Mike Eddy and Erin Donaghy Interview

CWU's Nick Zentner chats with geologists Michael Eddy and Erin Donaghy.
Filmed on Thursday, August 6, 2020.

[@GeologyNick]

Context: This is a rare chance to visit with a highly-respected geologist who will contribute great things to our understanding of the North Cascades for years to come. Purdue's Mike Eddy does everything well - big picture PNW tectonics down to tiny zircon crystals that yield amazingly precise dates for rocks. I caught Mike and his PhD student Erin Donaghy during a 45-minute break in their long car ride back to Indiana. My first meeting with them both. Mike was just awarded a large, multi-year National Science Foundation grant to continue his work in the North Cascades. I'm part of the project...hence the discussion late in the video about how I might best work with the research team. Remember his name - he is one of the best out there! Thanks for watching.

[@Yaxchilan]

Uberwootsticks

[@AvanaVana]

His work is super interesting. This is an awesome treat, thanks Nick! (btw, now we know why those talus slopes are there!) Also super excited to hear there is going to be more work on the Siletzia/Yakutat hypothesis. The idea that they formed on the mid-ocean ridge between the Kula/Resurrection and Farallon plates, like Iceland and then went their separate ways. So cool. PS. congrats on the NSF grant, amazing news! So exciting to hear you will be in the field broadcasting this stuff with them. I'm psyched for you.

[@annehopkins3393]

Congrats to you and all members of that grant-winning team.

[@jamesdownard1510]

I have Michael's 2017 paper in my reference field: Eddy, Michael P., Kenneth P. Clark, & Michael Polenz. 2017. “Age and volcanic stratigraphy of the Eocene Siletzia oceanic plateau in Washington and on Vancouver Island.” Lithosphere 9 (August): 652-664.

[@justinsimpson436]

Ohhh I remember you mentioning his research and the grant. Congrats him and you for the approval! You're the best public outreach person any researcher could ask for!

[@lukeskywatcher7058]

Awesome work guys!!!! Really awesome!!! Keep it up

[@karenpreston5011]

I love watching your videos. They are interesting and I learn alot from you. Thanks Nick for your teachings.

[@DarrylWilletttoy4rn85]

This is great on so many levels. I wish Mike and the whole team massive success. I hope Erin's PhD paper is as groundbreaking as it sounds like it could be.

[@orenpangcog4370]

What a great idea, having someone like Prof Nick from the very beginning starts to inform and update the public on how the Geologist study the rock formations of the Northwest will definitely pique the interest of others. Lots of us are following him already. Expect for more.

[@johnwinskie7911]

Great to re-watch this after Nick's Geology 351 filled in some of the blanks! Mike says that they'll be at this for 3-4 yrs to come, so we have something to look forward to!

[@chakatrain]

Nick: here’s a testament to your teaching and sharing - when I first saw this in the summer of 2020, I admit that a lot of this went right over my head. But having been part of the Fall 2020 Exotic Terrane Lectures, Geo 101, and the current Geo 301 classes, I was able to follow pretty much everything that Mike and Erin said. That is pretty darn cool. Thanks for helping me get to this place!

[@skyfacer9626]

Hi again from NSW Australia. Yet another very educating video by Nick. It's very good to watch and travel a faraway world from me. I'm a keen amateur field geologist. Learning so much here.

[@adem-Savs]

Mike, you are doing fine explaining a complex geological setting. It will be an easy task for you with community outreach. Erin, you are a sedimentologist and you know all about key indicator formations in a regional setting. It would be magical if you could find the formations that split seletzia.....that would really nail the regional setting.

[@marymarshall8052]

Excellent idea to follow this research Nick. And you do a great job at interpreting and restating concepts and proposals so lay people can understand the fundamentals. I look forward to more video interviews with this team.

[@rinistephenson5550]

Thank you, Nick, and guests Mike and Erin! Congrats on the NSF grant, Mike and Nick! We need a new bumper sticker: "I brake for road cuts!''

[@JenniferLupine]

Looking forward to learning more about the North Cascades project!! 👍👍

[@WildWestGal]

What a fantastic visit this was! How thrilling that you're part of that project! I'm so looking forward to the future videos of this endeavor! And there is no one better to communicate to us all the scientific work that will be going on than you, Nick!

