 1920s, and we found my dad's name and the names of some of his brothers, also carved in the 1920s. Erosion has probably removed them by now. There is a crevasse with columnar lava walls, the crack that resulted from the slide coming to a stand-still. I'd love to guide you through the area sometime.
What an amazing area. The only way to keep it pristine and untouched is to limit who can go there. Thank you for taking us along and sharing this amazing trip.
The steepness of Saddle Mtn is what will limit people from going there. Laziness is the answer to keeping the area pristine. Why does every area need to be "protected"? Do we fence people in corrals so they won't step on something pretty?
Wow, that was truly breathtaking. Formations laid out so clearly… But those brick coloured Basalt columns - why, why, why? Oh, for a handy drone. Thanks to the siblings and you, Prof. Z.
Thanks for bringing us along Nick! And for the land owners allowing you to explore. Beautiful scenery and of course more of the geologic story. Thank you!
"What did you do on your Friday night?" Oh... learned about remarkable central Washington geologic formations, incredible ash formations from relatively unknown Idaho supervolcano eruptions 11 million years ago, and the fascinating path of the Snake River 5 million years ago. Oh, and some absolutely incredible video to boot. Thank you so much for this. I'm a follower and fan now. Also, sure hope someone digs into the darker and duller red rock formations at the top. That's absolutely baffling.
Thank you Nick,, I got vertigo just by watching. The red brick colour comes from the red clay of the Piedmont here in central NC. There are 3 brick yards within 20 miles from here, Southmont NC.
Thoughts on the red basalt coloring: Could the ash have had moisture within it when the basalt covered it? The escaping steam could have mixed the ash with the "liquid" basalt in it's effort to escape. So you have red ash mixed within and secondary steam vesicles.
Absolutely stunning! What a great opportunity to bring it to us! It is good that it cannot be tramped over and assaulted! That red brick layer is beautiful and the 30 feet of Ash impressive! Thank you Nick always a pleasure to walk the land with you.
Thanks Nick for the views from Saddle Mountains, and the descriptions you provided. Please offer my thanks to the Brother-Sister team that brought you up there. . I was able to find the area on Google Earth, and your video brings it into better focus than a high-altitude view.
So cool! The beautiful bedforms you show indicate the Cougar Point Tuff was deposited in a lowland setting and reworked by flowing water. But the exposure is on the top of Saddle Mts today, elevated well above the modern Crab Ck Valley. The Saddle Mts uplift apparently did not form a topographic ridge at the time of the eruption (~11 Ma). And Ringold Fm overlies the tuff. Probably sediments of the upper part of the Ringold, which is also composed of lowland deposits that date to between ~5 and 3 Ma. So no ridge then either, at least not a high one. Did the rise of the Saddle Mts anticline occur entirely after 3 Ma? Whatever the answer, that's a spectacular place with killer geology. Thanks, Nick!
Thank you for and your friends for sharing this fantastic view and hike with us. What is the brick red layer at the top? Well when you figure it out, let us know. My God what a beautiful world to view during these weird difficult days. Be careful out by the edge. You make me nervous. Thanks again. We love you.
Wow. Just wow. Breathtaking views and amazing geology. Thank you Nick and the siblings to make this possible. I could sit there for days on end just being amazed by the views, the layers and the offset in height caused by the fault. I think I am in love. No. I KNOW I am. A visit to Washington State is definitely on my bucket list.
I have to laugh…when I heard you say “walking on Ringol” my mind brought up the song “I’m walking on sunshine, woo woo, I’m walking on Sunshine, woo woo, I’m walking on sunshine, woo woo and don’t it feel good!!” You bring so much passion, enthusiasm and knowledge to the study of geology that it just takes us all along! Like an ice age lake blasting through!! Thanks, really enjoy these videos!
I was across Saddle Mountain for ARCO doing geochemical sampling in the early 1980s. ARCOs geophysicists out of Denver were convinced there was deep gas at 10-12k feet under the mount.
@@churlburt8485 I cannot remember. But does seem right. I do remember being red-lined out the area near the borehole. Those years I did other work for ARCO that was dogging behind Shell. I was there in 84 and the rig was stacked out, taken down and left on the one ranch. And there was a fee dispute. It wasn't going anywhere. There were a lot of operators running on empty that time. I also remember there was a wire tap crime on the phone line from the rig and the perp was facing trial. Typically, I had no idea of the results of my sampling.
Excellent video, again. I love the Saddle mountain area. I was wondering if the red color, which is present across both layers, is from hydrothermal alteration. The area might have been very wet when the basalt flood occurred, causing both the red coloration and the vesicles in the basalt.
Nick is the only silver lining from pandemic. Thank you so much I wished could've studied under you. Amateur you cannot kill huge love of nature. Earth is so awesome!
Spectacular!! So appreciate the family for opening up their property to you. Many thanks to you for sharing your exploration and awe with us. Yellowstone tuff. Ye Gads. Almost incomprehensible!! Went up Alder Gulch on a tour 5 years ago and the guide commented that we'd be toast if Yellowstone blew. Was hard to understand the meaning of mega volcano then You are putting it into reality. Again, thanks for sharing With us. Looking forward to learning more about the vesicles in the red tuff onSaddle Mtn.
