Siletzia Fireworks in the Pacific Northwest

Nick Zentner | April 1, 2023
2023 Downtown Geology Lecture Series. Lecture 4 of 4. Recorded at Morgan Auditorium in Ellensburg, Washington, USA.
• Baja BC A to Z - Winte...
www.nickzentner.com/
0:00 Chalkboards
32:56 Slides

[@kathmahoney1287]

I was a webinar producer for Stormwater Inspector Certifications until July 2023. My boss is in Vancouver, WA (me-Whidbey IS., Oak Harbor, WA). We would mention your name/KZbin webinars in our classes for better understanding of rain/water basins etc. We had both come across your very engaging webinars in our spare time, found them very informative, so we'd would pass on your name/KZbin links to OUR students to enjoy AND hopefully get a better prospective of hydrology. Thank you for all your time & dedication to Geology!

[@DavidleViseur]

A funny side-effect of the magic that is Nick Zentner: Although I'm 47 years old and from Germany, the only "German Chocolate Cake" I know is the geologic one he's talking about!

[@etc_kula]

Interesting fact, the German in German Chocolate Cake came from an old brand of processed cocoa called “German’s”; they had a recipe that became very popular. It’s a guy’s name and has nothing to do with Germany. But that certainly doesn’t take away the magic 😊

[@DavidleViseur]

@@etc_kula Yes! Here's what I found - the last sentence is just golden! "Even though the cake is called German, it wasn't brought over from Germany. Instead, it originated in Dallas, Texas, in 1957 - but, just like the cake, its history is much richer than that."

[@briane173]

Got 'em all in, each one was every bit as well-performed and compelling as the 2nd one which I attended on site. I was grateful for the opportunity and this has really put the A-Z together for me, along with a bunch of other stuff you've been imparting over the last 7 years. The Academy owes you a debt of gratitude and I hope that CWU and the geological community appreciate what you've done for them. Toast: May all their soft grants become hard grants -- and give you more material to teach to us, the laypersons. Saluda!

[@henningerflats]

Got 'em all in, each one was every bit as well-performed and compelling as the 2nd one which I attended on site. I was grateful for the opportunity and this has really put the A-Z together for me, along with a bunch of other stuff you've been imparting over the last 7 years. The Academy owes you a debt of gratitude and I hope that CWU and the geological community appreciate what you've done for them. Toast: May all their soft grants become hard grants -- and give you more material to teach to us, the laypersons. Saluda!

[@lynnmitzy1643]

The chalkboard lectures bring back memories 💐Thanx professor.

[@Jablicek]

Lovely to see you giving public lectures in front of an audience again! Your energy is entirely different, but the story-telling and presentation are just as impelling, and it's so encouraging to see there's always new science to be discovered!

[@harrietharlow9929]

I'm fascinated, sometimes frustrated, but aways delighted at how the science is changing. And Nick makes a very interesting, engaging instructor!

[@Wedge53]

If anyone speaks with Patrick, tell him we hope his school year is going well. I look forward to the day when Professor Patrick is grilling the grizzled vet Ned Zinger. Thx for bringing us along Nick.

[@SCW1060]

I started following your downtown lectures way back when that's all you had. I appreciate the new updates you had been doing thank you Nick

[@NathanaelNewton]

Oh wow.. multiple full length lecture videos every day, 3 days in a row. This is amazing!! I wish I could find somebody with half your knowledge and skill for teaching that talked about Eastern Ontario..

[@dennisscharf5530]

As a fellow Eastern Ontario resident I highly feel the same.

[@w-ols-7199]

Problem is eastern Ontario is boring as hell geologically. Im sure Nick could make something out of it, but it's tame compared to the PNW.

[@harrietharlow9929]

​@@w-ols-7199 I'm in the same boat as regards Michigan geology. All the exciting stuff appears to be in the Upper Peninsula.

