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The Hurricane name comes from Paiute Hurra Cano (guess at the spelling) which translates to "hot house". A reference to the hot springs where the Virgin River crosses the Hurricane Fault. You mentioned a UGS field guide in your video and said the URL would be in the comments. Thanks for this video, and all your work on this.
Everything I've found online (the usgs link he gave and the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers) say that it was named after the strong wind they experienced after arriving there
I’m the former geology major who donated a few weeks ago. My field camp was based in Cedar City. If you’ve never explored Spring Creek Canyon near Kanarraville, there’s a fold on the south wall near the canyon mouth/trailhead that nicely replicates the S. Utah Overthrust. Great teaching tool!
Southern Utah is phenomenal. I have considered moving to Hurricane when - and if - I ever retire. It will probably never happen, but who knows? Thank you, as always. Do you suppose knowing about the fault will get me a property value discount?
Awesome! Such a defining feature for our local topography. Every time we climbed it on family trips I would point out to my kids how remarkable that this million year old structure moved about a foot each thousand years. They would just roll their eyes and get back to their Gameboys.
As a former Utahn I approve of the first discussion point. I refused to call it that when I first moved there. But i have since returned and accept the correct pronunciation.
@@spikespa5208 Place names often get abbreviated like that -- if you're saying it dozens of times a day, you start to cut corners. A great example of this in England is Appletreewick, which is pronounced "APP-trick" by the locals.
This is so interesting. Your vids solve so much mystery and questions I have of every place I’ve been. Fascinating I love this stuff and you do great definition of the area surrounding.
This was so fun to watch! We mtn bike over there every week. I’m going to make sure and stop to see it. I always knew southern Utah had a fault but I had no idea it was so big and could cause such a big earthquake! They don’t even do earthquake drills here! Have you ever gone to what they call “glitter mountain” the gypsum mine in Warner Valley (by the airport).
Thanks for the new video. I just moved here and have been wondering about the various rocks and topography here and what kinds of things might have happened. This helps me understand a part of the puzzle. I’d love to learn more. Thanks for taking the time to make these videos.
Haha the first part is appreciated ! When I moved here (and even now), I thought/think it’s a very interesting way to pronounce “hurricane”. On another note, I appreciate and enjoy watching your content!
Fascinating! I think there may be 3? Faults converging in the Salida Colorado area between the Sangre De Cristos, the Pikes Peak batholith, the southern Sawatch Range, as well as the Rio Grand Rift, and the 39 mile volcanic field to the east of Salida.
Utah is one heck of a beautiful state. Some parts may be a little worrisome if you happen to live in those earthquake prone areas however. Thanks so much professor for a study of the geological feature regarding faults here.
Another nice exploration and description. Thanks. I've traveled that area many times and noted the amount of vertical relief. The La Verkin River seems to follow along part of the bottom of that area. I recall a quake in Springdale somewhat recently.
Shawn, We’re over here on the Carolina coast watching (and supporting) your channel because of your gifted way of conveying your knowledge of Geology. Having watched many of your videos I’m struck by a non-geological question; do you EVER encounter snakes during your hikes? If you do and you’re editing out the encounters, you’re also a gifted editor.
I found your channel through AZRA who shared one of your Grand Canyon videos on FB and I'm so glad I found your channel! I've been fortunate to have been rafting down the Grand more than once and have always wondered about the geology (if you have any Grand Canyon geology reference book recommendations, I'd love to hear about them). It has been great to learn so much from your videos. Love your real world examples and it is even more helpful when you overlay your descriptions/text on the video. Your presentation style is fantastic and the knowledge you share is amazing! Please keep up the great work and continue creating these awesome geology videos!
Thank you kindly. I have a 2025 river trip through the Canyon already booked but look for a 2026 trip if you are interested. Also there is my Grand Canyon playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PLOf4plee9UzDeaEYBHtkhGCiFbD4TcI0x
It’s really interesting that the town and fault you’re discussing here I would pronounce the same as the weather phenomenon being from the North of England. They’re both the same pronunciation to me similar to how you’re pronouncing the fault and town name.
This is an exceptionally amazing video, and the amount of great information you provide is a learning experience not to be missed . You’re work is so exciting to see. Thanks so much! Lynn in Naples Fl.
Incredible. Thanks for sharing your expertise with us Prof. I wonder how many locals trundle along the highway, oblivious to the amazing geology just to their East (I would have been one, half an hour ago). Let's hope they watch your video Shawn Many thanks from one of your metric friends.
For folks who can't hike rugged country any more, there is a spot where the highway from Hurricane town to Zion or Fredonia AZ crosses a fault exposure so you can see it from a comfortable seat in your car. Head out of Hurricane on Hwy 59. You will climb steeply up from Hurricane and just about 3/4 mile after you turn from Main Street onto Hwy 59 the highway starts to make a curve to the right. Along in this area you'll see steeply pitched shiny rock face on the right side of the road. If sun is shining on it in late afternoon, it may seem almost mirror-like. That is a slickensided portion of the fault -- the rock that Shawn showed that appears to be polished. That is the old fault surface. The slickenside results from incredible heat caused by friction as rock surfaces rub past one another and briefly melt. But you do need to slow down, drive carefully, and keep your eyes open. IF traffic is light, you may be able to safely pull to the right shoulder for a much better look. Just be careful. In this part of the country, many people are going to looking more at the incredible scenery and not paying as much attention to driving as they should.
