The Ancient Volcano in California; Sutter Buttes 

Wow as someone who lives within Yuba City and Sutter it's so cool to see the buttes get some attention.

To me, it is quite interesting that Sutter Buttes started its lifespan by erupting rhyolite and then moved to less viscous lavas. Usually the opposite occurs in volcanic systems.

About 20 years ago, I was flying into Sacramento and the pilot pointed out the "smallest mountain range." It really is cool to see from the air. If he said the actual name, I'd long forgotten it, so thanks for this! Mystery solved.

Thank you... I've been waiting for this one...I live in Chico,and have a great view of the buttes

I've Drilled 100's of irrigation wells on the north side of the Sutter Buttes, the amount of water there is greater, and at a more shallow depth than anywhere else in the Sacramento Valley!

I live in Oroville 15 miles north of the buttes, there such a beautiful site to see they are so Ominous. I’m really glad you made a video on them!!

I live five miles from the Buttes. There is a Scenic Way all around them. One of my kiddos favorite pass times is to take the drive around it. It's only about 35 miles to take the loop, but since most of the speed limits are 25-45 mph, it will take you well over an hour. Like was stated above, most of the land is privately owned, but some, parts of Peace Valley, has been sold to the State in hopes of creating a State park someday. The absolute best time for the drive is in the late winter through spring, when the slopes are all green. Last thought: Since it commands the local area, every person that I have talked to that has grown up here, always says that when you can see the Buttes, you know you are home.

been waiting a LONG time for this mountain to be talked about

was always wondering about that random mount in the middle of otherwise flat land in california

My family moved to roughly between Sacramento and Sutter Buttes when I was 11, and it was always a majestic sight off to the north from the Central Valley floor while growing up. Nice to finally learn more about it!

One of the best parts of doing my cross country solos for my pilots license was flying past the buttes. What a view!

Keep up the good work. There are so many obscure and isolated volcanoes to be found.

Those of us who drive I-5 in Northern California will know this feature as it sits just east of the Colusa area and lights up spectacularly during sunsets. I’ve driven by this geographic oddity many times but never knew what it was or where, exactly. Thanks for the great video!

I grew up near the Sutter Buttes. Another interesting thing about them is the diversity of wildlife that lives there.

Growing up in the Sacramento Valley, the Sutter Buttes are still such a strong memory for me.

Do the Clear Lake volcano, I grew up there and Mt. Konocti was always there but I don't actually know a whole lot about its history. I know the geysers are still going as my old neighbor still works there after 30 plus years.

Several years ago when I lived in Oroville, I passed this two times a day on my way to and from work in Sacramento. Going home it was always a great sight, as seeing it meant I was close to home.

If you're covering extinct California volcanos, there is 'El Toro' which is just south of San Jose at the southern end of the Santa Clara valley, with the community of Morgan Hill at its base.

Awesome vid :D I'll have to try and make it there..about an hour away.

Growing up in Northern California, I recall a pilot who was flying and had his Autopilot set and of all places to crash his plane he managed to hit Sutter buttes, the only mountain range in the middle of the Sacramento Valley. Talk about bad luck ☹

Always fascinated by the Sutter Buttes whenever driving by. Down where I am the "Seven Sisters" are the nearest string of old volcanoes. Morro Rock is apparently the farthest west though it is claimed a seamount could be another.

Anyone who has ever wondered how these buttes were formed should watch this video. Thanks for the video.

How about Castle Crags in Northern California?

I love driving past Sutter Buttes while driving north in I5. It looks so cool just sticking up by itself in the Central Valley.

Could you do one about the ancient Sibley Volcano up in the Berkeley hills (Berkeley,Ca)? Thanks.

Today the visibility was excellent as I drove west to my fishing spot on the Sacramento River. I’ve been in Yuba City since ‘63 and have camped and hiked when access was more relaxed. I miss those days.

Heading Down Highway 20 from Grass Valley in the Sierra Foothills, you see the Sutter Buttes ahead in the distance, clearly dwarfed by the much higher Snow Mtn (7056') and other summits of the Northern Coast ranges situated along the western skyline. They're an interesting contrast, and truly gorgeous right after Sunset.