[@dennisscharf5530]

@@w-ols-7199 Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben? Remnants of the Grenville Orogeny? Landslides caused by Leda clay deposits. It may be boring compared to the PNW but still some interesting stuff here.

[@ellenbryn]

And I wish I could find somebody for Southern California… I'm sure they exist at UCLA, SB, SD and Caltech, but I have fibromyalgia which makes me zonk out - even with Nick, bless him, I sometimes have to back up and start again where the dreaded spinning beachball icon appeared over my forehead (Lol)

[@Vickie-Bligh]

What a wonderful distillation of the Eocene Fireworks. the Crazy Eocene was a wonderful series but I got lost at times. This tied those loose ends. I can totally understand why you stood at the poster. It's like finding the Rosetta Stone. As an outsider looking (I'm no geologist) Dr. Tepper's work makes so much sense and I felt so when you introduced it. Thanks, Nick. Not only for educating we laypeople but advertising and spreading this important work so that geology as a whole takes notice. You, sir, are an awesome educator.

[@kalleryhanen8107]

thanks for the great lecture. Interesting to hear about the birth of the northwest coast and the mountains on its eastern side. Greetings from Finland, from the old Fennoscandian shield :D

[@atomdent]

This does to me feel like a model that could at least partially explain 90 million yr old batheliths in the northwest, just earlier fireworks, similar mechanics.

[@gordongadbois1179]

ANOTHER GNEISS LECTURE NICK WE APPRECIATE YOUR HARD WORK AND TALENT 😃

[@redheadedprincess100]

Mind fully blown ! our pillow basalt mountains in roseburg drew me into the presentation but Wowie Wowie !! Siletzia did everything but defeat the earths rotation 🤯

[@TheMilwaukieDan]

4/23/2023… watched and mentally tried to understand your lecture about Paleomagnetism and now this fantastically mind challenging lecture on Siletzia. I will be challenged for years…. Pieces of knowledge and are so.’enjoyable’ to capture. Thank You Sir.

[@ElinT13]

Such brilliannt lectures! Usually, you would think that geology can be a bit boring, but not with Nick Zentner. Love it!

[@yukigatlin9358]

You've done it, Nick!!😄💞💗 I''m so glad you did the way you did this Downtown Lecture Series! Your strength is letting audiences see things while you teach, and you did it!! You let me motivate to stay tune to continued works of bright open minded geologists! Thank you so much, Nick!!😘💞💗

[@CrankyOtter]

“Aren’t you glad you came?” Unironically, yes 😊

[@craighoover1495]

With the anticipation I developed awaiting the upload of these lectures, I found this to be most gratifying. Thank you.

[@harrietharlow9929]

Another Nick Zentner video? You've made my day, Nick!

[@richinoable]

In the future, when these questions are answered and we've moved on to new content and new understandings, These videos will still be valuable. The energy on the cutting edge is here for everyone to see/hear. Bravo and thank you.

[@brianlhughes]

Good to see the Okanogan playing it's part in the roundabout story of the Pacific Northwest!

[@thomasnewcomb2079]

I love these auditorium lectures. I came across them during the initial covid lockdown was so happy to the public lectures come back. I learn so much from these. Thanks, Dr. Z!!

[@turkfiles]

As usual, another joyful lecture that only Nick can create! Thank you for all of your hard work to bring so many secrets that are beneath our feet or in plain sight for so many of us around the world. You bring them to life, and help us understand what an incredible planet we inhabit.

[@josephdemartino6053]

😊9

[@101rotarypower]

Nicks infectious energy and excitement is more prevalent on this one, Loving it so far!

[@apextroll]

Our type of social influencer.

[@Servants_Heart]

Hi Nick, I really enjoy your lectures. I have learn tons about the NW USA. Awesome job! South Texas

[@kirtliedahl]

I subscribed to this channel because it’s the first time in my LIFE I’ve found geology interesting. I think I’ve watched the super volcanoes lecture 50 times. Fantastic

[@mlovepuravida13]

Same here

[@jodiuhron1979]

Another one here! And I’m glad to know I’m not the only one to watch some lectures over and over!

