I was 4 years old when Arco was lit by the world’s first nuclear generated electricity. My dad worked for the AEC and there were many other such families standing out in the desert night waiting for that switch to make history. The coyotes were howling (they sounded so close) and I held tightly to my daddy’s hand, feeling the gravity that I was witnessing something significant. Thanks for shaking loose this memory and for the closeups on those fossils! 🥰

I enjoyed hearing you mention Dave Fortsch. Thirty years ago I was a wayward business major from Blackfoot and I took Geology 101 from Dave at ISU. I was immediately hooked and he graciously humored me as I took one rock after another to his office after class. After a couple of years, I grew weary of business classes and left ISU to enter the Wonderful World of Work. Ten years later, I went back to college at CWU. My Geology 101 credits from ISU wouldn't transfer as they were 10+ years old so I took your Geology 101 course. It was outstanding and reminded me in many ways of Dave's class ten years prior. I took the anthropology (archaeology) track and it helped me in many ways when it came to identify source material for stone tools. I even taught Geology 101 labs in graduate school (WSU) after I told one of the professors that I took Geology 101 twice (A's both times)! All in all, you put a smile on my face as you talked about Dave and it was great to see the countryside of my youth. Keep up the good work!

*RANCHER DRIVING BY:* "What's that? Oh, just a geologist. Saw the hammer. Not rustling my cattle. Probably petting my 300ma horn corals ..."

@1956vern

2 жыл бұрын

😆 lol

@1956vern

2 жыл бұрын

Awesome Nick I’ll never look a rocks the same!🤔

Wow. I'm really enjoying the Idaho Edition of Nick On The Road, being from Idaho myself. I grew up hunting, fishing and camping everywhere you've been these last few episodes and it really brings it back for me. I've been away since about the time you got there in the 80s. I wish I'd known more about the geology when I lived there. Thanks Nick.

Your Ryan McDerrmott (sp) story just shows what so many of us already know- Your ability to inspire and fan the flames of interest touches everyone. Thank you❤️

What a great stop for geology. Thanks for pointing out the formations, horn coral, etc. I always get out my atlas and make notes.

wow, catching up... NEAT limestone... thank you...

I live here in north central Arkansas and this area was part of the same Mississippian Era and part of the shallow sea. There is black Limestone in the area that polishes up to a gorgeous and totally black finish, with few if any fossils showing. This black limestone was commercially quarried back in the 1930's and was called Black Marble. In this same limestone area, where the road goes up the mountain ( only about 500 ft. above sea level), I have found an outcrop of fossils that consist of Crinoid stems, Brachiopods & Gastropods Archimedes Screw, small pieces of Cuneate Coral, and probably other fossils that I haven't realized are there. This area looks exactly like the area in this video. What is amazing to me is that what looks like a rock of perhaps 5" or 6" thick, and even thicker in places, is not a typical rock, but solid fossils all the way through. These fossils are jumbled up in every direction and makes me wonder if this is the result of a flood or some other event that washed/deposited these tens of thousands of fossils of many different sizes in this area. I have a diamond Lapidary saw and I have sliced thin sections from the larger pieces and polished them. They look amazing ! I have some loupes of various magnifications and examining these fossils with a loupe is like taking a trip back in time.

@LillianArch

2 жыл бұрын

Just home from a visit to New Jersey where I had my son take me to look for crinoid and other fossils found in those Mississippian layers. Your finds sound amazing.

@marbleman52

2 жыл бұрын

@@LillianArch How was the fossil hunting?

@Gloominusdm

2 жыл бұрын

I find the same situation down here in Northern Alabama in the Lower Bangor Limestone. They call the Mississippian "the Age of the Crinoids" for a good reason. They were quite prolific and achieved maximum diversity at this time. But I think we need to take the delicate body structures of the crinoid into account. They were incredibly susceptible to storms and landfalls being mostly sessile. Once the crinoid was dead, if it wasn't buried in sediment immediately, it scattered into a thousand pieces. I have been lucky enough to find complete crinoid fossils down here which usually denotes a landfall.

