That really is a bizarre formation. The gypsum veins give the cliff face an almost biological appearance. Thanks again, Shawn, for another super interesting video!

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it

@knocksensor3203

Жыл бұрын

Look like roots..

That cliff looks like a rather "dry-wall"😊

Utah is such a fascinating place from a geologic standpoint. Thanks again for helping those of us who aren’t so sophisticated to learn something about it.

Wow, Utah has some seriously cool geology, thanks Shawn

@SkepticalRaptor

Жыл бұрын

I went to high school and the University of Utah in the state, and I never visited the southern part of the state. I even took a field geology course in college, and we just stuck a round the northern part of the state. I found this channel because Shawn was telling the story of the geology of a mountain that towered above my high school.

You have taken us to some interesting places professor and this one really needed the explanation about the gypsum. Never seen anything just like that before.

Great story Shawn, brought to life with your context map which really helps me to understand this better. All makes absolute sense.

If I would have come across that on my own, I would have been so confused on how the stripes could cross layers like that. Thanks for the explanation and the video. I found it very interesting.

Fascinating location, thank you. Still looking forward to a possible video on the Heart Mountain Detachment. Thanks again.

Mr Willsey thank you for your videos. In 2007 I took a bicycle ride from California to Kansas. A bit of interest in Geology grew into a great interest in Geology. Especially the Geology of Nevada and Utah. I biked right by the formation in this video. Your videos have been so informative. Almost more than I can process. I have since traveled from Virginia to the West coast and back. I have been to Craters of the Moon andI find your Snake River Plain videos very interesting. I visited the obsidian cliffs in Yellowstone. I grew up on the fall line in Virginia and have been trying to put it's Geology together. Thank you again, keep it coming.

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Cool story and that would be an awesome bike ride (maybe not so much in Kansas). Thanks for watching and learning with me. More to come soon!

Road cuts must provide a wealth of information to geologists. Since watching your videos, I keep my eye out for everything I pass by while driving.

@Backroad_Junkie

Жыл бұрын

What's interesting about that area, is there isn't a lot of places where they had to carve a hill to put a road through. (There are a few...) Just North of there, is the San Rafael desert, which is flat as a pancake. Where he's (I think) at the road turns to the West, and follows the Freemont river though the cut at Fruita. It's a great drive. Just past Capital Reef is Utah 12, one of the best roads to drive in America, lol....

Wild stuff, really..amazing it was deposited millions of years ago..

Great content as always Shawn thank you.

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it. Appreciate you watching.

thank you shawn willsey...for keeping it simple & to the point....it takes work & dedication to just talk about what is simply here for the viewing...awesome

Thank you for the fine video. I’ve watched many of you videos and I really appreciate your positive tone. I just bought Roadside Geology of Idaho. Thanks!

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Awesome! Thanks for watching. I hope the book and videos are helpful to you in learning Earth’s amazing stories.

@melvinperc1626

Жыл бұрын

​@@shawnwillseythere are lots of dino fossils along that stretch of 24. Don't want to share the locations because they have already been substantially pilphered. If you are still in the area, ask around. Being an educator and trustworthy, someone will give you a spot to do a video that won't give away the location to too many who would do harm.

You can support my field videos by clicking on the "Thanks" button just above (right of Like button) or by going here: www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=EWUSLG3GBS5W8

More than 50 years after a Geo 100 course I wondered if the veins might be gypsum and whether you might do a Mohs hardness test with a fingernail. Amazing how one Geo course stays with you long after you've forgotten your Shakespeare.

When I first saw the gypsum veins I thought it was some form of strapping to keep the cliff from collapsing, it looked man-made. Fascinating how a mineral rich water infiltration could deposit those bands so uniformly.

@Shawn Willsey Oh my gosh, outside of Hanksville, Utah!! My gosh it's been too long. I was raised here. You have an awesome channel. Growing up where I did & the Amazing geology of Southeastern Wayne County. It's unparalleled

Excellent explanation! Thank you.

Thanks,,, your explanations of geological deep time are fascinating. Much to ponder on in the interpretation of our individual surroundings wherever we are in the world.

