Flood Basalts of the Pacific Northwest

[@bearowen5480]

I was born and raised in Colfax, Washington, the heart of the Palouse Country where the North and South Palouse rivers converge. Eons of river erosion down through the layer of loess and underlying bedrock have exposed the basaltic flood lava collumnades that Professor Zentner refers to in this fascinating lecture. Curiously, I don't remember any of my science, and later in my Geology 101 class at UW, teachers ever mentioning the very interesting geological history of Washington's flood lava flows that were so prominently apparent in my home town youth. My dad, Ralph Owen, was a well known citizen and local businessman in our humble little town of 3,000 souls. During WWII a great anxiety was building in the Palouse Country that grain production might be vulnerable to German or Japanese saboteur-arsonists who would attempt to burn the famous wheat producing fields in the vicinity when the strategically important grain crops were ripe and extremely vulnerable to fire. This worry was compounded by the incendiary balloon devices launched by the Japanese which were discovered along the coasts of Washington and Oregon. One day in the summer of 1942 or 1943 Dad received an alarming phone call from the Colfax chief of police. The local department had been aroused by citizen tipsters who reported that a suspiciously acting man toting a rucksack had been observed along the edge of a ripe wheatfield near the edge of town. The cops responded and arrested the man on suspicion of attempted arson, and were holding him in the city jail. Ominously, the stranger had a German surname! During interrogation, the man had identified himself as a geology professor from the University of Michigan and that his reason for being at the edge of the wheatfield was to study the special lava formations on the periphery of the field where he had been spotted and arrested. He claimed that a resident of Colfax, my dad, could vouch for his credentials. Upon receiving the call, Dad hustled down to the police station and discovered that the man was indeed his geology professor from Ann Arbor! Apparently after my dad had left UM and relocated to Washington he and the professor had kept up an occasional mail correspondence. After his rock examinations, the professor had planned to call on my dad for a surprise reunion and renewal of a fond professional friendship, but not in the status of an arrested saboteur at the Colfax Police Department! I guess that little story about the scientific importance of the Washington flood lava confirms how widely known they were and are to geologists, while the good citizens of Colfax little know or appreciate the basalt columns they see everyday on their way to work!

[@GottaWannaDance]

Wow. Something happened. I fell asleep. Haven't slept so well in a long time.

[@markp.9707]

Great presentation of the basalt flows!! Loved it.

[@MGeofire]

A good refresher and background for the recent GEOL 101 #24 and #25 classes on the Columbia River Basalts. Forty million years from now a geologist will find Nick's hammer and wonder at the primitives' tool making ability.

[@ObserverOfPakleds]

This video makes an hour go by really fast! You rock, Nick!

[@melodyscamman244]

Thank you.... I have now watched over 40 of your lectures and shorter presentations. Amazing information... I just don't undetstand why the number of "likes" does not match the actual number of views... 👍👍

[@Vickie-Bligh]

Thanks Nick. I had to subscribe to CWU to get your earlier vids. Nice to see them on your channel. Looking forward to next quarter. I really hope you know how much us 'townies' appreciate your teaching.

[@gordonormiston3233]

Thanks Prof Nick. I was needing my fix of education when this was flagged up by You-Tube. Salvation is at hand !

[@CdA_Native]

Hi Nick. My family had property on the north side of Hayden Lake for many years, and I always marveled at the wall of rock behind our cabin. It was like a natural retaining wall! It consisted of 3' x 3' sized boulders, all shaped like giant squishy marshmallows sitting on top of each other. Have you ever mentioned them in your videos? If so, can you send me the link? Thanks.

[@evelynmoyer9069]

Also lived next to Highway 12 west of Helena, MT for a number of years. small world !

[@cheskybaba4864]

Love it! I was a Geo student. Thanks for the refreshers.. Excellent lecturing Nick.

[@valeriehenschel1590]

Glad to see this old footage up today since there was no 101 class, just the final. Soooo, is the hammer still down in the basalt columns? Or did it get retrieved with a big magnet or other method of recovery?

[@germanchocolatecake7131]

You could probably fish it out with a Vinmans sticky bun tied to a string.

[@valeriehenschel1590]

@@germanchocolatecake7131 But wouldn’t Vinman’s pastry get consumed long before arrival at the recovery site? 🤣🤣🤣

[@joeo6378]

Wonder if glacial flooding could explain the non-column flow cooling between the column layers? something causing it to cool much faster and not given the time needed to form nice stacks? Thinking out loud.

[@JenniferLupine]

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’ve got my map ready to go check out the Feeder Dikes and Splatter! Great lecture! Thanks 👍👍👍

[@glenwarrengeology]

Why can I just not love all the rocks, young or old.