@marbleman52

2 жыл бұрын

@@Gloominusdm You must have been thrilled to find a complete Crinoid ! I think only a few nearly complete Crinoids have ever been found...so far...here in Arkansas.

Horn coral started over 400 Million years ago and can be used as geologic time clocks. Great video thanks for all the great stuff.

@donnacsuti4980

2 жыл бұрын

Had a friend who would read aloud and make a tape ( or burn a cd) then could play them as he drove. This way he learned a lot by repetitive listening and didn't crash the car.

FONDEST FOSSIL HUNTING WAS 55-60 YRS. AGO UP IN B.C. SOMEWHERE. MY DAD WAS A GEOLOGY MAJOR AT UPS IN TACOMA LATER WORKED AS A SOILS ENGINEER FOR WA. STATE HWY DEPT. BUT WE HUNTED SOME TRILOBITES I GUESS IN SHALE UP IN B.C. AND FOUND SOME BEAUTIFUL FOSSILS. SHOULD HAVE FOLLOWED THE GEOLOGY TRAIL AS NICK'S SERIES ARE VERY INTERESTING AND FUN. HOPE YOU DO SOME MORE NICK ABOVE THE ROCKS WITH MARIA SOON.

When Nick talks to Gismo in the middle of remote locations, it reminds me of Tom Hanks talking to Wilson in the movie Castaway. lol

Another wonderful chapter from Nick our favorite geologist and instiller of knowledge! Thank-you again Sir! Stay Well! Much Love!

Yay, field trip! Thanks, Nick, and glad you enjoyed the reunion. You had two Emmies to show your success (and thousands of cheering Zentnerds). :D

My interest in geology was sparked when I was a child by two things: a piece of mica schist - with books of mica! - I found in a creek near my house, and a piece of limestone cobble in my garden that had crinoid fossils (they looked like spinal cords to me). So I'm always interested in fossiliferous limestones.

@SCW1060

2 жыл бұрын

My interest in Geology started when I was 19 and watching TV about Mt. St. Helen's leading up to the May 18th eruption here in Washington state

Thank you Professor Zentner

Neat! Inspires me to stop more often, with Roadside Geology in hand, and break a few rocks! Thanks, Nick. 🤗❤

The horn corral in your video appears to be a Rugosa, meaning wrinkled. Yes, these horn corrals were the Paleozoic reef builders "back in the day."

Aww we love you too Nick , I hang on every word ! lol I can’t believe how excited I get when I see that you’ve dropped another “ from the field “ thank you so much for doing them ! All the best Jules 💕

Your videos make me want to go back and get my PhD in Geology!

I concur (from the comfort of my sofa) with the chert identification. Really cool lenses. Amazing how that horn-corral is protruding from the bed like that! You could say those beds are FOSSILIFEROUS!!!! Thanks for the field trip.

Another wonderful world over the earth with Professor Zentner! Thanks Nick

I love seeing that sage. It is a sacred plant to me. The aroma helps me imagine the Great Father. I used to bring some home from my pediatric meetings in Aspen, CO. I miss the aroma, now as I'm now in Vt.

Fun outcrop! Thanks for another video based on the roadside geology books! Really helps to have you along to explain it in more plain English, too! Glad you are having a good time getting together with old pals, too! Again, thanks, Nick!

“Nick from Idaho” gotta luv it.

Next time you are here, take the drive up Pass Creek Road. You will see deep water limestone along the road. Eocene is well represented also.

Superb Mr Zeitner!

Thanks for sharing Nick. I enjoy hearing the stories relating your experiences. interesting seeing the coral so easy to identify, right there on the surface. it even looked like a mud flat where the coral was coming out of the surface...please continue to follow the book and relate your stories. Thank you. BTW,FYI, its private land, owned by a ranch LLC.

That really dark looking Limestone looks like the Limestone here in the South West of the UK, mostly in Devon, hence the dating name of Devonian Limestone. Really hard and grey. Seems strange it is mixed and not in one great big bed. That obviously means it cannot be a Devonian period Limestone bed. Questions, always questions. Great vid, thanks from the UK

Thank you for trying to make the viewing experience better Nick, very grateful for that.

