This is the same video I posted on the fantastic story of the Bonneville Flood, but with better quality/higher resolution. Learn about this amazing flood from ~17,400 years ago.
As a child I was introduced to rockhounding while living in Clearfield Utah in the late 1950's. Almost 50 years later I learned about the Bonneville flood while searching for agates in the large gravel deposits left by the flood just to the south of Lewiston Idaho. That is also when I learned that the slack water deposits on top of the Bonneville gravels were from the Missoula floods. Thank you for filling in some of the details and for sharing your knowledge with us.
You bet and thanks for watching. I lived in Layton, went to Layton High, and earned my Bachelors in geology at Weber State so the story of the lake and the flood are near and dear to me.
Hey, thanks so much for the kind words. I love teaching geology either in class, the field, or with these videos. So lucky we have multiple formats to communicate and share. Thanks for watching.
Fascinating stuff, sir. I drove through there yesterday. As detailed as your descriptions are, I don't think people can grasp how truly immense the scale of this event was, without seeing the area firsthand.
There are several spots that have Google Street views that are close enough or actually in the Snake River path of the flood where you can see up close the scoured rock on the floor or sides of the canyons. Some of it looks like basalt lying on top of sediment rock, so I guess there was a lava flow there thousands of years before the flood.
@@boli4203 There is a lot of stuff out there about the lava flows in the PNW, another fascinating topic. Central Washington University has a series of really great geology lectures on their RU-vid page, definitely worth checking out.
For Sure! It covered a lot of territory. Lake Tulare too. All to fill Lake Mead and Powell. They diverted the Colorado River, to starve out Natives in around those lakes and drown the Natives around Arizona, Utah and Nevada. It worked.
Great video. For some reason I'd thought the flood moved southwards towards Salt Lake City, so I'm glad to get the clarification. Lakes Missoula and Bonneville are interesting subjects,
I learned the term melon gravel while visiting Celebration Park some years ago when I went to watch a total eclipse of the sun along the Snake River. An amazing sight to see! And yet, I had no real notion of what the Bonneville flood was until this video. Thank you for this in depth look at an incredible event from the past. Today you provided me with knowledge I didn't know I needed to learn. That's awesome.
Great presentation...I'd not known about this flood event before. The astonishing power of the water was brought home for me when you showed the sizes of the melon gravel. This reminds me of Nick Zentner's video about the flood of Glacial Lake Missoula. I so appreciate the time and effort spent on these videos that are accessible to all...thank you!
I am spending the night at Massacre Rock. Saw a mention of Bonneville Flood but no context - had to google - found you. Have been following the Bear River - why did it suddenly turn south? :) - and the Portneuf River...so your vid was a great explainer! Thanks.
I've been fascinated by the ancient shorelines high on the mountains around Salt Lake City since I was a young child 40+ years ago. I'm glad I can watch this video to learn more.
I got to visit Celebration Park last weekend. I wish I had seen this video beforehand so I could have appreciated it more! I did bring home some Petrified Watermelons (not from the park!).
This newer video is much more comprehensive: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3osCxhhl7ZI.html Also, I have a full chapter on Celebration Park and the Bonneville Flood in my book, Geology Underfoot in Southern Idaho. Signed copies here: shawn-willsey.square.site/ Regular copies on Amazon or local bookstore.
I grew up on a homestead on a bluff that is the point where the Bonneville flood water split to the Snake and the Eden drainage. I always wondered why the hills were formed the way they are. Old shoreline. I grew up there from the sagebrush era. I can envision the massive amount of water that must have flowed. Our home was on 1050 west just off the freeway the old wagon trail up on the hill. Your video explained much for me much I wondered about..
Youve much extended my knowledge of the lake. I was told by my History and Geography teacher John Rockwell a Direct Decendand of Orin Porter Rockwell The Mountain Man the Mountain Man a bit about the flood. He told us Eisenhower Jr. High in Taylorsville Utah would have been approximately 1000 feet
Great video! I've been to this area a few times, most recently in 2017 for the eclipse. The features are so dramatic.. and can be easily overlooked but also obvious with just a little knowledge. I've explored a great deal in Northern Nevada, and all around I see wave cuts from ancient lake lahontan. Fascinating as hell
Great video very informative , just got through driving across Highway 50 through the great basin of Nevada and it really got my interest in lake Bonneville because you can still see some of the old shorelines from some of the lakes that were in the Great Basin
Thanks for this informative, entertaining trip through history and down the path of the Bonneville Flood. I had never looked at this region. I'm not a geologist, just a very interested bystander. Thanks to this video, I took a 'side trip' to the Craters of the Moon area and learned a lot about that region's story, too. This kind of presentation opens new areas of interest, expanding ones idea of how Earth's interconnected processes work. In the case of Craters of the Moon, people might well see a replay of that volcanic activity in the future!
