California's Gibraltar: Morro Rock

[@joraiders8o594]

My people the Salinan tribe hike up the Morro Rock every Summer and Winter Solstice. You should come by this winter.

[@stevep5736]

Outstanding video! I love that area.

[@BetterGeology]

Thanks!

[@WLK1965]

Every time I see a unique geological structure, I always research it. Great job explaining the origin of Morro Rock. I will have to see what other videos you have posted. Keep up the good work!

[@BetterGeology]

Thank you!

[@BetterGeology]

I have an entire playlist of geologic oddities on my channel page!

[@TheAncientAmbassador]

Very informative video, thank you!

[@BetterGeology]

@@TheAncientAmbassador Glad you liked it!

[@jankijan8004]

Very nice documentary Andrew. Thank you for introducing us to the Morro Rock, I'm visiting there tomorrow with family. Appreciate the time you took to explain the origins and significance of the Morro Rock. Wishing you the best my friend!

[@BetterGeology]

Thank you very much!

[@larry8lo]

Geologically Speaking sent me here. Glad to find a California geology channel! Cheers!

[@BetterGeology]

I’m based out of Oregon so most of my videos are up here, but every time I make it south I make a few videos.

[@larry8lo]

@@BetterGeology Even better yet! Need more Oregon geology too.

[@WindDancer435]

This is the first I have heard of this and came here to get more info because it is being turned into a sanctuary. Thank you for this.

[@BetterGeology]

You’re welcome!

[@geologicallyspeaking]

Well done! Great presentation! Love the visuals.

[@BetterGeology]

Thanks! Took a lot of time to make this video work.

[@jstwntmusic]

Thank you !!

[@BetterGeology]

Glad you liked it!

[@billmcmillan7735]

Very enlightening thank you!

[@BetterGeology]

Glad it was interesting!

[@1234j]

Great information, great graphics and great presentation! Thank you from England.

[@BetterGeology]

Thank you!

[@Duhfectz]

Thanks Andrew! Appreciate the informative videos.

[@BetterGeology]

Glad you like them!

[@danielsmith9814]

Thank you for the informative post!

[@BetterGeology]

You bet!

[@phsieh4250]

Bravo. Well done. Thanks.

[@BetterGeology]

Thanks!

[@deborahriley1166]

Very cool! Thanks, I’ve wondered over the years ab that rock.🥰 Fascinating planet!!!🙏☯️🙏

[@ericazubris]

As a creator who did everything BUT KZbin and is still working on building a following on here, AND as a California native, you did an awesome job and I can tell how much effort went into your animation and visual choices. This would have been so helpful in my Marine Ecology class in highschooL! You earned a follow from me!

[@BetterGeology]

Thank you! I love making these and hearing from other creators.

[@donnacreamer4123]

My uncle Bruce was the last person to climb Morro Rock before it was fenced off. He was actually the catalyst for the fence being erected. He had climbed up just passing the halfway point when he slipped and fell all the way down. It almost killed him and the authorities didn’t want anyone else making that same mistake. I loved living in Morro Bay as a child. It’s time to visit again soon.

[@BetterGeology]

Wow, that’s incredible. Glad he ended up OK.

[@AlexsMemeDump]

I can tell a ton of time, and heart went into this. Even the small detail like using background footage and ambient noise for the KZbin title cards after your outro. Some channels with 500x the subscribers don't bother to consider that. Cheers man

[@BetterGeology]

Thanks Alex!

[@RTD3]

Anybody ever seen the canyon carved by the Mt. St. Helens eruption?

[@BetterGeology]

Yes, it’s pretty dramatic. Amazing how quickly things can erode when they’re very soft and loose - it was as if the area was buried with sawdust.

[@memymomoo]

very cool!

[@BetterGeology]

Glad you think so!

[@DeathValleyDazed]

Andrew Dunning with tectonic hair that is stunning. 💇‍♂️Loving your concise and informative productions.

[@BetterGeology]

Thank you!

[@xuthuschannel5061]

well said.

[@BetterGeology]

Thank you!

[@jeremy9876543]

Could you do an episode about Shell Beach? My Geology 101 course took a field trip there and I remember being absolutely floored that they built a nuclear power plant in such a geologically unstable location.