Great episode Nick. Belated congratulations to you and the "Nick on the Rocks" team for your two Emmy Awards! Well done sir!

Interesting pronunciation of Mackay. In Queensland we pronounce the particular place name as Ma-kye

Thank you, again.

Thank you for doing this.

I live in Mackay. Thanks for the insight.

The thumb reminded me of TV painter Bob Ross.

Very nice, sir! My usual way of retaining information is to draw similarities/connections to other things. Sometimes indirectly to the dismay of others. ha! A bit of a classic TV joke if I may...at about 6:40 you almost have the stuff to duel the Gorn! Yellow-sulfur, black-charcoal, white schmears-potassium nitrate. You just need diamonds and bamboo type stuff and a bit of cordage! Thanks for sharing all your trips, classes and findings. Cheers, be well everyone!

Now I'm going to buy that book! Thank you Nick. 😃

Loved the walk with you, a great way to listen, look and learn. We need more of this kind of teaching.

Most interesting videos.

Nik, you gotta come do a 30 or so day trip through vancouve4 island. I live very close to 2 faults that eventually move southeast over your way. We live on dolomite , most was mined but there's some left. You f''n rule.

Congratulations, on a nice reunion Nick! 👍 Good luck finding fossils.

Wow what a great and interesting place. Thanks for taking us along Nick

Muffler Boy, indeed. I love the attention you are giving to my home state! Thanks for the memories.

You mentioned Spokane was near the original continent of North America, and Idaho had a volcanic arc at one point in its history , could the accretion onto Washington caused the folding of the limestone beds ? Could there area your in, be the equivalent of Puget sound today, 300 million yrs ago . Food for thought.

My understanding of the presence of siliceous chert or flint nodules and lenses in limestone is that it’s a secondary diagenetic feature. It results from the dissolution by circulating groundwater of organic silica skeletal material such as sponge spicules and radiolaria, and then its tendency to nucleate and grow into nodules and lenses within the limestone. Enjoying the geology field trips with you 👍

Thanks for taking us with you Nick, I'm loving this road trip (all trip, no road).

Had a friend who would read book aloud and tape it (,or burn a cd). Then he could listen while driving without risk of accidents . He learned a lot this way. I always thought it was a great idea .

Gosh. Now I need a driving tour of Idaho. Thanks for enlightening us.

If you have Baker and Ranney's book "Ancient Landscapes of Western North America" check out page 78 for a paleogeographic map ca. 325 Ma. According to map at 340 Ma (pg 77) Idaho appears to have not yet accreted, but that doesn't mean that the limestones weren't forming since this area was all ocean? Maybe the terrane accretion is what created the folds? Thanks Nick for taking us here to this site.

Thanks Nick!

Mississippian limestones?…wow Idaho is Disney land for geologists so nice to go along for the ride! Go Nick!

I've made that drive up to Mackay many many times. My step Mom lives there, long time elementary teacher there known by all 500 people in town. Might go up there in a couple of weeks from California. If you're looking for a place to stay there, your options are limited. The Bear Bottom Inn is the best, you can go the White Knob if your into haunted places. Swear to God! Doors opening on their own, lights turning on in the middle of the night. Worst night's sleep ever!

@johntrojan9653

2 жыл бұрын

😱

Nice episode.

Good morning Nick.

Great video! Thanks for pointing out the horn coral, I've seen it in the past in other places and wondered what it was.

Thanks Nick.Really enjoy this " From The Field " Road Trip.

Thanks nice outing geology info rocks to look at and nice scenery

Thank you for sharing these. Here in Missouri it is hard to find exposed areas of rock and geology because of the foliage :D

Mississippian strata is my back yard! The Compton/Northview/pierson/reeds formations are all exposed in my area. Fossil rich and full of color, beautiful stuff!

That thumbnail - ace!

