Ahhh, gneiss... Now this is a magic rock, so much history, so many "lives", being born as a fiery magmatic rock, or as a quiet sedimentary one, then slowly buried in the depth of Earth, utterly transformed, finally uplifted to the light and showing its delicate glory for the eyes of those who take the time to admire it...
Nick is why I purchased the Roadside Geology of Georgia book, it has provided a year of weekend trips so far. I now have a pretty thorough geological knowledge of my state. Thanks Professor!
Hey, Nick! You were in my backyard... Don't know how many times I've driven past that turnout. John Pierce Falls formerly was called Horsetail Falls, before the highway went in. Was very scenic to view from a boat down on Diablo Lake. Popular with the 'Skagit Tour' crowds... Now it's just a stream of water running thru a bunch of blasted rock! My grandfather was a powerhouse operator there from '31 to '47 when he retired. Made my first trip across the 'pass' two years before it officially opened in '72... on my Honda 90 Trail! There was still about 5 miles of 'cat road' in the area of the Granite Creek bridge. Concrete to Twisp and back, all in a day.... slept well that night!! Awesome geologic features up there... Thanks for posting! (Would have driven up, if I'd known you were in the area!)
"It's one thing to see it in a lab" etc (14:14)... that's exactly why I LOVE your From The Field videos. I could never EVER physically get to this place, but you're allowing me to experience the next best thing. That rock is SPECTACULAR. Holy crap. Thank you.
Wow, Nick! You know, I’ve always been interested in exploring the PNW, it ever since I’ve been watching your videos religiously I have developed a real desire to move out there some day… maybe after “The Big One” happens, that’s about the only thing keeping me away. This video is just all around gorgeous, from the scenery, to the rocks. Yes, orthogneiss is gneiss of igneous origin-its complement is “paragneiss”, or gneiss of sedimentary origin. If I remember correctly, a good deal of the Skagit is biotite gneiss, the biotite coming from micas and such that metamorphose from pelitic sediments. There’s also migmatite and orthogneiss in lesser degree. The rust stained rind/alteration on the rocks is coming from the iron rich amphiboles and “dark” minerals of the gneiss and migmatite, found in the so called “mesosome” and “melanosome”, or the somewhat dark and very dark segregated parts of the rocks, as opposed to the lighter “leucosome” extracted from the rock. The iron rich minerals preferentially rust and weather that way. From what I saw, the rocks near the waterfall seemed to generally have more of the meso/melanosome component than the lighter colored rocks near the road, which would explain a higher prevalence of rusty alteration.
Ah painful to watch. I found the perfect Gneiss 20 years ago in Norway. A road was dynamited through the mountains. We stopped and found a masterpiece as if it were made in a factory. Big block perfectly straight deep black and bright white stripes. All equally thick. Unfortunately my ex wife took it with her.... It stood proudly in our living room for 15 years. One of the few things I still miss.
It made me think of slickenside (where a rock has grooves because it's one side of the fault polishing the other) but since it's both sides of this rock probably not.
many years ago i went canoe camping on Ross Lake, and was on that road! Such a gorgeous area. Thank you, Nick, for the great shots of the beautiful Gneiss!
I work in a gneiss quarry out east. Our stone is blue with the white banding and some iron pyrite deposits. Fascinating to see the variation out there. Thank you.
Nice Looney Toons reference- "What a maroon!" And yeah, almond bark, a kid could OD on that stuff. Just the aroma is enough to send me the opposite direction.
I drove through there about a week ago and was like 6 white vans park there whole bunch of geology students on a field trip that's why you had all the good samples on that rock
Thank you. I saw the same kind of gneiss on a farm in the nortwestern Northern Cape, South Africa. Plenty. I assume it is seismic there Rocks are of great interest.
Interesting, there are similar rocks in the area above Mono Hot Springs area above Bear diversion dam (area in Central Sierra between Yosemite and Kings Canyon.) Area is mostly granite but these rocks above, higher. There are also basalt deposits along the river Canyon and active hot springs by the river. Just over the Sierra crest to the east of this area is long valley caldera.