I saw those criss-crossing veins and got really excited, but turns out different. I once spotted a few car-sized boulders here: 44°48'55.67"N 89°51'58.51" eleven miles SW of Rib Mountain. Rib itself is a quartzite monadnock, but the boulders are a fine-grained uniform dark grey hard stone. And criss-crossing them are thin veins of pure quartz, often at right angles to one another.

Thank you for a clear and informative explanation of this interesting cliff face.

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome

Always answering questions that have puzzled me over the years! Thank you again.

The Ancestral Rockies had been uplifted at about 300 MYA, but had largely eroded away, as can be seen on the map at the right. The Sevier Orogeny was largely complete at 160 MYA - the mountain range on the left - and this inland sea may have been a large foreland basin resulting from a down-warping of the crust adjacent to the mountains. It's fascinating the way the gypsum crystallizes as vertical columns. I assume that since the seam was filled with gypsum solution that was all crystallizing at the same time, it was easier to grow upwards and push away the soft sediment, than sideways, against the other crystals. They took the path of least resistance.

Great presentation, the paleo geographic map really helped put this information into perspective! Thank you!

@shawnwillsey

10 ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

Wow. I love how geology is used to work out the history of an area. I live on the northern slopes of the Sierra de Mijas in Andalucia in S. Spain. I would love to walk the area with someone like you. Walking up a dry arroyo near where I live is fascinating. Mostly it looks like a giant digger has scraped up a huge lagoon floor dumping water worn stones and clay. Then there are odd intrusions. Then you hit the remains if a sandy beach white sand and sea shells a couple of hundred feet up. By a worked out silver mine. Of course the uplift is caused by Africa slowly moving northward. So I have been told or read. The valley floor is also littered with the remains of the ancient lagoon. Fields full of the stones from the the lagoon floor. Some are used to edge terraces on the slopes as well as to build the older houses. I suspect they used the clay as mortar.😉

Very interesting. In Utah, I have not been south of I70. These videos are introducing me to an area I have never been to. I am seeing that I need to learn more about those ancient inland seas. Thank you.

Awesome, informative video! Beautiful formation!

Thank you Shawn, that was really interesting. Looking forward to your next video😊

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

More to come!

A very interesting hypothesis

Another amazing educational video ................... Thanks Shawn ................

Fascinating video. This amateur Oregon geology fan is subscribing to your KZread!!

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Welcome aboard! Enjoy the existing videos while I make plans for future ones.

This formation is intriguing and definitely needed your explanation, fascinating to find gypsum in those layers. I really like that map, is it available to order? And this area is now also on my list of places to scout out. Thank you so much again Shawn.

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

www.amazon.com/Ancient-Landscapes-Western-North-America/dp/3319596349

@Anne5440_

Жыл бұрын

​@Shawn Willsey I checked the link you shared. I bought that book as my present to myself at Christmas. I need to read it more.

@Rachel.4644

Жыл бұрын

I bought it, too.... 👍🏻😉

Great location! Thx!

The earth is a recycling machine, so to have this formation to look at from 100's of millions of yrs ago is remarkable, I'm fascinated to think about that land where creatures from that long ago walked the earth. Thank you

Really nice presentation. We have a similar formation in England along the southern edge of the Bristol Channel up to around Miehead. Here, You can see the exact same Gypsum incursions in to sedimentary beds with vertical bands. At Kilve beach, you can also see it in the oil shale layers.

"You miss 100% of the fossils you never look for." -- Wayne Gretzky.

Positively gorgeous formation wow, for one sedimentary rock is always pretty, but the veins of gypsum are wild. I thought they were layers of decade old fraying tape or something that was meant to prevent rockslides, it doesn’t even look like part of the rock. Also looks almost like tree roots

Mind blowing!

Great gypsum explanation

Thanks!

It's fascinating

Thanks for this Shawn. Wondered what those stripes were.

The different geological beds are conceptually similar to tree growth rings. Excellent presentation.

Thankyou for your time.I am in Australia looking at my local area in a different way.

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

That is exactly my goal. Cheers.

Pretty rocks!

There is orange and yellow stained gypsum/ alabaster at the fault at blue anchor uk… I have a piece of it that looks exactly like that.. coconut ice rock beautiful thank you Shawn

The White Stripes rock

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Agreed

Another great video. Shawn do you think you will have any field trips with IMMG or others that guests would be invited to attend. Keep up the great work for an old, retired geologist.

