Southern California Geology | Deposition in the Salton Trough

[@sonicweaver]

I ride my motorcycle in Anza Borrego frequently and have always wonder how this amazing area was created. Thanks for an excellent class!

[@dougsmith6072]

What a fine teacher, shows how science and discovery can be thrilling. Thank you for the concise presentations.

[@geologicallyspeaking]

Thanks Pops!

[@pat8988]

I learned a lot today!

[@NancyRode-u9i]

🤔 totally the best examples of plate movement

[@raenbow66]

Very clear explanation, Todd.

[@percepcionprimitiva]

PLEASE WE NEED MORE STUFF LIKE THIS!!!!!! THIS IS AMAZING

[@michaelneve9374]

A year and a half ago, geology was a topic I could care less about. Thanks to guys like this, it's become a raging passion for me. Thanks for the brilliant and generous act of sharing.

[@geologicallyspeaking]

Mission accomplished. Thanks for the kind words.

[@thewolfe1099]

Fascinating... I'm not a geology student and only have a passing interest in it, but having lived in SD for my first 50 years I know that canyon well. I live in WA State now and watch geology videos from this area and promptly get put to sleep. Honestly, I don't want to fall asleep because I want to learn about the geology of this region but I can't help it. However, with your video I stayed awake the whole 40 minutes and was thoroughly engaged. You do a great job of explaining it without getting boring and explain it simple enough for lay people. Great work on this production

[@raenbow66]

You're a natural teacher, living in a region with virtually endless fascinating geology. Gorgeous (delicious?!)! Dramatic and terrific descriptions, even new words, wow!

[@geoffg9760]

Here because of Zentner's live stream chat this morning pointing you out... Excellent work on these videos!! So happy to have found this and love the music you played Need something like this for Colorado

[@sdmike1141]

Such a great voice in the “geologic mix” of the KZbin-verse!

[@davendana07]

Excellent! Please keep them coming.

[@yahwea]

This is your best vlog yet. VERY interesting and these answers questions I have had since boyhood, when I was fascinated with the watermarks just feet below the tops of the mountains surrounding the Salton Sea. FASCINATING. Very well done.

[@d2sfavs]

all your videos are great thanks for sharing your knowledge you get an A+ from me.

[@hiker1658]

He's back! Fossiliferous greatness 🤓🎉 Thanks for the new video! Wow! You put a lot of effort into this one and it shows. What a great presentation on how to read an outcrop. Fascinating ❤

[@hiker1658]

This is truly your best work, ever. My favorite of your videos. More like this when you can please!!!

[@geologicallyspeaking]

Thank you kindly.

[@lindarocco9974]

Thank you for the excellent, almost poetic presentation. I can see and feel your love for geology. The Earth is amazing, and I enjoy seeing our SoCal geology. I look forward to more videos. I Roccomend this video and your channel.

[@geologicallyspeaking]

Thank you kindly for watching and the encouragement!

[@OtherMike5000]

Videos like this get me sedimental.

[@PEACErocksandgarden]

Excellent presentation thank you easy to envision

[@davidkaplan2745]

Todd, you've really outdone yourself with this one.

[@squidnoid8]

Very interesting & informative video. Thanks for this fascinating look at Anza Borrego !

[@johnlord8337]

Great geo location and backstory. Definitely shows the extreme geo activity of the entire West Coast from the Canadian Shield down to Central America.

[@johnmorgan4921]

That was excellent, thanks for the field trip! Cheers!

[@stevenrey56]

Enjoy your movies. Thank you.

[@richardschutte8105]

Wonderful explaination of the varied sedimentary features from a geologic violent region with alternate high and low energy events over time. So much varied events in a relatively small compressed area.

[@johnrhansonsr]

Growing up I spent a lot of time with my parents (and others) trekking through this area and my goal was to become a geologists. But alas, Vietnam called so I joined the Air Force and ended up loving that as well. Such as life! There are still many flashfloods in that area. Just south of there (about 20+ miles) is dinosaur tracks along with fossilized oyster beds. And to the east are geothermal mud pots.

[@johnrhansonsr]

I'm willing to bet if you dug down below the visible anticline fold you would actually find it was actually in a ball. Just a guess. (38:03)

[@virgo714]

My prayers have been answered 🤗 The best of South California has to offer when it comes to sedimentary rocks, and dont forget Rainbow Basin 😊

[@michaelmckeag960]

I’ve been a fan of Nick Zentner for some time, but missed his shout out. The YT algorithm thought I might find your channel of interest and was right. For many years we have been in the habit of taking a break from Pacific NW winters in Borrego Springs, which now feels like a second home. I’ve explored Split Mountain Gorge countless times, yet learned more of the details of its geology in the past few minutes than ever before. Looking forward to returning this winter with new eyes, and meanwhile viewing more of your tutorials.

