Grand Canyon's Iconic Great Unconformity: 1.3 billion years of geologic time!

[@shawnwillsey]

You can support my field videos by clicking on the "Thanks" button just above (right of Like button) or by going here: www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=EWUSLG3GBS5W8

[@mudfossiluniversity]

LETS TALK????? Hello Prof...I run Mudfossil University on YT and soon to have live classes on Telegram...you are invited my friend......I study rocks as well but they are actually fossils. Some are very large. I would love to discuss my findings with you. Some of my "Rocks" are cat scanned and DNA tested so quite serious. [e-mail]

[@LinasMuliolisC21Homestar]

What camera did you use? Looks like a reframed 360 of some sort.

[@BlackCeII]

I've seen some compelling research coming out that the Grand Canyon was not formed as gradually as we once thought, but looking upslope, there is ample evidence of massive historic Lake that might have drained rapidly, carving deep, similar to what we see in the channels scablands of Eastern Washington.

[@1J_R]

there are podcasts here on YT of people that go down deep in caves underground. the "action adventure twins" in a great one. in their videos all sorts of amazing geological features and formations they pass along. would be so cool if they had an actual geologist accompany them to explain such amazing layers, processes and formations. Ever go caving, Shawn?

[@campsitez2355]

talk about an Atheist's Nightmare wow

[@runninonempty820]

You really know how to get the camera right up to great examples of what you want to show. It makes for very good videos that are easily understandable. Thank you.

[@alittleofeverything4190]

He is The Professor afterall.

[@JPREEDY77]

Plasticity and lubricated nature of landforms sliding against liquefied bedding over basement rock. Thank you SOOOO much for your much better back and legs that get me the vicarious field work.

[@Yetibiker67]

Amazing stuff Shawn. Please keep posting these educationally fascinating vlogs. You are a wonderful teacher!

[@shawnwillsey]

Thank you! Will do! Thanks for watching.

[@kevinrussell1144]

Thanks for the views and the video. While in school (to become a geologist) we hiked to the bottom of the GC and saw the contact, but your sites showed a good deal more about the nature of the Tapeats than what we saw. The sandstones, grits, and conglomerates don't look that old, but facts don't lie. Sure, we were impressed by the unconformity, but thinking about it now after a long (but very short in geologic terms) life as a geologist, soon to join the record myself, one begins to understand just how much can be read from the nature and meaning of that contact.

[@jackripleymaddiero]

Thanks ah so nice. Thanks for taking us there!

[@shawnwillsey]

My pleasure 😊 and thank you!

[@JessicaTPeterson]

Thanks for this clear picture and explanation of the great unconformity. What an incredible place. Love seeing the river.

[@mewanttools7275]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mae8lqOhacR5bacfeature=shared

[@lisaloy2011]

Loved this video. The best one so far as it shows up close the distinctive strata layers back to over a billion years. To see it so close was amazing. I definitely shared another of your videos to Facebook. Would love to see more videos of this trip. If you could zoom in on any marine life fossils would be great. I wonder if the seas here were to shallow for the sharks of the day back over 200 million + years. Finding a tooth to see would be epic. I don't think they can be taken out, but a picture with one on the hand or a hand next to it's embedded site would be really something to see.

[@franklinchavezzambrana5251]

Explanation is clear and a nice place to learn .

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for watching and learning with me. More Grand Canyon videos to come in next few weeks including one that shows some marine invertebrate fossils in Redwall Limestone.

[@mewanttools7275]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mae8lqOhacR5bacfeature=shared

[@JimArnoldPhoto]

I took a course on the Geology of the Grand Canyon back in my undergraduate Geology days in the early 80’s. Never made it to the bottom of the canyon. Thanks for taking me there in this video.

[@campsitez2355]

the greatest threat to geologists who promote atheism is this. not just the "universal claims" argument that presents a unique contradiction for the claim _"there is no god"_ which can never logically consistently be made in the affirmative.

[@Rachel.4644]

Great video! (My one grand canyon experience was life-changing.) This helped me better understand the Great Unconformity. Just gorgeous, so appreciated, Shawn.

[@shawnwillsey]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mewanttools7275]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mae8lqOhacR5bacfeature=shared

[@ericpierce3660]

Your talks are so interesting, I wish you were my professor. I could listen to you all day.

[@shawnwillsey]

Wow, thank you! Much appreciated.

[@MEHEREWGTNNZ]

Thanks! ... the clean look of the layers below the sandstone, I immediately think of long ages of ice ? Need to research more on this unconfoming gap ! 👌

[@TheEarthMaster]

So how do you think all those sand particles you mentioned got there?

