Why Are There Volcanoes And Obsidian At California's Salton Sea?
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- Опубліковано 25 вер 2024
- Explore Obsidian Butte on the shores of California's largest water body, the Salton Sea, with geology professor Shawn Willsey. Learn why volcanoes exist there, how the land can be both below sea level and have high mountains, and how obsidian formed in this location. GPS location: 33.17126, -115.63763
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I'm watching your video now sir but I am genuinely wondering how did you get the link you've posted to work?? I ask this because UA-cam doesn't allow links posted to work anymore allegedly due to scammers and hackers so Google says! I honestly don't think it's due to that at all and more due to links take people away from UA-cam and less people here on UA-cam then there's less people watching their ads! Less people watching ads means less money they make! Idk maybe I'm wrong but I seriously don't think so! There are some links that slip through and work like yours does but not very many at all! Even old links have altogether for the most part been disabled as well! If you could please get back to me I'd really appreciate it please and thank you!
it used to be the best place to go fishing... Corvina fish. ...they make great ceviche...
You often joke about your drawings, but they are VERY helpful. Thank you.
I love the cartoon diagrams too! I pause and study them for a few minutes. They're really helpful.
@@MyMemphisable Geologic mapping itself is an exercise in cartoon-drawing.
I agree! 💯
I don't care about geology,
I'm just here for the drawings :)
@@jeebusk set up some merch😉
Your diagram in this video tells me so much more than just seeing maps of faults. Never knew there are divergent plate boundaries through there…thanks!
Outstanding Shawn. I learned a lot. I appreciate your organization and the cartoons. “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them."
My feelings exactly. Just not able to express it so well😎
@@sonjo2419 Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Eh?
The releasing and restraining bends were really interesting. I've heard that plate tectonics is a pretty recent science (1960s), and this discussion made me wonder how the details were worked out. Imagine being the guy that figured out the mountains over yonder were formed by the same fault movement as the volcano over here. Just a right turn vs. a left turn.
Anywhere I have moved to in my 71 years, I had a burning desire to learn of my local geology and how it came to be!
Hiking Joshua Tree countless weekends sparked my interest in geology decades ago. Only now, the pieces of the puzzle are revealing themselves.
Standing atop San Jacinto Peak, you get a sense of the magnitude of forces at work throughout this area. I always wanted to know the geological story. Thanks for your help.
The diagrams are indispensable. Thanks for the time you put into them.👍
This was very informative. I grew up in El Centro, and experienced several large earthquakes on the Imperial fault. It’s always great to learn more about the Valley geology. Thank you
I vividly recall the earthquake swarms there in the early '80's. I was living in Imperial at the time and there was quite a bit of damage to the old downtown buildings. Aside from that; Professor Jay Van Werloff of IVC brought attention to the mini volcanoes (mudpots)of Salton Sea years ago; he was passionate about the local geology and anthropology.
I was supervisor on a drilling rig at the southern end of Salton Sea in the 80s. On our days off, we would explore the out cropping and come back with chuncks of obsidian larger than 1 cu. ft. On the border, we would find very tall outcroppings in the Anza Borrego with some pretty good garnets. Some private jewelers would pay 50 to 100 bucks a piece for the best ones. The desert
Want a wonder filled environment.
Lived in the Imperial Valley for several years and we had earthquakes when the weather changed from cool to hot and back again. Pretty amazing area, geologically.
@@susancuenin2137
Yes miss. And hot is hot. Below sea level. Takes really different and hearty folks not only to live in the desert but to love it as well.
😉@@mindysdad3110
The map you made is very helpful..and then to actually see the physical look of the rocks and terrain really helps geology be understandable.
Very nice discussion on how deflections of the strike slip faults can alternately create areas of extension and resulting basins or compression and resulting mountains. This is one of the areas of the western US that I haven’t had a chance to see first hand and I know little about. After this video, I know a little more. Thank you.
