Huge Extensional Structures: Detachment Fault Near Laughlin, Nevada

Ғылым және технология

Explore a fantastically exposed detachment fault just south of Laughlin, Nevada with geology professor Shawn Willsey. Learn how these amazing geologic structures form. GPS location: 35.12228, -114.64241
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Shawn Willsey
College of Southern Idaho
315 Falls Avenue
Twin Falls, ID 83303

Пікірлер: 115

  • @shawnwillsey
    @shawnwillsey3 ай бұрын

    Be sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE. You can support my educational 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 or here: buymeacoffee.com/shawnwillsey

  • @wordswords2094
    @wordswords20943 ай бұрын

    Breakfast with Willsey sure beats indigestion with the news. Thanks for starting our days with wonder!

  • @dianespears6057

    @dianespears6057

    3 ай бұрын

    Well said. I agree.

  • @davidk7324
    @davidk73243 ай бұрын

    I appreciate your descriptions. "Crude linear fabric." "Unique type of fault . . . not like rare . . . but a special type . . . "

  • @davebowles1957
    @davebowles19573 ай бұрын

    What a great thing to wake up to, a nice cup of coffee and a new video by Shawn. Thank you, Professor!

  • @rogercotman1314
    @rogercotman13143 ай бұрын

    Thanks Shawn, for the continued geology education. 206 like .....

  • @Nrc3neallyo
    @Nrc3neallyo3 ай бұрын

    Found it! I had quit a few minutes too soon! Newberry Detachment Fault Thanks for stopping by the hood! Come back when you can stay longer! 🤘😎🤘

  • @davidniemi4051
    @davidniemi40513 ай бұрын

    Thank you for the video. It might help to explain to your viewers that the terms "Hanging Wall" and "Foot Wall" are from mining terminology. If you imagine that you have a tunnel, perpendicular to the page, through where the seam of the fault is, often in these areas valuable minerals can be found. The "Hanging Wall" would be hanging lots of rocks above your head and you feet would be resting on the "Foot Wall" of the tunnel or Drift as miners call them.

  • @robertfritz9916
    @robertfritz99163 ай бұрын

    Saw your Bonneville flood talk on Nick Zentner's series. We've driven through there and did not know the geology of S Idaho. That was well done. Now that you have been featured as an expert on Nick's channel, yo are officially in the KZread geology "Big Time", so congratulations.

  • @theinstructor2687
    @theinstructor26873 ай бұрын

    If I'd known you were going to be in my area, I would have liked to meet you and chatted over coffee. As always, Professor Willsey, I enjoy your informative videos. Thanks.

  • @nitawynn9538
    @nitawynn95383 ай бұрын

    New vocabulary! That’s great. Thanks.

  • @stephanieparker1250
    @stephanieparker12503 ай бұрын

    I learned a lot with this one, thanks for a great video! 🤗

  • @Temptd2
    @Temptd23 ай бұрын

    We've been watching your content for a while now and have learned so much from you. Imagine our delight in finding you practically in our back yard with this one! We live just across the river on the Arizona side, would LOVE to see some content from the mountains easy of Bullhead City - any chance you have more content from this area on the way? Thanks so much, your explanations are always easy to understand and your videos are easy to enjoy.

  • @Temptd2

    @Temptd2

    3 ай бұрын

    Ooops that would be EAST of Bullhead City! Specificall the Black Mountains!

  • @user-cr7eh3ts8g
    @user-cr7eh3ts8g3 ай бұрын

    Fabulous! I love these segments! I think I can see how these work in the raising of the Wet Mountains near Hardscrabble Canyon and Colorado highway 96 from Pueblo to Silver Cliff, Colorado. Thank you!

  • @jameshatchett8095
    @jameshatchett80953 ай бұрын

    That was fun. In my old age I find that I am not as excited about getting down on my hands and knees to take measurements with my Brunton transit compass though I still have it with me. These days I have a Brunton jacobs staff and attached inclinometer for trend and dip and a sighting compass for orientation. Easier on the knees. 😊

  • @gailbarrena5273
    @gailbarrena52733 ай бұрын

    I am going to Laughlin in March. Going to look for that outcropping.

  • @ericfielding2540
    @ericfielding25403 ай бұрын

    Very cool to see the detachment fault surface preserved. I did almost all of my geology field trips in the eastern USA. It looks completely different there.

