At This Spot, North America Almost Split in Two | The Midcontinent Rift

[@MalissinA]

Your excitement is genuinely infectious.

[@AlexisDahl]

Aw, thank you! That's genuinely really kind.

[@harrietharlow9929]

I hope she never loses her thirst for knowledge.

[@bonniearmstrong6564]

This was not a big under taking or a failure. It was a plan of God. Thanks you for the information about rifles, would like to know more. I’m from Michigan and never heard about the rift in school or family members. I do know a little about the quake that took place near Union City in the 1940’s. I think I may have been about six. It was scary.

[@christinearmington]

I’m glad you found your rock. I tried and failed to find Yooperlites when I was there. 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[@Smarty1171]

Call it what you want. I was interested in the topic but had to bail half way through. I think it’s irritating.

[@toryjames5084]

Thank you for this. Old Canadian Indigenous guy here. Our elders told us about the copper mining we did pre- contact. Apparently the copper mined in what is now Ontario and Michigan was traded south as far as Brazil to the south and the Yukon in the north. What is now Windsor / Detroit was as important to north /south trade a melanin ago as it is now.

[@TRAMP-oline]

"a melanin ago" sometimes autocorrect is hilarious 💀

[@tuhmater2985]

That’s really cool! Do you know if this region was like the biggest copper source in the continent? The conditions seem a bit rare and something traded that far would have to be a pretty valuable resource so I was just wondering.

[@Strider_Bvlbaha]

@@tuhmater2985 Biggest and one of the easiest to mine, but not the only location with native copper on Turtle Island. There are some ancient mines throughout the southern Appalachians (I think most are in what is now the Carolinas). The other major thing besides the stunning amount of practically pure copper that would be literally sitting on the ground is the way trade routs went made distribution easy. Proximity to the Mississippi valley from the Great Lakes region meant copper from Michigan was a fairly easily accessed trade commodity from the Rockies to the Atlantic and south into modern Mexico. It should be pointed out that copper tools are only found in great number around the Great Lakes in areas with a dearth of flint/chert to make stone tools. While they never disappear from the archeological record, copper was largely replaced with imported stone for making tools. Copper has retained a lot of ceremonial importance and has been used for making decorative items for millennia, but was mostly rejected as a tool-making material in favor of stone! I have seen it sugguested that communities around the Great Lakes were beginning to experiment with iron ore right before the onset of colonization. If that is true (and I think it possible), it would be the first and probably only time humans rejected copper, skipped bronze, and began serious attempts at developing metallurgy by extracting iron before anything else.

[@alvincook8888]

👍👍

[@gregwarner3753]

I just found your videos. I am enthralled by your presentations. My wife, now passed away, and I drove several hundred thousand miles in North America in the fifty+ years we were together. Observing the geology was a major part of there travels' Congratulations on your marriage. May it last for many decades. Stay curious and stay well.

[@darrellmortensen9805]

I'm so sorry your wife has passed. My condolences

[@AhJodie]

@gregwarner3753 I am sorry about you losing your wife, it sounds like you both had a great time together! I also wanted to say that was a very cool blessing you gave to the creator of this channel, Alexis, it was so sweet and made me feel happy! Love to you! I hope you are well and enjoying life still!

[@gregwarner3753]

I am as well as can be expected of a 77 year old man. I have some weird auto-immune problem the doctors are working on. @@AhJodie I plan on driving to Virginia and points west this spring to see relatives and friends. I may go as far West as the Big River. In the Fall I plan on driving, with a bit of a boat ride, to Newfoundland, Canada. The Rock has some fascinating geology, good music and great people. Thanks for your post.

[@AlexisDahl]

UPDATE: Hey, there! Since uploading this video, I've had a few people point out that my "basalt" slab... may not actually be basalt. So, this is me stopping by to correct myself! While the northwest Upper Peninsula DOES contain all kinds of basalt, I likely misidentified my particular rock sample. Thanks so much to everyone who left me notes, especially Jim, who pointed out it looks more like shale!

[@lynettewebber9280]

I would suspect Nonesuch Shale given where it appears you stayed! Really enjoyed this enthusiastic look at my hometown geoheritage ❤️

[@AlexisDahl]

Thanks, Lynette! I'm glad you enjoyed it - and I appreciate your insight on the stone, too! 🙂

[@browngreen933]

The dark colored Nonesuch Shale is a story in itself -- beginning with its unusual name.

[@Grumpyoldman037]

OK, so now is time to do a video on the difference between basalt and shale! Looking forward to it. And a story about Nonsuch Shale. It sounds fun!