Found many pieces of knapped obsidian and arrowheads in the Poway Valley area of San Diego County... Was told by 'experts' that the obsidian came from the desert tribes who traded with coastal tribes. Now I know where they got it! Thanks!
Eggzactimatly!
I lived in San Diego for 36 yrs, been to the Salton Sea as a kid, but never knew of Obsidian Butte. What a cool place! When I was rockhounding in Oregon, I got some nice specimens in Davis Creek in Northeastern California, along with Sunstones near Plush Or, and Opal in the Virgin Valley near Denio Nv. I'm the guy that lives 18 miles from Taal Volcano Philippines. Miss the rockhounding sites of the Western US. Thanks for the video's and their insight into Mother Nature's impact on the Earth. 👍💖
The old timers called that area black rock. When the water was up to the rocks. Was Great fishing area for corvina, croaker, sargo fish. Because the water warmer in the winter & spring from heat bubbling up from underneath.
The geological features of Southern California are rather unique and you took great time in explaning why things are the
way they are there Shawn. And I thought this place was a dead zone of activity. It is very much not so. Another YT'er was
here exploring and there were huge piles of pure unweathered Obsidian where she was. Was amazing seeing both views
of roughly the same kind of geology out in what looks like the middle of nowhere. Thanks again for this cool visit.
Oh filling great gaps in my knowledge and understanding . Thank you so much.
I love the Salton Sea! Lots of history with a storied past! Please do another video on it!
I've lived in Southern California all my life ( I'm now a senior) and have always been fascinated with it's topography. Thank you for connecting a
lot of dots for me I never knew about. The California desert is one of the few places in the world where you can climb to the top of a hill or mountain, look out, and actually still see how the ancient land was formed. The vastness of it and the powerful forces that created it is quite overwhelming.
Cheers Shawn, Nice video and Great information, JH 🙏🏻✌🏻
Great video. I can now say I have walked over some of the same geological area as you have. My son lived in San Diego for 8 years and while on a trip to see him and family, we made a road trip to Obsidian Butte at the Salton Sea. I actually mailed about 50lbs of rock and obsidian samples back to North Carolina by the USPS for $38. Was cheaper than a $50 airplane carry on bag. Keep exploring and learning my Friend.
Did you knap it?
No, I don't do any knapping. I use rocks in a geology/rock presentation I do for Elementary age school kids on a routine basis. I'm just a RockHound that shares the things that God created.
@jayculp7530 That is wonderful! By far, a more important use of the rocks.
I actually did a Presentation yesterday for 15 adult Special Needs students at a local Community College.
@jayculp7530 As a retired sp Ed teacher I am delighted by this.
Love your maps and explanations of this fascinating area. Thanks for the education and keep up the great work Shawn!
Finally I understand how normal and reverse faults develop from transform faults! Thank you!
Great content, Shawn. I learned so much. I'm forever confused by the different types of faults. Hybrid faults are even worse. But your "art" really made it easy to understand.
I was born and raised in Southern California. At 22, my young family was uprooted to Kansas and decades later, I'm still in Kansas.
It wasn't until about 10 years ago that I even heard the name, Salton Sea. Crazy, right? It's really cool to be able to add some geological history to such a weird place. Thanks, for taking the time to teach this 50something year old in an easily digestible format.
So interesting! You are a great teacher. Especially your explanations about the faults. When I last went to that area it was to bird watch. (Tilapia bones, fish were dying all around the shore) Thank you so much!
Thank you for that nice video.
I haven’t been to that particular spot so I watched with interest.
Since you are a geologist, you understood the geology there quickly.
As I am not a geologist, it has taken me years to understand this wonderful area.
Every time I get to drive through or visit that area I learn a little bit more about it.
the developing "divergent plate boundary" discussion with its volcanism was eye-opening to me... never heard that before. thanks.
Another great explanation Shawn, Thank You, You can't live in California without appreciating the varying Geology that surrounds you!