Your concern about private land, while understandable in the American context, makes me glad we now have the "right to roam" where we like -- more or less -- in the UK. It existed in Scotland for a long time and was introduced in England in the early 2000s.
Absolutely incredible scenery Nick! Very gracious of the brother and sister for their willingness in letting you access their property. Really weird colour of that top layer of rock over the ash.
Thats a return trip with ropes and science, what a view!!! Thanks for your enthousiasm, greetings from a under sealevel alluvian plain dweller. ( northwest in the Netherlands) Cheers!
Spectacular. Some observations: - Basalt flow moves horizontally over soft ash bed that settled vertically. Vastly different Moh numbers when cooled. - Hot basalt can drag contaminants from elsewhere and embed in established ash formation. - Newer basalt moves horizontally over older, cold basalt that moved likewise. Similar Moh numbers. - Heat transfer mechanism must be significantly different: hot basalt over cold ash vs. hot basalt over cold basalt. Don't have a quantified theorem to present here but the above might be pieces of a model.
What an amazing location! Pretty awesome to be there, so to speak, while Nick discovers elements of the geology that surprise him. Thanks for letting us be surprised with you, Nick!
This is fabulous and it's terrific to see it better. What incredibly curious colors and formations. Thank you so much and to the siblings. Funny, I'm near Bruneau for a couple days to check out geology via the Roadside Guides. Next, COTM, Dillon area for a few days then North. 👍😍
Hi Nick, just now getting to watching this video. Sitting here with my third grade daughter and really enjoyed this one. This was one of my favorites, maybe because I appreciate you sharing this access with us, and because of the thoughtful commentary as you observe this place for the first time. We loved hearing what you were noticing and wondering about. Have a nice holiday season. Cheers from Boulder, CO.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful view. Your insights are pure gold! It appears the varying colored basalts are separate flows from assorted volcanic sources, at the same level. I’ve always marveled at the results of tectonic activity along thrust and slip faults. This is one of the finest examples I’ve seen anywhere. I’m just an amateur geology fan, but am seeking to educate myself in retirement. Your field trips and lectures are helping greatly Sir! Although, now in central Texas, I’ve ridden my MC through these areas a number of times over the last 20 years. The geology of our northwestern States are some of the most fascinating in our Nation!
Thanks for carrying us along for this breathtaking experience. The first things I ever collected as a kid were "pretty rocks." I've never outgrown that fascination, and I appreciate sitting in on your RU-vid field lectures.
Thank you Nick! You have helped me to understand how and why. Keep up the great shows. I live near the Sweetgrass hills in northern Mt. Always wondered how they came to be, Now I have an idea how. Thank You!
Wow Prof. Nick, mind-boggling! Thanks to the siblings too. The Bruneau-Jarbidge supervolcano created by the Yellowstone hotspot was truly prolific. It also buried animals 1000 miles downwind in NE Nebraska at Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park.
That whole area is rife with questions man It drives my mind crazy lookin at it It was really cool of those two lettin' ya wander around And takin' us with ya'
This is the first time in a while I've checked out your channel. I chose a good time to check back in. The almost 12ma tuff and the general landscape there in central Washington State are super interesting. I'd love to drive through that area. Thanks to the owners of the property for allowing access.
Appreciate the amazing view! Even if I could get up there I'd never be able to get that close to the edge of the cliff without a very well secured cable and safety harness 🙃
Oh! WoW. Oh! WoW. OH! WOW! That has got to be one of the most beautiful Vistas I have ever seen! I love watching your videos. Stay safe and well. God Bless.
This was super awesome, thank you. The colour changes remind me of what happens in pottery kilns with different glazes and heat exposures, the transitions are very comparable.
I agree, those are pretty spectacular views, but the former Snake and Yellowstone business is also very interesting. Rather dramatic clouds help the visuals. Even if it was public, it'll all be dry and a lot less green when I'm there in August. I hope you took a sample of that brick-red basalt back to the lab at CWU to investigate further. Thanks!
I'm glad this spot is Not accessible to the public, it wouldn't look as it does now. *Thanks So Much for showing it!* The Winds over Sahara Desert were blowing sands towards WNW - ish, about [that] time to leave Red. ?? lol i ask too. WHAT A Beast of a VIEW! Just *Glorious! Cheers to All!*
Really enjoyed this one. Thanks for the filming and the commentary. What a wonderful escarpment due to thrust faulting (I think). The cross bedding in that tuff was spectacular; I love the analogy of the snow-drift. Unsure about the red hue, but I agree with your idea that it perhaps came later, diagenesis. Thanks again Professor.
Wow! What a beautiful peaceful areas there. I respect and honored that its private land. Thank u for showing us all a beautiful views.! I am learning alot from u Nick.. My name is Amy. I have been to gorgeous Yellowstone twice in 2 years. Love the gorgeous Yellowstone national park! That's a beautiful tuff color.!
Hello from south Louisiana. What a beautiful exposure of that ash fall. Thanks for taking the time to share the amazing geology up in your neck of the woods.
This was a magnificent episode Nick. Thank you. The geology just staggers the mind. The total times pan visible is astounding. That the Yellowstone ash traveled so far, and do much of it invites disbelief yet believe we must. The science is there proving the theories. Thank you. Thanks to the siblings as well, for taking you there. Such an opportunity. What a blessing.