[@virgilviereckjr.6881]

HELLO NICK, THANK YOU FOR THE LESSON AND AMAZING EDUCATION. TAKE CARE, ALL THE BEST, AND GOD BLESS. VIRGI V. JR. FERNDALE WA.

[@stevew5212]

These last few talks are some of your best work.

[@andy.connor.e8853]

Great to see you giving live presentations again. These are extremely informative, and 50x more watchable.

[@sdmike1141]

Wow! Nice WORK! Thanks Nick.

[@cherishc1326]

Great Presentation Mister! Fascinating and Terrifyingly Beautiful!

[@reginebellefontaine4936]

This is a perfect demonstration of how talented a teacher Nick Zentner is. Clear, accessible information about a complex situation, a way to summerise a whole series and an invitation to (re)watch it : I highly recommend the Crazy Eocene series.

[@MrFmiller]

Looking forward to more adventure with the favorite professor I never had, Nick.

[@GuyFaulk]

Well done Nick, you are a master story teller and a giant in your field and profession. Thank you for the insight you bring to this interesting and evolving topic!

[@dannymccarty6680]

24:12 “There goes nothing…” HERE is where Nick presents, if I understand correctly, the possibility that Siletzia straddled a spreading ridge (“a big old hole“) when it collided with the North American plate. Somehow I missed the Siletzia/spreading ridge concept in the many lectures leading up to this public presentation. For me, this is where the light bulb came on and, with that in mind and taking a few days to revisit past lectures, I finally reconciled several mental disconnects that were bugging me. This is one of Nick’s finest lectures, a very satisfying distillation of the PNW and Rocky Mountain geologic evolution. A tour de force, Nick’s excellent juggernaut lecture series hasn’t stalled. Ya gotta love it!❤

[@Alximiks]

another great lecture video. thank you for sharing (еще одна великолепная лекция. спасибо что поделились видео).

[@TarisSinclair]

(draws a bunch of squiggles on blackboard): "Aren't you glad you came?" ..and I'm chuckling for the next 5 minutes. Gotta love the slightly self-deprecating sense of humor. Thank you Nick!

[@Auchioane]

Stumbled across your channel (no idea how) but this series of lectures on the Pacific Northwest has been amazing. I don't live anywhere near this region but I learnt soo much from these videos. Your presentation style, drawings and animations were really easy to understand for someone who has zero background in geology. Keep up the great work!

[@TheBeingReal]

His enthusiasm and passion make the subject really engaging. He’s the teacher type who creates interest in a subject. 🙌🏼

[@evelynmoyer9069]

Binge-watching this latest series with a live audience. How exciting! (not getting the housework done) 😀

[@101rotarypower]

Just popped open YT, and a fresh Nick Vid! Must Watch TV

[@pmgn8444]

Another great lecture. Summarizes the 'Crazy Eocene A to Z' and gives nice updates. Thanks Prof. Nick. Also, glad to see Bijou was there in spirit to keep an eye on you!

[@pauldavis1943]

I really appreciate that you don't pretend you have all the answers and that there is still stuff to learn.

[@mariatheresa7095]

Sunday a great day to enjoy video

[@gerardostheimer43]

Nice work, Nick. These lectures bring your work full circle and are wonderful summaries of your accomplishments since early 2020. It is tremendous what you have done to catalyze dialog within the PNW geology community. In addition, I find it interesting that the rapidly descending crust of the slab roll-back model (and supporting tomography observations) are opposite to the expectations of a "shallow" slab. The hypothesis of a shallow slab does not agree with observations of rapidly descending slab material. Further questioning the possibility of shallow slab in driving Rocky Mountain uplift.

