Thank you to the Siblings for sharing a glimpse of their beautiful land with all of us! I’m glad it’s private land and protected for now. Stunning area. And thanks to you Nick for your enthusiasm and wealth of knowledge! Love the reverence and awe I can hear in your voice.
What a stellar location, and such fantastic footage on the fly. Your unbridled enthusiasm and passion combined with your knowledge, experience, and open-mindedness is truly a treasure. Thank you so much for all the work that goes into sharing these 'lectures'. What a gift!
I so appreciate the work you are doing here. You've taught me a lot about Saddle Mountain, even though I grew up in its shadow and as a boy I wandered all over the eastern end of it. You are no doubt aware of the massive slide that occurred during one of the Ice Age Floods, where five miles of the face of the mountain collapsed into the Crab Creek valley below. It left an exposed cliff with a ledge near the top where that tuff was exposed. We used to climb up there after school. People carved their names in the tuff. The oldest date was from the 1920s, and we found my dad's name and the names of some of his brothers, also carved in the 1920s. Erosion has probably removed them by now. There is a crevasse with columnar lava walls, the crack that resulted from the slide coming to a stand-still. I'd love to guide you through the area sometime.
So cool! The beautiful bedforms you show indicate the Cougar Point Tuff was deposited in a lowland setting and reworked by flowing water. But the exposure is on the top of Saddle Mts today, elevated well above the modern Crab Ck Valley. The Saddle Mts uplift apparently did not form a topographic ridge at the time of the eruption (~11 Ma). And Ringold Fm overlies the tuff. Probably sediments of the upper part of the Ringold, which is also composed of lowland deposits that date to between ~5 and 3 Ma. So no ridge then either, at least not a high one. Did the rise of the Saddle Mts anticline occur entirely after 3 Ma? Whatever the answer, that's a spectacular place with killer geology. Thanks, Nick!
Absolutely stunning! What a great opportunity to bring it to us! It is good that it cannot be tramped over and assaulted! That red brick layer is beautiful and the 30 feet of Ash impressive! Thank you Nick always a pleasure to walk the land with you.
Spectacular!! So appreciate the family for opening up their property to you. Many thanks to you for sharing your exploration and awe with us. Yellowstone tuff. Ye Gads. Almost incomprehensible!! Went up Alder Gulch on a tour 5 years ago and the guide commented that we'd be toast if Yellowstone blew. Was hard to understand the meaning of mega volcano then You are putting it into reality. Again, thanks for sharing With us. Looking forward to learning more about the vesicles in the red tuff onSaddle Mtn.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful view. Your insights are pure gold! It appears the varying colored basalts are separate flows from assorted volcanic sources, at the same level. I’ve always marveled at the results of tectonic activity along thrust and slip faults. This is one of the finest examples I’ve seen anywhere. I’m just an amateur geology fan, but am seeking to educate myself in retirement. Your field trips and lectures are helping greatly Sir! Although, now in central Texas, I’ve ridden my MC through these areas a number of times over the last 20 years. The geology of our northwestern States are some of the most fascinating in our Nation!
What an amazing location! Pretty awesome to be there, so to speak, while Nick discovers elements of the geology that surprise him. Thanks for letting us be surprised with you, Nick!
Appreciate the amazing view! Even if I could get up there I'd never be able to get that close to the edge of the cliff without a very well secured cable and safety harness 🙃
I enjoyed the fact that you are finding more issues to question about the geology by your Saddle Mountain “Walkabout”. This is why the internet is such a wonderful tool. We all get to experience your wonder as you explore the area! After watching this series, I will never stare at a rock the same way again!
YOU should have a million subs? I find lots of people just don't care to learn sum'it new. ROCK ON PROFESSOR. It shows by the content of your character who you are. LOVES BACK
Hello from south Louisiana. What a beautiful exposure of that ash fall. Thanks for taking the time to share the amazing geology up in your neck of the woods.
Fun stuff, thanks for sharing! I won't post any links, but this spot is not hard to find on Google Maps / Google Earth. And I will say it was fun to swing around in those programs and "look" at what you're looking at throughout the video. :-)
This is Dr Bruce Tollin's wife...I am just learning how to operate my new laptop, but, ANYWAY, I wish we had all had more Geology taught throughout my schooling. I live in Pennsylvania where the Appalachians have been "withering away" to quote Professor Zentner. I can only remember scratching rock samples on the back unglazed part of bathroom tiles for color. I also had a really cool nugget of iron pyrite, which of course I've lost thanks to deciding to breed warmblood horses. STAY AWAY from horses, everyone! They are nothing but heartbreak!
