The Geologic Oddity in Washington; The World's Longest Andesite Lava Flow 

The Tieton andesite flows are confirmed as the longest viscous lava flows in the world! The exact reason why they were so long is complex, but heavily is related to its unusually high eruptive output (peaking at ~800 m^3/second). Another area of the world with unusually long lava flows is the Garibaldi and Garibaldi Lake volcanic complexes in Canada. There, a series of three unusually long dacite lava flows formed in the last 15,000 years, the longest of which is 20 km in length.

I have long been listening to the RU-vid lectures, presentations and field seminars of Prof. Nick Zentner of CWU, Ellensburg WA. If I have found one thing outside Washington State, heck Northern California, Oregon, British Columbia, to Alaska, are all weird and unique. Lots to explore not just volcanic sites.

It’s amazing how much detail you can get from reading the rocks. Sometimes I expect him to say something like “1.39 Million years ago, on a rainy Tuesday in February, ...”

You can always tell when someone isn’t from the PNW the way he pronounced Yakima and a few other places mentioned lol. Anyways I’ve been watching your videos for a couple years now and love the videos. Thank you for covering all the stuff here in the Northwest.

Washington has so many oddities you could do a whole series just on that area.

My geology professor visits this place very often, he has videos on his RU-vid channel talking about it. Nick Zentner

Andesite lava and polygon columns; two phrases I just never thought would occur together. Fascinating...Thanks, and cheers.

Love the geology in this part of the world - there's always something unexpected! Thanks for such an informative vid! Btw - it's YAK-em-uh, not ya-KEY-ma 🙂.

Thank you. Washington State has some of the most varied and fascinating geology in the world, from the accretion of the West Coast Terranes, to the Cascade active subductive volcanoes and back arc extinct hidden volcanoes, to the fantastic coolies that run through the Central state, and the volcanics in the East -- and that is just an overview. You could easily spend weeks covering all of these cataclysmic events.

I've read about the Tieton volcano and those fantastic columns in an old roadside geology book on Washington. Mt Baker also has some really nice columnar andesite too. I never really thought about how unusual it was to have such a long andesite flow in the state.

I used to live there: Yack-im-Ma and Cow-witch-ee and Nat-Cheese; gotta work on your native american names :-). 3:50 I can see my good friend's house. Again, I learned something-I had no idea that that even WAS a lava flow, much less the longest one. A suggestion for another local feature is Yakima canyon, which runs about 35 mile from north of Selah (see-LAA)(north side of Yakima) up to Ellensberg, WA. One of the more beautiful rugged drives you can take and REALLY fun on a motorcycle.

On your ride over White Pass on HWY 12 many locations reveal the massive lava flows. Stop at the Oak Creek Ranger Station to admire the massive columns across the Tieton River. Many people even climb the columns in warmer weather.

I have to admit, sometimes I just click on this guy's videos for his comforting voice, and to get away from the craziness of the rest of the world and social media.

Nick Zentner mentioned this in one of his lectures I think it was about the columbia flood basalts, but he didn't go very deep on the topic. I got very interested about it since, so having you explaining in detail is awesome. Thanks for this video!

[Nick Zenter has entered the chat]

Thanks for the great description of our local geology! I won't give you too much grief about mispronouncing Yakima, Naches and Cowiche.

Been asking for this for years and now I find out you've already done it. Thank you

The Grande Ronde basalt flows would be another really interesting ancient volcano in the PNW to cover. Supposedly it was a singular volcanic feature which contributed a significant amount to the Columbia Flood Basalts, which is quite impressive to think about. Must've been a lot like an ancient Laki in the PNW.

Great stuff, very informative! Looking forward to observing how your content will evolve!

Thank you for covering my backyard 😊

Hey GeologyHub, great channel by the way! Love your videos! Can you do a video on the formation of Cape Cod and the Islands in Massachusetts? Thanks!

I live in near Yakima, we can see many lava flows even today. We got over a mile thick layer of Columbia Flood Basalt that has many dozens of layers. Not sure which if Goat Rocks Lava or Flood Basalt came first, how many layers, or if both happening over time together and are intertwined. We have rock climbing because these flows. We also have the Yakima Fold Belts. Some rise nearly 2,000 feet. I live on the side of one and have a view of the 'Gap' where Yakima River carved it's way through the Basalt layers as it was thrust up to form Anticlines. The lava from Goat Rocks also contributes to the ridges, mostly on west side of town. I can look out and see many layers of Basalt that were cut by river. Also, the Yakima River Canyon is a spot where you can see dozens of individual layers. River is entrenched and has meanders. Yakima River was very old even before all the lava flows from multiple sources arrived here.