[@billburkhalter411]

Noah's Flood

[@gwynnfarrell1856]

The Great Unconformity is a really amazing thing and I've never heard or seen it explained so well. You must be having an incredible time on this journey! Thank you for giving us a look at what you're seeing.

[@earlysda]

The "Great Unconformity" took probably a couple of minutes to form during Noah's worldwide flood.

[@ucanliv4ever]

earlysda, exactly...and belief in Noah gets you kicked out of the phd club

[@earlysda]

@@ucanliv4ever Sure does, ucan. Anything that goes against the prevailing current of belief in the world is scorned and ridiculed. . But observed evidence shows the truth of the Holy Bible.

[@Dytopjewa7631]

Great mystery..really

[@escapo6895]

It was left unsaid in the video, but presumably that contact also represents the ground surface at the moment where erosion waned and deposition took over--as this was in a coastal setting, perhaps it looked something like the rocky coasts of CA/OR, with a wave-cut bench of pitted rocks that enclosed tide pools in the upper reaches. I'm always fascinated by those kinds of windows in time where we can almost see exactly what the landscape looked like. Each one of those rocky cobbles at the lowest layer was dislodged from its source somewhere upstream, then came to rest on the Vishnu schist to be buried--frozen in place for us to see 500M years later.

[@jonathansmith2323]

Isn't the mystery of the Great Unconfomity the millions of years misssing that it represents... and considering the amount of missing material we have to wonder about the mechanism responsible? ....

[@pdledesma]

Agreed. What sheered off the Vishnu schist? Where did the upgradient sands erode from to deposit on the schism at the new shoreline? Fascinating.

[@torreyintahoe]

@@jonathansmith2323 I think most geologists agree that is was deep ice sheets that eroded that rock away.

[@ksrmk]

I am just barely grasping the commentary of what this environment might have looked like and the forces involved. I need an animated 3D visualization! Fascinating video. Thank you!

[@jpx1508]

Shawn, thanks - watching this video was a moment lost in time. My understanding is these features in the Grand Canyon are accessed through wining impossibly oversubscribed lotteries for the 10-day whitewater trips to the Colorado River section, and, with reaching the Blacktail Canyon, are subject to the likely but not always given scheduling and interests of the specific tour group. Your sharing this expert "hands-on" reveal of the striking Great Unconformity is an understated sharing of a special adventure.

[@hunt4redoctober628]

An incredible piece of Geological history! Just awesome. Siccar Point in Scotland is also another extremely rare example of where you can see what is thought to be part of a 'Great Unconformity' (or Huttons Unconformity) along with the Grand Canyon sequence ( Powell's Unconformity) . I visited the Grand Canyon 25 years ago now from the UK and I was just blown away by it. Such an awe inspiring place to visit and get up close to some amazing geology. You have the best job in the world Shawn!

[@shawnwillsey]

Yes, I've been to Siccar Point and it is awesome to think of Hutton there in the early 1800s piecing together important geologic concepts.

[@mewanttools7275]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mae8lqOhacR5bacfeature=shared

[@mikekenney1947]

In 1995 I was fortunate to be on an environmental impact expedition down the Grand Canyon. Among our number was a geologist from NAU in Flagstaff who led us on a hike of Blacktail Canyon. Your rendition of the Great Nonconformity took me back to that glorious experience. You are a gifted communicator using the web the way it was first imagined. Bravo

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks.

[@shawnwillsey]

I also went to grad school at NAU. Who was your NAU geologist in 1995? I was there 1997-2000.

[@billiamc1969]

HOLY SCHIST...what a cool video...much respect from Baltimore

[@briandwi2504]

Spectacular site. Awesome.

[@chrisgriffiths2533]

Wow, This Video is Worth Watching Just for the Scenery. The Knowledge is a Bonus.

[@drpikegeologist]

this is the best video I have seen yet on the Great Unconformity- excellent work!

[@shawnwillsey]

Thank you!

[@LanceHall]

Thanks!

[@shawnwillsey]

Your donation is very much appreciated. Thank you!

[@halg3625]

I'm so envious, that you get to study this incredible geology. I'm a first time viewer, but I've known about the Great Unconformity for a while. I'm glad you've given me a deeper understanding. Thankee, friend.

[@LanceHall]

Very cool seeing it up close and personal.

[@brianpeers]

Thanks

[@shawnwillsey]

Thank you for your kind donation.

[@burpleson]

Awesome, in the true sense of the word.

[@jerimiahharding8142]

Awesome explanation of an amazing place!

