Why Do Utah's Uinta Mountains Run East-West?

[@shawnwillsey]

Please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE. I also appreciate your continual support of these geology education videos. To do so, click on the "Thanks" button just above (right of Download button) or by going here: www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=EWUSLG3GBS5W8 Or: www.buymeacoffee.com/shawnwillsey

[@Loves2Fly]

@@shawnwillsey Im a pilot here in the Uintah basin, and a geology buff. Id love to fly you around the basin in exchange for a little educational narration.

[@clintonreisig]

@@shawnwillsey No specific explanation is given on the nearly 90% relationship of Uinta to nearby ranges

[@davidmccann3535]

I have lived in Utah for more than 50 years. Excursions into the Uintahs for hiking, camping, fishing high country lakes, and enjoying the grand vistas of this range reflect some of my most rewarding outdoor experiences. Thank you Professor Willsey for such an articulate presentation of the origins of what I have seen and enjoyed so much.

[@G-S-D]

You ever see any UFOs and all the craziness you see on TV about those mountains?

[@quantumtechcrypto7080]

You meant it sued to awesome…lately The Unitas are super busy now. Gangs ride in RZR’s drink beer throw trash around shoot guns it’s scary as hell. We almost got hit by a drunk driving in side by side. The mountains m are crazy and now with it all burned up in the fire it isn’t worth going any more. Thank you Californians it’s was great until you all showed up. You brought the cancer with you. Stay away if your smart or you’ll be surprised how unfriendly it has become. In the last three years the area has changed drastically

[@gregoryjclark81]

I have lived in Salt Lake City, Utah since 2000 when I initially moved here to attend the University of Utah from Boise, ID. In pursuing my BA of History and BS of Economics I took the opportunity to fill out my general education requirements with some Geology courses. AS low level and basic they may have been, they were always taught by top notch geologists from a fantastic department. I still have moments of regret not switching over my focus and majoring in Geology. Regardless, one class in particular spent a goodly amount of the semester on orogeny, using the Rocky Mountains and the Uintah Range as the go to example. A little hesitant to ask from the potential of embarrassment, but have you read the book 'Annals of the Former World' by John McPhee?!? Should be required reading in Utah schools if reading were a requirement here. If anybody is into mountain building, I give you the Salt Lake Valley: Hugging the very edge of the Rocky Mountain Plateau, being eclipsed by the beautiful Wasatch Range while, hemmed in to the West by the most easterly range of the Basin & Range mountains found between the Rocky Mountains to the east and the Sierra Nevadas to the west, with the oddity Uintah Mountain Range just a hop, skip and a jump from SLC. That's only the obvious parts, not to mention its proximity to Yellowstone National Park, the Teton Range, the Wind River Range, and the most accessible location for the gem that is Central Idaho (at least, it once was the absolute incontrovertible, inarguable gem of North America prior to the heating trends of the last 2 decades, Idaho republican 'leadership' only adding to the problem)...

[@meganhirschi6248]

You should look into the history of why there is sometimes an h at the end of Uinta and sometimes there isn’t. It’s interesting.

[@TRAITORS-EXPOSED]

@@davidmccann3535 there any gold out there? 🪨⛏️🪙🤒😁

[@supernovamike]

Braided river crossbeds like those (7:00) are perhaps my absolute favorite thing to find in rock formations. Just being able to clearly see the history of the planet so plainly written in literal stone is exhilerating for some reason... maybe especially because you don't have to be a professional geologist to see and appreciate it, so it's fun to share with family and friends. Thanks for the awesome video!

[@shawnwillsey]

Great comments and I couldn’t agree more.

[@BOEING--mh6xm]

@@shawnwillsey it’s so true, I love geology

[@BOEING--mh6xm]

I have SO many rocks I’ve collected in Utah, I was born here and I’m 17 and seeing people talk about Utahs geology and it’s so cool seeing this and in my opinion geology is underrated along with paleontology

[@oldtop4682]

You've answered a question I have had for years! I've been in the Uinta Mountains a few times - wonderful fishing, hunting and camping! I just never dug into how they formed....and now I know. Thanks Shawn!

