Random Roadcuts #2: Big Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch Range of Utah

[@shawnwillsey]

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[@gwynnfarrell1856]

Not only is this fascinating geologic history, but the road cut is quite beautiful to look at as well. Thank you!

[@Laserblade]

That sample you had in your hand @ 15:12 was a wonderful example of contact metamorphism. Love the roadcut series! Who doesn't love a good puzzle? Thank you Professor.

[@farmermark2067]

Loving the random roadcuts series so far and Sherlocking the rocks along with you! Have learned a lot watching your channel. So much so I was able to guess that the rock types today were limestone/marble and diorite / granodiorite. Lucky guess? lol. Keep up the great work Shawn! Between you, Nick, and Myron, i can usually get my geology fix on a weekly or near weekly basis. Thanks for all you do! Wishing all the best to you in the coming months and years from central Wisconsin.

[@davidjackson5976]

Thank you, Sir for sharing knowledge, My favorite series. We roadsiders often wonder, and you explain.

[@shawnwillsey]

Glad it was helpful!

[@baTonkaTruck]

Loving this series! Exactly the kind of thing I look for as a novice rockhound. Proud of myself for guessing granodiorite, and that's credit to your teaching, because it was your rock identification series that introduced me to those terms/skills.

[@jeffgardner2773]

Looking forward to the next one. Love it

[@mizzougrad001]

I support this series 😊 it's in your face geology that is invisible to most people driving by at 60 MPH.

[@Backroad_Junkie]

It's actually kinda scary being on the side of the road like that, especially when semi's go roaring past. It's not like there's a lot of runoff on mountain cuts like that...

[@briane173]

@@Backroad_Junkie It IS a bit disconcerting to try to walk up to a road cut on a well-used highway. In Palmdale CA there's a gorgeous road cut on a section of freeway that cuts right across the San Andreas Fault, and the folding and thrusting along that road cut is spectacular. Problem is you'll have to see it from a distance, because six lanes of freeway cut across it and so there's essentially no access to the road cut itself. A REALLY good place to go is a road cut made for a railroad track, especially in off-the-beaten-path type places where the trains hardly ever run or don't run at all. Last thing you have to worry about in those areas is traffic, and it's nice and quiet and peaceful.

[@marknovak2413]

And they do tend to drive like that in BCC, even though the speed limit is 45.

[@davidk7324]

Cool. I'm planning a trip over Guardsman's tomorrow to take in fall foliage and will see if I can find this spot.

[@davidk7324]

Pretty easy to find. No way I'm scrambling up that cut the way Shawn did. Saw the slickenlines.

[@zenobialapeyre686]

Yay! A new Roadcut! I'm loving this series - I can almost feel the surfaces as you touch them and explain what we are seeing, find myself saying 'oh, yeah, that's what it is', and even the 'atmospheric traffic sounds' are acceptable. Can't wait for the next visit. Watching from Portland, Oregon

[@shawnwillsey]

Glad you like them!

[@bottomup12]

Another great road cut video!

[@Backroad_Junkie]

"Rock House - Snow Avalanche Area - Next 1 Mile No Parking Or Standing November 1 to May 15" Looked it up for yucks. *Ninety-eight* (98!) avalanches in the canyon last winter. Sounds like a exciting area during winter, lol....

[@SusanS588]

Really enjoying this series. Haven’t been in Big Cottonwood Canyon for a very long time, but it WAS one of our favorite places to go for a Sunday drive. I’m now trying to slow down a little to look at the cuts in my area.

[@ThomasEckhardt]

Great story, well presented, thank you!

[@KathrynChamberlain-k9z]

All of your videos are delightfully informative, and the truly nice thing about your 'Random Readouts' series is that for someone who is studying geology via ancient textbooks, (and KZbin videos!), your 'Random Roadcuts' are helping to fill in all those Swiss cheese holes in my knowledge that only actually spending time out in the field with a teacher-guide can provide. Please plan to continue making all of your fine videos for the next twenty years at least, (for by then I'll be drooling in my socks and may not be able to be quite as receptive.) Your enthusiasm and sense of discovery is absolutely charming.Thank you.