These are always fun to look at as you pass by on I 5. They stick out like a sore thumb over the surrounding flat farmland lol

Wow, I’m doing a college report on this place and just got back from visiting there (I needed photos for the report) and this video is perfect, has all the right information. You go over everything so well. Though the buttes really are beautiful and getting to read the rock in person was so fun, I just wish it wasn’t surrounded by private land, you know. There should be some sort of public trail or something idk. Great video 👍

Within California are MANY towering extinct volcanoes. But yeah, Sutter stands out indeed, because it stands alone. I've passed it a few times heading up to Red bluff and back to the S.F. bay area. Out of nowhere, a mountain, soon to fade off in the distance behind you. But Sutter is 2000+ feet. Keep heading north and soon you will see 14,000 foot Mount Shasta: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Shasta

Thank you. Fascinating! i see the Sutter Buttes ever time i drop down from Mother Load country!:-)

I actually studied this on my own after looking at a map of California and being like.. hold up

I enjoy the videos talking about isolated/extinct volcanic features since the entire lifecycle of the system can be viewed. Are there any other features/plugs/systems that you would find interesting to cover in regions that people would not look at as volcanic today?

I lived in South Placer most of my life and I've driven by it a million times but never got into it. It's most are all in private property but there is hiking I just never got around to it but it is a very interesting formation.

Its isolation reminds me of the Crazy Mountains in Montana.

Yikes! You talked about a "magma intrusion" that almost reached the surface that is west of the Sutter Buttes. . . but you didn't say WHERE! Dang! I have visited the Sutter Buttes once or twice, it would be cool to know where this second possible volcano might have been. . . so. . . where was it? :-)

Lived near those (Chico area) 1979-1985 and 1988-1992. They are an unusual sight, indeed, there in the Sacramento Valley farmland. I miss that region.

Excellent! Superb mini-lecture on volcanism in California and Sutter Buttes in particular. The images and diagrams are relevant and illustrative. Thank you. I'm subscribed now!

0:04 central part of the state? perhaps, if one is addressing the state laterally, as in side to side. Conventionally, this is in Northern California; central California ends some 60+ miles south of the Buttes formation.

Can you do a video on table mountain in Oroville, CA.? I’ve always wondered about the geology

I wonder just how much volcanoes are affected when the polarity of Earth's poles have 'flipped' (sometimes hundreds of thousands--or millions--of years prior). That is to say: would the iron content within be vastly affected not only by shifting tectonics, but also... by shifting POLARITIES of the very molecules (of ferrous materials--such as iron)?

Ah right on schedule my friend I got a question Mind remaking Kilauea and Mauna Loa and doing a video on Ambryam?

I loved this video! So informative. I lived in nearby Marysville for years and had never heard the history of the Buttes. I look forward to more of your work. Thank you.

i love sutter buttes! it used to be an annual field trip at my elementary school.

I always figured that's where all the rock around Chico and Oroville came from. The Air Force had a Titan missile complex at the Buttes. A few years back a U2 from Beale, crashed in the buttes.

Vulcanism in the Clear Lake area isn't extinct. Hot springs exist north and south of Clear Lake, in The Geyers Known Geothermal Resource Area to the south, west of Ukiah, and as southwest in Lake Sonom. I've been to all these hot springs. In the Geysers steam vents exit to the surface. Mount Konocti on Clear Lake's south shore is considered dormant, not extinct. Historically, steam has been reported venting from this volcano's peak.

I live in Yuba City CA, Sutter county. The Sutter Buttes are amazing to see and visit. Recently I got a chance to travel the whole area and the landscape is beautiful. The back roads show different forms of lava dome then what one would see from Hwy 20. Very much iconic for California visitor should see.

yay we got the buttes video now

You should talk about an extinct volcano in Iceland but its very cool because you can go the magma chamber

Thank you for posting a video on the Sutter Buttes. I had read at some point that the Sutter Buttes were an extension southward of the Cascades, and other volcanic structures were even further south, hidden under the surface of the Sac and Central Valleys. These were made extinct as the Mendocino Triple Junction (MJT) slowly moved to the north. However, I’m really not viewing it that way anymore. As you indicated in the video, the reason for the magma intrusions is unknown, and I don’t know how the MJT’s position north-south position compares with the ages of the volcanic structures such as the one at ClearLake.

Thanks for doing this video. I grew up in the Sacramento Valley and no one in my K-12 education ever said a word about the Buttes - and that was many years ago. They always fascinated me. The other old volcanoes you mentioned in the area. like Berkeley, would be really interesting.

I have always wanted to visit this ...

This morning I did a half marathon through the Buttes on Pass Rd.

Neat video. I used to live near this.

It was kind of wild driving into Grimes at night and seeing this as my eyes adjusted to the skyline.