[@geologicallyspeaking]

Greetings fellow Zentnerd! Glad you found my video informative. What an amazing place the Salton Trough truly is!

[@markvanleeuwen6678]

MY OLDSTOMPING GROUNDS! I almost bought a house in borrego springs. Occotillo wells is the only thing about california i miss. Was at the shoot spot at the end of split mt road in 2020. I ran out of ammo, when i removed my earplugs i heard a roaring noise but it wasnt raining in the park. Fish creek was flowinng 100 yards wide 8 feet deep with 6 foot waves flowing freeway speeds. 45 minuits later there was no road . PLEASE dont camp in washes. I once came across a paper that showed sections of the o/w area are actually rotating in posotion. Cant find that paper again tho. I have trophy size selenite crystal i pulled out of the area. Thanks for sharing!

[@centralcoastbound]

Pat Abbott, Go Aztecs! Thanks for sharing. It’s good to see you post again.

[@mikeyamada371]

We live a hundred miles from this area. And would love to see it for ourselves where we can replay your awesome video and see it at the same time. Where is this? I see the road mentioned, but it runs for a long way in the desert. Would you please give us directions there? Your enthusiasm is contagious!

[@geologicallyspeaking]

Thanks! I'd recommend this website for maps and details, it's great: www.backroadswest.com/anza-borrego/split-mountain/

[@roxieearly9484]

I’ve always been amazed by the formations and sediment levels and rocks been a rock collector all my life from diapers till 70

[@MellnikMary]

So cool, was just reading about turbidities last night in a geologist’s memoir.

[@drbobinski1]

Hey Todd, great to see you again. Been awhile. I have been to the Salton Trough a few times now. I have been using Borrego Springs as a stepping stone (metaphor intended) for other locations to the east into Arizona and New Mexico. Great episode as always. Did you get out to Catalina yet?BlueSchist all over the place.

[@geologicallyspeaking]

Thanks! Yes, I've been to Catalina several times. What amazing geology out there! I posted a video on my channel regarding pyroclastic flow deposits on the east coast of Catalina, near Two Harbors! It's an amazing outcrop.

[@joerich9636]

Great episode! I have wandered in that area and have always been amazed by the formations. I wish you would come up to the Lincoln / Rocklin area of northern California and explain some of the geology here. We have what appear to be lahars which apparently flowed about 5 million years ago filling in what was apparently the American River valleys. These flows are now the higher regions as the softer areas have since eroded. Some also have trees buried in them. The lower areas are alluvial clay which is used commercially. And Rocklin just to the south is known for its granite quarries. The Sacramento Valley is just to the west.

[@geologicallyspeaking]

Wow! That sounds intriguing!

[@craighoover1495]

Thank you. What are the four evenly spaced holes at about 27-28 minutes in? Look like drill or sampling sites. This was spectacular. I learned a lot.

[@geologicallyspeaking]

@@craighoover1495 From geologists taking core samples, no doubt.

[@craighoover1495]

@@geologicallyspeaking That was my immediate take, thank you. But now, who and what was the finding?

[@geologicallyspeaking]

@ Hmmm good question. Those are sands from a turbidite, so perhaps they’re trying to collect detrital zircons.

[@felipericketts]

Geology is awesome! Love to understand a little bit of what has taken place in our dynamic earth! 🙂

[@dancooper8551]

Excellent video Todd!

[@yakaronielyak8299]

Thank you. This was a solid video. Next Wind Caves, marine fossil deposits above Elephant Knees and the badland clays around it. Maybe throw in mud caves. Getty up Jeep

[@wwalker3738]

I have been running around this area for years now and know exactly where you’re at. I have always known it was sedimentary rock but now I know why and what caused it.

[@stick0634]

It's always great to see a new video from you. I'll have to check out Fish Creek wash next time I'm out that way.

[@johnmortensen9560]

Excellent Geology lecture.

[@fredmac1000]

Truly fascinating,,,👏👏🌷🌷🙏🙏

[@gordonbrackett7220]

I've been to Barrego Springs part of the park. I'd be interested to know more about the geology of, say, Palm Canyon, the huge boulders of that area. A lot of that appears to be granite.