[@shawnwillsey]

Glad you liked it! Thank you!

[@Fox1nDen]

wow it is just so wonderful to see this so plainly above ground. thank you

[@EM-qx3hx]

Fascinating! I just visited the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon, and was overwhelmed by their size and their beauty, but had sooo many questions! This video answers some of them, thank you!

[@shawnwillsey]

Awesome. I’ve got a video from just outside Bryce that you might like. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a6CQeJVogLWWd8k&feature=sharea

[@nancyvonschimmelmann96]

Loved this video. It took me back to my Grand Canyon rafting trip in 1968 when I was 14. I still have a photo of the “wavy” rocks that had been sheared and the horizontal strata above them. I was fascinated by them then and enjoyed your explanation of them now. Thanks.

[@bluegrassengineer]

Excellent video. Thanks for posting.

[@paulw.4834]

Hi Shawn. Thanks for the great video on the GC GU. 1.2 billion years gone (in the blink of an eye). Hard to wrap my mind around that. Thanks again.

[@music100vid]

Is there any speculating as to what rocks had been between the Tapeats sandstone and the older Vishnu Shist rock beneath and what happened to it? Or is there a place where that layer might still be intact somewhat?

[@3xHermes]

Fantastic Canyon with a great story! Thx!

[@juliamacdonald3767]

Oh fun, love to see the Colorado and the Grand Canyon. Thanks.

[@maciejrozmus5613]

Very informative vid and the scenery is just breathtaking. Thank you! I wish I could be there one day!

[@shawnwillsey]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@mixolydian2010]

Wonderful place, mind blowing. Cheers

[@fridolinnatter5702]

Joining from Germany , just found you and these layers interest me extremely for their old age and how they were formed, Great channel, I took an abo of course , thanks a lot !

[@shawnwillsey]

Welcome aboard! Hope you enjoy the content here as you peruse the existing videos. Danke!

[@bakkerem1967]

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting !

[@patrickkillilea5225]

Wow. So cool. This is one of the most thought provoking subjects I know. Starkly terrifying in a way. The planet is so old. Our lives are so short. Your hand on that spot in time. Yeah buddy. What a great day!

[@Crodmog83]

Really awesome video.thank you so much for posting.

[@nowhereman8374]

Thanks Shawn, you took me back to my trip down the river.

[@johngalt97]

I've been to the top of the rim, and wondered what the bottom looked like. Thanks for this video, Mr. Willsey. Subscribed.

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for the sub and welcome aboard. Enjoy perusing the existing videos. Here's one from the bottom of the canyon of the basement rocks at Phantom Ranch. Video from my Rim to Rim hike in Oct 2021. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fXmrmahugJKWj6c

[@BretBerger]

Great episode Shawn and remarkable site you picked. GCNP is such a magical place; hope you had a great trip.

[@shawnwillsey]

It was so awesome. Look for more videos soon from this trip.

[@jackthetford7558]

More, please!!

[@shawnwillsey]

Look for more Grand Canyon videos in next few weeks.

[@arthurjones9580]

I love your channel! So interesting learning about our earth!

[@shawnwillsey]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@bomaite1]

Do you think the metamorphic rocks have been leveled off by glaciers? There was enough time for that, and you would expect to see the smaller rubble on top, which is clearly visible in your video. What else would plane off the rock in that straight a line?

[@Danika_Nadzan]

Thank you for yet another great video allowing me to see up close a geologic wonder I'd never be able to visit. The Great Unconformity is mind boggling, not only for the length of time involved, but for the sheer volume of material that must have been eroded. It would be so interesting to see what that would have looked like prior to and during the erosion process.

[@mosiah3197]

Amazing, tks!

[@Ilovelimabeans]

Great video. The "Missing" billion years seem hard to accept. Shouldn't there be massive erosion on the Vishnu?

[@AntManBee19]

I’ve been to both N and S rim of Grand Canyon. I had heard of the great unconformity but have never been down in the canyon so it was great to be able to see it in your video.

[@maryt2887]

Truly beautiful and amazing!

[@n8dawg640]

What are the bigger clasts in the Tapeats on the contact? Are they made up of the schists and granites below, some other igneous or metamorphic rocks from somewhere else, or are they something else entirely?

[@mikelong9638]

Ditto to this question. I believe I saw somewhere, that this is common at the contact, and may be indicative of massive glaciation (snowball earth?)

[@shawnwillsey]

Mostly quartz and feldspar fragments derived from underlying granite and other basement rocks.

[@loisrossi841]

So interesting, thank you.