Enjoyed your video, I don't know much about rock formation but could red basalt form in the same lava flow if it was in heavy iron content and flowed into a pond causing rapid oxidation as it cooled?
It's funny when you say private land because I've been all over that mountain, right where you are even. I knew the owners years ago in my 20s. So I don't think of it as private. It's great to see context to an area I just liked hiking around.
Nick, perhaps consider a higher IRON content in the basalt. That could account for the more dull red in the freshly broken pieces and oxidation (rust) of the exposed surfaces that don't have lichens. Then perhaps erosion of said minerals into the tuff layer.
I've seen red rock like that in North Dakota. This was an area where an underground layer of coal caught on fire and burned underground for decades. The sand or soil layer on top of the coal turned red and hard like fired brick. Is it possible that the red layer here on Saddle Mountain was sand or silt, deposited there by a river, then baked to hard brick-like material by the overlaying basalt flow?
What if the reason the red brick color does not continue the entire length of the Cougar Point ash is because the red, orange, and yellow are similar to the painted hills of the John Day formation, and where it is only white ash is where the John Day formation sediment was washed away? Since these seem to be the Saddle mountains East of the Wallula Gap, are these just part of the uplift that got separated from the ones to the south that funnel the Columbia through the Tri-Cities?
Thanks as always for sharing sir, much appreciated! Couldn't the discolored basalt be prolific with Hornblende that was red/brown instead of green/brown? I read somewhere that red is a rarer color of Hornblende but possible...down In the Graveyard point area the top layers of basalt are almost purple and fairly vesicular (maybe the purple is magnesium?). Anyway, not sure of the angle there, didn't Mattawa nor see Royal City or Moses Lake in the distance, what direction are you facing? My guess is North towards the creek but from Royal City I cannot see the ridges you are showing. Ugh~ hahaha
Me: Look at this barren hellscape up here. Actual geologist: OMG look at all these cool features and deep geological history! [can't stop cursing with amazement]
I’m wondering if it’s possible that the basalt flowed over and mixed with the tuft that may have been more like loose ash at the time to give it that color.
I can't help but wonder, if that brick red lava has some iron deposits in it. Perhaps a small iron deposit in the lave chamber before it was pushed up. Am I stating the obvious or am I way off base?
If the lava flow on top of the ash is 11 million years old how old is the ash? When were the ice age floods? What event caused the Snake to change course?
Many people act like animals and destroy what they came to see. I don’t understand why they do that but they seem to not care about anything but themselves.
I thank the siblings for keeping this location unspoiled, and off limits to all but academic study. We need places which are unspoiled, both for wildlife, and also for study. I don't care if I never know where this is. It is good to know that it will be there for some time to come. It's an absolutely beautiful place too!
This is one amazing site. SO much geology happening in this one area, that starts revealing more questions than answers. The fault scarp itself is nothing short of amazing; but finding the stratified layers at different elevations along the escarpment prompts some of the biggest questions -- like WHY, for one.
Thoughts on the red basalt coloring: Could the ash have had moisture within it when the basalt covered it? The escaping steam could have mixed the ash with the "liquid" basalt in it's effort to escape. So you have red ash mixed within and secondary steam vesicles.
I'm a Scotsman watching you from my home on the Greek island of Rhodes. In the 1990's I lived in southern Alberta for 5 years and then Spokane for 9 months. You're bringing back a lot of memories for me with your wonderful images and the stunning landscape around you. Thank you.
Mind blowing images. My wife and I are amateur geologists in flat Lincolnshire, England so this is a bit outside our experience! Thank you for taking the time to show the area and try and explain it. Speaking as a retired teaching couple the ability to explain complex science to a non specialist audience is a gift and you have it in spades. Keep up the videos, they are the highlight of our week.
Geology is like time travel movie of the past in you mind if you can picture it. Where each frame might be a year or a decade depending on the film speed. Picture rivers coming and going. Mountains growing and then withering of erosion. Topped of with the rare events every now and then.
This is an outstanding video both for the information and, especially, the views. How magnificent it must have been to have seen that overlook in 3D. Thanks to you Nick and also to the siblings.
Excellent video, again. I love the Saddle mountain area. I was wondering if the red color, which is present across both layers, is from hydrothermal alteration. The area might have been very wet when the basalt flood occurred, causing both the red coloration and the vesicles in the basalt.
Wow, that was truly breathtaking. Formations laid out so clearly… But those brick coloured Basalt columns - why, why, why? Oh, for a handy drone. Thanks to the siblings and you, Prof. Z.
Thank you for and your friends for sharing this fantastic view and hike with us. What is the brick red layer at the top? Well when you figure it out, let us know. My God what a beautiful world to view during these weird difficult days. Be careful out by the edge. You make me nervous. Thanks again. We love you.