[@RobertJl9516]

Excellent presentation starting with plate tectonics, regional geologic history and on the ground descriptions of outcrops to explain the Uinta Mountain range. I learned much and appreciate your time and effort to put together this video.

[@Young5519]

I have been living in Utah my whole life and I've always been puzzled by the many unique things about the Uintah mountains. The history of these mountains and how they came to be are fascinating to me! Thank you for making a video on this topic I really enjoyed it!

[@johncspine2787]

Been to Topaz mountain public rockhounding area? It’s isolated, but very cool. Biggest topaz (clear one) crystal I ever found was when I drove in, opened my car door, looked down, and it was just sitting there. I did dig up some of the Sherry colored ones..it’s interesting, they are Sherry colored in the rock/soil from radiation, but the sun’s radiation will knock it back to a different state making them go clear.

[@Young5519]

@@johncspine2787 I have been there and it is totally facantaing!!

[@bookbwitched6823]

@@johncspine2787 Thank you! Just moved to Utah & I'm fascinated by the surrounding mountains & have an obsession with stones. Thank you!

[@robertemmons2260]

Thank you for a more detailed explanation of how our little mountain range was formed. I've lived in Vernal since 2000. I have traveled to and throughout the Uinta range every year, and I am still fascinated at the beauty and topography of the area.

[@guiart4728]

Thanks for a trip down memory lane! The Uinta range is truly beautiful! Did some backpacking to a lake at 11,000 feet and got snowed on in August!

[@realityjunky]

Same, in Montana!

[@BigKandRtv]

Back in the early 90's I watched snow fall in the Uinta Mountains on July 4th.

[@realityjunky]

@@BigKandRtv Should count as a right of passage for every American.

[@kaylahall1219]

Lofty loop?

[@guiart4728]

@@kaylahall1219 East Red Castle

[@jjbre3920]

I loved the explanation of the trough cross beds, and the visual of the braided stream bed. Such an interesting way to be able to visualize what current braided beds may look like millions of years from now!

[@OpaSpielt]

Even when I am far away in Europe and even when I have never heard of these mountains before, I watched the video with eyes wide open and being fascinated. 😊👍 Your video was extremely interesting. Thank you a lot. Have a nice day. 👋🏻👴🏼

[@ricklines8755]

Nun darfst du ruhig uns euer Harzgebirge erklären!

[@ricklines8755]

Wait, was there any orogeny where the Selway and Mojave (cratons?) came together 2 billion years ago? That event did not form the Uintahs, or even any proto-Uintahs, did it? I think you are saying the faults from these collisions became the rift valley that filled with sediment as Rhodinia split up. But so much remains unclear, i.e. the cause of the later uplift of that same rift valley. The Western United States was offshore and under water and gradually uplifted to reveal the sandstone of the Colorado Plateau/Canyonlands. But that uplifting and the orogeny that formed the Uintahs are not the same thing. How did the rift valley reverse directions to become the Uintah mountains?

[@patrickdwyer320]

I'm sorry teach, I'm still a little unclear on why east west, why ONLY this range is east west when so many other ranges born in that same orogenic setting are trending north south

[@melodymonger]

Ditto - but I'm in Australia 👋🇦🇺🙏

[@johncspine2787]

Further south there’s a public rockhounding area where you can dig up or split veins of rock open to find beautiful sherry colored topaz crystals, Topaz Mountain. Google some images, they’re very gorgeous! It’s interesting too that the coloring comes from minute amounts of radiation, and when exposed to sunlight, like when the wash out of the rocks, they turn clear like glass! If you dig up pretty Sherry ones, you have to protect them from light..Not too far from there is Dugway, you can dig for geodes! There are also (around Topaz mountain and other sites) red beryl, garnets, lovely spicules of pseudobrookite, and a spacey looking perfectly cubical mineral called bixbyite!

