An Odd "Eye-Shaped" Structure in Central Wyoming? Geologist Explains

[@bearbait49]

One reason I love flying over Wyoming is the opportunity to witness structural geology without vegetation hiding the pretty rocks.

[@jackbelk8527]

Anytime I fly on a clear day I show up at my destination with a severe crick in my neck! I have a window seat or I don't go.

[@generalputnam2990]

@@jackbelk8527 Ditto my transatlantic/Pacific crossings. But the best flight of all is Salt Lake City to ABQ. Starboard seat ➡️ SE. Four Corners, Canyonlands, San Juan River, Shiprock, Bisti Badlands, Valles Calderera, etc.,

[@MARILYNANDERSON88]

The badlands are a spectacle its devastation and environment exceptionally harsh to life is awesome rather than beautiful to me.

[@judierickson7166]

I will never look out the car window the same again! That was so interesting. Thank you!

[@Jayne-z5s]

In this chaotic period of time the world is going through at the moment there is something deeply peaceful about the age of these rocks 230 million years.which resonates with the soul. Restfully therapeutic. Bless you Shawn for bringing perspective back into our minds. Your chanel is much more than a geology lesson.

[@Theranthrope]

There is no point in time when the Earth is not chaotic.

[@Jayne-z5s]

@@Theranthrope you are right. But before time there was peace, perhaps that's what I'm remembering.

[@Chris-ut6eq]

From the thumbnail I thought that you found Sauron's petrified eye, but as is often the case my initial impression was incorrect.

[@jackprier7727]

Petrified ripples always excite me, good to have the anticline illustrated {from the Laramide Orogeny}-

[@tootsiequilt]

Wow! My quilting experience came in handy! I guessed 30 degrees tilt. 😊

[@mrcryptozoic817]

My guess too! Based on the angle across the monitor display.

[@jackbelk8527]

Irish Canyon, Colorado would be a great one to cover, too. Great faults, petroglyphs and fossils.

[@toughenupfluffy7294]

I agree. Irish Canyon is actually a strike valley, not a canyon. It got its name when three Irish cowboys robbed a liquor store in Rock Springs, then proceeded to go there to drink their loot. By the time the law caught up to them, they were easily captured.

[@charleymitchell5461]

I like how you go far afield. When you were talking about the Bear River a few weeks ago, I realized Wyoming drains into the Snake River to the Pacific, the Green River to the Gulf of California, the Big Horn and the Platte River to the Gulf of Mexico, and the Bear River to the Great Salt Lake. Is Wyoming the only state that is the headwaters of four major drainages?

[@edwardlulofs444]

I would guess not but it certainly isn’t common and I can’t think of another. Somewhere is two ocean pass where one side goes to one ocean and the other to a different ocean. But 3 oceans drainage I have not heard of.

[@markhanish4463]

Mt. Snow in British Columbia is a 3 ocean divide: Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic. I’m guessing most if not all continents might have at least one of those triple divides, but would have to research more.

[@charleymitchell5461]

Here in Montana, we have Mt Triple Divide Peak. Hudson Bay. Pacific Gulf of Mexico. Don't see your B.C thing. @@markhanish4463

[@charleshash4919]

​@@edwardlulofs444 Montana has 3 as a bit of Glacier NP and areas a bit east drain into Hudson Bay with the remainder going into the Pacific via the Columbia River or the Gulf of Mexico via the Missouri& Missippi Rivers.

[@edwardlulofs444]

@@markhanish4463 I’m guessing that there are more 3 ocean divides also. But not many people study geography in this country anymore. And this is not a big world changing issue. But I like geography and I think it’s important. There are a few geography channels on youtube but they don’t have a big following. I’m ashamed of how little knowledge of geography Americans now have.

[@shawnwillsey]

Be sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE. You can support my educational 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 or here: buymeacoffee.com/shawnwillsey

[@jeanhofvedvm7589]

Fabulous! I know exactly where this is, I've been driving that road for 50 years! But on that particular curve, I'm always looking at that sweet little farm across the road... now, when I got back up there in June, I will have a whole new perspective!

[@YewtBoot]

I recall cycling this section of road on the Trans Am route. The various anticline parts were obvious and pleasant to see at bicycle speeds. I also really enjoyed the section north of Rawlins before Muddy Gap. Lots of cool formations to the east of the road I'd like to go back and visit again. Thanks for the cool description of the eye-like formation.