VERY NICE LECTURE AND VIDEO NICK. ANY CHANCE OF LIKE ACIDIC POOLS LAYING ON TOP OF THE ASH FORMATION AND OVER TIME COLORING IT RED OR IRON ELEMENTS INVOLVED. JUST THROWING THAT AT THE WALL SEE IF IT STICKS. NICE OF THE SIBLINGS TO SHARE THEIR VANTAGE POINT.
Thanks for bringing us along Nick! And for the land owners allowing you to explore. Beautiful scenery and of course more of the geologic story. Thank you!
Spectacular. Some observations: - Basalt flow moves horizontally over soft ash bed that settled vertically. Vastly different Moh numbers when cooled. - Hot basalt can drag contaminants from elsewhere and embed in established ash formation. - Newer basalt moves horizontally over older, cold basalt that moved likewise. Similar Moh numbers. - Heat transfer mechanism must be significantly different: hot basalt over cold ash vs. hot basalt over cold basalt. Don't have a quantified theorem to present here but the above might be pieces of a model.
It 's like watching the video of sykecooley's the other saddle mountains internet blog. Great stuff to see here Nick. The land owners gave us all a tremendous gift of your visit.
The cross cross layers coincide with the change from white to tan. Could this be an aerial deposit (loess?) intermixed with the ash brbringing in iron, producing the color change? Even with that. the red layer looks too high iron content to just be the result of heat. 1. After the cross bedding settled out the ash, finer loess deposited in a layer that was then oxidized by the lava. 2. Could the vesicular texture be due to water, the lava having flowed over wet ash? Steam going up forming bubbles and going down, dissolving iron from the lava and injecting it into the top of the ash... Amateur comment, low on facts and high on imagination.
Your concern about private land, while understandable in the American context, makes me glad we now have the "right to roam" where we like -- more or less -- in the UK. It existed in Scotland for a long time and was introduced in England in the early 2000s.
Wow. Just wow. Breathtaking views and amazing geology. Thank you Nick and the siblings to make this possible. I could sit there for days on end just being amazed by the views, the layers and the offset in height caused by the fault. I think I am in love. No. I KNOW I am. A visit to Washington State is definitely on my bucket list.
In your recent Saddle Mtn video, "The Snake River at Saddle Mountains?", you can see layers of white deposits west of the Columbia River far above the orchards. (Reference that timeline at eighteen min, thirty sec.) After watching this very scenic and interesting video, I suspect those may be similar ash deposits as examined in this episode. Your thoughts, Nick? Thanks for taking us along on this adventure!
Thank you Nick,, I got vertigo just by watching. The red brick colour comes from the red clay of the Piedmont here in central NC. There are 3 brick yards within 20 miles from here, Southmont NC.
There's a thin layer of that red/rusty tuff at the top of the Lewiston Hill, you can only see it going UP. Our geology teacher threw some of it in our lab, just to mess with us...🤣🤣
Nick.. That's reminiscent of the pictures I sent to you (a few weeks ago) from the road cuts along highway 93, South of Twin Falls. I assumed it to be part of the "Rogerson Formation". South of Jackpot, in Nevada there is another road cut, both sides. It's gray/white. Almost hurts the eyes in sunlight.
I am wondering if Tuff has air pockets in it. If so, could that not be the source of the vesicles in the layer cooked by the Elephant Mountain flow? Looks like some kind of chemistry caused the iron to concentrate in that contact layer. Thank you to the Siblings for letting Nick view it up close and personal. And Thanks, Nick, for sharing it with us! Fascinating!
I was across Saddle Mountain for ARCO doing geochemical sampling in the early 1980s. ARCOs geophysicists out of Denver were convinced there was deep gas at 10-12k feet under the mount.
@@churlburt8485 I cannot remember. But does seem right. I do remember being red-lined out the area near the borehole. Those years I did other work for ARCO that was dogging behind Shell. I was there in 84 and the rig was stacked out, taken down and left on the one ranch. And there was a fee dispute. It wasn't going anywhere. There were a lot of operators running on empty that time. I also remember there was a wire tap crime on the phone line from the rig and the perp was facing trial. Typically, I had no idea of the results of my sampling.
I agree, those are pretty spectacular views, but the former Snake and Yellowstone business is also very interesting. Rather dramatic clouds help the visuals. Even if it was public, it'll all be dry and a lot less green when I'm there in August. I hope you took a sample of that brick-red basalt back to the lab at CWU to investigate further. Thanks!