[@DavidSmith-fs4nt]

I just saw your video and the entire time I was watching it I kept thinking that the rock you had was shale. There's a fairly deep lake partly in Kentucky and partly in Tennessee that has a shale bottom and shale rock shoreline. Since it has a rock bottom the water is very clear.

[@robertarnold3358]

I enjoyed your video. I was born and live in MIchigan. When I was 8, mom was told that I was going to be blind Dad owned a truck and bought a camper for it. I’ve been to these mines and all over MIchigan. I didn’t loose all of my sight. I am legally blind still living near Flint. My parents wanted me to have a visual memory of MIchigan before I lost my sight. They taught me how to and not to be afraid of traveling.

[@rodnattrass7021]

You're enthusiasm is infectious. You are obviously born to be a presenter. Keep up the good work!

[@larryg9137]

Alesis, you are the very BEST story teller I've ever heard. All your reports about Michigan capture my imagination.

[@AlexisDahl]

You're too kind! Thank you!

[@nancyspates6146]

I was born and raised in Ontonagan County. Still have my family home at Topaz Meadows, which is 25 miles from Ontonagan. It’s an Airbnb now. My father worked in the copper mines for 33 years! Love my homeland. Hearing your excitement gave me goosebumps! I explore as much as possible every time I go back home! Thank you for sharing. There’s so much history in the UP! It’s endless. Yooper Pride!

[@misterwirez7731]

I'm 56 and still love learning history, whether it be rocks, the earth, pyramids or space. Nice work. Merry Christmas.

[@sicknsaneofficial8646]

Oh. Duuuuuude. I will say. If you happen to be within an hour from the coast of Lake Superior and hear about a thunderstorm rolling through I HIGHLY recommend finding a nice place to park on the coast and watching it!! Not while it's above your head or throwing huge waves at the coast or anything but while it's way out in the distance storming over the lake. I've never seen so many lighting strikes so fast in my life. Watching our videos of it was like watching a time-lapse!! I couldn't believe my eyes! Such an amazing yet terrifying thing to witness!

[@michiganengineer8621]

I grew up in Muskegon (still remember how bad the paper mill stunk) and to this day I LOVE watching a thunderstorm roll in across the water.

[@cub1009]

Great video! It's always interesting to hear about local history. My family owns a farm in the UP of Michigan. For almost 150 years my family has found float copper in the flieds after plowing. You can litterally walk the field and pick up pieces of copper. My family has a wood barrel in the barn which has been slowly filling with copper that has been found. I remember as a kid pulling rocks out of the discs for the tractor and occasionally finding a piece of copper wedge in there.

[@thomasfoss9963]

My Grandfather grew up in the U.P, eventually making assorted car parts for Ford near Detroit, and he had some copper chunks he had found over the years-----

[@stevegarcia3731]

Thanks! You know two things intrigue me. First, if the copper came from the Sudbury impact in Ontario east of Lake Huron at 1.8 billion years ago, how is it that the copper is so close to and on the surface? And second, how could very reactive copper be in topsoil after 1.8 billion years without having oxidized away to powder? Copper will oxidize within a handful of years exposed to weather, much less being in wet soil. I don't expect you to know the answer, but I needed to put it out there.

[@Brunoinski]

My grandfather was a miner up in that area. Was in 2 cave ins and survived them both. He had enough of that and moved to Hamtramck Mi.

[@figalmighty1]

Infectious excitement, smile, hopefulness. Your videos are like a calm eye in the storm that is 2020. Please keep on doing what your doing, the world can use more of this.

[@SunofYork]

Overly girly is distracting

[@burntthetoast]

@@SunofYork What? You're getting too old for this, grandpa. What did we say about talking to random people on the internet? We, as a family, asked you to cut it out. Now cut it out!

[@SunofYork]

@@burntthetoast So you are into elder abuse with a threating overtone... Your attempt at silencing people who disagree with you is a failure

[@justajo2]

About six years ago I read that research has determined that much of the ancient copper tools and other items found in the Mediterranean have element content linking them to Lake Superior copper. This means that trade between the two areas occurred long before European explorers discovered the North American continent. We just keep discovering new facts about our history and origins.