Good video. I have been to Yuba City before, but I barely remember Sutter Buttes since it was such a long time ago. I would like to see this place again sometime and hopefully I will. The only problem is, we never go there because it snows in the mountains, even in the Summer time, but the snow is in the higher elevations. Is Sutter Buttes actually extinct, dormant, or maybe it is part of a volcanic belt? Some other volcanoes that you may want to cover are El Toro which is mentioned down below, The Diablo Mountain Range, Coso Volcanic Field, Big Cave, Big Pine Volcanic Field, Black Buttes, Blacks Mountain, Brushy Butte, Burney Mountain, Caribou, Cima Lava Field, Cinder Butte, Clear Lake, Copco Lake, Coso, Dittmar, Eagle lake and Eagle Lake Field, Golden Trout Creek, Goosenest, Hackamore, Inskip Hill, Latour Butte, Lava Mountains Volcanic Field, Lavic Lake, Magee Peak, Maidu, Medicine Lake, Pinto Basin-Salton Creek, Potato Butte, Rainbow Mountain, Red Lake Mountain, Salton Buttes, Sifford Mountain, Silver Lake, Snow Mountain, Table Mountain, Tumble Buttes, Twin Buttes, and Whaleback. All of these volcanoes are in California and since I do not know all of the ones you have done videos on, I may have mentioned a few that you have already done.

That valley has many fascinating oddities. Far to the south near the Lancaster area there's a series of what looks to be small volcanic cones that stick out like sore thumbs. Ever hear of them?

Could you do a video about Moro Rock, Point Sur and similar features along the West Coast.

Can see it from here now! Well. Not really. Too much smoke

I drive through the Buttes every day to and from work.

Very interesting. I imagine this whole area was a shallow sea and sutter butes was a volcanic island...

The Sutter Buttes, aka The 3 Sisters to many locals, are easily seen not to far away in the West by anyone who is traveling on Highway 99 between Marysville and Yuba City in California. There are some very good places along Highway 99 between Marysville and Yuba City to stop and take pictures.

Morro Rock, Morro Bay, CA & Sugar Loaf, Virginia City, NV -- Thank You

Could you show us a video on the geology of the southern tip of Lake Michigan? More specifically the movement over the last few thousand years as it relates to the heating and cooling of the Pleistocene. I live near the Indiana/Michigan border and I am very curious about our geology here. I imagine it has a lot to do with ice and water. We have old “dunes” here that are really just out of place considering the lake shore is about 45 miles away. I talked about it with high school science teachers but that was a long time ago. Ideas have changed and it would be great to see your take on it. There is apparently a fault line here too and many lakes that could be entertaining for various reasons.

Hey, Mr. Geology Hub. . . first of all, let me say that I have really enjoyed watching your volcano series, but have a couple of comments on your Sutter Buttes volcano video. I lived near the Sutter Buttes for many years. . . I don't know that anyone there would describe it as "a towering volcano". At best, it is a small grouping of low and scenic hills (some taller than others) out in the middle of some of the best farmland in the United States. Many locals there don't even know that it IS a volcano, and will argue with you if you mention this fact to them. As for "the worlds smallest mountain range" this is pretty much PR hype probably produced by the Yuba City Chamber of Commerce - again, it is a small grouping of low hills - not a lot more than that. Certainly not a "mountain range" by any definition. The entirety of the Sutter Buttes is privately owned, except for a small parcel owned by the State of California somewhere in the interior of the Buttes. This parcel is "land-locked", and there is no public access. There is a road (or series of roads) that encircle the buttes, and the drive is spectacular, particularly in the springtime when everything is green - but, again, there is no public access to the interior. Sometimes hikes are organized (at least they were pre-pandemic) by an organization called The Middle Mountain Foundation. Keep up the good work! Looking forward to your next video. Thank you. :-)

Wonderful. I am fond of Sutter Buttes

How about the Pinacles National Monument here on the Monterey County, CA / San Benito County, CA Line (and the line of thermal springs from Slates Hot Springs on the Big Sur Coast, to the Tassajara Hot Springs in the Ventana Wilderness and Paraiso Springs on the edge of the Salinas Valley) They are all in a straight line from Pinacles to the Coast. There are also supposed to be thermal vents on the sea floor just off the coast.

Great vid on Sutter Buttes. It’s still privately owned. They do hike days several times a year. Consider yourself lucky if you get to explore this place. Do one on Pinnacles national monument. It’s not a whole volcano, it’s just half. Where’s the other half of the pinnacles volcano?

now I know for sure what it is thanks so much

I like the top down view Fertilized the the valley Please do the SF peaks near Flagstaff

I live in Wonder Valley, in the Mojave Desert, not far from Amboy Crater. Any geology vids of the this area would be greatly appreciated.... Thanx...