It is 400 frickin’ miles from Saddle Mountain to Jarbidge and 30+ feet of ash was deposited at that distance? That is absolutely gob-smacking! People don’t know how lucky they are that this has not happened in the last 5000 years, because things would suck all over the planet. I am sure somebody better at math than I am could look at particle sizes, determine the rate they would settle in the atmosphere, figure a couple of different wind speed models and figure out how tall the ash column was in order for the ash to travel that distance. How many cubic kilometers of ash came out of that vent? I was thinking about the cross-bedding last night and decided that it looked more like cross-bedding from water, rather than wind. Dune cross-bedding has much broader sweeps. (Think Zion N.P.. The “peecnhie” little cross-beds look more like what you would see from a shallow stream flowing over a broad flat. That brick red might be alteration from the action of groundwater leaching minerals from the Elephant Mountain flow that interacted with the top layers of the tuff in limited areas of saturation, maybe under temporary ponds.???
Nick, "as the crow flies" Jumpoff Ridge in the Wenatchee Mountains overlooking Malaga is not too far from the Crab Creek drainage,. For 60 years I have been looking at a light colored layer near the top of the ridge and wondering if it is some kind of very deep ash layer. Now I am even more curious to know if it could be connected to this same ash in the Saddle Mountains. Not that much farther north. I have not been able to find any info about it online, or in the geology books I own.
Thanks Nick for the views from Saddle Mountains, and the descriptions you provided. Please offer my thanks to the Brother-Sister team that brought you up there. . I was able to find the area on Google Earth, and your video brings it into better focus than a high-altitude view.
Really enjoyed this one. Thanks for the filming and the commentary. What a wonderful escarpment due to thrust faulting (I think). The cross bedding in that tuff was spectacular; I love the analogy of the snow-drift. Unsure about the red hue, but I agree with your idea that it perhaps came later, diagenesis. Thanks again Professor.
This is fabulous and it's terrific to see it better. What incredibly curious colors and formations. Thank you so much and to the siblings. Funny, I'm near Bruneau for a couple days to check out geology via the Roadside Guides. Next, COTM, Dillon area for a few days then North. 👍😍
"What did you do on your Friday night?" Oh... learned about remarkable central Washington geologic formations, incredible ash formations from relatively unknown Idaho supervolcano eruptions 11 million years ago, and the fascinating path of the Snake River 5 million years ago. Oh, and some absolutely incredible video to boot. Thank you so much for this. I'm a follower and fan now. Also, sure hope someone digs into the darker and duller red rock formations at the top. That's absolutely baffling.
That the owner of a piece of nature can forbid others to walk on it is SO weird to me. Here (🇸🇪) you get to walk wherever you want, and even pick mushrooms and berries. Pretty much only the military can stop you from walking on land that they use. That they use for installations and training, mind you, not just because of who owns it.
This is absolutely amazing. Thank you siblings and Nick for allowing us to experience this grandeur.
Thank you to the Siblings for sharing a glimpse of their beautiful land with all of us! I’m glad it’s private land and protected for now. Stunning area. And thanks to you Nick for your enthusiasm and wealth of knowledge! Love the reverence and awe I can hear in your voice.
What a stellar location, and such fantastic footage on the fly. Your unbridled enthusiasm and passion combined with your knowledge, experience, and open-mindedness is truly a treasure. Thank you so much for all the work that goes into sharing these 'lectures'. What a gift!
I so appreciate the work you are doing here. You've taught me a lot about Saddle Mountain, even though I grew up in its shadow and as a boy I wandered all over the eastern end of it. You are no doubt aware of the massive slide that occurred during one of the Ice Age Floods, where five miles of the face of the mountain collapsed into the Crab Creek valley below. It left an exposed cliff with a ledge near the top where that tuff was exposed. We used to climb up there after school. People carved their names in the tuff. The oldest date was from the 1920s, and we found my dad's name and the names of some of his brothers, also carved in the 1920s. Erosion has probably removed them by now. There is a crevasse with columnar lava walls, the crack that resulted from the slide coming to a stand-still. I'd love to guide you through the area sometime.
So cool! The beautiful bedforms you show indicate the Cougar Point Tuff was deposited in a lowland setting and reworked by flowing water. But the exposure is on the top of Saddle Mts today, elevated well above the modern Crab Ck Valley. The Saddle Mts uplift apparently did not form a topographic ridge at the time of the eruption (~11 Ma). And Ringold Fm overlies the tuff. Probably sediments of the upper part of the Ringold, which is also composed of lowland deposits that date to between ~5 and 3 Ma. So no ridge then either, at least not a high one. Did the rise of the Saddle Mts anticline occur entirely after 3 Ma? Whatever the answer, that's a spectacular place with killer geology. Thanks, Nick!