[@GoddessofAnubis]

Being a native Michigander, Grand Rapids born, I loved this so much. I knew all about the copper stuff, I went to several mine tours when I was a kid with my parents to see how big the mines were, how they picked, and getting to do so ourselves and if we found any copper, the place would turn them into jewelry for us. They were owned by an indigenous family that showed off the jewelry they'd made and artifacts from the area that had been found. I still have my copper earrings in my wood box...it and visiting Sleeping Bear Dunes is one of my favorite memories from being here

[@rowdysgirlalways]

I shared one of your videos with a dear friend and lifelong Michigander, I've lived here only 52 years, and she got so excited! So you have 2 new subscribers now. I grew up in the PNW, Eugene, Or, and my Dad was a metallurgical engineer and had worked in the Butte, MT, mines when they were underground. He had a good grounding in both geology and mineralogy, which he happily shared with us during our travels thru the PNW and the west. When we moved to the Midwest, we were amazed at this whole new geology that surrounded us. Mountains so ancient that they were now hills, or had eroded away completely, huge lakes that are basically freshwater seas, the Canadian Shield, the mid continental rift and Niagara Falls. The Sudbury crater is fascinating, but Charity Shoals in Lake Ontario might be the remnants of a meteor strike and the Canadians may have found a meteor crater in Lake Huron! This is all so exciting. I follow Washington State geology with Dr. Nick Zentner's at Central Washington University, his lectures rock! Literally. And I am thrilled to have found your channel. Your enthusiasm for the deep history of our planet is contagious and the Great Lakes geology is fascinating! You might not be covering the huge geological stories, but yours are the small stories, the human tales of our species on this planet. The little bits of history that get forgotten... I did enjoy the 3 part video in Washington State. My Dad was born and raised in Tacoma, his playground was the Puget Sound; and he had a lifelong fascination with the Scab lands in eastern Washington. I wish he was still here to share in your video adventures, he would have enjoyed them so much! Thank you.

[@AlexisDahl]

Thanks, Jane! That's so wonderful to hear. Thank you for sharing a bit about you and your story! 😊 And you're right: Great Lakes geology IS fascinating. I didn't know about any of this until a couple of years ago, and it's been a joy to learn how many interesting stories there are in this region.

[@TakenTook]

The rest of us will let you keep your Michigan card despite not realizing that Lake Superior is a major shipping route, because they stopped playing Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" on the radio in heavy rotation long before you were born. And by the time you would've been old enough to be paying close attention to song lyrics, it would mainly be heard on the oldies stations.

[@grizbear9519]

I live on the southern shore near Marquette. Lake Superior is literally our identity around here. Thanks for the info

[@AlexisDahl]

What a great place to live! And my pleasure. Thanks for stopping by!

[@timothyhoffman3470]

@@AlexisDahl I believe you can walk the shore like in a few spots that got your Lava Rock shore line spots! One is golden brown, go on a none windy day or it might be covered in waves~ The rest, Higher ground I also walked on was pure black... It was a cool freaky surface to walk on!! Great traction when walking on it You got to go to the park in Marquette. To see it! Feel it! You would need too get a little brave to follow the shore line it is a bit hilly & drop offish____ You can fall through into a hole or off a cliff in some spots along the shoreline!! So watch out for that!~ So you do have to go BillyGoat it a little~ I was thinking of going back there, to video & fish some more in some of them spots! With~> The Golden Brown Basalt Shoreline~ Light Colored, it looks.. To be really deep looking water right at the drop-off shorelines edge~ It is a funky place to be~ Like another world view/feeling~ Just keep track of the wind if it starts to hit you in the face out there!~? You may want to look to move up on higher ground~ It looks like a big ~Wash Zone~! Cool place to be! I have to do a bit of a drive but that is the way it is to go anywhere~

[@entangledmindcells9359]

One of my better driving stories was along there.. It was winter, at night with a bad snow storm going on. As I was driving I glanced off to look at the harbor as I was driving.. I commented about how huge the ice mounds were in the harbor. My passenger responded that those ice mounds were moving.

[@Drewteam88]

It's about perspective, it's not failure to break apart.. It's success of staying together

[@choedzin]

When I was a kid (we're talking 60 yrs. ago now) my family used to go camping in Porcupine Mts SP near Ontonagon, so thanks loads for helping me recall some very fond memories. I remember long discussions about how to pronounce the name of that town (because we so often had to drive over there to pick up things we forgot the last time we went shopping, we sometimes referred to it as "O not again") And I also immensely enjoy your videos, they're both informative and entertaining, thanks to your sprightly nature, which not even hiccups can dim.

[@AlexisDahl]

Thanks for sharing! Those sound like such great memories; I'm glad you got a chance to think about them again. (Ha, I had the same trouble with the pronunciation as we were planning our trip - Pete had to keep correcting me.) And thank you very much! That's really kind of you, and I'm excited to hear it.

