The Geologic Oddity in Oregon; Pure Obsidian Lava Flow 

I want to note that a similar shield volcano with explosive eruptions, Medicine Lake in California, also contains a pure obsidian lava flow. Around the same period of time, both it and Newberry produced highly explosive eruptions that resulted in abundant obsidian deposits. Also; nomenclature. The flow isn’t 100% obsidian. It contains an abundance of pumice as well as well at some other pyroclastic material.

This obsidian was prized by the first humans in the NW. Cutting tools made from it have been found from Alaska to California!

You got me to head down the Wikipedia rabbit holes after seeing this video. Apparently within the Newberry Volcano National Monument there is a place called Lava River Cave. The cave is the longest lava tube in Oregon: just over a mile long. Visitors can hike through the entire cave.

Another amazing obsidian feature in central Oregon is Glass Mountain. I had the immense pleasure of rockhounding there for a couple of days. Snowflake, rainbow, gold sheen, mahogany it's all to be found there. Amazing.

Found out about this from Nick Zentner, a geologist from University of Central Washington. He does a lot of videos about the geology of the Pacific Northwest. Good job on this video and channel.

Wow! This place must have been very significant to the people of the region. I wonder how it fit into their lore?

An interesting topic, how each type of obsidian is formed, there's so many.

I've been to this spot. It's incredible how tall the obsidian flow really is. Several stories tall. A note to those who may want to visit....fall or spring are best. The hot midsummer sun reflecting off the obsidian makes it an very hot endeavor.

Thanks for a tour of this unique geological feature …! Oregon really has some varied Topography…would the Columbia River Basalt Group be worthy of an episode or two …?

As a flint knapper constantly on the lookout for decent material this site would be a dream come true.

was just there in August. So much interesting volcanic history in that area, a great place to visit.

I just visited this place in July! It's a pretty amazing thing, and the more so because it's so easy to get to - at least if you're already in the area. The obsidian is so crazy abundant that some of the walkways and stone walls at the trailhead area are built out of it.

A lot of flint knapper's would be glad to get that. Obsidian makes beautiful arrowheads and can be sharpened like a razor.

Can you please talk about Sumidero Canyon in Mexico, it is located in the state of Chiapas and it cut almost vertical throught the flat landscape.

I’ve been there twice and am looking forward to returning. The view from the top of Paulina Peak is spectacular! I have a tiny piece of it at home.

I've hiked on the Big Obsidian Lava Flow. It's so big and amazing to see. Since Newberry is the second most seismically active volcanoes in Oregon, I wouldn't be surprised if it erupts within the next 50 years.

I found a perfectly round obsidian ball here in Idaho upon coming back home after many years of being gone! It wax the first day after my arrival. It’s an amazing ball:)

paul-line-ah. I used to live in this area when I was younger. If your a geology nut like I was this was a great area to live in.

I was just there about 2 months ago and it is an amazing place :)

The lakes nearby have rocks floating in them from the pumice. You can pick up a big looking bolder that only weighs a few pounds. It's almost like you're walking on the moon on the top of that flow. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area.

I was just there a few months ago, there's stairs that go up 70 feet to be on the top...Im too outta shape to walk it so I plan on it next year...its absolutely beautiful

2:55 - That jolly guy with his prized pumice ball...so wholesome. :)

I visited this area recently. There are paths and stairs to access the to of this feature. It's like being on a different planet. One thing video cannot convey is the smell. I can't describe it but it's definitely odd.

If you go outside the monument on the backside there’s good fragments that you can take home for souvenirs and not get arrested. Also while you are here, don’t forget to take the Paulina plunge, and please, please, please I’m begging. Pack out more than you brought! From a local that grew up here, it’s getting so trashed from people that sat “I love it” but don’t actually care. It’s happening so much over the entire region and sad to watch.

There are some super impressive chunks of obsidian in the pumice fields just south of Mono Lake in California, super unique forest area to camp in too. Old growth pine forest right in the middle of a pumice field limits the undergrowth quite a bit so its super fun to hike around.

You should really check out the Three Sisters complex near Bend, Or. In addition to the sisters there are two more sets of three volcanos of successively greater ages and states of erosion. The best parts are only accessible by days of hiking but are spectacular and well worth the effort. There are enormous cliffs of snowflake obsidian with thousands of years of napping wast a half hour walk from the north entry.

I love how everything is measured in olympic pools.

This is why I love this channel.....we learn So much.....I've never heard of this volcano before.

Love it! So much info!! My brain is so excited! Can you show us some examples of rocks that you personally own? I bet you have access to some amazing finds.

Wow, did not know this existed, and now I wanna go. Thanks!