So cool! I visit my friends there about every year and have always loved the basalt columns. I had no idea Goat Rocks used to be that active.

Thanks for the vid, very interesting! I drive along the eastern side of hwy 12 quite often, especially during the winter to ski, so it is pretty cool to hear about how some of the terrain was formed. Hiking in the PCT into goat rocks is also extremely underrated in late August or early September as well (when there are less mosquitoes).

Hi, thank you for your very informative/educational video's. I like the format and the pace. My request is to have more information about Ngorongoro in Tanzania, as I have been in it. Thanks!

Well done my good man, that area is keen to my eyes. I have travled most of the Tieton, to about 10 miles past the dam. Even as far as over the ridge and south to Knife Blade Ridge. My dog and I crossed over on foot from Conrad Meadows, hi-lining the mounts well above Cirque and Surprise Lakes. It was a great trail head in the '80s. Seeing Mt Adams, St Helens and Rainier from one spot will never leave me. A few spots on the PCT were not safe for horses. Up at White Pass to Rainier to Stampede Pass is some of the best, and around Mt Baker. The Palasades are a wonderous sight as well.

If you drive across eastern Washington in the winter, the polygonal lava cliffs make it look exactly like you're in Iceland.

I've been camping out at Naches my entire life, Had no idea about this, how very cool

Been enjoying the heck out of your series! Was wondering if you could do a video on the picturesque Haystack Rock on the Oregon coast?

Cool video! If you want another topic on long lava flows you could examine the Payun Matru volcano in Argentina, with its Pampas Onduladas flow which is the longest Quaternary lava flow.

This is a really cool video, many thanks!

Goat Rocks is one of my favorite places while Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. The views are so beautiful!

Thank you. Enjoyed the video.

I love your stuff, I watch almost everything you put out, but pretty pretty please look up Pacific Northwest place name pronunciation because none of them seem to make sense to people from outside the area. Yakima (pronounced YAK-uh-muh) was the one that got me this time. In other news, my partner grew up not far from Goat Rock, basically due west-northwest a ways.

One of my favorite posts actually. That's geology that I can drive to

I live where you are talking about. The columns are great to look at. Ive driven and hiked all over this place. Thanks for the video.

That Was Incredible Information' So complex! Thank You' and blessings always!🌎🌍🌏

Very compact bit of wonderful information. I would like to suggest doing a video of Mt. Shasta.

That lava speed graph at 0:47 is so useful! Thanks!

Traveling around these flows is amazing; some of the most beautiful scenery in what is already one of the most diverse and beautiful states.

If you are interested in seeing the site of these flows in more detail, you should check out Nick Zentner's video from last month here : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bkz-ziKjkt0.html. Nick is a Washington-based geologist and professor who regularly does "field trips" to some of the very interesting sites that are covered here on GeologyHub.

These types of lava flows make me think of some kind of living rock monster.

New to the channel and i know I'm a little late, but I've grown up Bonney lake, grand parents lived in Yakima. I've hiked through the goat rocks and been all up and down the tieton river. Always wondered what caused the cool looking rocks there! Great video

Excellently done ✅

Very interesting as usual! Just FYI "Yakima" is pronounced with the accent on the 1st syllable, 'yak', like the boreal bovid; "YAK-ih-mǝ".

The lava flows that created the Pacific northwest is amazing.. the volume the earth puked out is beyond belief...

Great video, actually recently discovered this ,and found it to be amazing that thick goey even blocky lava got that far ,timely subject thanks,please do girabaldi.

Take a look at Calico Ridge, Henderson, NV. Crazy mixture of mineral deposits, lava flows, vent domes, and a wash.

I REALLY appreciate and enjoy our videos, especially the hard data you include. I am finding your vids a good companion with MIcrosoft Flight Simulator.. you have explained several features I was wondering about (the impact crater in Australia NW), and given me plenty to explore. I am frankly finding it an awesome tool for learning more about Geology and specific features I see... eg The Great Escarpment, Salt Domes in Iran adn the obvious tectonics or that cauldera looking crater lake next to Manila... a bit of googling and i learn it is Taal... and has gone up since 'discovering' it. I was simming from Australia to Bora Bora and lost comms with the weather stations (real world weather).. curious, I did a google and found the Tonga Volcanoe had JUST gone up and was only reported in local news at the time andhadn't hit international news yet. Fyi without weather stations, you could not detect the eruption in the sim, but La Palma was very well modeled, I even compared the webcams with the sim. It showed only as cloud but at the right spot, density and with volcanic lightining. (comparison vid - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SSdXj9h9HJs.html ). Hey, I would really appreciate you covering the history around South Eastern Victoria (Australia) along the coast between Warnambool and Colac (the Red HiIl cinder cone fields). Most Aussies have zero clue about the volcanism here, and I know people living at the base of the major cinder cone near Camperdown (showing signs of growth or slippage) that have zero clue, I would love to know much more about it from someone with a clue like you! Keep up the wonderful work!