The whole time I’m watching I’m thinking: “Chisels”, “Picks”, “Buckets”, “Rock Saw”, “Grinder”, “Polisher”, “Tumbler”. I guess ya’ can’t take the hound out of an old dog.
I love this stuff! And when I hear the word Pegmatite, I start looking for some goodies (crystals, etc.) that might be there. But I just love the craziness of the way the stuff swirls. It makes you really wonder how the heck did this all happen? Whoa, I would love to have one of those cool pieces. I guess I had better get up there and look around! My favorite was the smaller one with a stripe down the side, sort of like the pic of my rock that I sent you. Thanks again for taking us along, Nick!
Mr. Zentner: at the request of my father, because he's been watching your Geology vids, I tried looking for the info on when your relative left Switzerland. So, so glad you got in touch with someone local, because just surface scratching with MyHeritage's database, I didn't find much... - Sarah from Northern California :)
Nick with the pick is our young (barely) geology/geography guru and guide ...Dang I wish I was there too but YTube will have to do...SoCal native kicking local rocks for decades in the San Gabriel and Santa Monica Mtns...Gneiss, shale, shist, sandstone, granite and lava out in the Mojave...Geology field trek in 1972 to the Sylmar earthquake fault in the San Gabriels..Plenty twisted sister rock formations around and all thats needed is a pick and thankfully Nick..👍
Today my wife and I hiked up to the Happy Creek waterfall. The Happy Creek trailhead and short nature walk are about a quarter mile east of the Ross Lake trailhead parking lot. The trail is only 1.2 miles, but steep in places and rocky all the way. There are outcrops all the way up, and I thought I was looking at granite, but this is pretty much the other side of the hill where you shot this video. In places the weathered rock looked to be thin layers an inch or less thick The rock is almost all light colored. I also saw several what of looked to be quartz veins two to four inches thick. Perhaps I was seeing Skagit Gneiss. Thanks for all your great videos!
Great looking gneiss. Thanks for staying safe. No need to see the falls. Loved the hand samples. Liked the overall view at the start. Not sure if more could be said about the dipping of the layers
Enjoyed the beautiful rock and scenery around it, even the sound of the waterfall. Thanks! p.s. You met my sister, the Teacher, asking about the tree fossils they found on Blewett Pass.
We have found rock like this in a pile for road repair in the Methow Wildlife area. I believe it was mined up on Loup Loup pass somewhere. I need to find the place!
It's always interesting to see how different rocks are perceived. I'm from an area where gneisses are everywhere (SW Sweden), but where sedimentary and extrusive rocks are almost non-existant. My local area in particular is host to a formation called "Stora Le-Marstrand" which is a ~1.6 Ga old formation with beautiful striations and folds at different scales, and a pale blue-gray to white to yellow coloring due to different stages of weathering.
@ 18:25 makes me think of serpentinite or labradorite and I'm probably 100% wrong on both lol. But I love watching the banding on each of the samples and imagining the pressure, time and baking process it went through to metamorphose 20 mi down.
Nick, if you ever get across to Scotland have a look around the Moine Thrust Belt. I'd love your take on how the features compare with what you're showing us in the Pacific NW.
Wow! A smorgasbord of rocks! We all are "Maroons!" Love Looney Tunes too! Glad you're not a risk taker, although you are on that shale a few eppies back. You do worry me often. Being careful is reassuring, Bud!
Professor Zentner, hello and loved hearing you quote one of my favorite sayings: "... a man needs to know his limitations!" To answer your question, I would vote for the second to last rock that you picked up and decided to toss after contemplating whether it was granite (19:08 - 19:40)? Thank you for bringing us along the North Cascades Highway and looking forward to more observations on the next field trip.
@@sidbemus4625 ... sure appeared like olivine at first, but you could see the coarse white granulation after he turned it over?! Let's hope, we get an answer soon?!
There are old geologists and bold geologists, but there are no old, bold geologists. Would have loved to see the waterfall, but I'd be too chicken even when I was in my twenties.