I've visited Newberry Crater a few times. Good fishing in the lakes, and the geology is stunning. There is another large obsidian formation about 95 miles NW of Newberry crater, the Obsidian Cliffs. This is a large cliff face that varies between pure obsidian and obsidian with rock impurities. My parents carried out a few small boulders before that became illegal. The cliffs are below the west side of the South Sister, off of Sunshine Meadow, at the top of the Obsidian Trail. The Pacific Crest Trail runs through Sunshine Meadows. I practically grew up in the area, visiting the high Cascades several time every summer, before restrictions on visitors grew too great, in the late '90's.

If I'm not mistaken, this is what happened near Picketpost Mountain in AZ, and it slowly cracked and eroded away into Perlite with small surviving central nodules of obsidian we call Apache Tears. I love gathering these.

Love the videos! Would love seeing you cover seafloor lava vents/ fissures in a future video if at all possible. Thanks for the consideration.

These videos are so good. Thanks.

Thank you. Was very informative. Keep making these types of videos. God bless

In the 80's my mother used a ceramic kiln to melt samples of ash from Mt. St. Helens that were collected at various distances from the volcano. First she slip cast some thick porcelain crucibles in a small and beaten up flowerpot mold and fired them. Then the pots were filled with the various ash samples. All but one just sintered into solids like a grindstone. The one that didn't do that melted into a dark ruby red glass. Don't know where that ash sample came from. If the source could be located and if it'd still melt the same after 40+ years, it would be an amazing material for glass artists.

Amazing, near Christchurch in New Zealand on Banks Peninsula which is the eroded flanks and remains of a basaltic lava dome volcano there is a large blob of obsidian outcropping from the layers of basalt and scoria, hiking to it was part of the field work i did when completing my undergrad geology degree many years ago, the geological setting seems very similar to the video, just way way smaller.

There are small obsidian boulders scattered all over the desert around Las Vegas. They're the best quality I've ever seen. They're very dark and very clear, most with zero striations.

Super cool volcanic feature! Thanks for covering.

Been there. I love this place! So neat to hike up around the flow.

Wow It would be a epic terrain to have a walk through.

Wonderful presentation. Thank you

Great video. I kayak East Lake during the summer. Quite spectacular.

Good to know where to get it just in case any dragons start up their stuff.

I’ve mountain biked the Newberry Rim Loop a number of times either direction. Quite an amazing place to see in person!!

Camped there several times! Lots of trails to finder smaller geological oddities.

So so interesting!!! Thank you. I am in California and hope to visit this lava flow in the future. I had no idea it existed!

I can't imagine how much time it takes to put one of these videos together. Do you have a staff or is it all the work of one person? Either way, it's great. Thanks from Florida.

I’ve been there! It’s just magnificent!

thank you for the video and I love your videos

Also in Oregon, Could you discuss Smith Rock?

Amazing many thanks for posting..

I love geography about my home area of central oregon

Excellent and informative vid

Imagine accidentally tripping wile visiting the obsidian and getting a cut D: So beautiful yet so sharp!

Would love a video on the Pink and White Terraces in New Zealand.

I visited here a while back. It is an awesome place. Well worth the detour.

My respect to you sir, for saying Oregon like an Oregonian and not by saying Or ee gone

Amazing! I should head over there some weekend.

Mind blown. Volcanic activity is so odd. Like rivers of Peridot in Hawaii. So wild.

I just wanted to say these videos are awesome, I have been learning so much. Good work .

Yes enjoyed this very much thank you!😊👏👏👏👏👏

Was just here about 1 month ago, it's a spectacular place to visit.

Been there, Newberry is an incredibly interesting place. The black obsidian does tend to get quite hot in the sun though. There's an old no longer maintained trail that runs between the two large lakes, between the cinder cone and the T-shaped lava flow to the north that is incredibly neat. Definitely a place worth checking out, along with all the other unique geologic features of Oregon.

Beautiful, thank you!

Great video thank you 👍🏻

Yes, it's pretty, but great care must be exercised when traversing such an area...obsidian is sharp AF.

Such a beautiful place! I've been there twice in my life!

It was very informative.

Looks to be a particularly difficult material for vegetation to colonise.

I live about as far away from this site as one could imagine (southern Ontario, Canada) BUT for several days, quite a few years ago, my hiking boots clomped all over the Newberry Volcano. Walking in certain areas sounded like I was walking on broken glass (sorry, Eurythmics!...)...which, of course, I was!