Absolutely stunning! What a great opportunity to bring it to us! It is good that it cannot be tramped over and assaulted! That red brick layer is beautiful and the 30 feet of Ash impressive! Thank you Nick always a pleasure to walk the land with you.
I like it when your observations come up with twice as many questions than answers.
Gorgeous country. Great geology tour…questions. So much to learn.
Spectacular!! So appreciate the family for opening up their property to you. Many thanks to you for sharing your exploration and awe with us. Yellowstone tuff. Ye Gads. Almost incomprehensible!! Went up Alder Gulch on a tour 5 years ago and the guide commented that we'd be toast if Yellowstone blew. Was hard to understand the meaning of mega volcano then
You are putting it into reality. Again, thanks for sharing With us.
Looking forward to learning more about the vesicles in the red tuff onSaddle Mtn.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful view. Your insights are pure gold!
It appears the varying colored basalts are separate flows from assorted volcanic sources, at the same level.
I’ve always marveled at the results of tectonic activity along thrust and slip faults.
This is one of the finest examples I’ve seen anywhere.
I’m just an amateur geology fan, but am seeking to educate myself in retirement. Your field trips and lectures are helping greatly Sir!
Although, now in central Texas, I’ve ridden my MC through these areas a number of times over the last 20 years. The geology of our northwestern States are some of the most fascinating in our Nation!
Wow, this was amazing, I had to close my eyes at one point….. you seemed almost ready to go down 😵💫
Thank you to the siblings for the view!
Landowners are more zealous tgan ever in protecting their privacy, its great that you are so respectful!
please never stop making these videos this does really make learning easier and more fun
Beautiful Saddle Mountains! Great and informative video!
What an amazing location! Pretty awesome to be there, so to speak, while Nick discovers elements of the geology that surprise him. Thanks for letting us be surprised with you, Nick!
Thanks for a most interesting and beautiful video. Really a treat for me
Absolutely wonderful! You did bring us there. Thank you
Appreciate the amazing view! Even if I could get up there I'd never be able to get that close to the edge of the cliff without a very well secured cable and safety harness 🙃
Someone needs to get Nick a Drone with a good camera.
This is amazing! And Nick you are a great teacher. been following your lectures for Years!
I enjoyed the fact that you are finding more issues to question about the geology by your Saddle Mountain “Walkabout”.
This is why the internet is such a wonderful tool. We all get to experience your wonder as you explore the area!
After watching this series, I will never stare at a rock the same way again!
YOU should have a million subs? I find lots of people just don't care to learn sum'it new.
ROCK ON PROFESSOR. It shows by the content of your character who you are. LOVES BACK
Hello from south Louisiana. What a beautiful exposure of that ash fall. Thanks for taking the time to share the amazing geology up in your neck of the woods.
Every time you answer a question. At least two more questions need answering. That's what maes Geology so much fun.
Amazing scenery, entertaining vid!
One of your best exposés! intrigue! Uplift! Great job Nick!
Fun stuff, thanks for sharing! I won't post any links, but this spot is not hard to find on Google Maps / Google Earth. And I will say it was fun to swing around in those programs and "look" at what you're looking at throughout the video. :-)
OH! This was exceptional! Thank you
This is Dr Bruce Tollin's wife...I am just learning how to operate my new laptop, but, ANYWAY, I wish we had all had more Geology taught throughout my schooling. I live in Pennsylvania where the Appalachians have been "withering away" to quote Professor Zentner. I can only remember scratching rock samples on the back unglazed part of bathroom tiles for color. I also had a really cool nugget of iron pyrite, which of course I've lost thanks to deciding to breed warmblood horses. STAY AWAY from horses, everyone! They are nothing but heartbreak!
Enjoyed your video, I don't know much about rock formation but could red basalt form in the same lava flow if it was in heavy iron content and flowed into a pond causing rapid oxidation as it cooled?
It's funny when you say private land because I've been all over that mountain, right where you are even. I knew the owners years ago in my 20s. So I don't think of it as private. It's great to see context to an area I just liked hiking around.
Fantastic views from on high also be a great location for launching hang gliders from.
The red layer can be two things. One: the chemical alteration of the tuffs from the overlying basaltic lava flow. Two: Paleosol soil.
The red near the result in mixed with the pisol is a cloud is a mixture charting towards the bottom but halfway mixing along with the basalt
Nick, perhaps consider a higher IRON content in the basalt. That could account for the more dull red in the freshly broken pieces and oxidation (rust) of the exposed surfaces that don't have lichens. Then perhaps erosion of said minerals into the tuff layer.
Nick gave an illustration of tuff love.
I would be collecting a few samples here for the geology lab. This is great stuff.