Excellent presentation. Very interesting. These ice age floods are far more extensive than I had imagined. That denuded landscape really allows for a perfect understanding.
I was just in the area and the scenery is spectacular. Oh to go back in time and watch it happen. The roar must have been incredible and the ground must have shook. Thank you Dr. Wilsey for your excellent presentation!
I live in Pocatello. Whenever they start a new construction project in the valley floor and start digging foundations, they excavate HUGE boulders the size of cars, buses sometimes even house sized that are remnants from this event. Its pretty cool seeing them.
Watching from Ontario, Canada. I've enjoyed three of your floods related videos today. Fantastic representations and explanations. Thank you for creating and posting these videos.
I'm a Pima County Master Naturalist (aka Sonoran Desert/Tucson) but have a summer job each year in Cache Valley, UT. While up here, I've been digging through as much area natural history of this area as I can. The first books about the area I got my hands on are geology books, so... here I am! I've motorcycled through Red Rock Pass numerous times, and have read the interpretative sign(s) up there about the flood in years past, but it was nice to see this brought to life. Really great use of google maps! I didn't know (or remember?) the bit about the Bear River changing course. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Back in the year 2000 I was employed by AT&T working out in the Carlsbad area along Highway 180. I had the opportunity to learn quite a bit about the area. Both human history and the geology of a lot of it. One day heading west on the hwy, most of which follows most of an old pony express route, what with ruins of Pony Express rest stops, I was once again in awe of the El Capitan at the southern end of the Guadalupe Mountains, west of the Carlsbad Caverns at Whites City. I took some snaps of El Capitan and decided to head back east to the visitor center to see what there was to see there and possibly learn a little something. I was not disappointed. At, or near the foot of El Capitan is a salt flat and from there, I guess, the top of El Capitan rises about 9000 feet to a mostly flat Mesa. I learned that back before a lot of the the west floated out of, a MUCH bigger, Gulf of Mexico, that the top of the Guadalupe mountains was where the reefs and beaches were. 😮😳. I stood there, at a scenic stop on Hwy 180, looking up at El Capitan and down on the Salt flats imagining 9000 feet of saltwater filling the HUGE Permian Basin. I was struck, then, by how useful you geologists are 😊 thumbs up 👍 👌 thanks for education 😃 Geology is indeed, a fascinating area of study. Subscribed 👍
If we didn't have catastrophic floods in our prehistory, we wouldn't have highways or brick houses. Some people might go ,Huh? A new car wash in Pocatello got built a couple years ago and dug up some boulders that they couldn't even give away. Transportation costs would be stupid high. They have them as barriers. These remind me of the stuff we dug up in the Post Falls area where I worked. You know, Purcell Trench. We called that "diggin' up Volkwagons." Thanks for your knowledge and willingness to share it.
I noticed the same discrepancy. I was going to comment on that but Mr Pillie had already done so. But then at about 9:50 Mr Willsey says that the erosion through Red Rock Pass lowered the lake level by about 400 feet. Surely not a coincidence.
It’s amazing to me how people figured all this out! Plus when I see the geological equations I am sure I could not have been a geologist! I am a retired RN having worked in critical care areas for 25 years so I’m no dummy but I feel like one when I watch your videos sometimes.
If you are learning, you are doing great. Thanks for watching. Here is a much better and more complete presentation on the Bonneville Flood: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3osCxhhl7ZI.html
Thanks for uploading this higher resolution version. Excellent video! You might want to mention that the flood effects extend downstream. Maybe that is another video.
I'm fascinated with prehistory, and with the discovery of human footprints at White Sands, is it possible that our ancestors were around to experience this flood? I can only imagine what it would be like to be woken up by the deafening sound of the breach and watch the lake you lived nearby drain before your eyes. Definitely a scary set of events!
Excellent presentation and video about the local geography and volcanic activity in southern Idaho. I grew up in Idaho Falls and was fascinated by Craters of the Moon which was used as a training site for the Apollo astronaut moon missions. There are lava tubes in the area which are filled with ice year round and the Lost River which disappears into one and flows into the Snake River below the surface. A video about these features would be fascinating if you would consider doing it I think it would get more views.
Between you and Nick Zetner in Washington I can finally see some of the major events that have taken place. Born in Idaho grew up in Washington and now live in Utah geology has always interested me.