Nick, I wish we could have met when you were on Hwy 20 on your research. That's my neck of the woods. I'm always interested in Geology, though I feel I know very little.
Gorgeous spot but I was so nervous about you being so close to the edge there... eeek. May be a dumb question but can that type of rock be cut and polished or is it too soft?
Wow. Wonder what happened to make that 🤔 one sample have that curious squiggle? Love all the orange and yellow layers, too. Never knew gneiss was so colorful! Thanks for another fun outcrop to check out if we are in the area!
Have you done any videos of Garnet bearing schist from around Glacier Peak? Because I think that would be a great video. I hiked up Little Wenatchee Trail and at one point all the rocks I was looking at had tons of little garnets. I didnt make it up to Kodak Peak for the view of the Volcano though :(
Sometimes I hook my hand-lens over my index finger and use it to hold the 10x lens over my phone lens - you can get some gorgeous macro shots if the light's good!
Those rocks were so beautiful! How do you keep from lugging them home? It made us nervous when you were close to the waterfall.😳 Another wonderful show. Thanks Nick
At 11:30 there's a great Bugs Bunny line just thrown in casually 😆🐰 At 14:40 there's much more colourful banding & layers. Is that from iron oxide? The rust red is very noticeable in places.
Ahhh, gneiss... Now this is a magic rock, so much history, so many "lives", being born as a fiery magmatic rock, or as a quiet sedimentary one, then slowly buried in the depth of Earth, utterly transformed, finally uplifted to the light and showing its delicate glory for the eyes of those who take the time to admire it...
As a a retired Geologist, this is the best spectator sport around.
Cheers, Mark
***************************
Nick is why I purchased the Roadside Geology of Georgia book, it has provided a year of weekend trips so far. I now have a pretty thorough geological knowledge of my state. Thanks Professor!
that's cool!
Even to a non-geologist, that's pretty spectacular rock. The surrounding countryside is, of course, gorgeous.
Hey, Nick! You were in my backyard... Don't know how many times I've driven past that turnout. John Pierce Falls formerly was called Horsetail Falls, before the highway went in. Was very scenic to view from a boat down on Diablo Lake. Popular with the 'Skagit Tour' crowds... Now it's just a stream of water running thru a bunch of blasted rock! My grandfather was a powerhouse operator there from '31 to '47 when he retired. Made my first trip across the 'pass' two years before it officially opened in '72... on my Honda 90 Trail! There was still about 5 miles of 'cat road' in the area of the Granite Creek bridge. Concrete to Twisp and back, all in a day.... slept well that night!! Awesome geologic features up there... Thanks for posting! (Would have driven up, if I'd known you were in the area!)
Thanks for sharing that story 🙂
"It's one thing to see it in a lab" etc (14:14)... that's exactly why I LOVE your From The Field videos. I could never EVER physically get to this place, but you're allowing me to experience the next best thing. That rock is SPECTACULAR. Holy crap. Thank you.
Wow, Nick! You know, I’ve always been interested in exploring the PNW, it ever since I’ve been watching your videos religiously I have developed a real desire to move out there some day… maybe after “The Big One” happens, that’s about the only thing keeping me away. This video is just all around gorgeous, from the scenery, to the rocks. Yes, orthogneiss is gneiss of igneous origin-its complement is “paragneiss”, or gneiss of sedimentary origin. If I remember correctly, a good deal of the Skagit is biotite gneiss, the biotite coming from micas and such that metamorphose from pelitic sediments. There’s also migmatite and orthogneiss in lesser degree. The rust stained rind/alteration on the rocks is coming from the iron rich amphiboles and “dark” minerals of the gneiss and migmatite, found in the so called “mesosome” and “melanosome”, or the somewhat dark and very dark segregated parts of the rocks, as opposed to the lighter “leucosome” extracted from the rock. The iron rich minerals preferentially rust and weather that way. From what I saw, the rocks near the waterfall seemed to generally have more of the meso/melanosome component than the lighter colored rocks near the road, which would explain a higher prevalence of rusty alteration.