[@KevinAtMillard]

I'm a geologist, so I'm familiar with the idea of deep time. Even so, it still blows my mind to think of the immense amount of time it had to take to deposit the sediment, lithify it, deposit the younger rock on top, uplift everything, and finally erode all of the younger rock to expose the Uinta group. It is amazing to ponder.

[@ScottMabry-v3k]

@@KevinAtMillard Easy for you to say

[@AWICKEDVIXEN1999]

Ya so how do you explain the fact 99% of all known life is extinct and is found in 1 flood layer all over earth. It literally matches up to Noah's flood that actually happened which is why there is so much proof. We got boring machines now, and there are no fossiles below Noah's flood layer

[@koreyp4508]

Why isn't the basement rock on top?. Did it even exist?

[@eclimber1992]

Your time-scale thinking is flawed.

[@AWICKEDVIXEN1999]

@eclimber1992 ya its way off every "ancient" fossile is in 1 flood layer dating from Noah's flood. There was nothing else here before then except small plants and germs and fungus

[@mrdayyumyum3712]

I live on the east end south slope of the Uintah mountains. Thanks for posting this.

[@revvyhevvy]

Thanks! Now I must go back and rewatch until that unknown word comes up! Love your posts, Prof Willsey!

[@tp2959]

I try to get up to the Uintas a/ least once a year. One of my favorite mountain ranges.

[@jodiuhron1979]

I visited with my family this summer when we went to Wyoming for a wedding. We went to Flaming Gorge for a day, and we saw the Uinta range. It was absolutely beautiful!

[@davidstick9207]

KZbin is 99% garbage. But every so often I find something intelligent...that stimulates my brain cells. This short video is an example of worthwhile content

[@shawnwillsey]

Much appreciated.

[@Rogue-7.62]

​​​indeed, your content along with the other geologists (Mr. Zentner) from Central Washington University, are standouts on YT.❤ The Cascadia has a particular interest for me, especially the odd rotation of the plate on which the State of Washington sits and the possible cause of it. All of this is fascinating and makes me wish I had chosen a different field of study in my younger years back in the late 70's and early 80's. Oh but only if, only if we had had the internet back then to grab my attention to this field.

[@averteddisasterbarely2339]

@@davidstick9207 have you watched history of the earth series ? They are fantastic !

[@John-vb1vs]

My senti.ents. also

[@Ty91681]

Tons of great content that's intelligent and engaging you just need to put effort into finding it.

[@maruillescas6608]

¡Gracias!

[@maruillescas6608]

Thank you professor. I am enjoying geology a lot. 60 years old Mexican fan.

[@daleeason9687]

In the middle 60's as a college student I worked on an oil seismograph crew. They drilled 300 foot holes in the ground loaded them with explosives and created and measure the shock waves from the explosions. They had been working in west Texas and the drilling in the sand was easy. However now on the north slope of the Uinta mountains at the border with Colorado they were drilling amongst under ground bolder that was very difficult. The drillers kept cussing the rocks that would trap their drills. That must of been the boulder glacier outwash from those glaciers you mentions. At the time I wondered why the Uinta mountains were oriented as you describe. Thanks for the explanation. You are always telling me something new about the areas I once traversed.

[@markbrinton6790]

@@daleeason9687 *must have, or must've.