It’s not Yak-eema. It’s aama. I been rock hounding the area for a couple decades. I have the strangest conglomerates from those flows. There is a point in cowiche canyon where the andesite flow ends and basalt begins. The creek separates the two. Thanks for the video.

I’ll have to keep an eye out for that; I drive to the west end of Yakima several times a month near where US 12 splits between heading to Natchez and Ellensburg.

Thank you!

Very interesting!

More (a LOT more) on the Tieton Andesite from The Man himself, Central Washington University's own Nick Zentner: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bkz-ziKjkt0.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-X6pOs_kOqwU.html

I really appreciate the work you put into these videos. That said, I do have one request. When showing photos and video describing the topic, I wish there were a symbol placed on the screen to indicate and confirm that what we are looking at, actually came from that very volcano. When using images from other eruptions throughout the world, the message begins to feel diluted or even confusing. For me, when learning about a certain volcano, I need to know exactly what images came from where...

I have seen this flow from Google Earth, & have always wondered of its origins! Also definitely made me want to go there even more! 🤣

Great video, thanks for your work. Btw is Yack-imm-AH, not Yak-EEM-uh

Great video! And for more information search out Nick Zentner’s excellent lectures and videos covering the Geology of Washington State!

How about the Blue Rocks here in Pennsylvania? There's a campground nearby and nothing else like it around here. I always wondered how it formed.

Thanks!

Love the channel!! And: YAK im ah

I'm intrigued by your accent. I cant place where you're accent is from. Amazing video as always. Thank you for doing this. Btw, there is the theory that the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico is a large igneous province, but a silicic one (s SLIP, if you will). Have you already done a video on that or on regular LIPs?

Also on the west side of white pass, there are beautiful column formations along the river and highway.

I hate to be that guy....... But it's pronounced "Yeah-keh-mah" But always good to see you covering Eastern WA and the cascades, would love to see more on the Olympic peninsula. A real geologic oddity.

Thank you

It's Yah-Kih-Muh :) Very interesting video, I live in Seattle and I never knew about this

I live like 600 feet from one of the Tieton Andesite places you highlighted lol

Suggestion for a new geological oddity video. The sandy desert in Freeport Maine.

i love you content, but it is very clear you are not from the PNW based on pronunciations (Na-cheese, Yak em ah) other than that absoutely fascinating video. As a PNW geology nerd i love learning more about the surrounding country

Local pronunciations are Yakima, and Cow-witch-ee. I used to work there Summers. Naches, where my Uncle Bob Allan lived, they pronounce Nah Cheese, NOT Naw Chez. These are NOT the original native American pronunciations, which are closer to what you might expect.

These ancient eruptions keep me up at night !

I knew about this from watching Nick Zentner’s RU-vid channel

Found your channel by watching Nick Zentner’s Channel

Hey, I can see my house from here! Yet, even after my university geology courses, it wasn't until watching this video that I learned about this intriguing local feature. Go figure!

Could you make a video on Wilpena Pound and the surrounding Flinders Ranges in South Australia? There are some fascinating rock formations there.

For these eruptions long time ago, do you find the passages through core drilling or just by ground sampling?

The geology of Washington State is amazing!

How very interesting. I've driven 12 many times and recognize the cliffs along the river never knowing the geological history of what caused it.

Very interesting video I love your videos on volcanoes I've been fascinated by them forever a long time ago when I was a kid my Grandpa took us down south in southern Utah and there was a extinct volcano I can't remember where this was but you could definitely tell it was a cinder cone do you know of any other extinct or volcanoes in Utah just curious you're really good at your research on this topic of volcanoes keep up the great work your videos are very well done good job peace out

2:02 I was not aware that was a 12,000' volcano in the past. Wow. 3:10 This overflowing of that crater in only one hour is outrageous. 800 cubic meters per SECOND flowing.