I've seen red rock like that in North Dakota. This was an area where an underground layer of coal caught on fire and burned underground for decades. The sand or soil layer on top of the coal turned red and hard like fired brick.
Is it possible that the red layer here on Saddle Mountain was sand or silt, deposited there by a river, then baked to hard brick-like material by the overlaying basalt flow?
Come up to Montana and do the Shonkin Sag! I’ll guide you out of Great Falls
44 Thousand views in 10 days! A new record?
Brick red?
Presence of water?
Iron leeching?
Sorry. Leaching.
What if the reason the red brick color does not continue the entire length of the Cougar Point ash is because the red, orange, and yellow are similar to the painted hills of the John Day formation, and where it is only white ash is where the John Day formation sediment was washed away? Since these seem to be the Saddle mountains East of the Wallula Gap, are these just part of the uplift that got separated from the ones to the south that funnel the Columbia through the Tri-Cities?
You are making me a nervous wreck while you walk on those edges...😧😨
Thanks as always for sharing sir, much appreciated! Couldn't the discolored basalt be prolific with Hornblende that was red/brown instead of green/brown? I read somewhere that red is a rarer color of Hornblende but possible...down In the Graveyard point area the top layers of basalt are almost purple and fairly vesicular (maybe the purple is magnesium?). Anyway, not sure of the angle there, didn't Mattawa nor see Royal City or Moses Lake in the distance, what direction are you facing? My guess is North towards the creek but from Royal City I cannot see the ridges you are showing. Ugh~ hahaha
Me: Look at this barren hellscape up here.
Actual geologist: OMG look at all these cool features and deep geological history! [can't stop cursing with amazement]
I’m wondering if it’s possible that the basalt flowed over and mixed with the tuft that may have been more like loose ash at the time to give it that color.
Now there is a good name for the discovery..
..’Nash’s Ash’..
The beginning of wisdom is to admit you don't know.
I can't help but wonder, if that brick red lava has some iron deposits in it. Perhaps a small iron deposit in the lave chamber before it was pushed up. Am I stating the obvious or am I way off base?
Wow, just wow! So interesting. And I'm getting vertigo, big time.
I thought the iPhone 13 pro was waterproof?
I'd bet there's some neat fossils under those 30 feet of ash..
If the lava flow on top of the ash is 11 million years old how old is the ash? When were the ice age floods? What event caused the Snake to change course?
How old is saddle mountain? When did the uplift start? Is it still being uplifted?
Rock hammer full circle…did you see Arne Saknussemm initials…just a little humor here.
Many people act like animals and destroy what they came to see. I don’t understand why they do that but they seem to not care about anything but themselves.
Stunning reds = an iron burp from Elephant?
I thank the siblings for keeping this location unspoiled, and off limits to all but academic study. We need places which are unspoiled, both for wildlife, and also for study. I don't care if I never know where this is. It is good to know that it will be there for some time to come. It's an absolutely beautiful place too!
Yes, in the “land of the free”, there are millions of acres where you can be shot... for walking. How very democratic.
I wonder if they are planning on eventually gifting the land as a national park.
This is one amazing site. SO much geology happening in this one area, that starts revealing more questions than answers. The fault scarp itself is nothing short of amazing; but finding the stratified layers at different elevations along the escarpment prompts some of the biggest questions -- like WHY, for one.
Running here and there and over there like a dog trying to decide which scent to follow. This gives new meaning to "rock hound."
Thoughts on the red basalt coloring:
Could the ash have had moisture within it when the basalt covered it? The escaping steam could have mixed the ash with the "liquid" basalt in it's effort to escape. So you have red ash mixed within and secondary steam vesicles.
HOLY. MOLY. Magnificent. Such a generous gesture to have you trek with them out there... and we benefit!
Every time he walks to the edge, I get the “willies”. Magnificent view and at the same time my stomach gets queasy.
I'm a Scotsman watching you from my home on the Greek island of Rhodes. In the 1990's I lived in southern Alberta for 5 years and then Spokane for 9 months. You're bringing back a lot of memories for me with your wonderful images and the stunning landscape around you. Thank you.
Mind blowing images. My wife and I are amateur geologists in flat Lincolnshire, England so this is a bit outside our experience! Thank you for taking the time to show the area and try and explain it. Speaking as a retired teaching couple the ability to explain complex science to a non specialist audience is a gift and you have it in spades. Keep up the videos, they are the highlight of our week.
Geology is like time travel movie of the past in you mind if you can picture it. Where each frame might be a year or a decade depending on the film speed. Picture rivers coming and going. Mountains growing and then withering of erosion. Topped of with the rare events every now and then.