Thank you for the explanations! =)
Maybe that is why our Southwest rocks are red 🤔? They weathered a LONG TIME AGO.....
Ah painful to watch. I found the perfect Gneiss 20 years ago in Norway. A road was dynamited through the mountains. We stopped and found a masterpiece as if it were made in a factory. Big block perfectly straight deep black and bright white stripes. All equally thick. Unfortunately my ex wife took it with her.... It stood proudly in our living room for 15 years. One of the few things I still miss.
I assume you miss the rock, not your ex.
your Ex wanted you to remember her 😟
... time to head out and eyes down if you want to find rocks; otherwise you'll be viewing a magic show called Aurora Borealis (*_*)
@@chuckrann6282 Yes. hahha.
@@littlebear8331 Both physically impossible for me unfortunately. But it sounds awesome!
The colors! I have driven by there several times but have never stopped. I wish I had. That was absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for showing us this, Nick.
My favorite was the 'Huh?' rock(the groovy wettish shiny rock at the end).
That shiny stuff had a greenish cast to it (on my computer screen) and made me think of the serpentinite from his earlier videos.
It made me think of slickenside (where a rock has grooves because it's one side of the fault polishing the other) but since it's both sides of this rock probably not.
Maybe a later of biotite mica which is green /blackish.
@@tristacker does look like biotite.
Another great video, Nick. Wish I were younger so I could hike to some of the places you’ve shown us. But-I can drive to this one. Thanks
many years ago i went canoe camping on Ross Lake, and was on that road! Such a gorgeous area.
Thank you, Nick, for the great shots of the beautiful Gneiss!
I love Gneiss and that is why I became a metamorphic petrologist. Thanks for sharing Nick
Nice showing Nick, really like the rainbow effect around the corner
A blessing to see the mountains. Thanks
Wow so many folds in one outcrop . Thanks for showing . And I would have never thrown that greenish metallic lustrous specimen😁
Acres of lovely countertops on-the-hoof!
I work in a gneiss quarry out east. Our stone is blue with the white banding and some iron pyrite deposits. Fascinating to see the variation out there. Thank you.
Here in Louisiana, that is railroad ballast. Always fun to look through.
Skagit Gneiss....Very Nice!
Thank You, Professor Nick. Nice video about Skagit Gneiss. In this day and age your geology videos are like friendly comfort food for the soul. :)
Nice Looney Toons reference- "What a maroon!"
And yeah, almond bark, a kid could OD on that stuff. Just the aroma is enough to send me the opposite direction.
A whole tin of almond bark? Yeah, you were a busy fella the next day! Awesome video, sir, thanks much!
As always, much appreciation and gratitude
Another very good field trips, I hope continues well in to the future. Thank you Prof. Zentner
Awesome! Thanks for bringing us along!
With so many beauties it is difficult to have a favorite.
I drove through there about a week ago and was like 6 white vans park there whole bunch of geology students on a field trip that's why you had all the good samples on that rock
Stripes and squiggles from far below ….gneiss! Wow the colors are like nothing I have seen around here . Thanks for the road trip nick !
A great start to Sunday here in the UK. Thank you.
Thank you. I saw the same kind of gneiss on a farm in the nortwestern Northern Cape, South Africa. Plenty. I assume it is seismic there Rocks are of great interest.
Interesting, there are similar rocks in the area above Mono Hot Springs area above Bear diversion dam (area in Central Sierra between Yosemite and Kings Canyon.) Area is mostly granite but these rocks above, higher. There are also basalt deposits along the river Canyon and active hot springs by the river. Just over the Sierra crest to the east of this area is long valley caldera.
The whole time I’m watching I’m thinking: “Chisels”, “Picks”, “Buckets”, “Rock Saw”, “Grinder”, “Polisher”, “Tumbler”. I guess ya’ can’t take the hound out of an old dog.
Very interesting veins of white intruding the base gneiss.
Wow that is the coolest Gness. Outcrop I've ever seen Thank you Nick
Thanks for the interesting field trip
I can’t wait for November!
Love it. Thank you.