[@jeremy9876543]

Also Franciscan formation

[@BetterGeology]

The Franciscan Complex is definitely a worthy topic - next time I'm in the Bay Area I want to hit the Marin Headlands and dive in to that. Diablo Canyon, like every other nuclear plant in the West, is a safe and modern building in a slightly less desirable spot. Nuclear power stations probably face the most rigorous siting and engineering requirements of any buildings ever built in this country, and this one is no different. There's a reason they put it where they did, and it was the best location based on the information they had at the time. We've learned more since then, and the power plant has been modified accordingly to remain as safe as possible in basically any conceivable situation. The way they design the containment domes requires that an earthquake rupture through the dome to release appreciable radiation. It's a very common talking point in the California anti-nuclear lobby, that because we sometimes have earthquakes our power plants are accidents waiting to happen, but that rhetoric is a slap in the face of the thousands of geologists and engineers who spend their lives figuring out how to design for any possible circumstance. If the handful of active faults found near the plant posed a realistic hazard, the plant would have been shuttered long ago.

[@jeremy9876543]

@@BetterGeology Diablo Canyon was designed and sited in the early 1960s when plate tectonics was just beginning to be accepted. Lord knows if the geologists doing that work even had any training on the subject, let alone the detailed studies needed to understand the movement of local microplates. Once there is a corporate push to do any project there is usually very little in terms of new facts which are likely to change their minds. Pacific Gas and Electric have demonstrated a complete inability to manage the maintenance of power lines. I do not trust them with responsible foresight required to perform all maintenance, let alone change operations in response to newer geologic findings. There is an incongruous pillow basalt microplate directly next to the front gate of the power plant and uneroded wave bench features several hundred feet up the hillside there. Fukashima was sited using a very similar level of engineering and geologic technology. Several Ukraine power plants have been threatened by the war I do not trust human beings with the foresight required for a fission plant. Predicting a once in 500 year geologic even, storm event, tsunami, civil unrest, or war is just beyond the ability of most humans. Add to that the financial politics of corporations where a CEO will definitely be fired for "wasting money on an unlikely event's and there is no reason to trust these people at all. Human beings are not stable.

[@raylivengood8040]

I looked to see if you’ve been to Leslie Gulch Oregon. Maybe you can take a look into that ? Pretty cool looking area.

[@BetterGeology]

Haven’t made it out there yet. It’s about 8 hours from where I live, so it’s tough to find the time to go out there and see what I want to see in a single trip.

[@raylivengood8040]

@@BetterGeology okay thanks ! I rewatched your Alvord Desert video with the intention to visit sometime soon. I appreciate the landscape/ geology details you provide. Quite fascinating.

[@TheodoreJudah]

Fun fact: One of the early pieces of concept art Ralph McQuarrie did for the original Star Wars featured and early version of R2 and C-3PO in the desert in front of a huge rock formation. That rock is Morro rock. Check it out.

[@BetterGeology]

No way? That’s awesome! I’ve been to many SW ‘77 locations in Death Valley, mostly incidentally, but had no idea there was a connection here.

[@hiker1658]

Love your presentations! What's the leading theory on the origin of the 9 sisters volcanoes? Are they examples of near-trench magmas? If that's the case, why would they be intermediate and not mafic? Is there an age progression?

[@BetterGeology]

These volcanoes postdate near-trench volcanism. Not a lot of petrological work has been done on them, so I don’t know the magmatic source. My best guess would be decompression melting during the major change in tectonic strains in the late Oligocene.

[@octavianpopa871]

Leading theory is: Window slab volcanism due to the subduction of the oceanic divergent boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Gorda Plate. There is very little age difference between the morros. They are all around 28 myo. By the way, the video contains an error on the age of the Franciscan formation. It is about 50 MY older than the morros. If you want a better explanation, check out this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaeulIqOntlspMk

[@joraiders8o594]

I learned alot from this video, but You forgot to mention that the Morro Rock "LESAMO" started with the Salinan Tribe. We are the only ones that now can ascend the rock.

[@BetterGeology]

I did not know that, thank you!

[@lohphat]

"Mixed" is a better translation of "mélange" than yet another French word "ménagerie" which refers to an assortment of living creatures.

[@BetterGeology]

Thanks for bringing that up! I noticed it when editing but couldn’t think of a way to fix it at that stage. Mixed is much better!

[@sparkyofsocal]

All these years I thought it was just a big rock that girls always wanted to see on a date.

[@gruweldaad]

Central coast realness

[@xmo552]

That's a French word meaning another French word basically.

[@BetterGeology]

Not my best ever comparison. I went 2 years before anyone mentioned it, haha

[@xmo552]

@@BetterGeology 👍😂

[@elpuerco6059]

Gibraltar of the Pacific? Honestly, you've gone too far!

[@BetterGeology]

Hah, not my words! Locals have been calling it that for decades. It’s definitely a stretch.

[@th232r6]

Morro Bay local, we always called it 7 sisters though I think there are 11 total.