There could well be longer/larger ones on the ocean floor. We just don't know enough about the ocean floor to be sure.

Huh. I wonder if I ever learned that in my high school geology class, which took a field trip that went through there, with stops in the Tieton. Definitely doesn't ring a bell, but I was progressively more drunk as time went on that day. And it was 25 years ago.

I live directly east of Goat rocks right where the map transitions from green mountains to desert. I've over looked Goat rocks many times from Darland mountain which has the second highest road in the state. From that vantage point I can see all the way to mount baker in the north of Washington to 3 sisters in central oregon. I had to think a bit to figure which drainage it took since the klickitat, cowiche, and ahtanum drainages were clearly impossible. I settled on the Tieton/Naches drainage. It would appear to be the only one with the correct elevation. Highway 12 traverses much of the length of this flow with many exposed columns. There are also some interesting flows and columns at the palisades before you come into Packwood which was from a large eruption 650000 years ago and also traveled a considerable distance from Goat rocks complex.

I'd love to see a clip about the huge magnetic anomaly in central australia..its the big arc of hills right in the middle of the continent. Cant miss it

I would love you to cover the Willamette River. Including, elk rock island and willamette falls and the willamette valley. The River did not carve the valley. It’s very interesting. During Missoula floods it flowed south instead of its normal northern flow which is also odd. Not that many rivers flow north in this manner.

I live in Hayden, on the edge of the Rathdrum prairie. I know about the Lake Missoula floods, but I am interested in what exactly is filling the Rathdrum prairie and the surrounding areas from the floods. Thanks

Excellent information! Kudos from one geology nerd to another. Oregon and Washington are havens for anyone interested in geology. Don't take it to heart, but I get a kick out of your mispronounced place names. Everyone here in Virginia says my home state wrong: "Ora-gone" but it's pronounced "Ore-ree-gun".

Goat rocks was my favorite stretch of the PCT .

It is easy to assume that the source heating the magma may had a higher than normal temperature to increase the the longer flows.

Can you do a video on the emerald/ruby strip in Greenland?

Please summarize the caldera movement (hot spot) migrating from northern California through Oregon then through to Wyoming? Do scientists have a good handle on the migration path? Might there have been more than one hot spot migrating from the west US coast north-eastward? I hope you will be able to cover this. I am mega-curious. Thank you.

very cool..

Baffled, until realizing you meant *"Yakima,"* which is said as: *"YAK* - uh - maw." Thanks for video!

I grew up in Naches, WA. I never knew any of this.

Can you do the few (probably extinct) volcanoes in Croatia in the Adriatic? I think there is another extinct one on the mainland too.

Hey I just moved near Ranier! Just FYI, natives pronounce is yak (like the animal) - i (like if) - mah (like your mother). I’ll have to go check this area out more

I grew up in Ellensburg, just north of there. I know the area very well. I used to Mt Bike 160-300 miles a week (3/4 paved, gravel roads of course and yes I would ride out of town 40 miles , up and down the cascades and ride back home. 10-16 hour rides). Yes, I used race and beat some pro's. Anyhoo. Very beautiful area with oodles of riparian zones along the rivers. Especially along the Columbia river, where these rivers flow into. My step dad was professor of geology and educated me about these and others wonders. Such as the terminal moraines along the Kittitas valleys north side. Fancy name for the end of glaciers from the last major ice age. The hills north side of the valley are basically compact rubble. The pressure from the glaciers created "ellensburg blues" a semi precious gemstone found only there and in korea. The blues will actually rise out of the ground every spring after the snow melt. Geologically Washington State is amazing. Thats why me dad chose to live there. Its gorgeous to the eye of even an armchair geologist.

I’d recommend going to Google earth to view the lava flows in Garibaldi Park. It’s quite interesting.

I'd like to see an episode on volcanic features that are easy to see from the highway in various countries

Yak-eh-maw. That's how we say it out here. Or Crackima. Tho I prefer Yakompton. I've seen these structures but just assumed they were part of the badlands and never questioned it further. This was cool to learn, thank you. Hey 12 is a nice ride. You can drive south to Goldendale and check out a life size complete version of Stonehenge, overlooking the Columbia River. It's pretty freaking awesome. And quiet. The stones block all outside wind and noise, so it seems like the world begins and ends inside the ring. It's a trip. I recommend it. Duder who built it lost a decent chunk of his troop from WWUno, and he put this up as a memorial to the innocents and doughboys alike. I mean, I don't get it, how one thing there bridges to the other, but I can appreciate both his art and his loss even if I can't correlate them