@@davidwenger8502 thanks
This is an outstanding video both for the information and, especially, the views. How magnificent it must have been to have seen that overlook in 3D. Thanks to you Nick and also to the siblings.
Excellent video, again. I love the Saddle mountain area. I was wondering if the red color, which is present across both layers, is from hydrothermal alteration. The area might have been very wet when the basalt flood occurred, causing both the red coloration and the vesicles in the basalt.
Wow, that was truly breathtaking.
Formations laid out so clearly…
But those brick coloured Basalt columns - why, why, why?
Oh, for a handy drone.
Thanks to the siblings and you, Prof. Z.
Thank you for and your friends for sharing this fantastic view and hike with us. What is the brick red layer at the top? Well when you figure it out, let us know. My God what a beautiful world to view during these weird difficult days. Be careful out by the edge. You make me nervous. Thanks again. We love you.
VERY NICE LECTURE AND VIDEO NICK. ANY CHANCE OF LIKE ACIDIC POOLS LAYING ON TOP OF THE ASH FORMATION AND OVER TIME COLORING IT RED OR IRON ELEMENTS INVOLVED. JUST THROWING THAT AT THE WALL SEE IF IT STICKS. NICE OF THE SIBLINGS TO SHARE THEIR VANTAGE POINT.
Thanks for bringing us along Nick! And for the land owners allowing you to explore. Beautiful scenery and of course more of the geologic story. Thank you!
One of your best presentations. I was a teenager on the family farm on Royal Slope and had no clue what a marvel I saw every day.
Spectacular. Some observations:
- Basalt flow moves horizontally over soft ash bed that settled vertically. Vastly different Moh numbers when cooled.
- Hot basalt can drag contaminants from elsewhere and embed in established ash formation.
- Newer basalt moves horizontally over older, cold basalt that moved likewise. Similar Moh numbers.
- Heat transfer mechanism must be significantly different: hot basalt over cold ash vs. hot basalt over cold basalt.
Don't have a quantified theorem to present here but the above might be pieces of a model.
It 's like watching the video of sykecooley's the other saddle mountains internet blog. Great stuff to see here Nick.
The land owners gave us all a tremendous gift of your visit.
The cross cross layers coincide with the change from white to tan. Could this be an aerial deposit (loess?) intermixed with the ash brbringing in iron, producing the color change? Even with that. the red layer looks too high iron content to just be the result of heat.
1. After the cross bedding settled out the ash, finer loess deposited in a layer that was then oxidized by the lava.
2. Could the vesicular texture be due to water, the lava having flowed over wet ash? Steam going up forming bubbles and going down, dissolving iron from the lava and injecting it into the top of the ash...
Amateur comment, low on facts and high on imagination.
Your concern about private land, while understandable in the American context, makes me glad we now have the "right to roam" where we like -- more or less -- in the UK. It existed in Scotland for a long time and was introduced in England in the early 2000s.
Wow. Just wow.
Breathtaking views and amazing geology. Thank you Nick and the siblings to make this possible. I could sit there for days on end just being amazed by the views, the layers and the offset in height caused by the fault.
I think I am in love.
No.
I KNOW I am.
A visit to Washington State is definitely on my bucket list.
Thank you sibling property owners for allowing Nick access so he could share it with us. :-)
Could the reds at 25:20 be localized baked soils or pond sediment. A wet soil might provide steam for the vesicles in the overflowing lava.
In your recent Saddle Mtn video, "The Snake River at Saddle Mountains?", you can see layers of white deposits west of the Columbia River far above the orchards. (Reference that timeline at eighteen min, thirty sec.) After watching this very scenic and interesting video, I suspect those may be similar ash deposits as examined in this episode. Your thoughts, Nick? Thanks for taking us along on this adventure!
The most stunning visuals of any video I have seen since joining (maybe 2 years now). Talk about data-rich environments, OMG!!!
Thank you Nick,, I got vertigo just by watching. The red brick colour comes from the red clay of the Piedmont here in central NC. There are 3 brick yards within 20 miles from here, Southmont NC.
There's a thin layer of that red/rusty tuff at the top of the Lewiston Hill, you can only see it going UP. Our geology teacher threw some of it in our lab, just to mess with us...🤣🤣
Nick.. That's reminiscent of the pictures I sent to you (a few weeks ago) from the road cuts along highway 93, South of Twin Falls. I assumed it to be part of the "Rogerson Formation". South of Jackpot, in Nevada there is another road cut, both sides. It's gray/white. Almost hurts the eyes in sunlight.
I am wondering if Tuff has air pockets in it. If so, could that not be the source of the vesicles in the layer cooked by the Elephant Mountain flow? Looks like some kind of chemistry caused the iron to concentrate in that contact layer. Thank you to the Siblings for letting Nick view it up close and personal. And Thanks, Nick, for sharing it with us! Fascinating!