I've been playing my whole life and working as a land surveyor off and on in the Imperial Valley for 30+ years. This was such a great description of what is going on in that area and was at a perfect level for a land surveyor to understand why our geodetic control is so challenging there. I'm going to share it with our younger surveyors. I kind of knew most of this stuff but you really put it all together just the right way.
Thanks so much.
Professor, thank you so much! I am getting more interested in earth sciences, with quakes, volcanoes, tectonics and your channel has helped me much.
I watch you and Myron Cook as much as I can, especially since you each look at geology in a different way and it helps round out my education. I love learning about why there are outcroppings, how they evolved, the underlying and obvious. Welll, just everything. Thank you. And your sketches help a Great deal.
Wow! This video is loaded good information! A great combination of field trip exposure and classroom lecture is showcased. Thanks for the effort!
Thanks!
Thank you for supporting geology education.
Very well explained and demonstrated. You have wonderful teaching skills.
I'm loving these road trips! You are fascinating!
Thank you for another fascinating video. Your teaching style makes it easy to understand.
Wow, so informative! I'm a lifelong California hiker, scientist and amateur geology enthusiast, and I learned a TON from this video. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Great video. Such a complex and interesting tectonic setting. Nice diagram and explanation. Love that Pumice and Obsidian mix.
Really enjoy these educational videos. You project well and are easy to understand and follow. Very appreciated. Thank you.
Cracking open and seeing that bright shiney obsidian was just lovely.
Another fun episode. Gotta get there sometime soon. I'm one of those who are enthralled with obsidian. Fun stuff!
This video is beautiful with the light patterns on the rock
Wish I had seen this before my recent road trip through this area. Very informative.
I've wondered about this area for years. Thank you very much!!!
Thanks for this video! Another good one. Net time you are down there, consider hiking spectacular Painted Canyon, just about 60 miles north of Salton Buttes, northeast of the north shore of the Salton Sea. Visible offsets on faults in young sediments (Pleistocene, Pliocene) and old metamorphic rocks (Proterozoic), flash flood deposits, slot canyons, seasonal wild flowers, and more. Outcrops there illustrate most of a geology 101 course!
I've read (Economic Geology (1967) 62 (3): 316-330) that one geothermal well there produced 2 to 3 tons/month of siliceous scale that was 20% copper and 6% silver. The ore minerals present included bornite, digenite, chalcopyrite, chalcocite, stromeyerite (AgCuS), and native silver. This could be considered a model for the formation of ore bodies.
Great video and an incredible place. Thanks for the view through a geologists eye! Fascinating!
My daughter and I used to go to the Salton sea. Beautiful place but spooky. I didn't know about the obsidian butte or we would have gone there. I find your videos very interesting even if I can't understand half of what you are talking about.
I shared this video with my son. I used to live at Salton Sea so I perked up when I saw the title. He thought it was so interesting he took his 11-year-old daughter out on a weekend trip from San Diego to see area. Thanks so much for the great info!
Thank you so much for the diagrams (cartoons). They help me so much more than any map of the area!! I'd love for a more detailed description of the Salton Sea. Great video!!
Thank you Shawn, I wish I had more geology background on the visits that I have made to the Salton Sea in the past. What drew me to it was the biology history of it and in particular the beaches composed of fish bones! Quite a sight to see and when the wind was right, to smell. I guess that the Colorado River deposits account for all of the rich farmland in the Imperial Valley.
A great video in an amazing location! Your diagrams, artfully held in place by cool rocks, 😊 made the complexities much more understandable. Never apologize for your hand-drawing ever again! There’s so much to learn about the Salton Sea area, and I hope you’ll make that extra video about it. Living in Minnesota, I hadn’t heard much about that area. Now I want to know a lot more. Thank you SO MUCH!!!
Great explanation of this geological area. I live about 30 miles away and was curious of this very thing. Thanks for your insights.
Grew up in the San Bernardino mountains, & have had quite a few questions answered in this video that I have had swirling in my head for years! Grew up in Lytle Creek to be exact. ❤
I wish I knew more of where that name came from!
you're so good at explaining things and using visuals concisely!!! there is zero reason i need to know any of this either, i just really really really love geology esp of the west coast
Thanks Shawn. Definitely on my "must visit' list.