Noise pollution like that is not tolerated in the Midwest. Although we do not have huge open areas of ground to go hill climbing or rock climbing on. Another great place 🙌 👌

There are some outcrops of Fossiliferous Limestone down here in South Wales. It has almost more fossils than rock, mainly horn corals.

@KozmykJ

2 жыл бұрын

I'm getting the impression that Someone doesn't was the Fossiliferous locations, around here, widely known. Understandable I suppose. Preservation and all that, thought there was plenty of it where I went. There used to be reference to them which was quite easy to find, I was going to share. Not today there wasn't. No matter to me as I've already been to one and know roughly where the second one is. I've heard of a third further West but not exactly where. I'll keep an eye out for mention of them.

It's NICK on the ROCKS!!

Turn down your sound if you are using earbuds during tool use. Great videos.

That limestone is nothing like limestone around Chicago. Of course, it is still in place, horizontal. The quarries around here are very deep and thick with uniform smooth grained white rock. There are fossils here and there.

Thanks, Nick.

I love the geology of that valley. There is cool s**t EVERYWHERE!!! I'll be in Mackay tomorrow for elk camp and was planning on getting some cool lava rocks up pass cr. for ya. (if I can find them again).

The town of Makay isn't too far from Borah Peak....the highest in Idaho.

Great Video NIck. The Milk Crate Police are on their way to your location now.

This vid helps with the pondering. More visual aids. Thank You.

Never seen limestone look black like that. Here in Wisconsin it varies from tan to light Grey. Sometimes purple stains on it. But never black.

Between 22:31 and 22:34, if you freeze the frame just before Nick zooms out, in the upper right hand corner of the screen is a perfectly intact fossilized clam, which makes me suspect that those dark, teardrop shaped inclusions of "chert" near the original horn coral specimen, may be cross-sections of larger clams... especially since many of them seem to be "laying" in the same direction.

@swatchgirl2

2 жыл бұрын

I saw it too!

@marinangeli3250

2 жыл бұрын

​@@swatchgirl2 Cool! :) Next time I'm over in Mackay I'm going to stop at that spot and try to find some loose fossil specimens of clams and cone corals. I'm pretty sure that outcropping is on BLM land (Bureau of Land Management, public land).

I have the first edition of that book. I can see I'm going to have to get the 2nd edition.

You really freaked me out when you said my name in the video, because I couldn't recall ever meeting you when I lived in Arco. Then you said he was in a class of yours, and I thought that's kinda cool that you had someone with the same name in a class!

You remind me of a farmer I saw once, out standing in the field. Really Nick, I wish I had known this geology three years ago when I spent the night in the RV park in Mackay. This is a fascinating piece of the story geology has to tell. Is it possible the Challis Magma folded the limestone up 45Ma? Give or take a couple of years or so. Great video, great info. Thanks, from the Kennewick Man in Moody, Texas.

@StereoSpace

2 жыл бұрын

Generally, you need tectonic events to fold rocks. Between about 80 to 40 MYA, western North America experienced the Laramide Orogeny, which built the Rocky Mountains and lifted the Colorado Plateau. Because the crust gets broken and pushed around, it opens deep channels to the mantle, which produces volcanic events like the Challis Volcanics. Magma that cooled slow and deep became the local granite stocks around which they're mining. So the folded rocks and magmas and the Rockies are (probably) all related to the same tectonic events, though you'd need to date and analyze each one to be sure.

You be careful of them rattlers in the bushes

You should have taken a sample of the black stuff (chert rock) to test it later.

I bet it smelled wonderful up there with all that dried Sage brush 🤙

It’s beautiful. But that sure looks like great rattlesnake habitat..

Are you sure it isn't dolomite?

the siliceous LS back in eastern CO might be due to clay mixed in the water

Not limestone, not all of it anyway, as some is sedimentary and some intrusive, and you can see the intrusive happened long before the folding, it could be that it was deeper, hence the chert, but then it folded making it shallower for horn corals, but that would make it way more then 350, closer to say 450, which level is 350 it's like rings of a tree in layers even though the layers are standing up now, you just have to find the top or the bottom and picture what happen and you have neither so it makes it hard

Limestone is harder than that I'm used to in Kentucky

What are all those little pits??