[@robertdavenport6705]

It's pretty crazy when 340 million YA sounds kind of new. What an amazing place. Thank you for showing us this .

[@mountaintrailventures]

Thank You for a great video! Very Informative!

[@xenstone]

Great vid Shawn! Great to see the GU so clearly! I dont think we the GU in Western Australia, but there is a small remaining sliver of an massive unconformity near Perth that is between 3.0-2.6 billion year old gneisses and granites of the Yilgarn Craton and a Cambrian (although its not been possible to get an accurate date) transgressive unit of fining upwards conglomerates, sands, silts and mudstones. Sadly the actual contact is hidden by overburden where I have access to where it would be (it's visible in a private quarry nearby apparently) but it's amazing to wonder what happened in that gap, especially as there were probably 2 supercontinent collision and breakup stories that impacted Western Australia in that time period.

[@williampacey9194]

Thanks very interesting. I have trouble walking or driving by a cliff or rock wall and not looking at the various layers.

[@shawnwillsey]

You and me both!

[@fallinginthed33p]

Thanks for showing us the actual contact point marking the uncontinuity. What could have caused a billion years of erosion?

[@Roylamx]

Ask Noah, I'm pretty sure he knows as he was there. If you don't believe ask yourself why there's no weathering or other evidence of the great expanse of time between those two layers?

[@shawnwillsey]

There are rocks from the time of the unconformity but they were not preserved at this particular location. Elsewhere in the canyon, along downdropped sides of faults, there is a sequence of rocks called the Grand Canyon supergroup that represents 1.2 billion to 740 million years old.

[@ELMS]

Just discovered your channel. It’s terrific! Subscribed with notifications on. 👍

[@shawnwillsey]

Awesome, thank you! And welcome aboard. Enjoy the existing videos.

[@susiepittman601]

This is so cool. Thank you.

[@joshrawlings2621]

Finally, an actual explanation & detailed images of the GC currently having incredible exposure by media lately….!

[@brentweissert6524]

at 5:23 you show i see some green rock in the right half of the screen. what can you tell me about that? it's remarkable the variety of colors, texture, and configurations in the schist. if i remember correctly, the tapeats sandstone, along with the bright angel shale and muav limestone were laid down during the Saul, cratonic sequence? always enjoy your videos. thanks

[@shawnwillsey]

Yes, those three units are part of the Sauk cratonic sequence, a global rise in sea level, and one of six major cratonic sequences. The schist is indeed very colorful in places and there is some variation in mineralogy that allows for different colors.

[@davidk7324]

Great video, Shawn. Nice to see that the NASA shirt is still holding together.

[@erikpeterson25]

Fascinating 👍 thx

[@contrafax]

That was amazing, thank you!!!

[@shawnwillsey]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@riz8437]

Excellent video, very informative. Seeing unconformaties really gives a sense of the vast age of the planet.

[@shelleyszulinszky9732]

Well that gave me goosebumps ❤️✌️👍

[@MsMsmak]

Very interesting!

[@glennquagmire1747]

This ris eally fascinating, though i wish these video's were longer 👍

[@GWNorth-db8vn]

It never occurred to me that Southern Ontario has anything in common with the Grand Canyon. The pink granite of the Canadian Shield is overlaid by the Great Lakes limestone at the surface near the northern end of Georgian Bay It's a striking example of an unconformity, and one of the most beautiful places to cruise in a boat in N. America.

[@digilyd]

Shawn, on a stereo system it is confusing to have you only in left channel.

[@Anne5440_]

Thanks for taking us along. Those are really old rocks After my geology study of the last 18 months i understand so much more than when I went on a ranger walk near the rim of the grand canyon. This video is reminding me ju how young the rocks here in Central Washington are. The scenic views you show are so very stunning. This summer through videos I'm seeing a vast range of rock ages, from 1.8 billion in the grand canyon to a few days old at the Iceland volcano. I can't help but wonder how time of erosion went on before the sandstone began to deposit. I suspect that there is not a way to truly determine what that time was. Thanks.

[@earlysda]

Anne, you are right, those are really old rocks. Jesus Christ spoke them into existence, along with the sun, moon, and stars, roughly 6,000 years ago.

[@robertingliskennedy]

chapeau Shawn - great style

[@Colorado8300]

Outstanding!

[@shawnwillsey]

Thank you kindly!

[@fully_retractable]

Nick Zentner at WSU is also an entertaining watch.

[@dudeonbike800]

Love it! Crazy to be looking at and standing on ONE POINT EIGHT BILLION YEAR OLD ROCK! Damn!!!! This is probably even cooler than visiting the K-Pg Boundary. In terms of deep time it sure is!