Fantastic. Appreciate the resolution. You've more than tripled my understanding of the flood and I considered myself more informed than most. I would pay good money to see a CGI movie of the days, weeks and months following the break at Red Rocks. The history of the preceding redirection of the Bear River is remarkable as well. Imagine if this diversion had not happened. What would the GSL and the Salt Lake valley be like today?
Good question. Obviously much smaller although you'd have to factor in all the diversions of Bear River (and other rivers) water which render the GSL much smaller.
@@shawnwillsey I was actually thinking along the lines of much larger. If the Bear was not diverted by the previous lava eruption and continued to drain into the Portneuf, perhaps the rise of Bonneville would not have been as significant and the flood may not have occurred.
possibly if there was an earthquake there could have been liquefaction of the sediments and gravels causing a massive collapse and maybe throw in some aftershocks maybe that helped start it combined with fast erosion of the shaken sediment?
I'd like to see a video on SW Idaho (Boise etc.) geology from a Rock Hounder's interest perspective. E.g. Where are the areas, how they were produced, and what you can find there.
I would love to see a super accurate cross section of how all the rocks and sediments were laid down. I would also hope that modern humanity is never subjected to such an event.
Hey Shawn, I read about large underground tunnels in our area I live in South East Idaho myself, anyway they dug these tunnels for irrigation and they are no longer being used for that, do you happen to know how to get to them, seem like a life saver if you ever needed to go underground, yeah I know I am paranoid but with what is going on in the world today its good to have backups
Thanks for explaining the Bonneville flood so clearly! I'd heard of it, just never in any detail. I'm WA state and have learned much about the great Lake Missoula floods and how they shaped the geology of eastern WA and the Columbia River gorge. Now I know more about the Snake River as well. Did the waters from the Bonneville flood eventually flow into the Columbia river in Eastern WA and then out through Wallula Gap like the Missoula flood water?
Thanks for watching and learning with me. Yes, the Bonneville Flood entered the Columbia and traveled to the Pacific. So awesome that the Pacific Northwest is home to two major flooding events.
Hi Shawn! Not sure why it took me so long to find your channel, but I’m really digging it now. I grew up in Springfield, ID on the north side of the American Falls reservoir. Studied soil science at Utah State, so Lake Bonneville was near and dear. I’m curious about the area of American Falls reservoir at the time of the Bonneville flood. I had understood that there was a natural lake there, formed by a basalt dam east of present day Massacre Rocks. There are a lot of features in that area that look mega-flood related, like the lake channel area, scablands, etc. Also, my grandparents’ farm was basically up to the edge of a bluff overlooking the reservoir that seemed likely to be the old shoreline. What’s your take on this? Thanks from a admitted geology nerd!
Hi Steve and glad you found me in the dark recesses of the internet. Yes, Lake Channel and the Massacre Rocks area were dramatically eroded by the Bonneville Flood. I even talked to a USGS geologist last weekend who thought perhaps the Snake River's original path (pre-flood) was down Lake Channel. He didn't cite any evidence but its an interesting idea and water carved it at some point. You might like my books, Geology Underfoot in Southern Idaho and Roadside Geology of Idaho.
Hi Shawn, Another very interesting and informative video from you. Your videos are truly enjoyable to watch! One observation though: at 4:20 you state the vertical distance between the upper bench (5,200 ft) and lower bench (4,800) is a vertical separation of 4,800 ft. Math was never my strong suit so am I overlooking something?
Wait! So you're saying that a diversion of water which would have flown into the snake river valley created the massive volume of water that would eventually flood back down the same river centuries later? That's amazing!
At 4:17 in the video, I believe you meant to say that the two high benches of old Lake Bonneville were separated by 400 feet of elevation (difference between 4,800 and 5,200 foot levels).
@@shawnwillsey No apology needed--I only pointed it out in case it was something you had missed and might want to edit. I enjoyed your presentation.While I've known about the Lake Missoula floods for decades--I used to hunt in channeled scab lands east of Wilbur, WA--I somehow managed to go seven decades before learning about the Bonneville Flood just this week. Now, my bucket list of places to visit has grown even longer!
That’s A LOT OF water from the “BearRiver” to suppose filled up lake Bonneville don’t you think ?? There are many speculations that sound really authoritative….
I've been interested in the Scablands of Washington State for quite a while because of the ice age floods that happened as the glaciers were deteriorating. This Utah- Idaho story is different and equally interesting.