It has a conchoidal cleavage, good for chert. Maybe it can be explained this way: the ocean floor at chert depth quickly became a passive margin. The fast rate is why you see limestone and chert. A tectonic story?

I appreciate the geography of your broadcasts. I don't get the rocks.

Do burrowing creatures in shallow marine sediments/ limestones generate these chert nodules during compaction and diagenesis?

@Gregory47342

2 жыл бұрын

redeposition of amorphous silica arising from the dissolution of siliceous spicules of sponges, or debris from radiolaria and the postdepositional replacement of either the enclosing limestone or chalk by this silica.

@wiregold8930

2 жыл бұрын

The void is formed by a gas bubble in the muck. Chert nodules are a bane of mining engineers due to being much harder than limestone. They prematurely wear out crushing equipment, it sounds like a .22 cal rifle shot every minute or so, you can even see sparks fly.

Really nice chert lenses and layers in the Mississippian Pahasapa Limestone of the Black Hills uplift. Inside Wind Cave there are extensive chert layers decorated with manganese dendrites and frequent brachiopod fossils right on the limestone/chert bedding planes, if you know where to look. I am still not clear on chert formation. It seems like there must be some environmental shift that suspends carbonate deposition and triggers silica deposition. Extensive rhyolite/andesite ash in an acid marine environment to boost silica solubility and depress organic deposition of carbonates by nuking the reefs? Has anyone described CURRENT silica deposition in a tropical marine setting? Deep water basins that are low oxygen are typically blacker with more organic carbon. The Bird Spring and Monte Cristo limestones of the Las Vegas area are very dark, and reek of sulfur on fresh fractures.

To the uneducated eye, l would have said it was sandstone. Thank you for clarification.

This is on private land. The road is public.

If the dark material was chert wouldn't it's fracture be more conchoidal and less angular?

@jamesdriscoll_tmp1515

2 жыл бұрын

I was thinking the same. But your chert may be " glassier"? If that's a word?

I like it man but I'm from the ordovician I'm on I'm on the Cincinnati. I see the banding but they don't look the same as ours and I just don't recognize it as much as the horns I see especially the crosscut

There are some black corals maybe that's what made those black rocks

Was that yellow spray paint near the horn coral? Or just yellow colored rock? It looked like graffiti!

@fortuna240

2 жыл бұрын

I was wondering about that, it seemed the fossil areas had an old outline in yellow.

Nice. Slip a small 1/2" cold chisel in your pocket. Couple taps with your hammer and that Horn coral is yours forever. No one the wiser. Thanks for sharing.

Is there the same book for washington state? And maybe Oregon?

@jeffbybee5207

2 жыл бұрын

Should be

@seanchinn2626

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, there are similar roadside geology books for Oregon and Washington. They're great!

Mississippian? Permian?

“Comment”. Comments added to beat the algorithm

As a former Australian I full-body cringe when I see someone stepping into that kind of dry bushy scrub at the bottom of a cliff without boots. I can practically hear the snakes curling up in annoyance around the base of the shrubs 😬

@Josh1888USU

2 жыл бұрын

I am from near the area he was at and I feel the same way when I see him go walking off into the brush. There are rattle snakes in that area that would usually prefer to stay away from anyone, but if you go stomping around their house you give them little recourse. Let alone the ticks that he might be picking up. I some times feel concern for Professor Zentner, just as you, and I consider commenting. I will tell you what brings me comfort; he mentions several times that he was at ISU in the mid to late 80's. That fact alone tells me he has much more experience than I walking around in the brush. In the mid to late 80's I lived about a 40 minute drive south from Idaho State University, and at that time I was a child under the age of 10.

@donnacsuti4980

2 жыл бұрын

There are rattle snakes there but they tend to hide underground in the day and are mostly active in the hours around dawn and dusk because that is when the mice that are their dinners are active.

PhD Nick thanks please keep working into 80’s if you feel good. Prepare a replacement 24 yr old gorgeous blond. 😁