The Nautilus: An odd and geologically different slot canyon in Grand Staircase-Escalante NM, Utah

[@loisrossi841]

Love seeing where I am unable to see in person,thank you.

[@oscarmedina1303]

I wish I was much younger and could travel to visit these amazing locations you show us. Thank you.

[@TerryBollinger]

Natural sandblasting! This one totally surprised me, but it instantly makes sense once you explained it. Thank you!

[@shawnwillsey]

Glad it was helpful!

[@anitapaulsen3282]

@TerryBollinger Same

[@johnlaforte700]

You are a wealth of knowledge, and I really appreciate these videos. Thank you. 🌄

[@donfrank3049]

Many wonderful formations in that huge area. I've seen many cut by the sand driven wind. Thanks for sharing!

[@anitapaulsen3282]

I saw a hikers video of this place. An aerial view from above and his hike walking through. I never knew this place existed and am completely enamored and transfixed by the beauty of this place and the corkscrew shape of this national monument. So I did a search to see if you had done any videos here and found three. So interesting that there is a mini corkscrew feature within the huge corkscrew shape of this place. So very cool. Thank you.

[@jamessmelcer616]

Another good one Shawn! Thank you brother.

[@MaxPixUT]

After being in Vermillion cliffs during windy weather, especially the canyon near the Wave, the sandblasting is impressive in that area. The best sculptures I saw are the Bone Yard rocks, the Alcove and the Grotto up on top of that ridge above the wave; so amazing!

[@markomalizani7751]

This was informative sir, thank you, God Bless

[@gladysseaman4346]

Fascinating

[@joannekellam191]

Woo hoo! I got it! Thanks for another super-interesting video!

[@RJB]

Great video! The Vermillion area is my favorite place on earth. Would love if you ever got to the Wave area and showed around there. Was there in 2020 and it's an amazing place.

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for watching. Yeah, The Wave is some nice colorful cross bedded Navajo Sandstone. Nearby Buckskin Gulch is a great slot canyon.

[@Skank_and_Gutterboy]

That's the cool thing, you've got Grand Staircase sandwiched right up with Vermillion Cliffs NM and there's a ton cool things to check out in that area.

[@lisaloy2011]

Loved the topography in this video. Beautiful. These videos would be, and probably are, interesting in your class lectures. You bring it too them instead of a photo in a text. Love it.

[@MrFmiller]

I love learning.

[@mikekilian5403]

Love this video. I did buy your book and that is very interesting and informative.

[@shawnwillsey]

Great news. Glad you are enjoying it!

[@bjnslc]

I did a screen grab and used iNaturalist's AI to get an insect ID. The clarity of the enhanced screen grab was poor, but this looks like a pretty good ID. Capnobotes fuliginosus (sooty longwing, a desert katydid).

[@shawnwillsey]

Nice. Yeah, I was trying to wrap up the filming so didn't want to get too distracted. Then I forgot about it when I was done. A katydid makes sense based on the quick glance I had.

[@bobalanadventures2024]

Great video! I love exploring and living in Utah.

[@davidk7324]

I guess there is usually a combination of factors that contribute to the results we see today. Wind has been and continues to be the main player here given the sandstone substrate and topography. Thanks for this--

[@J0hnC0ltrane]

Interesting place. Like a natural wind tunnel or vorticity.

[@grandparocky]

The finley polished desert patina happens with the same effects I believe!

[@3xHermes]

Interesting location and story

[@shlby69m]

The Nautilus is an amazing marine creature that's fun to watch.

[@lunkerjunkie]

spent a season working over there. most amazing place nobody knows about.

[@michaelpuett6358]

Nice video! I heard about this nautilus but decided not to hike to it when I was in the area (too tired from buckskin hike)

[@NigelNaughton]

Super cool!

[@stevew5212]

that's incredible. Can you imagine how long that took the wind to do that.

[@kellypeters8330]

Love this....thx

[@MarekandAllan]

very good! You're easy to listen to.

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for watching and learning with me. Look for my geology videos soon.