Fantastic exposure, thanks for getting us an up close view! It'd be great to learn more about the historical earthquakes here and how large a movement would be expected, also I'm interested in how the rock gets so polished- is this from the movement of the fault alone or is weathering playing a role?
It's a very special part of the world. Thank you for making this even more clear. This isn't the geology of my childhood this is the big picture right down the plate tectonics and how to all relates to what is underneath our feet.
Thanks Shawn, great to see a segment close to home! One thing confuses me, geologists frequently refer to the movement as the foot wall going up and and the hanging wall going down, that is true for the movement relative to each other, but like in this case there is no indication that the foot wall actually rose, its just that the hanging wall, including the town of Hurricane is going down?
The saying about the southern Utah accent is that, "Born in a barn in St. George" is pronounced, "Barn in a born in St. Jarge." My great-grandfather came from England as a child and lived for a time in Leeds, Utah near Hurricane.
All the places that you go to broaden our view of our amazing Planet and its incredible geologic drama that has happened so excruciatingly slowly through deep time. We barely even get to glance at it all and then we too are history.
Wonderful presentation as usual!! I stumbled upon y our channel by watching a widely watch geology professor named Nick from Eastern Washington University. I'm chasing a long lost interest in geology I developed while studying for a degree in Civil Engineering. I live just North of CDA and have a chunk of ground in the Walipai Valley North of Kingman. The line you drew on the map depicting the fault's location in northern AZ appears to run West of the Music Mountains South of the Grand Canyon which further got my attention since that's my neighborhood. I'd be most interested in hearing more about the Southern end of the fault. Also, thanks for the excellent coverage you've done on the Iceland seismic/volcanic activity. Used to fly into iceland when I was in the USAF back in the 60's.
Thanks Shawn, 18mos ago drove this way to visit N Rim Grand Canyon from San Diego area and noticed these walls. 2 years from retirement and studying RU-vid geology from primarily YOU! Now I have some intentions to revisit this area. Love your lessons.
Interesting that RU-vid recommend this video to me two weeks after an earthquake here in Southern Utah! Idk if this fault line was the source as the usgs listed Brian Head as the site of measurement. Appreciate the video, very informative -so. Utah resident
Do you encounter many fauna related threats while scrambling about? I live in critter-infested South Australia, relatively near the Flinders Ranges, and I always worry something will bite you!
“Slickenside” sounds like a word a German poet would come up with. Of course I can’t also help but think of the kids’ toy “Slip ‘n Slide.” OK, whatever helps memorize the term! 😂 Seriously though, this was another GREAT video! You’ve inspired me to read up on further geology texts. Thank you so much!
Beautiful Utah! Although I live in Colorado and enjoy our many and varied mountain ranges, particularly the San Juans, i think Utah's geology is the most fascinating of all the states. You mentioned the Wasatch Fault and I was wondering if you could cover that one also since it is a potential threat to all the cities just to the West along the I-15 corridor.
Shawn, is there a listing of the relative dates of the more significant earthquakes along this fault and if so, when was the last quake of significance?
Super faulting examples, so distinct. Thanks for the distant views. That conglomerate is gorgeous. In the SW, I've seen "desert varnish" on rocks, and the slickensides had that color in places. ( What is desert varnish?) Strikingly pretty country. Thanks, Shawn!
Cool fault seeing where the Colorado plateau is getting shoved up in what is effectively in some sense an expansion of the basin and range. The lava flows here are thought to be a consequence of slab drip which is where lower sections of the continental crust getting heated from below by the low sheer velocity hot upwelling mantle ridge continuity beneath the Colorado plateau fall off allowing magma to fill in the gaps and rise to the surface along the points of least resistance. I think from what I've read, particular from the work of Robert Hildebrand, that the best explanation for the heat source and the context of the rest of the odd geology of the western US is that the heat source is the solid mantle continuation of the East Pacific Rise below the large silicate raft that is the continent of North America. Given that it is relatively aligned fairly close to where the Yellowstone hotspot intersects this ridgeline at what looks like an oceanic triple junction I wonder if the local heat flux intensity is getting enhanced by the the plume as well since it appears they both are in the same geologic frame of reference relative to North America.
I love your content! Is there any chance of you coming to the Lewistown area? There are some basalt layers that I'd like to see you talk about that have been exposed by the 95 road cuts to the north and some really interesting layers exposed by a gravel mining operation on Lapwai rd. I'd also really love to learn about the geology around the Clearwater River. The gorge is every bit as impressive as Hells Canyon, but I haven't found anything on how it was formed. I know that the Bonneville flood would have pushed up the Clearwater, but I wouldn't think that would be capable of carving out all of that material.