[@hestheMaster]

Wow megabreccia caused by a huge landslide millions of years ago. This is earthquake country after all even when it was under water. Love your explainations of the complex depositional environments encountered here.

[@SandCrabNews]

Rainfall, Snowmelt or Ice melt? Between 18ka and 8ka sea level rise averaged 10.4mm which equates to high precipitation rates over the watershed.

[@geologicallyspeaking]

I'm assuming rainfall. This area was much further south during the Miocene. In addition, many of the fossils found in this area support the view that this area was much cooler and wetter.

[@pmm1044]

Fascinating!!

[@alyssao.9577]

❤❤❤Can you PLEASE please please cover the geology of Jalama Beach, Lompoc and Point Sal? ❤❤❤ The largest diatomaceous earth deposit in the world is located in Lompoc! Additionally, my grandfather told me they occasionally found geodoes (or similar looking rocks) on Vandenberg Airforce [Spaceforce] Base when they were doing a lot of digging to build the missile silos. The Point Sal Trail has a diverse range of rocks and soils that seem really interesting. Some pretty cool fossils have been found at Jalama Beach. I'd really appreciate it! Id also appreciate if you have any book, video, or youtube channel reccomendations that could help me learn about this area.

[@johnlord8337]

There he is !!! Must have won the lottery and cruising all around the world !

[@geologicallyspeaking]

Haha! Quite the opposite! If I won the lottery, I'd be geologizing and making videos 24/7!

[@paulfields6253]

So is the Baja peninsula moving further away from the mainland? Pce

[@geologicallyspeaking]

Yes!

[@Rufus_West]

I love this story so much.

[@oscarmedina1303]

Thank you for another excellent video. I learned a lot. Looking forward to your next video. Why no obvious marine fossils in the sediments next to the Sturzstrom?

[@geologicallyspeaking]

That's a great observation. There may be some in there, but just not so obvious. I do know further up the canyon the beds get fossiliferous with oyster shells and other small marine organisms. Maybe I'll do a video of those beds next!

[@TheBobservations]

Most enlightening. Thanks.

[@gregcollins3404]

Do the layers fold and bend after they have dried for millions of years or does the deformation happen when the sediment is still soft?

[@geologicallyspeaking]

Good question! It is believed these marine sediments were still soft as the sturzstrom would have entered the ocean and first impacted the top soft sediments of the ocean floor. In addition, if the beds would have been lithified, I would imagine they would have fractured heavily due to the speed and sheer mass of the rock avalanche impact on them and we don't see many fractures here, just soft-sediment deformation primarily.

[@kliff1000]

Can you do a video on why the boulders 4’ or greater rocks cover some mountain faces and not others? Was it the flood water that moved them to their current location and position

[@1986BBG]

Have you done anything on Amboy Crater, Cima Craters and Pisgah/Sunshine Craters and volcanics?

[@geologicallyspeaking]

I haven't, but it's on my list!

[@1986BBG]

@ Wow you replied, hey love the channel, you’re doing fantastic things here. Can’t wait to see you at the areas I mentioned. Again thank you and keep doing great things. Cheers

[@hiker1658]

I'll finally be able to recognize a turbidite deposit when I see one!

[@roblangsdorf8758]

Geologists in Washington state talk about Baja to BC movements of materials. What are your thoughts on this?

[@lucyj1261]

IS THERE ANY GEO CHEMISTRY? I LOVED THE STORY! THANK YOU!

[@lynnjacobs9885]

Excellent. I really enjoyed this. I can't help thinking that about half of all Christians think the earth was created only several thousand years ago. If so, there are only two possible explanations for this layering geology: 1) God created the earth like this several thousand years ago to trick us into thinking the earth is really ancient (pretty weird), or 2) the earth actually is really ancient.

[@geologicallyspeaking]

Thanks! .....Or possibly it could be a misinterpretation of the creative "days" in Genesis. Based on the geologic evidence we see today, one cannot assume that these "days" should be a literal 24-hour period. Why couldn't these "days" represent different creative periods of time? Each "day" describes different events happening within that time-period; looking at the Genesis account through that lens removes the time-conflict. There is no rule that the "days" in the creation account should be taken literal, you know? Just a fun thought.