[@johnjunge6989]

I wish I did not live 3000 miles away, so I could see these places. Illinois has so much Loess and limestone, that you wonder how the good Lord left us out of some of the beauty of your area. Great stuff-! 😊

[@petermiesler9452]

Amazing, mind boggling, unfolding the folds within folds of constructive harmonic complexity. Nick you are a treasure! I must go back catch the first lecture, still these three have been an amazing ride of new insights. What has always struct me with such revolutionary findings and revisions in geology (and other Earth sciences) is that once the data and new story has a change to digest, it fits right into our previous tectonic understanding, like Russian dolls being exposed one after the other. Data (experience) driven, it's a beautiful thing. Thank you Professor Zentner for giving us such wonderful, competent, insightful, fun lectures about the state of geologic understanding. (Might I suggest giving more information in your description section. Having the names of those geologists handy would be great.) {lecture inspired by the work of Jeffrey Tepper} ;-)

[@stevengeorge5605]

Great, two lectures today! It’s raining again, so I’ll be busy watching these today, and Siletzia is my favorite exotic terrane since I live on it. 😀 Thank you, Nick!

[@markfeagans9679]

Multiple videos in one day! Perfect for my Friday evening.(Yes, a weird work schedule) Thank you Nick, again.

[@tgmccoy1556]

Recovering from a nasty cold wind, rain glass of wine. Good stuff ,Nick

[@sharonwhiteley6510]

It's amazing how as science changes you learn something new.

[@GIBKEL]

I hadn’t kept up with the latest story …mind blown.

[@Mikkelltheimmortal]

I am amazed by something in literally every one of your videos

[@kc7brj]

Excellent lecture! Thank you.

[@dancummane3668]

This is OG Nick Zetner.

[@gfsimmons1]

Mr. Zentner my son moved to Collville Wa. Could you please recommend some information on the geology of northeast Washington. I have met you you at some of your lectures and followed you on KZbin for years but I find nothing on that area. Thank you in advance,, if you find the time.

[@ellenstanton2043]

Excuse me for intruding, but Mr Zentner recommended, a while back, The Roadside Geology of Washington by Marli Miller. This might be a good place to start with both general information, and specific road trips and the adjacent geological features.

[@greybone777]

Its amazing how different the geology of East Wenatchee and Wenatchee just across the river is. Enjoying the methow Valley now 😮

[@Dinlitla]

That moment during minute 24 when he drew the big blue arrows... mind blown!

[@Yaxchilan]

yes yes yes !!!!!! love yallz hugzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[@BladeRunner-td8be]

Does anyone love geology more than Nick Zenter? Nope!

[@ronm4543]

I don't know who to thank. The new KZbin algorithms for me finding this channel or Nick. Awesome lecture. Much appreciated.

[@Dave-vy8wg]

WoooHoo, U Rock

[@lorrainewaters6189]

excellent, Nick, again.

[@GrannySmith]

Fantastic lecture!

[@allencolvin4320]

It's unbelievable that the basalts in Lewis County Willipa Hills are much, much older than the Columbian basalt! Wow!

[@donnacsuti4980]

Thanks most interesting, and great visuals

[@robertdufour2456]

Wow! I watch and I am fascinated!! Amazing!

[@quinn3334]

these past few lectures have absolutely blown my mind. youre such a great educator, and doing it publicly is the cherry on top.

[@atomdent]

After the last three episodes in this thread. I knew this had to be coming as I've repeatedly said Siletzia under my breath over and over. This will be EPIC!

[@alanrobbo6980]

Hi, Love your Lectures, I’m from the U.K. Essex, I wish I had a Lecturer like you 70 years ago, my life may have gone in a different direction. It’s taking time to catch up, but I’m learning so much, Thank You.

[@Cohowarren]

I wish my geology professor had been as interesting as you. My career may have been different. Sciences were always my strong point. I ended up in Medical Imaging. (retired)👍👍👍

[@robertdufour2456]

Thank you professor!