[@harrietharlow9929]

When she was talking abou lava flows, it took me back to when I was young, like, about 60 years ago. My dad knew I loved geological stuff, so when we were on a trip and were crossing the Mojave Desert. He pulled over to side of the road, and let me collect sone rocks from a lava flow.

[@72buckeye]

Alexis, you are delightful...the best thing to come out of Michigan since I-75! (spoken by a buckeye, of course) I really hope you share your enthusiasm with school kids, or maybe as a park naturalist. Keep up the great work

[@Telthar]

My family from Italy mined cooper in the Upper Peninsula in the 1800s. They are planning on opening a new copper mine with projected staggering amounts of money in copper. So the stores of copper aren't even depleted or maybe even close to being depleted yet. Crazy.

[@richardbast7243]

Try looking at the Niagara Escarpment if you hadn't already. Starts around Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin through Lake Michigan, through Michigan, Canada and into New York state.

[@harrietharlow9929]

I love your enthusiasm. I am extremely interested in the geology of the Lake Superior area and the Midcontinent Rift so I was glad to find this video

[@AlexisDahl]

Thanks, Harriet! I'm so glad you enjoyed this! I had a great time learning about all of this.

[@harrietharlow9929]

@@AlexisDahl I love learning new things, especially geological thing.

[@kaarlimakela3413]

I'm interested in such a wide variety of the sciences, that I came to realize too late, how much an early pursuit of geology would have benefitted my wide range of whole understanding.

[@blairanderson9098]

These are fun videos!! I’m sharing them with others because I’m fascinated by the fun facts you pull out of our home here in the UP.

[@stevenburkhardt1963]

My grandfather was born in the Keweenaw to a miner. Not only cooper was mined in this area for thousands of years by Native Americans (there is a mine site on Isle Royale, I was a park ranger there) but iron ore

[@rridderbusch518]

Both of our great-grandfathers may have worked along side each other. Iron ore for mine. Then he bought rough farmland in northern WI. The farm literally killed him.

[@jimvandemoter6961]

My Dad was born in Laurium. My Grandfather was a barber who took care of the miners. My dad was born in 1912 and the family moved to Detroit when he was about 4-5 years old.

[@wolveryne42]

Copper, iron, silver, gold, uranium. We have all da ores. lol 😂

[@guccilibrarian4728]

@@wolveryne42 Don't forget nickel and platinum

[@wolveryne42]

@@guccilibrarian4728 I didn't that was da ores part of all da ores 😋

[@marknorthrup7646]

You are so cute! I am so happy for you and your husband on your anniversary! I was looking for a girl like you 50 years ago. Lucky for me that I found one! (we have been happily married now 48 years) Cute, smart and full of life...good for you. I was there at Onadaga about 4 years ago as I am still an avid rock picker and I go collecting on my own at 71 y.o. It's truly an amazing part of our country, and I have been everywhere. The history of the U.P. is some of the most interesting history of our country in my opinion.

[@RavenousMedicine]

I love how passionate you are about the geology here! It's easy to take for granted what we don't see beneath our feet.

[@robertmalone9039]

I live a few hours from the bridge and I like learning stuff about my reagion. Thanks

[@Nanno00]

This was really cool to watch. I live in the UP about 3 miles from Lake Superior.

[@tacey01]

Love the video! Well done!! I am about 400 miles from Lake Superior. ROAD TRIP!

[@jasonbouvette1077]

Da UP is great for geology, but if you want to see some interesting formations from the mid continent rift explore the North Shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota. Just beautiful and incredible formations. Basalt for days lol, and crystals and agate like crazy. Entire beaches of nothing but rounded pinkish basalt (I think, maybe something else lmfao). Plus, easier access to Michigan's Isle Royale, where there are many ancient Indigenous native copper mines.

[@JennLynn4-God]

I live in Grand Marais... Minnesota 💜

[@Squill145]

My ancestors came to and lived in the keeweenaw from finland to mine copper, its cool to see why that copper was there

[@evanquigley8964]

Anyone who visits the Keweenaw peninsula should check k out the Delaware copper mine! You can actually walk around in the first level if it and it's a super cool visit!

[@stevenleach9522]

Stumbled on your site - while surfing videos about the New Madrid Earthquake. Learned alot of new things watching your video. You're a lot more energetic & excited about sharing information - than the professors presenting their findings about the New Madrid Earthquakes. My 70 year old attention span with the professors wavered by the steady drone of their presentations. Your presentation activated my childhood curiousity. Don't stop making more videos! HAPPY, HAPPY - JOY, JOY!

[@AlexisDahl]

Aw, shucks, thank you! I appreciate the kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed the video, Steven!