I was across Saddle Mountain for ARCO doing geochemical sampling in the early 1980s. ARCOs geophysicists out of Denver were
convinced there was deep gas at 10-12k feet under the mount.
Was it Shell that drilled the well about 10 miles east of this location?
@@churlburt8485 I cannot remember. But does seem right. I do remember being red-lined out the area near the borehole. Those years I did other work for ARCO that was dogging behind Shell. I was there in 84 and the rig was stacked out, taken down and left on the one ranch. And there was a fee dispute. It wasn't going anywhere. There were a lot of operators running on empty that time. I also remember there was a wire tap crime on the phone line from the rig and the perp was facing trial. Typically, I had no idea of the results of my sampling.
I agree, those are pretty spectacular views, but the former Snake and Yellowstone business is also very interesting. Rather dramatic clouds help the visuals. Even if it was public, it'll all be dry and a lot less green when I'm there in August. I hope you took a sample of that brick-red basalt back to the lab at CWU to investigate further. Thanks!
Drone footage would have made this video even better. Such spectacular views!
It is 400 frickin’ miles from Saddle Mountain to Jarbidge and 30+ feet of ash was deposited at that distance? That is absolutely gob-smacking! People don’t know how lucky they are that this has not happened in the last 5000 years, because things would suck all over the planet. I am sure somebody better at math than I am could look at particle sizes, determine the rate they would settle in the atmosphere, figure a couple of different wind speed models and figure out how tall the ash column was in order for the ash to travel that distance. How many cubic kilometers of ash came out of that vent? I was thinking about the cross-bedding last night and decided that it looked more like cross-bedding from water, rather than wind. Dune cross-bedding has much broader sweeps. (Think Zion N.P.. The “peecnhie” little cross-beds look more like what you would see from a shallow stream flowing over a broad flat. That brick red might be alteration from the action of groundwater leaching minerals from the Elephant Mountain flow that interacted with the top layers of the tuff in limited areas of saturation, maybe under temporary ponds.???
How about the blue ice mine at the bottom just off crab creek rd. Lots of arrowhead there. The shelf just down from there has things to be look at.
Nick, "as the crow flies" Jumpoff Ridge in the Wenatchee Mountains overlooking Malaga is not too far from the Crab Creek drainage,. For 60 years I have been looking at a light colored layer near the top of the ridge and wondering if it is some kind of very deep ash layer. Now I am even more curious to know if it could be connected to this same ash in the Saddle Mountains. Not that much farther north. I have not been able to find any info about it online, or in the geology books I own.
Thanks Nick for the views from Saddle Mountains, and the descriptions you provided. Please offer my thanks to the Brother-Sister team that brought you up there. . I was able to find the area on Google Earth, and your video brings it into better focus than a high-altitude view.
Awe-struck admiration for "The Great Potter." And, your admiration and awe does you credit, Mr. Zentner! Thank you.
Really enjoyed this one. Thanks for the filming and the commentary. What a wonderful escarpment due to thrust faulting (I think). The cross bedding in that tuff was spectacular; I love the analogy of the snow-drift. Unsure about the red hue, but I agree with your idea that it perhaps came later, diagenesis. Thanks again Professor.
Amazing scenery mixed with a Geology cake to enjoy the view.
If it was public, it would just get trashed like everything else!
This is fabulous and it's terrific to see it better. What incredibly curious colors and formations. Thank you so much and to the siblings. Funny, I'm near Bruneau for a couple days to check out geology via the Roadside Guides. Next, COTM, Dillon area for a few days then North. 👍😍
Oh I bet you wish you had our Swedish "Allemansrätt" right to public access" only thing Private is military. Beautiful beautiful landscape. Thank you.
Love this. Many thanks to the land owners for providing you the opportunity to share this.
"What did you do on your Friday night?" Oh... learned about remarkable central Washington geologic formations, incredible ash formations from relatively unknown Idaho supervolcano eruptions 11 million years ago, and the fascinating path of the Snake River 5 million years ago. Oh, and some absolutely incredible video to boot.
Thank you so much for this. I'm a follower and fan now. Also, sure hope someone digs into the darker and duller red rock formations at the top. That's absolutely baffling.
Tell you what's baffling: lots of people sit around watching network television. Boring!
That the owner of a piece of nature can forbid others to walk on it is SO weird to me. Here (🇸🇪) you get to walk wherever you want, and even pick mushrooms and berries. Pretty much only the military can stop you from walking on land that they use. That they use for installations and training, mind you, not just because of who owns it.