[@MegaUnclerico]

Thank you for making more of these delightful and informative lectures! at long last!

[@greenman6141]

Wow. Another belter of a lecture. I've been wondering for a while now what might happen if a continent ran over either a spreading area or a subduction one. But I hadn't thought about running over a spreading area sideways on. I now watch a number of other geology channels on KZbin as well as other odd lectures. But it was Nick Zentner that started me off, and enabled me to get an understanding of so many basic and key concepts in geology.

[@joebainter]

I have been busy doing so many other things that Mr Nick had kinda dropped of my radar. So glad he is back with his lectures, I missed them

[@carladelagnomes]

Seems like every time I re-watch these four Downtown Geology Lectures I keep having more and more "ah-ha!" moments! All this complicated, detailed information being lined out so I can get it and update my understanding (I was a geo student in the early 2000s). It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Thanks Nick, for taking the time to put this together in a package and relaying the info to us, because we probably wouldn't have had access any other way...

[@Stroopwaffe1]

Great uploads liked and subbed. Scotland.

[@philipallard8026]

Always something new. Thank you Nick.

[@wasitthat]

New lectures from Nick Zentner??? I'm gonna be sleeping so good for the next several months!

[@rogerallen6644]

Very engaging! I’m back in my geology 101 classroom from over 40 years ago! Well done, Nick!

[@glacier68]

Excellent presentation. As a UPS geology alum, psyched to hear that one of our faculty helped to pique your interest in this topic (although my time there predated most of the current faculty). And yes, one of the great strengths of the UPS science depts is to get undergrads out and doing solid research.

[@sharonewidow6027]

I like the example you gave for why 55 to 44 and so glad Patrick did not cut off your biceps :D

[@DyanEsoap]

Excellent series! Thank you Nick.

[@klumpy103]

Wow- You just described Iceland as Siletzia.... I never made that connection before.

[@johnyoung2544]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU was disappointed with what I learned this winter, got a lot about zircons and mag but got confused trying to visualize what spreading ridges are pushing plates in the direction you want the land mass to go.I need to rewatch AtoZ again (3rd time).

[@davidcooke8005]

16:00 The Golden Horn was my first true alpine ascent, 30 years ago. The summit is about the size of a kitchen table, and in my summit photo I'm clinging to it like a cat, the whites showing all the way around my eyes I was so terrified. If I knew this stuff then I would have Cliff Klaven'ed my way all the way up the thing.

[@cynkingking]

All I can say is WHOA! From a 1970's U of O geol student!

[@markvanleeuwen6678]

I like the rollback idea, it works/ fits

[@tannerwallace7231]

It's so interesting how Nick's public performances have changed since covid. Still the same great information presentation but his quirky personality shines through just a lil bit more! Keep up the fantastic work! Love your passion. It's infectious!

[@Dragrath1]

Good to see this get covered in the public lecture format. That said as a stickler for detailed nuance in the context big picture, one big standout from the crazy Eocene series to me was the paper on the changing perspective of plate tectonics. Notably that paper near the end of the series served as a call of action for a new paradigm and took fault with the terms slab windows and slab rollbacks as conventionally described not really being representative of what is actually going on since the mantle is solid below the asthenosphere and it appears that the mid ocean ridge structure of the East Pacific Rise transform offset faults and all is on top of a deep solid upper mantle discontinuity. In other words calling it a slab window or slab rollback makes it sound like the oceanic crust subducted is a thin surface disconnected from the planet below rather than the cooled surface of the deep primarily solid mantle convection cells. This more or less means that when you subduct a spreading ridge it doesn't go away its still down there in the mantle exerting heat and pressure from below from the vast planetary convective system. Given the tight fit between this deep upper mantle discontinuity and the boundaries of the modern Basin and Range province specifically the zones of inter-plate volcanism its probably better to thin of the province as the result of the upper layers of North America continuing to get thrusted to the southwest despite the core of the continental craton and the subducted slab walls having gotten caught on this vast well defined hot mantle discontinuity. This as well as the relative difference in motion between NA and the Pacific then easily explains many of the details Hildebrand's models related tp the onset of these fireworks here and the end and or progression spatially of the flare up activities. Namely the much more rigid nature of the oceanic ridge structure lets us glean why the activity is transtensional and the ridge architecture which is still down there in the mantle lets us see why there was a temporal offset and age progression. #team Hildebrand big global picture view. Its hard to grasp initially but once you see it/makes sense of it all other variations of explaining the craziness out west fall flat.