[@JimmyFunkytown]

When you picked up your handful of rocks I spotted a Lake Superior agate! Hope you kept it!

[@bobyoung1698]

I've sent this to several friends, including some former students who were enrolled in my seismology class. Thanks!

[@MrSimone420]

Very interesting video. I live in thunder bay ontario and am a geotechical/environmental driller. We were drilling near the base of the norwester mountains in thunder bay and the geologist was explaining how they were formed by volcanic eruptions. you could see clear as day the change in rock in the cores from jet black bassalt to a beautiful slate. Glad I came across your video and learned more about the scale of what was happening around that time

[@JennLynn4-God]

I'm down in Grand Marais 💜

[@screamingXskittles]

Wow I’m obsessed with your videos! As someone who loves geology and loves Michigan, your channel is such a treat!

[@mikebrant192]

You are a tonic for these difficult times. AND I'm learning some geology, which is great, so thank you!

[@JohnJohnson-es2eu]

You should check out the "Driftless Area" if you really like the geological stuff. It's an area that was never covered by glaciers. Very beautiful region.

[@AlexisDahl]

Oh, fascinating! Thanks for the recommendation, John. I hadn't heard of that area, but it sounds like it's worth a trip!

[@allibani]

This is not in the upper peninsula or anything to do with lake Superior

[@jennak11]

@@AlexisDahl It is on the south western part of Wisconsin, it is pretty cool, and also has been known for it's copper deposits. its about a 4 hour drive from the UP.

[@valeriepark9444]

@@jennak11 Not to mention it has the best cheese and dairy farms in a state known for cheese 😋

[@LetsTalkAboutPrepping]

@@allibani oh nooooooo

[@joelmayo7523]

I grew up in the area, I LOVE that you have pronounced everything CORRECTLY.. thank you nd keep up the great work.

[@voxpopsteve]

You are great. Your passion for this stuff comes through and that is what us humans like. The basalt is "miles thick... I mean MILES!" If you aren't already you would make a great school teacher. Keep it up!

[@yellow72bronco]

Entertaining video. I live in Ontonagon County and have old mine shafts on my property. Lots of tailings or poor rock left behind. Easy to find copper in my back yard . Cheers!

[@AlexisDahl]

Thanks for stopping by! That's fascinating. Out of curiosity, did you realize there were old mine shafts on the property when you bought/acquired it?

[@yellow72bronco]

@@AlexisDahl yes, bought my childhood home from my parents. As kids most of the mine shafts were still open, and we would explore a bit. Now all but a few have caged entrances.

[@Omnifarious0]

I used to live on the north shore of Lake Superior. I spent my childhood running along the rocks on the shore near Grand Marais. :-)

[@AlexisDahl]

Whoa, amazing! Knowing nothing about Grand Marais except what you just said, that sounds like a lovely way to spend a childhood.

[@Omnifarious0]

@@AlexisDahl - Frankly, that was one of the few good parts of it. That and wandering around the forests on or near our property. It was otherwise a pretty miserable place. Small town. A lot of unhappy memories. But the shore, the woods, the creeks and rivers. That was all pretty nice. Those and books were my escape. That part of Lake Superior (back then, and possibly even still) was completely drinkable without boiling the water. My grandmother lived in a small cabin on the shore and got all her drinking water right out of the lake. The lake never really gets above 15-20C anywhere, even in the middle of summer. It's a cold lake. The shoreline is pretty unique geology in general. As a kid, I didn't know enough to know how it came to be. And I'm not a geologist now, and so know little more. But I do know I haven't ever really seen anyplace like it. Your video was really interesting to me because it told me things I never knew about the area I grew up in. Thank you.

[@AlexisDahl]

@@Omnifarious0 Oh, man, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm glad you at least had a few ways to escape, though. In the grand scheme of things, that seems like it was so important. And what you said about not seeing any place like it - just from the little time I spent in the UP, I got that feeling, too. It's a beautiful, fascinating place. Either way... Thanks so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed it. I learned so much while making it.

[@jkunz27]

Your smile and enthusiasm are so intoxicating!

[@janmariebrunette-hunyady1386]

Did you visit the Ontonagon Boulder? Next time also visit Kitch-iti-Kipi. It looks to be about 10 ft deep because the water is crystal clear, but it is very very deep and the fish you see are huge. Also, grab a pastie while in the UP. The recipe was brought to Michigan by the Cornish miner's wives who made the pasties with a thick rolled edge so that the miners could hold on to the pasties with their dirty hands and then throw that piece away. The Michigan recipe has rutabagas' which is slightly different than most recipes.