  • @flintridgedesigninc.1351
    @flintridgedesigninc.13513 ай бұрын

    Very interesting episode! Your explanation of the diagrams really helped me conceptualize the age dilemma. Before your explanation, I found myself asking, "I hope the power company took this slip angle into consideration," and then laughed when you said it stopped moving so long ago. Thank goodness my coffee is ready😂

  • @michaelmckeag960
    @michaelmckeag9603 ай бұрын

    We happen to be visiting a friend in Needles currently, will have to visit this site while still in the area. Your description finally helped clarify the nature of a detachment fault.

  • @LisaBelleBC
    @LisaBelleBC3 ай бұрын

    I don’t know how you see this stuff but I’m so glad you do! Thanks!

  • @michaelmckeag960
    @michaelmckeag9603 ай бұрын

    My wife and our host who lives in Needes are now visiting this site, in fact just replayed this episode for them while sitting here, a virtually guided field trip. You have two new fans.

  • @shawnwillsey

    @shawnwillsey

    3 ай бұрын

    Awesome. Thanks.

  • @skyepilotte11
    @skyepilotte113 ай бұрын

    Thank you Shawn for searching for and describing all the various geologic processes. Quite educational.

  • @kevindorland738
    @kevindorland7383 ай бұрын

    Another wonderfully amazing learning experience. Thank you Professor.

  • @ericschmidt6129
    @ericschmidt61293 ай бұрын

    Great explanation of detachment faults. You make geology so interesting.

  • @pmm1044
    @pmm10443 ай бұрын

    Nice diagram! Thanks

  • @judierickson7166
    @judierickson71663 ай бұрын

    Fascinatig as usual. Never will i loook at dirt the same way!

  • @RWBHere
    @RWBHere3 ай бұрын

    Thank-you, Shawn. When you talk about millions or thousands of millions of years, it reminds us about how transient we are on this amazing planet.

  • @Rachel.4644
    @Rachel.46443 ай бұрын

    This is awesome! I'd never have noticed this one, but now have learned better what to look for. I want to see slickensides in real life! Thanks, Shawn. 😄👏🏻

  • @loopbraider
    @loopbraider3 ай бұрын

    Thanks again, this is so much more fun than just reading about fault types in a geology textbook! (Although my brain is still struggling!) I've been all over some of this territory and had no clue about the geology. Trying to learn big picture geology the last couple of years. Only recently found out that there was anything as old as Precambrian in CA and NV desert areas, now you're showing it to me, thank you!

  • @hestheMaster
    @hestheMaster3 ай бұрын

    From space you can see this reddish rock outcrop very easily along the Needles Hwy. northwest of Riviera AZ across the Colorado River. Great explanation of what is going on there professor. Totally different geological action than what you see in the Red Rock Canyon area.

  • @JanetClancey
    @JanetClancey3 ай бұрын

    Brilliant as always …. I love learning hoping to put it to good use at some local (uk) places…. Blue anchor nearby has a great fault…. Red and grey will have a close look now…. Thanks Shawn😊

  • @wakeupthebear
    @wakeupthebear3 ай бұрын

    Thank you from Vancouver island. An island of many pieces.

  • @romeldiaz2614
    @romeldiaz261428 күн бұрын

    Thanks

  • @katesommerville7217
    @katesommerville72173 ай бұрын

    Sorry, I’m sure I’ve missed a few videos, Covid has done a real number on me. But I always have my favourite KZread videos to watch 👍

  • @juliamarple3785
    @juliamarple37853 ай бұрын

    Pretty cool!

  • @kymkauffman5000
    @kymkauffman50003 ай бұрын

    Thank you for another great lesson!

  • @Oogiappa
    @Oogiappa3 ай бұрын

    My home town!

  • @kflashcarr888
    @kflashcarr8883 ай бұрын

    Wow, my hometown. Always thought that was rust. Cool. 😊

  • @3xHermes
    @3xHermesАй бұрын

    Interesting story, great presentation!

  • @claudiavonkroge3604
    @claudiavonkroge36043 ай бұрын

    I call myself a proud crew member.

  • @Nrc3neallyo
    @Nrc3neallyo3 ай бұрын

    Thanks!

  • @shawnwillsey

    @shawnwillsey

    3 ай бұрын

    Thanks for supporting geology education.

  • @shawnwillsey

    @shawnwillsey

    3 ай бұрын

    Thanks for supporting geology education.