You've talked about how these features are related to extensional forces, and it's kind of logical that the hanging wall falls, but what causes the footwall to rise, or is the "rising" of the footwall only relative to the hanging wall?
I loved that area I'm from Florida so it's a bit different here but my husband's son and I got to drive from California through Death Valley through to Las Vegas and then up through the Virgin River Gorge into St George where we stayed and then drove right up to where you're at and then through Mount Zion then we went out to the Grand Canyon camped out on the north rim then went to Bryce Canyon drove up scenic route 12 all the way through Capitol Reef Escalante Moab we saw the grand staircase and then we drove I-70 through Colorado and then we went cross-country down through Tennessee in the Appalachian Mountains all the way back down to Florida. It was such a fascinating trip that my son who's only 10 decided that this year his science fair project would be a working model of the Grand Canyon on how it began with all the layers but the St George area absolutely fascinated me because from what I understand it's not only where the Basin and Range and the Colorado Plateau merge but it's also where the Mojave desert meets up with them it was all amazing I just wish I had more time to explore like I did with my parents when I was young I really do like your long form videos better but thank you do you happen to have a video on the grand staircase I would really love to see more videos of some of the features that I was mentioning I can't find anything on the grand staircase that doesn't end up being Bible related obnoxious when I want science please continue making more videos
Excellent! Hope it doesn't send my parent's condo down into the golf course in st George, or at least no while we're there! (And their house is on the Bonneville shoreline above south Ogden with the wasatch fault scarp at the bottom of their yard dropping down to the valley below - and then they worry about ME near Newport Beach.)
Hi Shawn, my wife and I enjoyed watching your video yesterday. The stops that you made, we can see from our backyard. But why did you pick such difficult stops to access in order to see various sites along the fault trace when there are much easier ones to access? If you're not familiar with them, I'd be happy to show you. Another topic that maybe you can elaborate on that we hear from area geologists, is that the Hurricane Fault isn't all that dangerous or active anymore. Most of the movement you mention in the video occurred in the first half of that 850K year span. There is little evidence of movement, or earthquakes occurring, over the past several thousand years. On the San Andreas, there is much evidence of quakes occurring in the past few thousand years. Furthermore, if there was recent vertical movement on the fault, then there would most likely be a waterfall or at least a cascade on the Virgin River near where Hwy 9 crosses it. There is no evidence of any cascade. Maybe you've run across information why there is none or where there is evidence of recent fault movement? The last movement associated with the Hurricane Fault was in 1992 (the St. George earthquake) and it was on the parallel Washington fault. Thanks in advance if you can provide any further evidence of recent fault movement.
These plains are riding on top of what’s left of the Jaun de Fuca and things underneath there are causing a rise in the landscape to make the fault split?
There are slickensides from this fault on the side of Hwy 9 as it crosses the fault east of LaVerkin. But it is on the side of a busy highway without a good pullout.
You forgot the Brunton! And we recall the missing acid bottle! Shawn you need a Geology activity belt...like Batman...but better. PS..throw is not equal to elevation diff if fault plane is non vertical...marginal at 80 degrees but worth noting for shallower faults.
Is that location the radio towers whose trail Matt from Matts Off Road Recovery has warned people to avoid because the trail's in extremely bad shape and is extremely dangerous to drive up.
Really cool. The fault surface shows shearing , but does the heat generated in a slip change the rocks much or is most of the texture , colour and other features a result of the shearing ? And when was the last recorded, or calculated , large earthquake ?
What gets me is the "straight" line of the fault that cuts like a knife through the rock, especially the cobbly conglomerate. I'd expect the conglomerate to crumble when disturbed, but it doesnt. What can the physics be that allows propagation of the fault tear and yields the polished and flat fault plane?
Correct pronunciation certainly helps one blend in with the locals 😏. Viewing this video, I feel t like a kid in the park, having fun exploring the fault. Question about the slickenlines: you say they were formed during the last event - well are slickenlines that are several feet above the surface going to be far enough under the surface at great enough pressure during the last event to put grooves in the rocks? I would think they would have to be at least a few hundred feet underground to have enough pressure => quite a few events back. I would doubt you would find slickenlines up near the top of the footwall following that reasoning. Again, thanks for the video, and be careful of rattlesnakes!
The most interesting (head scratching) thing is the missing Mesozoic rock. How old is the Lava? How can one side have that much erosion with a lava cap on it and both sides of the fault were level with each other when the lava was deposited. We need another cartoon.
I have a fault on the back side of my property but I’m having a trouble determining what kind of fault it I believe it’s a normal fault but I’m not sure. I live just north of Redding ca at the most southeast extreme of the Klamath mtn range that is rotating clockwise tectonically and is most likely a exotic terrane but I’m also possibly within the margins of the Yellowstone hot spot that North American plate moved over throughout time. It really is a jumbled up mess of metamorphic rock as well as mother rock also. Thanks again shawn