[@alvincook8888]

Ive recently started studying Geology as a hobby. Im Native Indigenous of a tribe. Thank you for podcast! Im a new subscriber!

[@thirdpig45]

Love your videos! I live 3.5 miles south of Lake Supirior and it is AMAZING!

[@differentfins]

Haha cool video. I was born on the north side of Superior. Such a cool lake. I took my kayak out on it last summer. I found an entire beach of basalt pebbles in a small cove, so awesome. There is an abandoned silver mine on the Canadian side that is now full of water. It was the worlds largest silver mine at one time. I didnt know about the copper down south, that is neat!

[@Pyrolonn]

When I first heard about the rift it blew my mind too. What's really amazing is the north shore of Superior really has a lot of amazing scenery related to the 1.1 billion year failed rift. We did the north shore circle tour in 2008. Pretty much every Ontario provincial park on the Superior circle tour has something cool related to the geology.

[@zachs3228]

Ontonagon has been my favorite town name to say for years.

[@michaelmullen2991]

I love your energy in these videos, stay curious. Me and my wife have driven all over the US and Canada and I always find it interesting to see how things formed into what they are today. The UP is a great place to explore.

[@Pim_The_Crow]

I was just in the U.P.! It's awesome to learn more about the places I was visiting. Especially the copper mines. I toured the Delaware copper mine only a few days ago!

[@herbertkeithmiller]

Or was It that the northern and Southern halves loved each other so much they decided not to break up. And so this is a successful love story. Just look at South America and Africa they haven't gotten over it yet. I love your enthusiasm and your videos are very informative. I'm a science nerd and you get your facts straight and present detailed information.

[@MichiganTrailRider]

I’m a Michigander !!! So happy people come to visit here and not run the the tropics !

[@vernonrweaver]

I don’t know how I got here, but I’m glad I did. Watching people get excited over learning new things never gets old.

[@invictusfarmer7188]

go to whitefish point and go all the way to the actual point on the beach. that spot is just awe inspiring.

[@EdA-qh7qr]

She could put the energizer bunny to shame with all her energy

[@vickilindberg6336]

Really wish we had known this stuff 15 yes ago when we were traveling to MI for college. Good now too. Love it. Thanks.

[@SonicMonumentStudios52]

Recently came across your channel. Absolutely love your videos. I love all the history and information!! Great job. I look forward to watching all your videos!!

[@cheryl5787]

Did you know that as you drive around lake Superior you can actually notice the curvature of the earth. Simply because one side is lower than the other side I think. It is actually a really cool drive. Also the north side is sooo much colder.

[@TheNorthwoodsRVLife]

I ran across your channel and always love supporting other channels creating michigan content as well. love your channel.

[@tykemorris]

"Aren't we all midcontinental rifts?" That is deep.

[@fredrichenning1367]

My uncle found a copper spear head on the farm in Wisconsin. He sold it to the local museum for $25 dollars -- that was around 1920 -- give or take a couple of decades.

[@mommachupacabra]

I have a few Michigan copper nuggets I use to make pendants. Really gorgeous stuff.

[@johns.7297]

Yes, visit the place. It's everything she talked about. Winter? ski or snowmobile; Summer: walk along the park's hiking trails; Pure Michigan. Get a lesson in geology along with your vacation.

[@tommyfrerking]

Three years later and the answer to your question is YES! We do love travel/science videos about local stuff! ❤

[@2the4best]

Basalt would be much harder to scratch than Shale since Iron is a component of the former and Aluminum in the second. As to a nice getaway from the UP, which sounds like a wonderful place to live, try going down the Chippewa River to the Mississippi River and what is probably lower half of that "Great Failure" . Just imagine all the different sights and sounds you could explore along the way. Keep up the Great Stories and never loose your enthusiasm.

[@HalSchirmer]

Here's an amazing thing to think about- the PATTERN of the magma can tell you were mountains were millions or biliions of years ago. The 'Newark Basin' along the US east-coast, is a similar rift valley, but mostly had the basalt emplaced as vertical 'dikes' and horizontal 'sills' where the sheet of magma flowed between existing rocks (like squirting maple syrup into the middle of a stack of pancakes). In In some areas, e.g. Quakertown PA, there is an odd 'Swiss cheese' pattern of holes in the sills- Well, turns out, those 'holes' are the areas where the weight of a long-eroded-away mountain prevented the magma from lifting the rock layers and intruding under the mountain.