  • @Nrc3neallyo

    @Nrc3neallyo

    3 ай бұрын

    Hey, thanks for supporting mine! @@shawnwillsey

  • @maryt2887
    @maryt28873 ай бұрын

    Afternoon coffee and snack with Willsey. Beats cooking dinner!

  • @valoriel4464
    @valoriel44643 ай бұрын

    Thx Prof ✌🏻

  • @jadesea562
    @jadesea5623 ай бұрын

    the slicken lines go that way

  • @brucedymock6635
    @brucedymock66353 ай бұрын

    Great explanation a great site to to visit to demonstrate thanks

  • @jeffsiegwart
    @jeffsiegwart3 ай бұрын

    Thank you for the education.

  • @craighoover1495
    @craighoover14953 ай бұрын

    I am curious about how and when the older rocks got on top of the younger ones and where else that older formation might lie.

  • @kaboom4679

    @kaboom4679

    3 ай бұрын

    Decompression melting from crustal extension . The opposite can also happen from collisions of plates . I have overturned beds in my area , from an old impact event . So a lot of processes can cause older rocks to be juxtaposed on top of younger rocks .

  • @purplesage2801
    @purplesage28013 ай бұрын

    HELLO! Have you ever checked-out the Mojave River and the vertical drop there? That place was my playground growing up. That and Deep Creek Hot Springs in Apple Valley. The river itself is a fault line. I'm pretty sure it's the same one you see going North on the 395 going towards Mt Whitney.

  • @paulproctor5555
    @paulproctor55553 ай бұрын

    Thank you!

  • @KT_571
    @KT_5713 ай бұрын

    Please do a video about the Virgin River Gorge scenic drive along I-15 between Mesquite and St. George. There are spectacular road cutting that I would love to learn about! Thank you for your great videos!

  • @shawnwillsey

    @shawnwillsey

    3 ай бұрын

    This one is pretty close: kzread.info/dash/bejne/gXiMuMqzYLPafaQ.html

  • @adeptpeasant6161
    @adeptpeasant61613 ай бұрын

    Wow! Slick and Lines! Incredible find

  • @shawnwillsey

    @shawnwillsey

    3 ай бұрын

    slickenlines. Yes, very cool place.

  • @alpineflauge909
    @alpineflauge9093 ай бұрын

    awesome content

  • @johnrussell7981
    @johnrussell79813 ай бұрын

    I remember a talk on detachment faults at NWM convention, Spokane, about 1988? Nice video. Mighta placed clipboard directly below contact so dont have to turn away...no big deal. Thanks. J.Russell mineral surveyor

  • @paulvogel3957
    @paulvogel39573 ай бұрын

    Good info. could the uplift be tied to the Cima Dome volcanic area about 40 miles west of there? There are many lava flows right along I-15 east of Baker, a very interesting area. Thanks for the video.

  • @factchecker9358
    @factchecker93583 ай бұрын

    Another idea for a video would be the huge meteor impact site in the canyon road near Santa Fe, with large shatter cones.

  • @mikelong9638
    @mikelong96383 ай бұрын

    Alway interesing when you have older rock lying above younger rock.

  • @dhadbaoui
    @dhadbaoui3 ай бұрын

    The granite out there looks so different than the glacier polished granite by us.

  • @socalpal8416
    @socalpal84163 ай бұрын

    Great videos that I look forward to watching. Any chance of you to doing a longer, more in depth show on some of our SoCal geologic features?

  • @davidk7324

    @davidk7324

    3 ай бұрын

    Check his library. So. Cal is well represented :)

  • @user-nn9lv6vp9i
    @user-nn9lv6vp9i3 ай бұрын

    There's a detachment fault on the southwest side of the Santa Catalina Mountains in Tucson near me.

  • @factchecker9358
    @factchecker93583 ай бұрын

    I would suggest another video along the contact of an ash flow tuff in Truckee Canyon up from Reno. Walking along the contact near a side road off the main highway it's possible to see a carbonized log exposed that is perpendicular to the path and the observer. There are other interesting volcanic features in the area.

  • @carygrant8796
    @carygrant87963 ай бұрын

    No Mesquite there. Looked like Creosote. My father was a Mining Engineer at Mineral Park outside Kingman in the mid 60s. I’ve always wondered about the geologic history of the region and the mountains around Oatman to Kingman. Not sure I understood from the video how the precambrian rocks have ended up on top of the Cenozoic rocks.

  • @wendygerrish4964

    @wendygerrish4964

    3 ай бұрын

    That's what I thought too. I thought Mesquite occurs much further east-but upon reading about it, there are many varieties, and the word 'mesquite' is commonly used to descibe any desert wood stemned bush or tree. Duh.Well, now I know better.