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

I’m always open to discuss IMMG or other field trip options. Thanks for watching.

Now I can figure out what my counter tops are “formed” by Muahahahah..... Lovin it!

Cool. Been by that area a few times, I even have a photo of the bluff you're standing next to. (Right close to Prairie Dog rock, right? 😁) Just came across your channel. Always been fascinated by the geology of the area and the West. Will have to look over your channel before I start coming up with questions, lol...

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Enjoy the existing videos. Welcome aboard.

Fun fact: the Tidwell Member of the Morrison Formation used to be considered part of the Summerville Formation!

...... Land o' Lakes,wi.........here for class ...no way,veins of quartz???..holy cats,,,what layers....tnx,pat&family.

Hay Shawn you should come up to northern Minnesota and do a video in the iron range abandoned ore pits I've come across some very weird layer stacking in the hard rock. Tower Sudan mine shafts give you great access to deeper layers including diamond ladin columns

@bigjay875

Жыл бұрын

It would be best in early spring or late fall after the frost kills biting insects

I don't know if you'll make it to the Hanksville area but I would be interested in the geology of the Long Dong Silver formation. Great video.

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Looks like an eroded outcrop of the Cretaceous Mancos Shale, muddy sediment that was laid down when a large seaway split North America in half.

@aldo5428

Жыл бұрын

@Just Looking 😂😂😂…

those papery layers I just filmed them a couple days ago on a hike within our Moenkopi east of Las Vegas and there is a name for them but will have to try to find it again. Its part of the aging process. I will upload a video shortly on them. Our Moenkopi permian redbeds we have here are similar construction but were not a branch of the sundance and were actually shallow ocean and tidal flats and such as you spoke of but they are older late permian so were quite a bit younger but exact same mechanism. I also read the science of how those gypsum veins form and quite awhile after the deposition and form from the bottom upward and related to great pressure almost a concept like freezing a stell bottle with ice it will break the bottle. will try to trace it again. Our permian redbeds are prolific and were the same timezone as dimetrodon but no fossils maybe the open shallow water was too vast as compared to those fossils of dimetrodon found in Texas which was a better environment and apparently closer to land? an interesting thing is the Sundance almost touched valley of fire and at the same time as the sandstone max certainly before it was fully lithified. If you went up in a hot air baloon at valley of fire you would be looking at the Sundance sea way incursion very shallow in the distance to the east.

Could we be looking at seasonal layering, with the light and dark sediments?

Could it be possible that the very thin layers of sediment within the larger dark layers represents one days worth of tidal action? I have noticed similar thin layers within the upper Morrison Formation at the Dinosaur Ridge road cut near Red Rocks park, just a couple miles north of Morrison, Colorado.

7:19 .. . . being assembled . . . . A shout out to John McPhee?

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Possibly a nonintentional one. Love his books.

Thanks Shawn, great video. I used to drive to Boulder Utah to measure a ponderosa pine test plot. Went swimming in the Fremont on hotter days. For some reason I got the sense, looking at the outcrop that the horizontal thicker gypsum layers would have been deposited on the surface, ie salt water drying, then another deposition of muds, sands et al. Would that be somewhat close? As t the non-horizontal smaller gypsum layers, they almost appear as trackways, As usual I have no clue and need your great guidance. Cheers, Jim

I don't know what specific environment was necessary for the evaporation of sea water to leave salt deposit and gypsum, mutually exclusive... Any help?

Omg mate don't pull at it too much.waiting for it to fall on you.great job in showing us here in Australia.we have bungles bungles up north of western Australia.

@shawnwillsey

7 ай бұрын

Thanks 👍

i did mapping in the Ephraim area for my geology degree. I did find much gypsum, ripple marks, and a fossil that I thought to be a turtle bone. The thing was that a person could see almost all of the geology because of the climate, unlike OhiO or Virginia where everything is covered with soil or vegetation.

Gypsum has a very interesting history

I have seen this outcrop many times, and others like it. But how can these obvious layers of gypsum be post-depositional? Aren’t they simply evaporite layers put down in brackish water? Thanks for an informative video. What do such outcrops tell us about the regional picture of the depositional environment?