Also this same rock was used to build a dike north of the town of Twisp to protect the area from flooding back in the 70's.
That's some gneiss nice!
I am very impressed with the amazing stuff you point out. Washington State has it all. I’m from the Lake Chelan area.
I love this stuff! And when I hear the word Pegmatite, I start looking for some goodies (crystals, etc.) that might be there. But I just love the craziness of the way the stuff swirls. It makes you really wonder how the heck did this all happen? Whoa, I would love to have one of those cool pieces. I guess I had better get up there and look around! My favorite was the smaller one with a stripe down the side, sort of like the pic of my rock that I sent you. Thanks again for taking us along, Nick!
What a cool UA-cam channel to find! This is my home, close to Newhalem! Thanks for sharing.
Such beautiful country! Gneiss video.
Yeah that outcrop is friggin amazing.
Great!!👍
The unfathomable part is; that it was miles below the surface ! 😱
Mr. Zentner: at the request of my father, because he's been watching your Geology vids, I tried looking for the info on when your relative left Switzerland. So, so glad you got in touch with someone local, because just surface scratching with MyHeritage's database, I didn't find much... - Sarah from Northern California :)
Nick with the pick is our young (barely) geology/geography guru and guide ...Dang I wish I was there too but YTube will have to do...SoCal native kicking local rocks for decades in the San Gabriel and Santa Monica Mtns...Gneiss, shale, shist, sandstone, granite and lava out in the Mojave...Geology field trek in 1972 to the Sylmar earthquake fault in the San Gabriels..Plenty twisted sister rock formations around and all thats needed is a pick and thankfully Nick..👍
Wonderful photography Nick, and informative as always. I have been following you for years. Good luck from Western Australia.
Curious, are the red bands along the canyon, towards the waterfall aspect "rust" / oxidation? Its pretty country, thanks for the tour.
Probably iron oxides or feldspar.
Gneiss - a pleasant rock....lol
Today my wife and I hiked up to the Happy Creek waterfall. The Happy Creek trailhead and short nature walk are about a quarter mile east of the Ross Lake trailhead parking lot. The trail is only 1.2 miles, but steep in places and rocky all the way. There are outcrops all the way up, and I thought I was looking at granite, but this is pretty much the other side of the hill where you shot this video. In places the weathered rock looked to be thin layers an inch or less thick The rock is almost all light colored. I also saw several what of looked to be quartz veins two to four inches thick. Perhaps I was seeing Skagit Gneiss. Thanks for all your great videos!
Great looking gneiss. Thanks for staying safe. No need to see the falls. Loved the hand samples. Liked the overall view at the start. Not sure if more could be said about the dipping of the layers
Enjoyed the beautiful rock and scenery around it, even the sound of the waterfall. Thanks!
p.s. You met my sister, the Teacher, asking about the tree fossils they found on Blewett Pass.
Thank you.
Says, "what beautiful and scarce banding!", then smashes it to smitherines with a hammer!
We have found rock like this in a pile for road repair in the Methow Wildlife area. I believe it was mined up on Loup Loup pass somewhere. I need to find the place!
It's always interesting to see how different rocks are perceived. I'm from an area where gneisses are everywhere (SW Sweden), but where sedimentary and extrusive rocks are almost non-existant. My local area in particular is host to a formation called "Stora Le-Marstrand" which is a ~1.6 Ga old formation with beautiful striations and folds at different scales, and a pale blue-gray to white to yellow coloring due to different stages of weathering.
@ 18:25 makes me think of serpentinite or labradorite and I'm probably 100% wrong on both lol. But I love watching the banding on each of the samples and imagining the pressure, time and baking process it went through to metamorphose 20 mi down.
Favorite was the "groovy" rock that looked like an alligator from one angle!
Nick, if you ever get across to Scotland have a look around the Moine Thrust Belt. I'd love your take on how the features compare with what you're showing us in the Pacific NW.
Thanks for Sharing!!