Excellent description and diagrams, really easy to understand thank you so much, I too am learning so much. Watching you climb over the rocks brings it all alive.😊
Great job explaining the Plate Boundaries and their implications! Thx!
Loved the video, have you ever done or thought about doing a video on the Hauser Geode Beds just east of the Salton Sea? I frequent that area and have always wondered about the overall geology.
That would be cool. I'm interested in this!
BRAVO ZULU! Excellent commentary and such useful information. Cheers from JT.
that's so cool. i had no idea we had volcanoes in that area. i'm fascinated by our little ecological nightmare and appreciate you sharing your expertise
This is so interesting to me. I spend some time around the Salton Sea during the winter. Thanks.
I wish I had more college professors like you back in my day. I would have learned/retained much more. Thanks!
As a new resident of the area, thank you for the great info!
I live right next to the Transverse range. Thank you for your explanation of why they are there.
Thanks Shawn.. Seeing and learning makes me want to go visit all the geology. Hopefully I can remember. 😎
So interesting! Especially having lived in the area as a kid. Very glad I found your channel!
There is a massive amount of geologic history surrounding the Coachella Valley. Excellent video and enjoyable to learn from.
Neat find, I love when man documents Gods work and ponders how he did it🎉
Enjoyed your video about the geology of the Salton Sea. You inspired me to make a trip out there.
Great video with wonderful hand-drawn graphics!
So beautiful the volcanic dynamics .
Great explanations of the geologic processes that have happened and continue to happen in this region. I live near this area and I really appreciate the detail you went into. Thank you for making your way down to Southern California and doing some exploring around here!
I need to watch this several times. I didn't realize there is such complexity in the geology here.
Watching in February 2024. Now livin in Redlands CA, in San Bernardino County. Thanks for the info. Great work.
This geology is awesomely constructed. Total vertical extrusions, layering, and banding ...
The existence of volcanos near the Salton Sea was a surprise to me. Having only seen maps showing the San Andreas Fault as a nearly straight line extending most of the length of California, I was unaware of large right or left bends in the fault which have resulted in these volcanoes or nearby east-west mountain ranges, respectively.
Your drawings and explanations were very clear in showing how each type of bend causes divergent or compressive zones which produced these geologic formations.
Thanks for the field trip!
I really enjoy Prof. Willsey's posts. I love geology. You guys are ALL early risers. I would have to study Astrology so I can sleep late and be awake all night.
I'm 59 yrs old , and realizing I should have been a geologist. I'm fascinated with this stuff!
This was very informative and interesting. We used to duck and goose hunt around the lower parts of the Salton Sea and saw lots of obsidian and pumis and even hunted around some of the "mud pots" that were bubbling up hot watery silt. Never really gave much thought to the volcanic properties of the area there.
Love that area.....any thoughts on the 1992 Landers Quake marking the site of the next strike-slip fault in the East Pacific Rise series of faults? I once had a professor who was absolutely convinced of this.
great video. I will add Obsidian Butte to my USA roadtrip list
Thank you so much, Professor!! It was a great outside classroom experience, and I learned so much with all your nice explanations and very helpful diagrams and drawnings! Make me want to learn more and more about Geology!
Great explanation, thanks! I was out there last summer and collected some really nice samples of obsidian.
I had a geology class at Long Beach City College back in the day. Field trips around SoCal to view the myriad geological wonders were fascinating as well as educational.
Very well presented and illustrated. You are teacher who enjoys his work and makes it interesting for your students/viewers.
Keep going, and thank you for your time and energy !!! ⚒️
I love ❤geology and you too professor👨🏫 🤜
Thank you so much! Love seeing it and hearing about the area!
Born and raised in the valley. Never knew we had volcanos 🤯
Damn video games
Fantastic episode Shawn. Just a short drive from my place. Definitely on my "must visit" bucket list. Thank you!