[@Johnny-pp7dx]

Sure love your work

[@dominiclester3232]

Thank you!

[@nancytestani1470]

Wow, just wow

[@glenncivale6824]

mind blowing!

[@meropetied]

This is so friggin cool.

[@fully_retractable]

Do you have any published lectures? I'd love to see them.

[@BlGGESTBROTHER]

He has one on the bonnerville flood here on his channel.

[@shawnwillsey]

Here are lectures: kzbin.info/aero/PLOf4plee9UzChn3Mskz-V_pMWeIODsKPK

[@Fryed_Bryce]

Great Unconformity would be a sick band name

[@mountaingirlzstuff4314]

👍👍👍👍

[@dudeonbike800]

They would definitely ROCK!

[@Jefuslives]

Wish i could visit sites like this. Beyond fascinating.

[@garypalmer2066]

Hike down to Hermits Canyon and see the black Vishnu Schist and the pink Zorastor Granite. It's below the William Boucher stone cabin site just upriver from the Colorado River.

[@hugodesrosiers-plaisance3156]

That was some great material. Thanks for posting! If I may ask a question, how does Siccar Point relate to what goes on in the Grand Canyon? Both locations seem to display perpendicular layers and "missing time".

[@shawnwillsey]

Both locations display unconformities but two different types. Siccar Point is an angular unconformity where the lower sedimentary rocks were deposited, tilted and uplifted, then partially eroded before overlying rocks were deposited. Grand Canyon's is a nonconformity where igneous/metamorphic rocks formed and were uplifted and eroded before overlying sediments were deposited. Both speak to the immensity of time and Siccar Point was a key locality for James Hutton's breakthrough into how geologic processes and time worked.

[@hugodesrosiers-plaisance3156]

@@shawnwillsey Thank you so much for answering!

[@worldclassish]

Fun trip thanks

[@SmallWonda]

Thank you for this, I'd forgotten all about The Great Unconformity - is there any idea what happened to those ancient mountains, can their traces be found anywhere - perhaps it was a bit like parts of Australia which are very ancient... So how old do you reckon the upper most layer is - say on the North Rim?

[@BigBadJohn]

I saw what you're calling metamorphic rock next to the dam of a reservoir where Blakley Mountain overlook road turns and crosses the top or the dam. The elevation of the bottom of the GC is around 2200 feet and Blakely Mountain AR is 1200 feet. Were these all formed in the same layer and the stuff at the GC has just been pushed up more or am I missing some large fundamental?

[@sid7088]

Cool, where I live everything above the pre-cambrian level was scraped away by the glaciers.

[@paultidwell1682]

Great video. Mt Everest is 5.5 miles above sea level so the Vishu Schist was twice that distance below the surface before erosion and uplift brought it to sea level. I visited Blacktail Canyon on July 25. When was this filmed?

[@troy3456789]

I have no reason to believe he filmed it. Filming requires a lot of extra work and expense, work that is unnecessary in light of cheap, readily available video cameras. Many modern smart phones have video recording capability as well. It seems likely he video recorded his adventure and did not film it.

[@shawnwillsey]

Filmed by me on July 27.

[@troy3456789]

@@shawnwillsey Oh you did film it! wow! I thought you probably video recorded it, but I am wrong.

[@Anne5440_]

Professor Willsey does all his own filming. Over the time I have watched his videos his skills get better and better. I'm grateful for every one of these videos.

[@Nitephall]

I find this stuff fascinating. I saw a picture once of a rock that was billions of years old and the striations curved and turned all over the place. They weren't broken, just bent with the immensely of time.

[@peatmoss4415]

I am so glad I did something productive with my life!

[@Dan-nj8du]

Thanks. Planning to visit the area this fall. I always find myself wondering about the geologic history of the landscape as I travel. For example, the colorful banding in the Badlands of WY. How many years of deposit and erosion am I looking at and what was responsible for the color in the layers...? So much to learn in one short lifetime.

[@earlysda]

Dan, that deposit took roughly one year during Noah's worldwide Flood.

[@IndridCool54]

So cool! 👍🏼

[@AhJodie]

Very cool!

[@dentontxflatearthguy2903]

You should interview Dr. Robert (Bob) Gaines out of Pomona College in CA. I have never met a guy more fascinated with the GUn.

[@jameskarllipscomb2948]

Looks great. Two tips: Some sense of scale at the beginning of the video would help establish perspective. And a shot looking straight up to illustrate depth would be nice. Thanks, keep up the good work.