Exciting finds!! That book is an incredible read. Whoa....this is fascinating, curious, beautiful...! ( I want. 😉) The altar...👍🏼
🤟🏼
Wow! A smorgasbord of rocks! We all are "Maroons!" Love Looney Tunes too! Glad you're not a risk taker, although you are on that shale a few eppies back. You do worry me often. Being careful is reassuring, Bud!
I miss home ! Enjoy
"I tried my best while i put this verse on,
But i guess i 'm just not a 'Gneiss' person."
Just Kidding.
Professor Zentner, hello and loved hearing you quote one of my favorite sayings: "... a man needs to know his limitations!" To answer your question, I would vote for the second to last rock that you picked up and decided to toss after contemplating whether it was granite (19:08 - 19:40)? Thank you for bringing us along the North Cascades Highway and looking forward to more observations on the next field trip.
Same here.Is it " green" ?
@@sidbemus4625 ... sure appeared like olivine at first, but you could see the coarse white granulation after he turned it over?! Let's hope, we get an answer soon?!
@@littlebear8331 Yeah...also it just did not seem to have a " waxy " look to it....but it has me thinking...
There are old geologists and bold geologists, but there are no old, bold geologists. Would have loved to see the waterfall, but I'd be too chicken even when I was in my twenties.
That's not too far from where I live. I'll have to stop by there.
Thanks Nick!
Nick, I wish we could have met when you were on Hwy 20 on your research. That's my neck of the woods. I'm always interested in Geology, though I feel I know very little.
Gorgeous spot but I was so nervous about you being so close to the edge there... eeek. May be a dumb question but can that type of rock be cut and polished or is it too soft?
I believe the term Nick is looking for in 9:30 is paragneiss (sandstone origin). I google some pictures and these do look quite similar
Wow. Wonder what happened to make that 🤔 one sample have that curious squiggle? Love all the orange and yellow layers, too. Never knew gneiss was so colorful! Thanks for another fun outcrop to check out if we are in the area!
squishing makes squiggles [that's geology talk there] heheheh
That rock is smooth look like it's been in a glacier or from movement in a fault zone
this is super fun as usual Nick, thanks so much; wonderful is the North American continent moving over this area pushed up the gneis?
Got a question for you, how does marble form? Love your videos
Nice gneiss
I put my father's ashes at the stream thank for the visit
good stuff
My favorite one was the one you just threw away like it was a rock. The shiny one.
Colorful banding in canyon wall looks like bedding plane is tipped almost vertical.
Neat. Thanks.
Have you done any videos of Garnet bearing schist from around Glacier Peak? Because I think that would be a great video. I hiked up Little Wenatchee Trail and at one point all the rocks I was looking at had tons of little garnets. I didnt make it up to Kodak Peak for the view of the Volcano though :(
That gneiss has some nice looking bands. :) ;) Lol
I want to see a suite of thin sections
I still have shudders from watching the Skagit Gneiss live stream from the exotic terranes series.
I watched it three or four times to understand it all.
Here in Indiana our railroad track beds our all made of gneiss gravel
That circular feature 10:17 and !0:47 caught my curiosity,
Are there pillows amongst that crystalline core stuff ?
Sometimes I hook my hand-lens over my index finger and use it to hold the 10x lens over my phone lens - you can get some gorgeous macro shots if the light's good!
Those rocks were so beautiful! How do you keep from lugging them home? It made us nervous when you were close to the waterfall.😳
Another wonderful show. Thanks Nick
There is no rock collecting allowed inside National Park boundaries, even at road cuts.
A man's gotta know his limitations.
Niiiiice 👌❤️
Gneiss eye candy!
What's the differences from that gniess and the gniess in nyc's central park?
It’s so brittle! The Egyptian sculptors had their hands full one slip and and off with your head
What are the mafic minerals? Amphibole? Biotite?
At 11:30 there's a great Bugs Bunny line just thrown in casually 😆🐰
At 14:40 there's much more colourful banding & layers. Is that from iron oxide? The rust red is very noticeable in places.
Very gneiss. I granite was informational, no schist. What's next on the slate?
I think orthogneiss is metamorphic rock that was initially igneous.