I wish you had been one of my professors when I minored in geology back in the 1960s. Your explanations are incredible. I think I'll subscribe right now.
This is actually my hometown. Although I now live in Colorado. And I played as a kid in these canyons a lot, camp at the state park right there and of course surf just offshore right there. Lots a good memories. And now Turbidets! Who knew.
Makes me want to get back to college and learn more! But these videos hold my attention a lot longer than previous teachers I've had. Keep up the good work and thanks for your knowledge!
The proto-North American shoreline back in the 200-65 MYA period was actually on a W-E axis down at the equator, near the famous Chixilub asteroid hit, ... and that it eventually rotated the North American craton clockwise into its current N-S axis. All of the western lands and seashore of the Sierra Nevada California, and Cascades of Oregon and Washington State were scraped and shaped into its current geological strata by the North American continental craton and the many Pacific Ocean tectonic plates pushing up against the craton. All of these events happened with the rotating and interacting North American craton pushing south and west, while the old Pacific Northwest Farallon plate of (Alaska/British Columbia) Explorer Plate, the (British Columbia/Washington/Oregon) Juan de Fuca plate, and the (Oregon/California) Gorda Plate are pushing north and east causing all of the Pacific Northwest events. The Pacific plate is the biggest tectonic plate on the planet ! The plate's western boundary is as far west as the Hawaiian islands hotspot chain. The Pacific plate is a transform boundary plate that extends from Mendocino, northern California down to the Baja (and further south) that is pushing north and west against the North American craton that is the history- and geology-maker part of this vid and its turbidite events. The Pacific plate is moving at ~3-4 inches/year to the north and west, while the North American craton is moving at the lesser ~1 inch/year to the west and west-southwest. As such the resulting movement appears as northwest, with the North American plate moving to the southeast. All of the Nevada, Arizona, and California Sierra Nevada mountains and the coastal lands were creating by these 2 huge monster plates. The mountains were pushed up, the Central Valley of a once-interior sea, the western coastal hills range were part of crumbling and crunching (still happening !) the upper surface of the Pacific plate under the North American craton. All of the many San Francisco to southern California fault lines are part of this fractured brute of the Pacific plate. These MASSIVE forces and fault line disruptions created the massive undersea fault earthquakes, tsunamis, canyon falls, land floodings, and massive geological uplifts pushing the ancient seabed into its current 200+ feet elevantion of shoreline, and that of the Sierras up to 12,000 feet. The many ancient (now gone) rivers of the glacial melting of the Sierra Nevada mountain mini-glaciers, snows, and (once) glacial lakes created further outwashings of flash floods, and such turbidites out into the sea. California is one massive geological catastrophic area - and continues to be.
Our SoCal geology is complex and fascinating and your videos are much appreciated. I was pleasantly surprised to see the comment by Nick Zentner as I watch his videos as well. (Nick needs to come down for a visit so the two of you can geologically evaluate an area together.)....subscribed.
Again, so nice being able to correlate things I've read about on blogs and articles (turbidity currents, often mentioned in dating Cascadia Earthquakes) to formations near home I've actually seen.
Another great video!!! Thank you for these!! From Missouri and was stationed at MCAS Tustin in 90s, always loved Geology. Was actually in a 50ft hover during a Northridge aftershock.
Excellent video! I enjoyed it a lot. Those "clastic dikes" are called Injectites! They form by over pressure of the sand that is surrounded by impermeable bottom and top shales. Burial promotes compaction and the fluid inside the sand cannot be expelled. Some times one or both shales pop and the soft sediment in the sand gets injected inside of the cracks created during the pop.
The massive depth of each of these layers either speaks of siltation from the coastal land, ... or (also) such catastrophic events of plate boundary slip (Juan de Fuca slip) that would case a massive tsunami racing back up the pre-Ice Age continental shelf, and all debris on the lower boundary of the continental shelf and continental slope would be shaved off instantly and shoved with massive volume back up onto the coastal land and shallow sea shoreline. The numbers and depths of these layers show that these events aren't a singular uniformitarian timeline, but that catastrophic events (even like meteor and asteroid hits) would create further tsunamis, and super volcano explosions in paleontological time would also create such tsunamis. The depths of these turbidite layers show an activity from the North America craton being at the equator and turning into its present location, would have several jerks and slips as the craton and Pacific plate get into its current position. All of the previous Central Valley of an former coastal shoreline, then the coastal mountain range was uplifted and the San Andreas etc fault lines were created. Such uplifts and fracturing would also create their own massive geological disruption that would generate seaward tsunamis racing outwards, but then having to come back inland. With all of these events and a long exposed coastal and shallow seabed, desertification and the spreading of sand and silt across these turbidite beds also speaks of continuous uplifts and downward movements of land with huge landscape changes. Uplift and water rushing away toward the sea, downward plunge and a landward tsunami racing inland, ... this flat land, much like the East Coast with its very shallow seabed ... 40 miles off North Carolina is barely 100 feet deep ... would/could have very dramatic results.
Found your channel and subscribed a few days ago. I’ve enjoyed your entertaining way of explaining geologic features and have learned a lot! As a SoCal resident and rockhound (mainly fossils) I really appreciate the great information.
I've been surfing in front of these cliffs for years and years, always wondered about the geology and how old they are. They always appeared as if I would see Pterodactyl dinosaurs nesting in the cliffs. Can you do an episode about Ortega falls area? great content, being from O.C. I love learning about my home town geology!
I ve been to that area, great place. I like to recommend to have some footage of the surrounding area to get a better idea of the geology and possibly to visit.
@@geologicallyspeaking That San Clemente site is a perfect turbidite classroom. Before that, I thought turbidites were a more specific size of sediment, but now I see it's any deposit from a slope failure. CA has awesome geology.
Thank you Todd for a great explanation of this geology. I'm a plein air landscape painter and I'm going to paint out at Red Rock Canyon (hwy14) soon with the knowledge you presented here. I know with this knowledge, I'll be able to paint that magnificent landscape better.
It would be really interesting to find the dates of these turbid events, as they were all under-ocean, and how they would be related to offshore ring of fire earthquakes, onshore tsunamis, underwater canyon flows, and massive land flash floods. These turdity events would have to have been (at least !) 200 feet under seawater. Now uplifted 100-200+ feet as dry shoreline speak of some very raucous times of geological pressures and disruptions !
California hosts a plate boundary. Plate boundaries are violently deformed. It just happens in slow motion. Most turbidites I have heard of took place during a low sea level. This exposed the continental shelves to the elements and the coastlines advanced all the way to the continental slopes (the steep edges of continents), which had a steep enough gradient that would generate significant subsea landslides. This means a remarkable amount of uplift.
This is a favorite beach and happened to stop there for a walk Jan. 21, 2023 to see the low tide. About how long ago were these turbidites formed? There does not seem to be any fossils embedded in these layers. What was happening on-shore around this time period?
You have a geologist looking right at ancient tree rings, and for all his efforts in college, all he got was lies….all of us did. It’s okay. The truth is in plain sight, on my channel. Thanks for the excellent film quality. And, you’re welcome! 😊
All laid down during the flood recorded in Genesis the fact is we have layers the interpretation varies your interpretation is it was laid down over millions a year and uplifted my interpretation it was laid down by a global flood recorded in Genesis an I witness account
You were my inspiration to add those to my backpack! Saw your clastic dike presentation on Nick Zentner's RU-vid and thought that was such a cool tool to have when looking at delicate sediments. I added a Nejiri Gama Hoe as well!!! I love them! Thanks for the inspiration.