[@lorenmorelli9249]

These road cuts can be a "freebie" for geological interpretation which you do so well. I have made many cuts like these in my home area of central coastal California working equipment on construction and quarry sites. Always interested, I was on and off the machines to explore constantly, never being sure of what I had just uncovered.. 🤗

[@Rachel.4644]

Very interesting, and yes, you're giving us a chance to puzzle out what you're looking at, using what we learned in rock identification videos. The close-ups are great! Thank you, Shawn! 👏🏻

[@valoriel4464]

Thx Prof for another excellent geo-ed adventure. ✌🏻

[@shawnwillsey]

My pleasure!

[@pattyfolsom5144]

I cruised right by that roadcut on Sept. 5 and now you've explained it. So lucky. Thank you for this roadcut series.

[@tompowers8495]

Great content......takes me back to the road geology of my past.......and my present.

[@jameshatchett8095]

Thanks again, its been decades since i was up the canyon. When I lived in Northern Utah I spent a fair bit of time up big cottonwood. The forest service used to have informative signs about the geology of some of the exposures, I wonder if they still do. When I'm doing roadside geology I wear a bright colored roadworkers vest and sometimes a hard hat.

[@marksinger3067]

Good one as usual..

[@richardchiriboga4424]

Fascinating!!!! Many thanks,!!!

[@guiart4728]

Whoohooo! I was thinking granodiorite!

[@kevindorland738]

Still admire your depth and breadth of knowledge. You, singlehandedly, are (re)training my old eyes to look around me and pull in more detail.....From granular....up to tall rock faces many stories tall.

[@shawnwillsey]

Wonderful!

[@cirrus820travelers9]

So wonderful to view your content and learn about the rock formations we view along so many state hwys traveling across N. America. Thank you Shawn!

[@jerrykuchera5467]

Enjoying this series! Like the Sleuthing trying to apply what we know to the Random Roadcuts!

[@shawnwillsey]

Another episode coming soon!

[@guiart4728]

Lived at the top for about 8 months at Brighton Ski Resort. It was fantastic! This was in 1972. The amazing thing is you can drive from downtown Salt Lake to 8600’ in about 45 minutes! Great example of a glacier U shaped valley ending before it gets to the bottom. Very narrow steep walled at the bottom.

[@Anne5440_]

Each of these lessons are helping me see and remember lesseons from other locations. Medical issues are improving for now. My mind is beginning to work again. I think I have driven that road. It is good to take a different look at it. Thank you.

[@shawnwillsey]

Great news Anne. Be well and thanks for watching.

[@mommy-ju7zs]

I appreciate your wisdom, THANK YOU!! Much love from a flat state inhabiter.❤

[@douglasfinch5085]

I'm currently working my way through your rock identification series and it's fascinating to see that information being applied in real world situations. Thank you and I look forward to the next lession.

[@Riverguide33]

Great vid, Shawn! 👍

[@TheVillageIdiotUk]

This is more intriguing than an Agatha Christie. I thoroughly enjoyed this fascinating guided trip through time with Shawn. I’m from the UK, on the Jurassic Coast, and have travelled to Oregon and Washington state many times but never had the time to travel into Idaho. This promises to be a great series.

[@shawnwillsey]

Enjoy these. I think I have 24 or so episodes done already.

[@EmmittDespain]

Grew up at the mouth of this canyon and have been to this roadcut. There is some really interesting stuff just above this cut that you can see from the road. Awesome series!!!

[@YOICHIHAGIWARA]

ありがとうございます！

[@3xHermes]

My vocabulary is building. I too, am able to kinda guess what we're looking at and how it was formed. Thanks Shawn!

[@howardjones3179]

Great teaching. Love to take you class in person. Thanks

[@rodbhar6522]

Thanks!

[@MayorNan]

Another great lesson! Love the Road Cut Series!

[@withwingswefly2455]

Very interesting! Please keep the roadcut series coming!

[@hopegreer3357]

I love these random road cuts!! The hardest part for me is that I have to keep driving while trying to be a rock detective. Thank you so very much for being a great teacher!!

[@hestheMaster]

Time to get out an orange vest Shawn. Was a very interesting place to visit with all those different calcite covered and ingrained rocks.

[@Steviepinhead]

Another vote for this enjoyable series!

[@Danika_Nadzan]

Great idea for a series! I always love driving through roadcuts and marveling at the beautiful geology they reveal. Some of the best parts of John McPhee's fantastic book, "Annals of the Former World" were his forays onto roadcuts with geologists. Thanks for once again showing an area up close that I'll never get to see and explaining it so well!