  • @QuaaludeCharlie
    @QuaaludeCharlie3 ай бұрын

    Right 0n , Thank you Shawn :) QC

  • @Ericbjohnston5150
    @Ericbjohnston51503 ай бұрын

    Another good vid. Have you ever experienced a tremor while climbing through the hills?

  • @charlesward8196
    @charlesward81963 ай бұрын

    The sliken lines appear to be running at a 90 degree angle to the dip of the fault the way they emerge from under the Proterozoic granite. So, the hanging wall of rust colored granite is 100x older than the footwall granite. Trying to wrap my head around how that worked out. There is the old canard about the world being carried on the back of a turtle, hence earthquakes, and the trouble-maker asked the sage what the turtle was standing on. The reply, of course, was that the turtle was standing on ANOTHER turtle. When asked what that turtle was standing on, the snappish reply was, “IT’S TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN!” Like it is “basement rocks” all the way down. The 1.7 Ga granite was SOME kind of basement rock, or maybe a batholith like the Sierra Nevada batholiths, that was uplifted to a shallow crustal level, exposed, largely removed, (the deep reddish color from oxidation would support the thesis that this unit was exposed to extensive weathering) over the last billion years. It is related to the granites at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Then a renewed, mid- to upper mantle generation of “decompressional” magma was initiated WITHIN the body of the older basement rocks as the continental margin of Old North America overrode the spreading axis between the Farallon plate and the Pacific plate, initiating the phenomenal extension of the Basin and Range province, that generated the Colorado river valley graben, the Salton Sink, the San Andreas Fault, Walker Lane, etc. I will be down there April 1st, I will have to give that contact a visit.

  • @susanwymer6912
    @susanwymer69123 ай бұрын

    Well you explained exhumation of crystalline cores better than the geology class I audited! Is this related to dome formation in synclines (or anticlines I get them confused lol)! Thank you!

  • @lorasmith9380
    @lorasmith93803 ай бұрын

    Can you make a video on the quartz knob in Dog Valley, NV, near Verdi, NV? I've been going there for years to collect quartz crystals. I have always wondered how it was formed and about the general geology of that area.

  • @VegasCyclingFreak
    @VegasCyclingFreak3 ай бұрын

    So it appears that you were examining what little is left of the layer on top of the fault and the rest has been eroded away over time? I imagine it has ended up down in the Colorado River valley below. We seem to have similar things going on here in Las Vegas area I think but everything going towards Lake Mead area. I've always been curious about the enormous alluvial fan networks that are spread out something like 20-30 miles in the mountain foothills here and how they formed. The gravel plains here are also mind bogglingly vast.

  • @georgefrench1907
    @georgefrench19073 ай бұрын

    👍

  • @bobwinters6665
    @bobwinters66653 ай бұрын

    Love faults. First Detactment Fault for me. 42 years ago l had the unique opportunity to work in the Sterling Hill Zinc Mine of Ogdensburg, New Jersey. At the 1100ft. level the ore body (footwall) was directly adjacent to a portion of the Ramapo Fault System. The rock face of the fault was very smooth and the ore body was excavated right up to it. There are fotos of the mine and this fault on the net. If you want 42 year old fotos, drop me a link and l'll send them. The mine has flooded within 40ft of the adit. So no more fotos.

  • @stevewhalen6973
    @stevewhalen69733 ай бұрын

    A lot of downcutting from the Colorado rivers rapid erosion has exposed so many different rock units.

  • @Splusmer
    @Splusmer3 ай бұрын

    When the detached portion(s) are moving “downhill”, a I assume there could be some torsion in the movement (they twist as they slide instead of going straight down the grade), and that’s what can lead to slicken lines (new vocab a couple of videos back!) that are angled in different directions? (Or, at least, that could be one possible cause, or a contributing cause.)

  • @charleymitchell5461
    @charleymitchell54613 ай бұрын

    I have been trying to visualize what happened to the Bitterroot Valley, Montana. With the huge rock movement to the east, Is this the same thing?

  • @cyndikarp3368
    @cyndikarp33683 ай бұрын

    When contact of two different rock types, there's normally fault line involved of some kind. Happens a lot in Western USA.

  • @lauram9478
    @lauram94783 ай бұрын

    ❤❤❤❤❤

  • @robertbrewer2190
    @robertbrewer21903 ай бұрын

    Always interesting! Can a phone measure the dip angle?