[@johnlord8337]

YT Myron Cook (Wyoming geologist) mentioned that there was a massive shallow inland sea that once was located in Wyoming, and then with events, it washed NE-ward up and across Montana into Canada, flushing out. This fit this period of the shallow sandstone ripple mark stone.

[@robertdiehl1281]

Very interesting geology. Such beautiful country. The colors of the surrounding landscape are magical imo during the last few hours of daylight. Excellent video.

[@stephanieparker1250]

4:59 Mrs. Willsey.. I see something Shawn needs for his birthday. 😅🤗

[@7inrain]

These things are prohibitively expensive. 😕

[@karlbarros2849]

It might be a sentimental favorite.

[@oscarmedina1303]

Thank you Shawn. It was great to learn about anticlines. What a great example you provided for us viewers. I believe this would also apply to the "Eye of Sahara"?

[@Laserblade]

Excellent formation choice for a lesson Professor. The alternating composition of the beds would tell us an interesting environmental story.

[@PeterEck]

Travel Logs: About 50 years ago, I stopped in Alpine, Texas. A fellow had developed Travel Logs for people to understand the geology of the area. Each log was based on distance traveled from the one traffic light in town. You picked up the travel log for the direction you were headed. I was heading south into Big Bend country. The one thing I remember from this particular log was at 12 miles. You stop your car at a rise in the road and off to the left there is a peak with a lava cap and limestone underneath forming caves. You could journey there and shoot Mountain Lions either with your rifle or camera. The Lions came up from Mexico. A little further on, there was a ranch road off to the right. Travel in to the ranch and stop and say hello. The rancher would let you look for agates. He had a bolo tie on with a very unique agate base clasp. It looked like a daisy growing out of a green grassy area. Very unique. At the time, he said he had been offered $300 for it. The things you remember from that long ago... Thank you for all that you are doing!!! Very interesting.

[@HH.......]

Thank you Shawn 😊 for the lesson Fascinating ❤😊

[@n8dawg640]

3:02 one of the notable places this tip doesn’t work is in central Texas, where the brick red sandstones are the basal cambrian unit overlying the precambrian igneous and metamorphic sequences found in the Llano uplift Theyre pretty cool, they contain as much as 10% iron which is technically economically viable to mine although I don’t think much of it is

[@bobbenson6825]

Very nice. The low sun angle worked out too.

[@abeautifullife5303]

I'm enjoying learning. Thanks.

[@stangrove6153]

As always, thanks for the great field pedagogy. Viewers may be further interested to know that oil derricks positioned between Shawn's first and second stops are pulling oil from the underlying Permian strata. The historical name for this part of the anticline is Derby Dome. Also, Jurassic and Cretaceous layers are very well exposed just a quarter mile east of Shawn's second stop. The Morrison formation there hosts a couple of fairly large dinosaur skeletons.

[@skyepilotte11]

Thanks Shawn...always interesting.

[@glenwarrengeology]

I Victoria, Australia the Brick red would not be Triassic as there is very little of it. The Ordovician and Silurian sedimentary rock can be red but is mostly yellow. The Red Bluff formation is red and pliocene, but that has been incorporated into the Sandringham Sandstone.

[@stevewhalen6973]

Thanks!

[@johnhogue9510]

Mapped that area at geology field camp in 1981. Good time and good geology!

[@KellyClowers]

"Chugwater formation" brought up some deep memory, or remnant of a memory... I heard that name a long time ago but I can't recall in what. Did they mention it Jurassic Park? Or maybe in Digging Dinosaurs? I think most all of Horner's stuff was further north and more recent than that though.

[@KellyClowers]

hm, searching my ebook copy of JP gets no results for chugwater

[@CricketsBay]

Idk, but the USGS MrData site has it. It's named for the town of Chugwater, WY.

[@billwilson-es5yn]

Chugwater is in the SE corner of Wyoming. It sits in a valley with steep cliffs that run northeast that expose sedimentary rock which probably is the Chugwater Formation. There's a stream at the base of the cliffs where the buffalo chugged water.

[@d1o1a1]

I've watched your channel for a few months, just subscribed. And commented.