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Gypsum is either syndepositional or soon after deposition. It permeates fractures that cut rock so has to be after to some degree. The presence of gypsum tells us we had high evaporation rates and, likely an arid climate. It could also indicate hypersaline water possibly due to a restricted area that was not always connect to the ocean.

Is this map you are using on your website for download? Or a link to the map?

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

www.amazon.com/Ancient-Landscapes-Western-North-America/dp/3319596349

9:24 Let’s talk about that beautiful stone sticking out! Look at that! How many millions of years ago, As it landed where it still lays, It had already been worn smooth… I’m reminded of a cartoon video I saw about the lifecycle of stones/rocks. I’m fascinated by them. A snapshot of a moment in time. I’ve also noticed, Every stone has a base shape, and every one of them spirals. Triangles, flower petals/tear drops, pentacles and squares, all spiraling through space, and frozen in place For us to contemplate. Thank you for explaining the veins so well, they amaze me. Sometimes, the “Flaws” of the stone are what makes the stone so wonderful. Here in #Vermont, We have #GreenMountainJade. They stick to magnets, It’s cool. They often have veins of #Quartz, and other things. They are beautifully mixed from deep dark green/black, to a light almost white, with some yellows and oranges. A lot of our sedentary stones sparkle with pyrite and other minerals. Anyway, I’m rOcKiN nuts, Just really wanted to say Great video And you would LOVE our stones!

@theariasplamodia7585

Жыл бұрын

I’m guessing our stones were actually deposited from much further north in Canada when the great melting happened. I’ve never found outcrops or bedrock of our green stones, only well worn pebbles and small rocks. Sometimes we find larger stones, but most fit in your pocket. They are also very soft smooth, as though they’ve been commercially tumbled. When the dark green/black ones are broken into thin chip, You can see through them! Sometimes they have black spots inside. I sure can ramble about rocks. 😂

@theariasplamodia7585

Жыл бұрын

{Really wish I could share photos.

@theariasplamodia7585

Жыл бұрын

Oh, liked and subscribed. 👍🏽

I'm interested in getting any copies of those maps if possible for teaching geology?

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

www.amazon.com/Ancient-Landscapes-Western-North-America/dp/3319596349

What explains the vertical travel of the gypsum beds? Was that uplift after sedimentary action? Or was it veins that they seeped into and evaporated as you described?

@grizzlymartin1

Жыл бұрын

Did some more digging 😂…It’s the later. But still trying to figure out if there were two different water events. If the Jurassic waters laid down the sandstone, did another sulfate rich lake or ocean later move in and fill those veins? I’ll do some more reading, but are we looking at two different epochs; the Jurassic followed by the Cretaceous?

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

No I believe the rocks and the gypsum veins were deposited at nearly the same time. The mud/sand layers first which then dried up and hardened to create small fractures that the seawater (which was rising and falling intermittently) filled, evaporated, and precipitated gypsum.

@grizzlymartin1

Жыл бұрын

@@shawnwillsey Thanks. I’m learning. The weight of the heavier sandstones allowed them to bed and layer vs. the floating water dense with gypsum sulfates. I’m getting it.

@NorthForkFisherman

Жыл бұрын

@@shawnwillsey So the next question is, how much heat energy is required to evaporate the minimum amount of water that would be required to transport that much gypsum? Is there a reference that you would recommend to make those calculations?

Does tectonic uplift then cause the formation of the green river in Wyoming? Was there a massive flood afterwards that created the formations of plunge pools, and flood etching over moab, as well as castle valley, San Rafael? My question is basically: was there a massive drainage event?

@shawnwillsey

9 ай бұрын

No record of large flooding event along Green River or northern Colorado Plateau as far as I know.

Correlative with the Wanakah Formation in Western Colorado. Interpreted to be hypersaline marine facies, likely estuarine or tidal mudflats. Gypsum CaSO4 +2OH (hydrated calcium sulphate) is interpreted to have precipitated from shallow high-saline arid marine environments: think the Dead Sea. It was carried in groundwater which was injected between the strata due to pore pressure causing Griffith cracks that subsequently propagated across the weakest lines of resistance, if you must know, and IMHO. JK Nice Vid, I approve from my armchair!