[@Puukiuuki]

Simply exemplary delivery! Just as the local geology is amazing! (Compared to living on old sea bottom. Clay, clay, oh, some more clay!)

[@daveanderson718]

As usual, Excellent Lecture!!

[@hertzer2000]

Hope the students took the time to watch all these.

[@cahenglish]

101 is over, so I was glad for this reprise. It also reminded me that if one has watched your many online hours of information/education (and I have!) that you do these lectures at the 101+ level. OK, so some of it goes by me but I've been pretty well educated by you. Many, many thanks for your passion for geology and commitment to "telling the story" to everyone.

[@truthseekercanada]

Is it possible that the Yellowstone hotspot created these cracks between the origonal NA plate and Terranes added to the continent?

[@dasmaurerle4347]

Could somebody provide a source/scientist that focuses on the Siberian traps, please? I watched Tasmin Mathers' lecture and I'd really like to know more about the subject. Thank you in advance. Nick, great video. Watched it the first time a couple of years ago, though😜👍

[@dancinglightartworks1513]

Elephant Mountain Basalts.... I thought you said they were near Othello, WA. We're not able to find it on a map. Will you help?

[@xojewel1]

Today’s episode brought to you by student Mason.

[@stevenlester2606]

Mason is so cool!

[@Vickie-Bligh]

You gotta love it!

[@adamlewellen5081]

Same lecture rerelease?

[@hestheMaster]

German Chocolate Cake spotted in Eugene ,OR at west side of the Skinner Butte Park.

[@marktroiani5401]

Nick what do you think of the geology of Mars. Are the whitish rocks basalt?

[@beachbum200009]

Sorry Patrick.

[@johnwallton5700]

I need a sticky bun from Vinman's Bakery

[@beachbum200009]

Someday when I drive west I will have to stop at Vinman"s!!! I hope it will be next year. So much to do in Washington!!!

[@lizj5740]

A couple of class sessions back, when a delivery was made to Nick from Vinman's Bakery, several people calculated the mileage for driving from their home to Vinman's. Here's mine: 13,266 km, or 8,243.1 miles. Hmm. Won't be there anytime soon. ;-) I sent the Vinman's "Hootin' with Captions" video to my sister in the hope that she'd be inspired to make some. My dad was the cinnamon bun baker in our house.

[@lindsaymalone9371]

It's worth the drive! Especially when you pair it with a bunch of geology walks and sightseeing. They have amazing bread and local coffee too! ❤️

[@InquilineKea]

Omg precambrian mountain

[@steel1182]

Nice afternoon diversion 😎

[@billsmith5109]

When your Dr. Zentler, and flying into Reykjavik is not allowed.

[@rossrifle50]

WOULD THE LAKI FLUORINE POISONING IN THE 1700S BE A SMALL VERSION OF THE FLOOD BASALT MASS EXTINCTIONS?

[@realeyesrealizereallies6828]

Have you heard that we are in the 6th mass extinction event right now, according to the peer reviewed literature, and our ability to see and count...Have you heard that we are also in the midst of abrupt climate change, and the rate is orders of magnitude faster than the permian mass extinction event, (according to the peer reviewed literature) called the "great dying"(Siberian traps) when 92% of life on earth went extinct...Are you aware that an out of touch oligarchy has the ability to press some buttons and end complex life on earth..Being educated to the history of this nuclear weapons age is extremely frightening and disconcerning... As a single person's decision has saved the planet several times.(never an American)..These basalt events are events that added CO2 to the atmosphere in massive amounts, much like us today....Hint..Hint...Every human civilization to ever exist has crashed and burned, complete collapse..Always for the same root causes, greed assisted with technology that had the the consequences of conquer and destroying the environment...Growing up in this age of never ending progress, it's easy to put your faith in markets and technology..But if you stand back and look at our history and the big picture, you will realize the fact that our technology has always created more problems than it solved..Nothing is inherently wrong with technology, it's the misuse of technology, always coupled with greed...Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, trillions of ignorant, self destructive actions, has exponential apocalyptic reactions...Equating to the age of consequences, which is exactly where we find ourselves today...Which this decade will expose beyond all doubt..."those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities"--Voltaire It's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society"--Krishnamurti Nice lecture..Thanks.. I always include my own lecture in the comments, because those are the facts that matter, and the most important story in the history of humanity....

[@tabascoraremaster1]

Except for the hilarious hamer joke..... Or the dude doesnt know what hes talking about or he lies about it. 🧐

[@brianjacob8728]

cosmic impacts are causing you episodes of basalt floods

[@garyschultz7768]

Love the Show..... Keep on Trucking !!! * * 🦣 * * 🦣 * * 🦣 * * 🦣 * *