[@gordondryden6266]

The second one I have watched - again fascinating !

[@kevinsinclairsk]

Nice patch of Milkweed there too. Interesting series.

[@patfrench3584]

Loving this series! Thanks for doing these. Great idea and very helpful.

[@christinedaly2694]

Thank you Shawn enjoy your videos very informative

[@grandparocky]

Thank You Shawn really enjoyed this edition.

[@nappyn8fillmore]

You are such a great wellspring of knowledge. Thank you for you’re amazing videos

[@shawnwillsey]

You are so welcome

[@GregHine]

Great info! ‘Love Random Roadcuts

[@geoffgeoff143]

Love this new format

[@lauram9478]

❤thank you, Shawn!

[@mikewatson4644]

Interesting series. This helps to understand some of what I see driving Thank you

[@shawnwillsey]

Glad it was helpful!

[@rollsandfloats]

Terrific video Shawn. I love these puzzle-solving videos... I keep trying to figure out what you're going to say based on the evidence.. it gives me a chance to try out my own diagnostic skills that are slowly improving. It's lots of fun and I'll be applying it to the local rocks here in eastern Ontario. We've got lots of metamorphic & sedimentary rocks in the area.

[@treadwell8481]

Keep 'em coming!

[@muzikhed]

Nice video, interesting , very educational I have found.

[@dancooper8551]

Drove those canyon roads many times to go skiing.

[@13decoration]

That was fun. Thanks!

[@aboyandhisdog]

So is marble a compressed limestone or what? I always thought of marble as a smooth dense rock right out of the ground. No???

[@shawnwillsey]

Marble is a metamorphosed limestone. The original calcite is recrystallized. The texture and color can vary. Marble is not more dense than most rocks.

[@jeffhaymond1612]

I like the gps coordinates! I’ve visited some of those spots. I live close to big cottonwood canyon. I would love to know more about little cottonwood canyon especially Mt Superior and Hell Gate.

[@marknovak2413]

I drive up BCC a lot and never knew there was an igneous dike in that roadcut. Once I saw a geology field camp class crawling over it. When an igneous magma intrudes into clean limestone, the skarn alteration at the contact is limited b/c the only silica available to make the skarn minerals has to come from the magma. When magma intrudes into dirty, deep-water limestones like those in central Nevada, the skarn is much more extensive because the silica is already present in the limestone in the form of clay and silt. It only needs to be heated up.

[@marcosfreijeiro8763]

Love these videos, excellent content

[@goooooller9353]

These are great videos!

[@shlby69m]

Sound was great (your closer to mic than the cars so it;s clear) Cool outcrop and nice recap of creation & movement of rocks.

[@markjauregui8138]

I use an app on my phone called Rockd, Shows a lot about the area when you are out and about. It also shows fault lines. Very useful in piecing together the geological history. Love these videos... Thanks for putting these together.... Most geologists will tell you that the geology of the Uinta mountains does not support silver and gold. I look every chance I get. Theres always the lost roads mines...

[@jimbenthuysen9263]

A series like this at sites in you Roadside Idaho book would be fantastic

[@brianvaughn2096]

I want to learn more form you. I too would love to be a geologist. I’m 47 years old and work in the oilfields of So Cal. But I always love to get out and look at the awesome rock formations of the California transverse mountains range at the big bend of the San Andreas fault. There are a LOT of neat sites to see there especially through the Pine Mountain club area.

[@stout_tossme7541]

Go up Highway six towards helper. There is a great road cut with a coal seam or something. Really cool.

[@sleepingsealproductions]

I spent 4 yers in SLC at the U of U and drove past that cut many times to go hiking and never paid any attention (I was studying political science). Thanks for these. So interesting.

[@d.jensen5153]

The National Park Service has installed a great series of geological markers along the short but steep paved trail to Timpanogos Cave in American Fork Canyon. I highly recommend the hike, whether or not you decide to tour the cave.

[@jackprier7727]

Okay, you snuck a lot of interesting information into this one (explaining the why of Solitude/Brighton Snowbird/Alta) and that is a big-picture revelation-

[@pixelchi]

That fractured, jointed and over steepened cut slope looks to be a significant rockfall generator too. Busy roadway probably needs a wider and deeper roadway catch ditch or possibly steel netting.