[@petersanderson5194]

Nick to the rescue: participate in the field studies and periodically communicate to the public. Gotta Love It!

[@SCW1060]

Hey Mike, I'd love to see at least a drawing showing the triple junction that you were taking about. You're work sounds very interesting. I hope by having Nick on your team we should get in the loop for information on your work and findings... Scott

[@Slowmodem1]

Nick can take his whiteboards and markers out there and really draw pictures and explanations!

[@steveegbert7429]

What a great project! I am looking forward to the new discoveries that will be unearthed.

[@fernie5128]

interesting and what fun it will be to connect with them as they move through there project!

[@sharonseal9150]

Great beginning to an exciting ongoing project. Looking forward to the future videos! Would like to know his thoughts on Lake Chelan possibly being another fault of similar timing and origin as the Leavenworth and Entiat faults he is examining. We are talking just a few miles from the Enitat fault and running parallel. Each side of the lake is a different geological terrane, and the lake plunges to an amazing depth of 1,486 feet just past the narrows uplake from Manson. Lots of interesting rocks on the South shore of the lake and in the Navarre Coulee. I know these are glacier carved, but could the glaciers have exploited a fault? And where does the Straight Creek fault fit in to this story? Looking forward to years worth of entertainment on this project!

[@AlohaMilton]

Thank you Nick! This is awesome, digging deeper into one of the favorite topics! Super excited that your joining this project to help communicate its progress and results.

[@pedalpetal]

What a cool research project! Having you (Nick) on board is almost like being part of the team. Glad that the research will get a play by play versus a single big long story at the end. Thank you all!!

[@erfquake1]

Thanks for a terrific episode yet again, teacher Zentner!

[@Dan-dk7sw]

WOW! How exciting!!! The next few years are going to be epic!!!! Go team Nick!

[@guykarafa6742]

Nice , enjoyed it. Thanks to all.

[@peterhillier8021]

Hello from Newfoundland Canada, Nick you the best.

[@irishall7324]

I am exited to hear of being able to follow a person doing a project from the beginning to the end. Thanks for being our window into the geological world. How about a trip overseas sometime in the near future? Thanks!

[@noelwade]

Nick - Can you help us understand some of Mike's explanation just a bit better? I think what he was basically saying (regarding the basin and the matching granites) was that: * Plate subducts & the dominant plate on the margin of the continent changes (i.e. Triple Junction) * This drives a change in tectonic stresses and faulting * Basin opens / stretches and allows for intrusion of what will eventually cool and become these granites ("granitoids"? First time I'd heard that used...) * Later strike-slip fault action causes the single granite mass to become interrupted and transported to these various areas (such as Mt Stuart and Mission Ridge) ...is that roughly correct?

[@sylwiaes1802]

Great input from Erin! 👍

[@84Tacos]

Thank you, Nick!

[@Slowmodem1]

Another great video! If you get the chance turn on the closed caption at 11:36. There's the paleocne, the eocene, and the lego scene (I guess that's a geology toy!) Greg in TN PS: How could anybody in their right mind give this s thumb's down???? That's crazy!

[@galghaidhil]

Very Interesting segment, although sound quality was tough. Glad to hear their comments.

[@sheetmetalhead]

Great show Nick, we are in catch up mode here, have been busy traveling and working around the house, but will try to get up to speed with you guys! Great stuff man!🍻

[@craighoover1495]

Since it seems some of the questions are answerable with instrumentation I am wondering how many laboratories are able to do the chemical and other testing necessary. I am also curious to know if there is a set of questions associated with locations where it has been decided already that samples are needed and if a suitably schooled amateur could do the collection and mail it in.

[@Vickie-Bligh]

Careful Nick, you're gonna turn into a field geologist! That was fascinating and made me think about the rock I've seen on Icicle Creek.

[@geoffgeoff143]

Great hearing the thought process

[@brandonjohnston7746]

Hey Nick. Love this video. Alaska got me thinking about the big sand deposit in northwestern Alaska. Would it be possible to get your thoughts on this sandy anomaly? I've gave it alot of thought and study. It's strange to say the least. Thanks man

[@lorrainewaters6189]

This is great, thank you!!

[@cbwim]

Michael Eddy is one of my favorite geologists!!!