[@scottprather5645]

​@@geologicallyspeaking interesting and common Sense perspective I like it 👍

[@kingme79]

Or the Christian scriptures are all plagiarized misconstrued garbage nonsense 🤔

[@lynnjacobs9885]

@@geologicallyspeaking True, that is conceivably within the realm of possibility. But even if those "days" in the Bible represent long periods of time, they still wouldn't remotely correspond to the geological evidence we have before us. The only plausible scenario I can imagine is that the Christian God created the earth to APPEAR as if it evolved naturally over billions of years as a test of people's faith. It's all wildly improbable, even with the most generous and extreme reinterpretation of the Bible.

[@darindooley4509]

Yes, science just destroys bible stories. 👍

[@NancyRode-u9i]

🙋🏽‍♀️💖 interesting

[@elaineclguerrero5592]

Can you please provide a link to the paper you’re referencing? Thanks!

[@erosion_of_earth]

Do you know where the breccia clasts came from??

[@geologicallyspeaking]

I'm guessing from the Cretaceous-age Peninsular Range Batholith to the west.

[@erosion_of_earth]

@@geologicallyspeaking Okay very interesting.

[@rziepke79]

Thank you

[@saqibnawaz5139]

Amazing heritage of Geology when Salton Trough wilb considered World UNESCO heritage site

[@johnlord8337]

Wasn't the Colorado River also diverted in the ancient pasts (not the modern Salton Sea screw up) and these possible flash floods were part of the many Colorado River breaking out and down into the Central Valley, and also the many layers of bedding.

[@geologicallyspeaking]

You're correct, but the ancient Colorado River deposits came in the Pliocene to this area, these beds we visited here were thought to be deposited during the Miocene. If you rewind time in your mind, this whole area was much further south and migrated up to the Colorado River deltaic system.

[@RussSmith-xu6kd]

My uncle, geologist his whole career, retired in late 70’s, said the Salton Sea would become part of the Gulf of California after a big seismic event “in his lifetime”. He passed in ‘84. Your thoughts on when the Salton Sea will flood? Great presentation!

[@johnlord8337]

@@RussSmith-xu6kd The Salton Sea will flood again, and hopefully fill up and overflow these Anza Borrego mountain range into the Gulf of California, and remove the portions of agricultural pesticides and other harmful pollutants that have decimated the whole waterway. The will only happen when California stops its gluttony of the Colorado River, and starts making mega-desalinization plants up/down the entire coastline. 1 cubic mile of seawater is trillions of gallons of freshwater + the purest of clean mineral and metal salts that can be sold to smelting and industrial companies for profit. 3-4 % of that 1 cubic mile of sea salts is a major income boon for the cash-strapped and bloated California state budget (and worthless politicians that won't deal with balancing the budget, but only make laws raising up gas taxes, banning Skittles candies because of red dye, and other BS idiotic actions). Having all these desalination plants bringing in this immense volume of fresh waters, stops embezzling Lake Tahoe, Walker Lake, Mono Lake, etc. and allow them to refill. Also having this source of fresh water then gives an impetus of removing the dams and reservoirs and returning the land back to its natural status. With all of the fresh water, pump it back into the Central Valley aquifer, and fill up the Salton Sea. So much more can be done with all the water, that creates an economic boom for California and the world - but don't expect the numb nuts in Sacramento to think logically about this !

[@SandCrabNews]

In about 300 million years, San Diego will be beside Oakland.

[@geologicallyspeaking]

Hahaha! We're all on a cruise! ....a very slow cruise.

[@greedygringoprospecting6941]

you live in california. wanna go see some intrusive rock. ,barstow ca.

[@scottprather5645]

Very interesting. evidence of massive floods/ earthquakes in the past

[@haroldhahn7044]

What animal left that giant pile of turds in the foreground?

[@robtippin9111]

😎

[@ted1728]

I love when so called "geologists" ignore obvious catastrophic global flooding. In short those are layers of mud that dominate the mud hills area of the ABD area.

[@mushroomman1856]

Steam flows can make waves. Where is the perfect example of erosion. In any of those layers. The host rock is all over the entire world. The entire world not a local event.

[@mushroomman1856]

Wow... as a guy a guy that has worked with concrete and notice what happens to concrete. It gets hard and cracks. The folding rock layers are sedimentary hundreds of feet thick. Hundreds of feet of layed down quickly said sedimentary rock hold water and heat. Ask the engineers of the Hover Dam. Point is that's Noah's flood event . Add in a few earth quakes you have many pours of concrete with violent earthquakes.

[@TheDanEdwards]

" Noah's flood event ."