  • @toughenupfluffy7294
    @toughenupfluffy72943 ай бұрын

    The undersea Banda Detachment fault exposed 60,000 square kilometers (23,166 square miles) of detached surface (Indonesia).

  • @jonathanblubaugh5049
    @jonathanblubaugh50493 ай бұрын

    Bearing of slickenlines?

  • @tomt25
    @tomt253 ай бұрын

    Hello, thanks for the interesting viedeo. QUESTION: On Google Earth I see a lot of regularly spaced similar features north of this fault (but as far as i can see with the grey granite on both sides). Are these also faults?

  • @mikeflynn2926
    @mikeflynn29263 ай бұрын

    Shawn, I'm confused by apparent contradiction. Your notebook paper diagram shows the hanging wall as the older rocks and the footwall as younger, while the printed diagram is the reverse. So, does this locale differ from the classic core complex because of the younger magma intrusion? (Love your series, BTW)

  • @shawnwillsey

    @shawnwillsey

    3 ай бұрын

    This particular case (in video) has a young granitic body (magma) that formed due to extension and was later exhumed.

  • @mrcryptozoic817
    @mrcryptozoic8173 ай бұрын

    Does this description match/explain the difference of the two peaks of Mt. Olympus above the SLC valley? Those two peaks on that one mountain seem to be totally different material.

  • @shawnwillsey

    @shawnwillsey

    3 ай бұрын

    Mt Olympus has a true peak, a saddle, then a "false" summit to the north. The peaks are beds of quartzite (metamorphosed sandstone) and are quite resistant so they stick up. The saddle is a bed of softer shale/slate (fine grained material) that weathers more easily.

  • @mrcryptozoic817

    @mrcryptozoic817

    3 ай бұрын

    @@shawnwillsey Thank you

  • @jonathanblubaugh5049
    @jonathanblubaugh50493 ай бұрын

    "SIDE TO SIDE motion" oblique slip or different episodes of movement? Still need to be convinced it's not a thrust.

  • @knottynuffakers7529
    @knottynuffakers75293 ай бұрын

    Snakes in that formation makes me nervous

  • @manifold1476
    @manifold14763 ай бұрын

    8:27 Why call the older, overlying proterozoic rocks "granitic"?

  • @jonathanblubaugh5049
    @jonathanblubaugh50493 ай бұрын

    How in the World do I know it's not a subduction thrust? Field evidence of normal vs thrust faulting?

  • @shawnwillsey

    @shawnwillsey

    3 ай бұрын

    Timing matches that of Basin and Range extension.

  • @Nrc3neallyo
    @Nrc3neallyo3 ай бұрын

    Is there a better name that I can put on my map, besides "Laughlin detachment"?

  • @shawnwillsey

    @shawnwillsey

    3 ай бұрын

    This one is called the Newberry detachment fault.

  • @Nrc3neallyo

    @Nrc3neallyo

    3 ай бұрын

    🤘😎🤘@@shawnwillsey

  • @JimBridgerHarney
    @JimBridgerHarney3 ай бұрын

    But whose fault is it?

  • @venetogardens
    @venetogardens3 ай бұрын

    love your videos. thank you. BTW. in the text, the GPS location does not match the video. here is the correct location. 35.12228, -114.64241

  • @shawnwillsey

    @shawnwillsey

    3 ай бұрын

    fixed now. Thanks.

  • @Bubba_fett
    @Bubba_fett3 ай бұрын

    I think it would be awesome to drive out west, find some random interesting places, and read its history. I always have a good time watching your videos, except when you start climbing the high places, I get the willies.

  • @tombakewell2007
    @tombakewell20073 ай бұрын

    Thanks!

  • @Riverguide33
    @Riverguide333 ай бұрын

    👍

  • @llprice2000
    @llprice20003 ай бұрын

    Thanks!

  • @maurasmith-mitsky762
    @maurasmith-mitsky7623 ай бұрын

    Thanks!

  • @stevewhalen6973
    @stevewhalen69733 ай бұрын

    Thanks!

  • @jwardcomo
    @jwardcomo3 ай бұрын

    Thanks!

  • @10984917
    @109849173 ай бұрын

    Thanks!

  • @johnpotts8719
    @johnpotts87193 ай бұрын

    Thanks!

  • @shawnwillsey

    @shawnwillsey

    3 ай бұрын

    Thank you.

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