[@shawnwillsey]

Welcome aboard! Lots of good videos to peruse.

[@gailgreen5012]

Really enjoy your videos. Learning masses. Mega thanks for your most generous sharing of knowledge. 😊

[@robertbrigham1620]

I completed geology field camp north of there on the Wyoming/Montana border 50 years ago. The rocks have obviously not changed but maybe the names have, but back then the outstanding red sandstone of the area was called what you suggested, the Chugwater formation.

[@mickie7873]

I have two sons living in Lander and I lived there for 5 yrs. Love those Red Rocks! Thanks for pining down the orogeny, Triassic huh? As you drive back North on 287, how about that view at Red Canyon. Super!!

[@VTPSTTU]

Thanks for the video. I love seeing this kind of stuff. I grew up back east, but I love Wyoming.

[@Raven-Creations]

@ 8:48, when looking at the underside of a layer of sandstone, there appears to be some sort of fossil in the top right corner. It's a slightly elongated hexagonal shape, and appears to have a central area surrounded by trapezoidal plates. I only have a passing knowledge of fossils, I can recognise trilobites, and ammonites, but I don't recall seeing anything like this. Maybe it could help date the rock. By 8:49 it's more central, but the camera angle makes it less distinct. You didn't say what removed the top of the anticline, a bit like removing the top off a boiled egg. I can appreciate that erosion is responsible for the ridges becoming more prominent, once the layers were exposed, but I would have expected a fairly smooth shape to have been resistant to typical erosion. Is it northerly enough for an ice sheet to have taken the top off during one of the ice ages?

[@hestheMaster]

Along that highway between those two stops you made professor the layers even out for some distance. Love to see what is undoubtedly harder and older rock probably a granite there that pushed up the whole shebang in a large circular bullseye.

[@Ravenflight104]

This structure reminds me of the Wilpena Pound formation in the Flinders Ranges of southern Australia.. Cool place.

[@stevehunt4660]

But inside out, Wilpena Pound is a syncline rather than an anticline.

[@Ravenflight104]

Oy ! I seem to have commited a rookie assumption. I blame doing so on my advancing age ( 70 ) . So, what else is there to do but console myself with a bowl of ice cream.@@stevehunt4660

[@Mark_in_Boulder]

I drove down this road 2 years ago coming home from Teton NP. Wish I'd have seen this video then so I'd know what to look for. Did you get to visit Sinks Canyon State Park a few miles SW of Lander where the Popo Agie river flows underground for about 1/4 mile? A cool place to visit if you're near Lander.

[@jenibylsma9845]

Thank you Shawn. Found this really fascinating. Learning so much from watching these clips - they are very much appreciated! 😁

[@markhanish4463]

Very cool folding. So we commonly hear about anticlines and synclines and their formation from basic perpendicular compressional stresses. What happens to the stresses to create a doubly plunging anticline or syncline? Are these folds created from a continuous and progressive rotation of the stresses, or are they formed due to a second compressional event that happens later in a different direction, or are there other factors that play into the fold geometry during a “standard” unidirectional compressional event?

[@runninonempty820]

Awesome video Shawn. Please explain the difference between an unconformity, a nonconformiy, and a discomformity because I've heard all three, but they seem the same.

[@shawnwillsey]

Good idea. Planning to do some lecture style videos soon.

[@billwilson-es5yn]

Wikipedia's article about Unconformity explains those with photographs showing the differences.

[@johncooper4637]

I guessed 30°. The Chugwater formation is exposed in Wind River Canyon, too. It is the only place where I have seen formations labelled.

[@EddieSchirmer]

lol, "Double Plunging Anticline" would make an excellent Rock band name 🤣

[@generalputnam2990]

Or a description of the Met Gala...

[@acfanter]

😂. Rock band … I see what you did there …

[@mrcryptozoic817]

I can imaging Tom Lehrer crafting a song with this as the subject.

[@mboykin6047]

How about visiting Upheaval Dome in Canyonlands Nat’l Park, on the Island In The Sky?

[@brucedymock6635]

Another great one thanks you have me looking again as I travel in Australia great explanation

[@funnyperson4027]

There’s a really big circular structure near silver lake Oregon northeast of crater lake that I always wondered about. Could be left over from a glacial megaflood but I could never find anything on it

[@SkepticalRaptor]

As a biologist, I would be breaking those shales to see if there are any fossils. Maybe there are none.