Cool. I've driven up and down I-5 and gawked at 'those saw-tooth mountains' out there in the middle of nowhere for decades. Now I know... ;)

I really wish you would do a video on Washington/Idaho flood basalts

i would like to see more on geologic formations /processes in North America. Specifically not volcanoes because you have really covered those well by this point.

Is there a distinction between lahars formed immediately by eruptions melting glaciers or disturbing other preexisting bodies of water, versus ash deposits being rapidly eroded by rainfall?

what is the lake called in the center of thr butes

More trivia.. Rocks and other materials from the Sierra Nevada's 40 miles to the East can be found on the high ridges and slopes of the Sutter Butte's. UCD and the Sutter County Museum in the past scheduled Hike's into the Butte's with Geologist's and Botanists, they may still do this, very interesting and the only way to hike them because the Butte's is all Private Property.

Topic request: Pinnacles volcano south of San Francisco. Thanks!

Could you please analyze the mud puddles south of California?

Some years ago I was flattening off the top of a hill 20 miles or so East of Marysville. I started bringing up vitrified rock.in fissures at the top of the hill. It seems magma intrusion made it's way well East as well.

I grew up living all around the Sutter Buttes. I heard there were trails all through the Buttes, looked it up and saw its all privately owned land now, and the owners charge Disneyland prices to hike it in the name of "conservation". Ridiculous!

Hey, first of all, wonderful videos, makes geology very interesting. I have found a supervolcano between Quebec and Ontario, which is the Black River group, one giant caldera and two smaller, the complex being 3000 km2. I have this pdf explaining everything consorem2.uqac.ca/production_scientifique/2005_10/PearsonDaigneault09_BlakeRiverCaldera.pdf. Of course it is simply an idea, but would be nice because literally no one or just geology nerds knows about this supervolcano, which is extinct to this day.

Damn I was looking at this thing from a plane wondering what it is

I've lived near the Buttes all my life. They are not in the central valley of California. They are more toward the north part of the Sacramento Valley.

Una Una next please...

You should do a segment on the New England supervolcano

Why are the flint hills in Kansas the way they are? How come we don't see a flat plain but instead an ocean of green wavy hills?

"...no other volcanic features in the vicinity." We might need a a definition for "vicinity." The Sutter Buttes sit almost dead center between Clearlake, The Sierra Buttes, Mt Lassen, Mt Shasta, and Yosemite. The Clearlake Volcanic Field is about 75 miles west, while the Sierra Buttes are about 75 miles east. Mt Lassen and Mt Shasta are about 200 miles north, while Yosemite is a little more than 200 miles south. I Geologic terms, the Sutter Buttes are definitely in the "vicinity" of other volcanoes. In one perspective, they could seem to continue the Ring of Fire from the Cascades to Shasta/Lassen, to Sutter Buttes, to Yosemite, to Long Valley and on south.

Can see from my patio in Folsom

Just take a long look at the long string of peaks and mountains all along the western portion of the North American continent. The whole line of Cascades and everything else is basically formed as weak points where the Pacific Plate is subducting under the North American Plate. These are weak points where volcanism punched up through the plates meeting up . Nearly all of these peaks and mountains are or were at one time volcanic. Many are so old we really see no outward signs. For those living up near the Buttes..and if you are near the Chico area. You would be surprised how close you actually are to a volcanic active area. And it has only in recent history became less active. You are right next door to Richardson Springs. And not too long ago it had active hot springs and even had a large resort there. Sometime after the 70s it started to cool down and no longer be active hot springs. In order to be a hot spring it had to be actively volcanic .

California valley was a big lake..full at one time..but Sutter brutts has a foot print the sides of mount Shasta ..it was a big volcano at one time..it got eroded by being in the middle of an lake.. that's what the land telling me..🙄😁😎

Very cool thank you I am looking at the Sutter Buttes right now

A few miles west? Where exactly a few miles west is this intrusion?

If Sutter Butte is towering what is Mount Shasta?

Can you do a video on Clear Lake? I'd love to learn about it as well.

I read it Sudder Butts and now I’m laughing.

Can you do one about Mt Baekdu/Changbai? Located on the Chinese North Korean border

yes the giant people of death valley and the blue water under death valley and other roads leading to death valley that are ancient roads and the animals in death valley

👍🏼👍🏼

Some call the Buttes the last Cascade volcano.