There really isn’t much information on the historical Lake Bonneville. I do appreciate your video and interest on it. I however, have a different theory. I believe there might have been more glaciation in northern Utah and Southern Idaho during the last Ice Age? I live in southern Utah and have found good evidence of extensive glaciers once flowing from the top Pine Valley mountain. If glaciers had formed on the southern mountains of Utah then they must have covered the northern mountains of Utah to a greater extent even to an elevation of at least 5200 feet. It is very possible that I’ve blocked the path for water to flow into the Snake River for many thousands of years. The seasonal runoff of those glaciers would have fed Lake Bonneville. I have done my own research and found shells of an extinct fresh water snail species in the Wasatch mountains just east of Provo Utah at an elevation of 5400+ feet. So the lake had to have reached an elevation greater than 5200 ft for a short period of time. Could have been for too long since physical evidence other than these shells are limited and yet here they are even to be found to this day if one knows where to look. So Lake Bonneville must have reached heights greater than 5200 ft on occasions. My theory is that there was an ice dam formed by a glacier that blocked the water in Lake Bonneville allowing it to reach these greater heights and water depths. As the glacier melted with the ending of the last Ice Age the water began to run over the glacier to the north spilling into the Snake river drainage. As the surrounding glaciers continue to melt the flow increased until the water was flowing over earth which carved out Red Rock Pass in Idaho as seen today. Wish I could provide pictures and locations but I did most of this research over 20 years ago and unfortunately new road construction has completely obliterated the mountain side where I found the shells but surely the surrounding areas should also have the evidence. I plan on revisiting the area next spring. Will update this post with pictures and location if I am successful.
This flood had little affect on life except for those organisms in the flood path. Some large mammals (~70% of species) in North America go extinct by 12,500 years ago.
Oh that must have been a massive and powerful event to have moved so much material and such huge boulders, impressive story ! Mind you even today and with climate change so much more regularily we are seeing huge devastating floods happening around the world. Water is a powerful force when unleashed. If I am ever able to visit here one day I will appreciate even more now the landscape, thanks Shawn.
I farm near Crestview rd. On that road about a mile North of the Shodde Beet dump (at ground zero) there's a dozen boulders some 10' wide 15' long and 5' high. Looking at them one can tell they're all mixed up and upside down, but the real amazing phenomenon is a 20 ton Boulder that came to rest high on top of the lava ridge where it now stands alone, it must have rolled along on top of the ridge line and managed to stay on the top where it came to rest. One can't imagine the immense hydraulics involved for that to happen. In the 1950's the Government surveyors cemented a brass cap on top of it for a general location point. I'll bet they wondered how that how the heck that Boulder got there. 42°37'11"N 113°59'22"W On Google Earth you can get the gest but it doesn't do it justice like the actual view.
Thanks for the info. Yes, this spot is right on the Eden Channel as discussed in the video. There are some impressive erosional and depositional features here. Thanks for sharing another one with me.
I didn’t realize the Bear River flowed through Lava Hot Springs. The sand bar the airport sits on and other bars up Dempsey creek are too big to be formed by the current Portneuf river. I didn’t think the Bonneville Flood made it up into Lava Hot Springs so I had a hard time reconciling the river deposits in the valley. The Bear River must have been very powerful.
At about 12:19 you lost me because I am not familiar with the logal geography. I need a picture with the Lake at maximum height and the poit of release....I'm trying to relate it to the Bear River etc.
Seems this had to be a catastrophic event. Could it that as the water level rose the hydrostatic pressure became do great that the unconsolidated fill in the gap became liquefied and failed catastrophically?
If you would keep the roads ub Google Maps on a little longer it would help me get a better idea of where you are describing, I do not live in the area.
Sorry about that. I thought the roads were too distracting and obscuring some of the features i wanted to focus on. The last 8 minutes or so of video I am starting near Devils Corral, just south of I-84 and moving downstream toward city of Twin Falls.
Having stopped by there last year, I think the picture is off by 180°. I believe the camera is pointing in a northerly direction. If that is correct, the flow arrow should be pointed in the other direction.
I believe I read the plaque on a monument in Red Rock Gap that the breach in Lake Bonneville occurred 11500 years ago. Now, you are saying "17 to 18 thousand years ago". Do you realize that your tolerance, is nearly life on earth since Jesus Christ? If we built a dam in Red Rock Gap in Idaho it would flood the Salt Lake Valley. and completely eliminate the drought they always complaining about. My point, we are so dependent on historical data and really cannot accommodate drastic changes or mistakes in interpretation. Perhaps we should consider that the past year may indeed be the average rather than a peak. The ephemeral floods may create a debris dam that will start a new new Lake Bonneville. We can build more dams on the snake River and start moving our populated areas up to higher elevations. Doing that we will probable create an Eden like area on the Snake Rive drainage. Iguana