[@carolebmw]

I'm a born Michigander who was transplanted to Virginia after getting married. I love your take on Michigan history. Since retirement, I've been able to polish up some of the Petosky stones. I picked up when visiting Lake Michigan. They are beautiful and interesting! So I will continue to watch your Michigan videos & recommend them to my friends and family. ps I need to spend some time at Lake Superior, too. 😊

[@AlexisDahl]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your note and the kind words. That's awesome that you've been able to polish some Petoskey stones! Out of curiosity, how did you polish them? (I have a handful of stones I'd love to polish someday and have been trying to settle on a method for doing it.)

[@carolebmw]

@@AlexisDahl I started a long reply, but it got deleted. Basically, you neeseveral grits of sandpaper from 220 to 600 to 2-3000. Wet sanding is best, esp since you inhale less dust. Go to the net. You'll find good, cheap books (Mueller & Wilde, U of M press did A Complete Guide which shows other related stones, too). Also KZbin videos which give excellent instructions. It's quite easy, doesn't take too long, and gives great results. Good luck! You may email me at [e-mail] if you wish

[@FreezyAbitKT7A]

There has been a climate shift that wolverines can no longer mate and winter in Michigan.

[@danielthompson8306]

Michigan My Michigan...You Are Special.

[@michaelwalsh1278]

We are still coming out of the last ice age. The last impact of the glaciers on the Great Lakes was 4,500 years ago. The land of Michigan is still rebounding from the weight of all the ice of the glaciers. Lake Michigan used to drain south using what is now the Wabash River in Indiana. Lake Huron drained to the north east eventually flowing through Lake Nipissing down past Ottawa eventually being discharged into the St. Lawrence River at Montreal.

[@justmenotyou3151]

Correction. We are still in an ice age. We are in the interglacial period of that ice age.

[@FreezyAbitKT7A]

When the caldera in Yellowstone blows, we wont have anything else to worry about.

[@FreezyAbitKT7A]

@@justmenotyou3151 You are correct but it is to our advantage to keep the polar ice caps and glaciers frozen as long as possible. The desalinization of our oceans will cause a huge change in the food available and weather will change as the magnetic salty water currents will slow and warmer water will not flow from the equator to the north. It's not politics... it's chemistry.

[@swirvinbirds1971]

@@FreezyAbitKT7A depends... Most of the eruptions from Yellowstone are not super eruptions.

[@emsnewssupkis6453]

My jaw hit the floor seeing your husband and you wearing those masks when alone in a car! That was insane. Did you both wear these at home, alone, too??? Good grief. I live in NY, the epicenter of that disease and no one at home or in cars nor anyone I knew, wore masks at all.

[@Alex-id9pt]

I’m a Michigander, S.W. lower Michigan and find your videos fun and informative

[@banaabekwegirl5731]

6:37 "from the 1840..." really like your channel, but as an Indigenous person, it took me aback to hear that, but thanks for including our thousands of years of copper use. That's pretty significant, and reveals that people have always gathered around the awesome mysteries of the geological world.

[@sicknsaneofficial8646]

My wife and I do this same thing and geek out about the history of places together. We went all over the Porcupine Mts last year and all the way to Copper Harbor. We're on our Way to Torch Lake right now. I wish we had thought to do videos like this sharing all we learned! Love it!

[@AlexisDahl]

Oh, that's amazing! I hope y'all have a great Torch Lake trip. Thanks for stopping by the comments section!

[@gannicusfinch7068]

I saw where the "X" on the map was, and I fist-pumped. I was born in Ontonagon, but moved away as a kid. Thanks for the concise geology lesson and the walk down memory lane. Definitely a beautiful area.

[@thenickfoxx]

Your husband is such a lucky guy. Your enthusiasm and desire for knowledge is incredible. Loved this video in its entirety!

[@cartwrightworm1317]

I love her enthusiasm.

[@bsheldon2000]

I come from a small town right in the center of North America, Stonewall, Manitoba, Canada. A lot of geological research occurred both in this town and the surrounding area. About 450 million years ago, the limestone quarries of Stonewall were the reefs on the coast line of what we now call the Canadian Shield in what we call the Ordovician Sea. If you look at the map of the world at this time, it is barely recognizable. A lot of the deep geological layers in western Canada are named after the points where those layers are exposed at the surface near where I came from. Hard to imagine this inland area was once an ocean coastline. The line where North America almost split is just south of the very large and very old Canadia Shield, which has some rocks dated to over 4 billion years old, not the oldest, but close.

[@neil5280]

Thanks for giving us a way to continue learning from you post sci-show.