I've walked around there before, It's a super cool place. It's crazy how there's trees growing out of the obsidian flow

How does Obsidian form? I too am puzzled by the lava flows (I'm pretty sure "Mountains of the Moon" in Idaho also has a Lava flow). The obsidian I'm most familiar with, from the Aeolian Islands of Italy, was formed by the compression of hot (melting temperature) ash which was compressed by the weight of the material that covered it. In essence, the gas was forced out and the ash was compressed and heated into a glass. (I've got some Aeolian obsidian samples, and would LOVE to get some samples of western sources of obsidian!) Source of information - my mentor who specialized in Obsidian sourcing and trade. What this suggests to me is that the amount of gas (or steam) had been removed from the molten material, and then something cooled it down rather quickly. BTW - using elemental analysis (XRF or others), it is possible to determine the source of material (such as Obsidian) even into an individual flow from a volcano, which helps to determine trade routes and forms of exchange. I would be very interested in a trace element analysis of the obsidian from those (and other) flows.

How interesting. So pretty. It's so cool how such beauty can come from such a scary occurence.

I've been to Medicine Lake's Glass Mountain, but haven't been to Newberry yet, Some day soon I hope as I live right between the two.

Ohh I missed this video I remember looking this up after Nick Zentner visited it and found a paper discussing its magmatic source and finding it is actually fueled by a mix of both Cascade and Basin and Range magmas. That Basin and range basaltic magma probably helps explain the overall shield component with the more silica rich magma coming later off of the cascades.

You can drive to the top of Paulina's peak and it's an amazing view. On a clear day you can see Mt. Shasta in California & Mt. Rainier in Washington, and all the cascades in between.

Thank you for these videos, they're something that I've really been enjoying the past few months There is something that I have been wondering, watching videos of the La Palma eruption and the eruption in Iceland. I've noticed that the lava often is traveling in channels, similar to a stream but I've been wondering how those channels form. The edges, which are higher than the level of the lava flowing through the channel, are made of cooled lava, but that just makes me wonder what chain of events led to that lava being deposited, and then after it was deposited having new lava carve a channel through it. I've been seeing videos of the La Palma eruption that have flows that look more like a slowly moving pile of gravel, is that what the head of the eruption looks like? Where it's something like a flash flood, where the head of the flow has a bunch of material caught in it that slows the flow down, which forces the flow into a wider channel as the incoming lava backs up behind it, but then as that head flows further away the lava that was deposited in place then has a channel carved into it? Or is it just that as the lava flows it is carving a channel into the non-volcanic rock below it that then gives the illusion that the lava had carved through a once higher layer of freshly deposited lava? Or is it just that the flow rate varies over time, leading to more condensed channels that flow in the middle of old flows, due to the middle being the hottest and thus easiest to carve a new channel into? Thank you again for the videos, they are quite informative

In the N.M. Jemez mountains along the Jemez river are tons of beautiful, clear, blemish free obsidian chips. The indians made weapons/ tools out of it. Razor sharp edges one could shave with. Never thought of them as "jewells" before but have never seen clearer obsidian anywhere else & N.M. is a geologic wonderland.

I love these videos.

Good video tyvm

Hey dude so yeah i watched ur content for 1 year now but i like ur content

1 minute in and I'm hooked!

Does obsidian means the magma flow directly from the deep source fast and cooled fast too? Because it skip all the probable magma process such as differentiation, mixing, mingling, or and assimilation

Im curious to the silica content of this glass, could it be refined into solar panel parts?

I would love to see a video on mt. McLaughlin and the brown mountain cinder cone here in southern oregon. It sits in between Klamath Falls in Medford in the high Lakes wilderness area. Spend a lot of time hunting and camping in that area and iv been wanting to know more about the volcanic area but the usgs seems to have little to no info on the volcanos status and history

To watch that flow would have been unbelievable

Would've been a great place for someone making obsidian tools in the prehistory

Fascinating!

Could you do a video on Yamsay mountain in Oregon?

This is AMAZING.

Me again. Living in guatemala born in Oregon. This was fantastic! Must have been pretty cold weather I’d think.

I've been there. Beautiful area.

Beautiful obsidian in those parts

Could you talk about flint. How to identify it and wear to find it?

Not sure if it's covered in your back catalog but how does this compare to Idaho's Craters of the Moon flow?

Can u do a video on “black mountain “ near cooktown in qld Australia

No life like it. Lazy hazy days spent frolicking on top of a ticking Bomb. 🤸Gotta love the west coast. Amazing views. Thanks 👍✔️

Love the break down and a lot of cool history my only criticism is that Obsidian is a Glass due to its Lack of crystalline structure.

Once you are done at the obsidian flow, walk across the main road and scout around for the big crack. I don't know if its marked or not, but its kinda fun as well.