[@drawengrave01]

WOW! Compelling.

[@peaceofmindfarming]

if I could get my (older)brother to watch this he might better understand the complex geologic/agrologic processes which created the complex soils on our western Oregon property. Dupee silt, sandy bands of soil scattered about the Jory clay hills, somewhat randomly. Other Dupee soils in more lowland areas, understandably. Thank you for all these lectures and your spirit , gratefully loved by this bed-bound Quad!

[@willbradley7450]

Great presentation as always, Nick. Still, I've got to throw a wet blanket on one important point which you make at minute 25. When you introduce the idea of a subducting spreading rift, you have the vectors of the emergent crust at acute angles rather than perpendicular to the rift. That can't be right. I think by using transverse faults with the rifting zone, you can obtain the same ultimate plate vectors, it's just more complicated. Follow the rifts to explain SO MUCH of what's been going on with Baja-BC, et al.

[@williamfletcher3410]

Great Work!

[@lesliepropheter5040]

Discovering the age progression of the orange circles from 52 to 44 mill by the senior club reminds me of your explanation of the Yellowstone progression …. It’s all relevant is it not? Thanks for the clear understanding and your enthusiastic lectures. Love ya Nick

[@richardstephens3642]

Hey Nick will you ever be doing a lecture regarding, what the Pacific plate will be doing after it no longer slides under North America???

[@lefthandeddoghouse3586]

Think of taking Iceland, turning it 60 degrees clockwise, relocating it off the pacific northwest, and then drive it into and under the pacific northwest. I think I can see it, but am having issues with the 55ma-44ma going East to West... Always wondered where the spreading centers that dissappeared under the west coast went to which left us with the San Andreas slip fault... Thank you Nick for another moment of enlightenment.

[@jonrolfson1686]

The picture of a very large off-shore land mass that was the product of and lay athwart an East-West oriented spreading ridge seems very familiar. It sounds like an analog to current time Iceland which is a product of and lies on the generally North-South Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Would that then active East-West oriented spreading ridge have run subsidiarily eastward from the generally North-South Juan de Fuca Ridge portion of the ancestral East Pacific Rise? Was the docking of Siletzia a collision where in the westward moving North America ‘T-Boned’ Siletzia?

[@floorskins1108]

55,,,44 million years ago,,fire worked that gold into,dem dare hills,,no rush now fellas,,,,,,,,

[@floorskins1108]

mother earth pumps them veins,,no terra now,,its alive,,,,,,,

[@lordorion5776]

Good day, This 4-day lecture series was 'AWE-SOME!!!'. Very nicely done. One random thought: I was thinking of the two slides showing the Indian plate pushing into the Asian plate and the Farallon plate being overrun by the NA plate (Looks like Farallon pushing into NA). The Siletzia slide showed the 'birth' of the Juan de Fuca plate, daughter plate of Farallon. It would follow that somewhere south of India, there will eventually be a southern India plate (or some other named plate) that will crack and subduct under the docked India sub-continent. That will cause some geologic haywire!!! I wonder if there is any catastrophic evidence of the fracturing of the Farallon at the birthing of Juan de Fuca(???). That should have displaced a vast volume of water and rock. You may want to ask some of your compadres about their thoughts on the magnitude of that fracturing, even if only for a talking point (tectonic meets seismic). Tony (Northfield NH)