[@denisem.1042]

As a former geology major, I really love your content! Question: Have you ever done a video on the Beaverhead impact structure?

[@shawnwillsey]

Not yet. But I wrote a chapter about it in my book, Geology Underfoot in Southern Idaho.

[@clmjr1978]

Ahhh good ol' W-Y-O... I'm from Wind River Indian Reservation... I honestly didn't know that existed but thanks for sharing... Truly amazing..!

[@valoriel4464]

Thx Prof ✌🏻 fascinating geo-adventure

[@EricRush]

I've driven that highway many times and never noticed this. If I ever am back that way again, I'll stop and look. Thanks.

[@robertmpeterson9755]

Been driving by there for 50 years. Never even thought about it.. Cool !

[@loisrossi841]

So interesting as usual, thank you.

[@thomasott5899]

I think Brunton compasses are made in WY - have them install a new mirror- great video

[@tinoyb9294]

Yeah, about 45 minutes from here if it's still in Riverton.

[@kateclover874]

Nice anticline. CURIOUS? what was the climate like in the Triassic to create all the red rocks? wet? I appreciate your use of Google Earth to illustrate the big picture and then zoom in.

[@kymkauffman5000]

Love the layering here! I was thinking 25 degrees

[@ginnychichester2171]

Thanks for the vocabulary help. Dip, unconformity, disconformity. I need the practice! Just an armchair geo-nerd. The ripples are an obsession of mine. Good talk!!

[@paulbriggs3072]

Fine ripples are actually more often caused by flowing water that has standing waves or ripple waves. Water draining down a tidal beach causes this. But inflowing water can have standing waves as well. River currents CAN produce waves like this as well. The entire structure was sheared off by something which took away the high middle section but left the ends. I reject slow erosion as the cause but a catastrophic shearing force like a debris flow answers it.

[@tomolson1320]

I must get you to see the Moenkopi FM in eastern Arizona!

[@markrademaker5875]

Do you think those layers were layed down from flowing water or still water? Does not their staightness imply flowing water more so than still water (flowing water sorts, still water does not)? Thanks.

[@1mmickk]

When I win the Lottery you will become my personal Geologist and we will just drive around and look at rocks.

[@shawnwillsey]

Deal!

[@aldebaran4154]

Between you and Myron Cook I'll be learning the entirety of Wyoming's geography without ever having to visit there. 😉

[@fwmh]

All folds are non cylindrical (double plunging) some are highly non cylindrical, people forget this and sometime confuse non cylindricity with two phases of folding.

[@rodbhar6522]

I'd love to see Shawn and Myron Cook do a video together. My two favourite KZbin geologists.

[@kerkphil]

It's like a mini version of the San Rafael Swell!

[@TCook-d3s]

Near Evanston, Wyoming there is an overthrust where the layers ended in a huge S pattern. I’m not sure if evidence is on the surface but can be verified by drilling. Interesting video. My guess was it was a meteor crater.

[@mbvoelker8448]

I wish there was someone doing this for North Carolina. It would be harder though since our geology isn't sitting out there naked like that. It's really cool to see stuff all laid out like a diagram in a textbook.

[@gwennebelle]

My son and I lived in Lander, Wyoming.

[@danielcarroll5667]

"Bathtub rings" hahah...

[@grandparocky]

Another great video!

[@garyb6219]

Thanks for the nice video. What is that compass? I love compasses!

[@shawnwillsey]

Brunton transit compass

[@tomolson1320]

Looks like alternating channel and splay deposits in this strata!

[@Ravenflight104]

However, Getting to the top edge of Wilpena Pound is a bit more of a hike.

[@PhilipMurphy8Extra]

Thanks for the video, was quite interesting

[@karlbarros2849]

Would an erroded anticline explain the Richat structure in the Sahara?

[@tomolson1320]

Oooo, I was 3 degrees off! What a guess!

[@Wolvesarechasingme]

That is one fancy compass. 😂 With a broken mirror. Of course! 😂

[@ericclayton6287]

Thought you take dip on the path water runs down on the measured surface.