[@Mr_badjoke]

Ive been watching you for a while now. I did a lot of hard study but I've always been a Hands-On kind of guy so i respond to this approach, even in your class environment & I'm supposed to be 'the unreachable kid'🤷 like "dangerous Minds"😂 So ur great @ teaching👌 I Can't do much so I'm liking all your videos im watchin & subd! Yeah u would be a awesome friend to have im sure they enjoy ur company bro!👍

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for the kind words. Glad you enjoy the content.

[@GrandmaBev64]

When I was a kid, my dad took us through Nevada, Arizona, Utah and California. Near where You are at, there are Dinosaur footprints, that form bath tubs when it rains. Do You know where they are?

[@shawnwillsey]

Hi there. There are several areas of dinosaur trackways in the Colorado Plateau (4 corners region). None are in Nevada or California but there are several sites in Utah and Arizona. You might try Johnson Farm near St George, Red Gulch near Vernal, near Tuba City, AZ, and several sites near Moab. There are, of course, others as well but these are among the best known sites.

[@sandramorey2529]

Very informative. Are you old enough to have spent any time in the canyons of Glen Canyon before it was confiscated to make Lake Powell & the G.C. Dam?

[@shawnwillsey]

Nope. Born in 1972. Would have loved to see Glen Canyon before Lake Powell filled it.

[@chrisjerome8731]

Interesting vid, and it's a pretty neat little spot. Still, I beg you to take down the GPS coords... unfortunately a lot of lesser known off the grid gems are getting "loved to death" by more and more people. With little to no management or supervision, a lot of these are being destroyed. I hate to say it, but I am very careful these days about giving exact locations for "secret" spots because I've seen too many get ruined over the last 30 years. Sad.

[@edwardhanson3664]

No, I think it's fantastic.

[@jasonlambert5552]

Great video, that place is wild! Is there any explanation for the two "cuts" into the left wall facing into the Nautilus? They're like 60 degrees sloping left to right and visible at the 4:49 mark of the video here... kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKvdnauabaaDiqc almost look like saw cuts into the rock

[@shawnwillsey]

Nice observation. I didn't notice these in the field. I looked at this spot on Google Earth and it looks like there are fractures running NW-SE that match the cuts you notice. Good eye!

[@anitapaulsen3282]

😍

[@johnbollenbacher6715]

As a completely untrained geologist I would suggest the erosion is caused both by wind and water carrying little sand particles. But maybe that’s what you were trying to say and I just didn’t get it.

[@jagers4xford471]

Looks the result of a massive flood. Water coming off the cliffs had practically nothing to do with this cut.

[@stewartbrands]

It appears that the spiral sandstone structure was caused by the huge and forcefull melt waters of the glaciers to the North. Then when the water had carved the tube the wind etched the surfaces, The iron oxide being harder caused a turbulence in the uniform wind. The water created the tube for the wind action.

[@knightclan4]

Question for you Shawn Have you really considered a single catastrophic global flood versus many smaller catastrophes that create the sedimentary layers?

[@shawnwillsey]

Many of the layers in the area are too fine grained or have other sedimentary structures indicative of other environments like lakes, dunes, etc.

[@knightclan4]

@@shawnwillsey How do you explain folded mountains.

[@daleeason9687]

I like the information you give about the geology. However you really need to work on your Video presentation skills. There is way to much movement making me car sick. In my opinion you spend too little time pointing at the feature you are presenting and way to much time pointing the camera at your face while you describe the feature instead of spending the video time pointing at the feature. I'm more interested in the feature than seeing you talk. For example when you first present the Nautilus (the topic of you talk) you pan to it a little but then right away pan back to your face. Then spend much time panned back to your face talking about it with it being off to the side and not the center of the screen and mostly obscured. Bottom line is I watch to see the geology and not watch you talking about it. Keep working at it and you will get better. Thanks for posting.

[@gregknipe8772]

sandblasting. I turned off the sound and simply looked. ventifaction. hoodoo.

[@themainediverschannel4495]

Fascinating