[@AlexisDahl]

You're so kind. Thank you! 🙂 The truth is, I just love doing this! ☺️

[@donaldpepera2928]

You know how the little arrow says you are here? For the first time ever, I'm there. I'm just down the road from Ontonagon. I paint basalt lake rocks.

[@tender-warrior]

These kinda videos are definitely interesting to me! I love this kind of content, and your enthusiasm and delight brings me a great deal of joy which is sorely needed at the present historical moment. I'm gonna go send this to all of my friends who like science!

[@AlexisDahl]

That's so kind of you! Thanks, Lyudmila, really. So glad you enjoyed this. :)

[@karltupas8263]

This video is GOLD!! Thank you so much for putting a lot of research in your content.

[@AlexisDahl]

Thanks, Karl! I appreciate that!

[@richardmourdock2719]

This retired geologist enjoys your posts. Here is something for you to ponder. During the last few years geologists have come to realize that old rift zones are the site of major ore deposits. And not just "iron ore" but valuable metals, too. Hope you keep posting.

[@sirridesalot6652]

When he was quite young I showed my nephew some small mineral and rock samples I had collected over the years. I also bought him some mineral and rock sample collections. The samples were small and not of the best quality but were useful in learning about different minerals and rocks. He's now a volcanologist/geologist whi says his interest was spareked by those small samples I gave him. Watching this video, I wonder how many youngsters watching it will become geologists or volcanologists because of this video? Well done and well presented.

[@AlexisDahl]

Aw, that's such a sweet story. Thank you for sharing! I love how "small" experiences like that can make such a big difference in someone's life. And oh, wow, I hadn't even thought of that! But I'd be honored if that ever happened someday. Thanks for stopping by, and for the kind words!

[@Phuqem]

I've only made a handful of trucks to the upper peninsula I really loved visiting pictured rocks but I definitely need to make it up to copper harbor! Thanks for all of the great videos of such a beautiful state

[@richardconnor2871]

Haha, in another video, you mentioned how bad you were at finding agates... At 2:30 when you're pulling a random handful of rocks up, the bottom right one sure looks like an agate to me :P Haha, didn't know Lake Superior was a major shipping channel? You should visit Duluth, MN some time, see the ore docks, and the freighters coming and going. 2/3rds of domestically produced iron comes from Minnesota, and is shipped out over Lake Superior. Heck, come visit the iron mines! Hull Rust in Hibbing, MN is the 3rd largest man-made hole in the ground. You can also visit the Tower Sudan mine, one of the few remaining underground mines, ride the original equipment down. They ran physics experiments down there for a few decades, trying to find evidence of neutrinos, that ended a couple years ago, though.

[@Jeni-ow1kl]

I have heard ‘rumors’ that Minoans came from the Area of Minos/Italy to mine this valuable copper?!?? A video about any insight that you have on this subject would be very cool!?!!! MANY THANKS! You are GREAT!✨⭐️

[@keeganeschenbauch6078]

I wouldn’t consider Lake Superior a fail on any level. sheeesh😢

[@lorenhiggins8763]

Lake Superior is also the most dangerous of our lakes. The currents are stronger and its colder. Alot of ships sunk in Lake Superior. AND due to the low temperature of the water, it preserves the dead bodies of the men that lost their lives.

[@WeatherEarth25]

Awesome video! Really liked your enthusiasm and presentation.

[@ladeedaa]

So glad I ran across your channel!

[@kvonzwild8979]

Brilliant. Should have an afternoon tv show.

[@bjorkstrand7773]

no notes. u did that right from your head. good job

[@sparklytreesarecool]

Thank you for great intro to the subject

[@Abonanno24601]

I live in the Detroit Metro area and my wife and I go to the UP every couple of years. It's a different country in the UP. Hiked the North Country Trail near Munising, Picture Rocks. Been to Porcupine Mountains, Tahquamenon Falls and Escanaba. Those mining tours are something else. Great video.

[@Eibarwoman]

It's also seen in a buried under sand form with Montcalm County being lifted 300-400 feet above Gratiot or Newaygo Counties on the other side with buried sandstone filled aquifers from the Jordan Formation. As a result, water occasionally just gushes out from places in the Rift Valley which extends in an upside-down u shape from Kansas to SE Michigan

[@kevind3185]

I know of a spot in that area where there's a small rock out cropping with a vein of native copper. It's green in color like a corroded penny. I scratched it with my multi tool and it looked like a freshly minted penny inside. If you're looking for something else interesting off the beaten path in Michigan check out Mystery Valley in Posen Mi.

[@dagordon1]

Posen Potato Festival🎉!