Thank you from a home-biased Utahn

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for your kind donation and support. I mostly grew up in northern Utah (Layton) and earned my Bachelors in Geology at Weber State. My also have some property in Veyo so I know the state well. Look for more Utah videos in the future while you peruse the existing ones I've made.

@audrey926l

Жыл бұрын

@@shawnwillsey Veyo is a well-loved haunt around here. Great spot for a geologist to chill. 😁 can’t wait to see more of the fantastic videos!

Seconding the earlier comment, where can we order those maps that the NAU Professor created? I want to wallpaper my house with them. ❤

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

All the maps and the story of these landscapes can be found in this exceptional book: www.amazon.com/Ancient-Landscapes-Western-North-America/dp/3319596349

@audrey926l

Жыл бұрын

@@shawnwillsey thank you! Ordered and thrilled to add it to my library.

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

@@audrey926l Enjoy. It's a nice read.

I was wondering what that was.

Just a thought, if these stratification layers were laid down so many millions of years ago would not the layers become more solid as you dig into them instead of the crumbly Parts that are eroded and visible on the "surface" of the formation?

Is that water area the western interior seaway?

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Sort of. The sea invaded the area of the present day Rockies several times during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. The Jurassic incursion is sometimes called the Sundance Sea. It wasn't until the Middle to Late Cretaceous though that the sea split North America in two and created the Western Interior Seaway.

❤❤ what precipitates calcium sulfates....

Mudflats, baby!

What event broke that ? Leaving It open sideways!

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Roadcut by highway department. Plus the river is right there so its possible the river was undercutting the slope anyway.

@guadalupegandara8961

Жыл бұрын

@@shawnwillsey That was man made . West of Rockies there are many collapsed Rift valleys

Sorry Shawn Some geologists include tidal flats in marine facies, as they are transitional between marine and terrestrial. My bad.

❤

When I was young we drove through an area of gypsum mines in Arizona. I believe it was call Gypsum City. There was nothing much out there. Sand and rocks and for me the only interesting part of the desert. Thx

I just ordered Geology Underfoot in Southern Idaho! I couldn't find where to send you a message so, could you sign it to Gary B? (I comment here frequently) Thanks!!

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Hi Gary B. Thanks for being a loyal follower. Where did you buy the book? I didn't see an order on my Square site. If you bought it elsewhere, no problem, just send to me and I can sign and mail back.

@garyb6219

Жыл бұрын

@@shawnwillsey Yes, on Square site. Last night.

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

@@garyb6219 OK. Got it. Usually get an email with orders but didn't with this one. I see it though on site. Will send it out this week. Thanks!

Looks like you put tape on the wall

How does the gypsum transverse vertically through millions of years of mud and sand deposits? Hmm?

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

Fractures that provide pathways for the saline water to infiltrate, evaporate, and precipitate gypsum.

Could it be possible that those veins were created by insects?

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

I don't think so. Veins are filled by gypsum which demands a saline water body to infiltrate the fractures and precipitate mineral material.

And all that in only 6000 years 😁

This is what I do not understand...if a meteor is responsible for wiping out the dinos, then how come we don't find a lot of bones at the demarcation that separates the end of the dinos, and period after. If a rock slide takes you out, we would find the slide directly on top of your bones. So how come that thin white line that folks point to that can be found around the world as the fall out from the meteor...who come dino bones are not found in contact with that line.

@Colorado8300

Жыл бұрын

I think there is an iridium rich layer (dust settling out and iridium brought by the meteor- not really a naturally abundant element in earth at the K-T boundary). Above the layer - no dino bones- below the layer - Dino bones.

Professor Nick Zentner sent me. Most excellent videos and information. I want to pack up and out of the Rock River Valley Illinois and head west.

@shawnwillsey

Жыл бұрын

How did Nick send you my way?

@paulezycom

Жыл бұрын

@@shawnwillsey I think he mentioned your channel in one of his videos.

@paulezycom

Жыл бұрын

He Recommended of one of your books. "Geology Underfoot in Southern Idaho".

God Utah is such a cool place