[@MarciaPhillips-mt5td]

A fantastc roadcut!, that has stumped geology students for years! On Highway CA-178 which departs eastward from Shoshone, CA (which is located on CA-127). It is about 8 to 15 miles east of the tiny town, on the way to Pahrump, NV. It is on the north side.

[@shawnwillsey]

Yeah I know that spot.

[@HONGKELDONGKEL1888]

i always perk up when i hear the word "intrusion" when looking at sedimentary rocks. =)

[@shullln]

The Miocene limestones on hwy 89 just north of Fairview, Utah would make a nice roadcut segment...

[@geoffgeoff143]

I am very happy to see a lack of litter.

[@DrGeorginaCook]

I guess if one didn’t know the regional geological history, the violent fizzing could equally be interpreted as a calcite cemented fine sandstone rather than a limestone? It’s not always easy to tell them apart. Really interesting thank you.

[@krisgalusha9820]

If your ever out this way, I’d love to hear your take on the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma.

[@Snappy-ut4bj]

Thanks again. I thought the crystalline looking sheets were intrusive dikes. Quartz stuff. Interesting to see the acid react.

[@hnacion]

Can you please explain why the precious metals / ores you mentioned are more concentrated near the interface between the intruded magma and the surrounding rock?

[@Quercus52]

Great videos. I think you are in the Little Cottonwood Canyon though.

[@shawnwillsey]

No. This was BCC.

[@MarciaPhillips-mt5td]

Perhaps I am wrong, but in the hand sample with the green stuff it had the look of serpentine, which is sometime associated with faults. Probably not, as you could observe what I could not and epidote is lot harder.

[@haroldtanner9600]

Any speculation about plate movement time frame; Lat. Long of this area when the sedimentary rock formed?

[@shawnwillsey]

You could check out a paleogeographic map for this time period to get a sense.

[@tompowers8495]

Although rare, the acid reacts with the igneous rock carbonatite......... definitely grab some of that........

[@atomictraveller]

this series feels like a childhood dream come true, all those miles. can't tip, but what a shame that being an educator is going to reduce weed use during such trips! :O rambling roadcuts :p

[@Kosmonooit]

Why are those minerals there at the junction between the intrusion and the sedimentary rock?

[@shawnwillsey]

Chemical reactions between magma and host rock precipitate minerals along contact.

[@mattcauthers1758]

So the Granodiarite interacted with the Limestone 28 million years ago? And I’m guessing this all happened several kilometers underground? When do you think these rocks first became exposed to the open air?

[@shawnwillsey]

Yes, the intrusion was underground. Hard to say exactly when it was exposed. Uplift along Wasatch fault to the west )(and subsequent erosion) was likely a big player in bringing these rocks to surface.

[@ronaldderooij1774]

Sorry to say my country (The Netherlands) has no rocks to mention of. Only a few boulders that came with the second before last ice age. The country is peat, clay and a bit of sand.

[@Will-ll4gv]

Isn’t that loose rock called talus?

[@kimklinzman2919]

Random Roadcuts Rule!!!!!

[@thaddeusjones7868]

Hey Prof, have you ever thought about getting a drone? I think it could add some great additonal content to your videos.

[@shawnwillsey]

My dept just got one. I’ve used it for photos. My drone flying skills for video are not awesome and quite jerky.

[@bierbrauer11]

“Sorry about all the cars” How dare you! Exposing us to road noise in a “Road Cuts” video…. 😂

[@johnsykesiii1629]

That green, glassy rock looked like a serpentine to my untrained eye.

[@mikos420211]

@17:10 that love would break down just at the massive peice you're looking at in this video...

[@curtiscroulet8715]

Hmm. I was taught that these were called "Slickensides." I've never seen them.

[@geoffgeoff143]

What you are teaching can be extrapolated all around the world. Sure, your teaching examples may be local to some but that is almost irrelevent.

[@jonerlandson1956]

you need to go to a place with beavers... when they put them back in some areas with brittle environments they bring it back to life... when native Americans walked this land in their native mind i wonder if they knew what they were standing on?...

[@cassietondro]

Thanks!

[@stevewhalen6973]

Thanks!