[@nothanks3236]

OK just started the video, but judging from the overhead view, I'd say that's an anticline that has then subsequently eroded out a lot of material.

[@mikelong9638]

Why is Triassic rock almost always red? I understand it is oxidized iron, but what was the common mechanism that made the Triassic special?

[@CricketsBay]

Triasic in Australia is usually yellow. When it's red, it is indeed from iron.

[@shawnwillsey]

Very arid climate. Lots of red beds.

[@shellyboyette287]

Thank you! I enjoy your vidoe alot. Shelly CA.

[@jennygholson-morris8786]

What can you tell us about why that structure is there? Is it part of the overall mountain building that has taken place on the area? Are there similar-looking structures in the area, or is this one an outlier?

[@pasp6868]

There are countless number of these anticline structures in the Wyoming. We get people from all over to study the geology here in Wyoming. As mentioned earlier it fun to view from the air.

[@davidk7324]

"Ruffles have ridges"

[@shlby69m]

Any Dino tracks? Dr Anton Rock-O-Rama showed some in his vid

[@chrisgustafson9342]

World's largest open pit Copper Mine? My husband went to one years ago and brought me back some cute copper heart earrings

[@PeterEck]

This reminds me of the Black Hills of South Dakota where you see such formations tilting upward to the west around Rapid City. Both your Wyoming and the Black Hills formations appear like they could have come from the same time period and geological forces. The Blacks Hills is a much larger formation. Does anyone know if this would be true?

[@CricketsBay]

Yes. The Black Hills are the Easternmost uplift of the Laramide Orogeny, same as this Chugwater Formation he's showing in this video. Parts of the Black Hills were formed during the Triasic, when the Chugwater Formation was laid down as well. Other parts of the Black Hills are Jurassic.

[@PeterEck]

@@CricketsBayIf this was once part of an inland sea and there have been forces over the eons causing the ground to rise, These two areas (Black Hills and your presentation area) would indicate a weakness in the ground and/or forces below forcing a rupture like structure. Why did this happen instead of volcanic activity as indicated by Devil's Tower and the other areas in Utah that you have highlighted in your other videos?

[@Bigandrewm]

There is a really striking and large "eye" in the Sahara Desert easily viewable in Google Earth called the Richat Structure.

[@bwaynesilva]

What makes the Triassic rocks typically red? Iron?

[@shawnwillsey]

Yes iron oxide.

[@stephenhudson8739]

Do you use an inclinometer to measure the dip ?

[@karlbarros2849]

A string and a protractor?

[@tomolson1320]

Those ripples should be upper Wupatki if they were in AZ.

[@brianalberico9171]

It would be really neat if you could meet up with Myron Cook for a crossover geology video. I don't know if you are familiar with him or not, but he's Wyoming based, and puts out some really high quality videos.

[@shawnwillsey]

Yep. We’ve emailed. Both went to NAU for grad school.

[@formerastronaut]

How is something as fine and delicate as ripple marks in sand/mud preserved so well over time after presumably being buried and squished, brought to the surface and then eroded?!

[@CricketsBay]

The rippled marks got turned to rock before a massive weight could squish them ie becoming rock while new sediment is protecting the ripples as they become rock. Then, being rock, they were able to withstand the additional weight and pressure as more and more sediment was deposited.

[@formerastronaut]

@@CricketsBayIsn't part of turning to rock being crushed under massive weight and pressure?

[@DJDouglasWarden]

How did the laramide originate?

[@parksto]

Thank you :)

[@vipertwenty249]

Before watching the video my first thought is - eroded volcano. Let's see how far off I am! Edit: Now after watching, I see that my extraordinary talent is functioning in top gear in its usual fashion. I was exactly and precisely wrong.🤣

[@genuineimpulse9134]

Consistency is the key to greatness.

[@troy3456789]

Is it likely the rocks are still moving up?

[@kurthollman2987]

Where University of Missouri does it’s field camp. Derby or Dallas Dome. Go camp Branson!

[@solodad7999]

Shaun if you are in Utah & need a drone view for your program i have 3 drones & will travel.

[@TheRattlesnakeRanch]

Salt dome?

[@bhdivotfiller]

Eroded dome?

[@tomolson1320]

Good job

[@bravendyer9529]

Thanks 🙏 ❤coooool dude !