[@StereoSpace]

I'd like to see some maps, maybe current and conceptual paleo maps, and a diagram of the hypothesis they're testing.

[@josephbieberly8624]

Volume too low

[@sean4661]

I hope when I replay on my other computer with a sound bar connection I can hear it.

[@stigmetal]

Can't wait to meet you dr nick ❤

[@samrotolo7303]

I was waiting for muffler boy to go by. Seriously good stuff really enjoy it.

[@k.c1126]

Sorry I missed the live stream today . .... Had some access issues ...

[@kraigquebus]

Love watching this with gooogle earth on the other page so I can see where your at.

[@104thDIVTimberwolf]

I know it's not a Washington topic, but I'd love to see the ground swelling in the Three Sisters region get the Nick Zentner treatment.

[@katleman]

Just dawned on me, for those from California, Nick is the Huell Howser of Geology

[@roberttrue8333]

Is Mike a Purdue grad?

[@synthwavedirtbag]

Attached are the links to Wenatchee and Chelan area geologic maps. I found it very helpful to reference the maps and then watch the video again. You can visualize the the Chumstic opening up and "shingling" between leavenworth/entiat faults--especially in the Chelan quadrangle. This is so cool! thank you Mike and Erin. THANKS NICK (Wenatchee) pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i1311/wengmp.pdf (Chelan) pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i1661/i1661.pdf

[@bonblue4993]

It sure looks like the whole hill could come down at any moment. I have learned from watching lots of landslide videos that one little rock coming down could be the start of an entire hill coming down.

[@anaritamartinho1340]

WHY THERE IS DIFFERENT GRANITES?

[@judithcogburn-fox1659]

Good evening from eastern Kansas.

[@geoffgeoff143]

Like the guest segments

[@freeheelvegan4878]

Is it a coincidence that a straight line connects Mt Pilchuck batholith, Stuart batholith, and that outcrop?

[@noelwade]

As I understood the conversation, its not a coincidence at all. It sounds like there's an old fault that ran through the area and essentially tore this one big mass of granite as the ground shifted over time, spreading it out across these various areas. My analogy would be one of those "tear and share" breads: Imagine putting the loaf on top of 2 rectangular plates so that half of the loaf is on each place. Glue the bottom of the bread to each plate, then slowly slide the plates past each other and watch the bread tear and pull into a few different sections.

[@freeheelvegan4878]

@@noelwade Probably need to account for the straight creek fault though.

[@barbaraburkhardt3047]

pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b2f4/86484107e55f3dac58faff074db294390d42.pdf page 10

[@TomLeg]

Twins separated at birth! So looking at vertical sediment layers is comparable to looking at tree rings

[@ThePitbulllady1]

For some reason I can't post in Live Chat even though I'm signed in.

[@lorrainewaters6189]

It could be that the livestream is done...it was livestreamed Aug 6

[@SaltyPirate71]

@@lorrainewaters6189 No. It was live streamed on August 13th.

[@annehopkins3393]

Nick will be a real-time communications arm of that dream team. I don't want to start talk of awards for innovation too soon, but ... 😆

[@professorsogol5824]

With respect to communicating your work with the public, it would be helpful if you were to work on the micing/sound level. It was difficult to hear all the participants even with the volume at 100% and the speaker next to my ear.

[@tolson57]

"there's a lot of weird stuff happening" I love it. This something I am very interested in. What happens when a spreading ridge gets subducted..

[@passingwind2681]

Woope!

[@rogerplested9484]

This was an informative video. However Mike has a difficulty in communication with someone like me who has little geology background. Mike retreats into his geologyize language which only another geologist can appreciate. Erin was much better.

[@Yaxchilan]

Aww I slept though it..

[@christinakaur8766]

🧍‍♀️🍃💨 😂😂

[@malcolmcog]

I love a good batholith !

[@cantsay]

I worry for your safety, please wear a mask when you are within 6ft of somone not in your household.

[@Slowmodem1]

I thought of that when i saw all those hikers.

[@galghaidhil]

Yep, wearing a mask against super tiny micron viruses is akin to trying to keep mosquitos out of your yard with a chain link fence - especially when outdoors, where viruses don’t survive in heat or humidity for any measurable period of time.

[@dsma2023]

Worry about yourself instead of criticizing others.