Enjoyed the very informative video & helpful diagrams!
Enjoyed the video and liked the way everything was explained.
I'm born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley and have been fascinated by the geology of SoCal pretty much my whole life (60 now), and consider myself an "armchair geologist" (I have taken a few geology classes at local colleges of the years). I read many years ago that the pluton that formed the San Gabriel Mountains was originally formed near where the Salton Sea currently sits and was pushed up out of the ground by the San Andreas as it was moved northward, grinding past the San Bernardino Mountain pluton, and forced further upward as it began to hit the "Big Bend" stretch of the fault. I really dig on how if you look at topographical relief map of the San Bernardinos the evidence of the two ranges being forced past each other is evident in the canyon orientation on the south side of the range, and how the pluton's plate tilts gradually to the northwest, like it was pushed over and out of the way.
I also spent 10 years living in Oak Hills, on the Baldy Mesa at the top of the Cajon Pass, and would often hike to the rim of the mesa overlooking the pass, and try to imagine what the area looked like when the two ranges formed one mountain range, and how the Cajon Pass opened up as they moved apart. I've deduced that the Baldy Mesa landform is now an ancient remnant of the gigantic bajada that was formed by the erosion of the mountain plutons where the San Andreas Fault sat between them, as so many of the rocks, sand and silt are made up from the rocks of the mountains. I once found a GIANT rock made completely of the mineral green Actinolite on the Mesa. I had to be about 4 feet long and 2 feet thick and wide. I'd have taken it home, but it was way too heavy. It was partially covered by a bush, so I bet it's still there.
My interest now is how will the future Walker Lane fault form as the main thrust energy of the San Andreas transfers further east. Will it split that triangular section of the southwest Mojave? How will the Sierra Nevada Range react and move? Will there be a giant inland sea millions of years from now as the western portion of the continent begins to really move to the northwest, collapsing the basin and range region? Will all the micro-plates that make up the areas between the smaller faults become a series of island archipelagos as the west coast region moves northward? Or will it all stay one giant mass of land separated by the aforementioned inland sea?
I absolutely love living in such a geologically diverse and dynamic part of the planet!!!
Great summary. Love those rhyolites. Thanks for highlighting the spherulites in the obsidian. Keep up the great work. Rock on!
I gotta hand it to ya, how you got through the closing with out wiping you nose is beyond me. Great video I spent a lot time in Ocotillo Wells back in my younger days
Hi Shawn, thanks for presenting the geology of the Salton Trough and making it understandable. Those volcanic rocks are striking analogs of some I examined in the Late Precambrian in North Carolina. Based on seismic imaging data around the Los Angeles basin, those restraining bends in the strike-slip system result in thrusting and low-angle reverse faults. That is presumably how all the uplift is accommodated in the restraining bend of a strike-slip system, compare that to the Tien Shan mountains around the Tarim Basin. Nonetheless in a pure strike slip system if there is any obliquity along the fault trace into the deep subsurface the net effect may be extensional or compressive depending on fault orientation. Keep doing the great work!
Was lucky enough to see the Sea this summer (from NJ), despite the heat we loved it. Thanks for another top notch video
So great to see all of these sites that I visited so many years ago with my late wife. I live in Ontario, Canada and a long way from the west coast of the U,S, that I toured.
Fascinating and enlightening. Thank you.
Thanks Shawn for a very informative video on the Salton Sea. I lived in El Centro in the 1960's and so it was exciting to finally learn about the geology.!
This was a great informative video! Never took a geology class, but I am kinda wishing I had in watching this
AWESOME! I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I am actually surprised to see so many of the obsidian rocks and pieces of pumice just sitting there. I would think this would be a Mecca for jewelry makers. The formations are breathtaking! Thank you.
as third gen Ca our family Gave our Salton Sea property to the County, I noted How Clean this area IS! no Trash! I frequent an area just Noth near the summit Loaded WITH TRASH! very sad to see after growing up in our local deserts.