[@daleeason9687]

@@markbrinton6790 yes

[@wannabetowasabe]

I took a 10 day backpacking trip in the Uinta range in 1981. It was an amazing trip. We hiked to the top of King's Peak. The day before we were trapped in our tents in a small meadow overlooking Painter's Basin by a intense thunderstorm with lightning striking very close. Once the storm ended we saw the basin lit up by late afternoon/evening sunlight setting to the west and shining through Gunsight Pass as well as low spots in the ridge to the north. Painter's Basin looked at though it was on fire! The rock looks like it was transported from the lower elevation red rock country of southern Utah to an environment of mixed conifer and alpine forest, with plentiful meadows and lakes all around. My words fail me in trying to describe the incredible and unique scenery of this mountain range. The crest of the range being east-west instead of north-south tugged at my senses the entire time I was there. Major canyons were running north-south instead of east-west. which threw off my internal compass and I had to modify that compass by frequent views of the maps. Thanks for the explanation of the origins of this mountain range. I had not read or heard why this range is oriented in the way it is prior to this video.

[@charleswelch249]

Love watching you explore and explain why the country is so diverse. Great video, Shawn.

[@PhyllisSaarinen]

Thank you very much for the lectures you offer on KZbin. Geology is a major retirement interest for me, having audited several geology courses at the U of Florida several years ago and collected a long bookshelf full of texts since then. Taking your lecture into the field for more detailed explanation is great! While I have visited the Uinta Mtns previously, that range will be the object of a field trip next summer and we will see it with fresh eyes. I look forward to your next lecture. Phyllis

[@johncooper4637]

I am sorry for you as I, too, took geology at St.Pete, J.C., and all I got to see on field trips were limestone quarries. Imagine taking geology at Central Washington University and getting to see MOUNTAINS. I am hoping to spend two months in and around Ellensburg, WA, this coming spring.

[@charlesward8196]

I have wondered about the orientation of the Uintas for 50 years since I first saw them in 1974. This clear presentation is perfect. It is so hard to imagine how things have been rearranged over time by plate movements and then the reactivation of old faults puts it in perspective. Thanks! I spent the day scrambling over re-worked Paleozoic carbonate fanglomerates in the Spring Mountains of Southern Nevada trying to differentiate between old alluvial fan deposits, versus fault breccias from the major thrust faults, and wondering when the fans were deposited. Paleogene? Sevier orogeny? Laramide? Tomorrow it is back to the northern margin of the Wyoming craton in southern Montana with the Beartooth metamorphic core complex looming to the southwest.

[@franmcl7569]

Thanks! Great informative videos!

[@Riverguide33]

Great vid, Shawn. Enlightening history of the wonders we take for granted. 👍

[@Jasper_Seven]

You are absolutely the best. Someone needs to figure out a way to repackage your videos into a "video book" somehow... albeit a "coffee table book" for the casual observer, such as myself, and as a "reference book" for students. (Something that will last longer than KZbin and doesn't risk their strange editing)

[@mobilephil244]

Another superb, articulate and fascinating presentation. Thanks.

[@sueellens]

Those beds are beautiful 😍 Thank you Prof. Willsey.

[@GerryWeeks]

You keep getting better and better!

[@cdineaglecollapsecenter4672]

Great video. Loved those bi-colored crossbeds. I guess the Uinta Mountain group basin was so deep during snowball earth that the glaciers didn't get it, which is why it's one of the very few Precambrian sedimentary groups on my Colorado stratigraphy chart.

[@Dragrath1]

Some added context this rift basin deposition was occurring around the time of the Sturtian Snowball Earth glaciation interval so it would have indeed been a topographic low formed along what is essentially a failed rift basin much like the Newark Supergroup of Triassic and Jurassic deposition into failed rift basins along the East coast of North America due to the opening of the Atlantic. And yes there is believed to be a connection between the break up of Rodinia and the onset of the Cryogenian glaciations. In fact based on certain fossils in the larger ancient rift lakes of what would become the Iapetus ocean the modern oxygenated oceans may have gotten there start in this rift system insulated from the anoxic global ocean allowing aerobic photosynthetic organisms to establish a pelagic ecology fed by the rich influx of nutrients from the flood basalts that initiated the rifting events the Franklin Large Igneous Province but this is a pretty complex digression. Anyways this low lying position during the Cryogenian glaciations was likely quite important since braided stream river systems are predominantly glacially fed meaning the sediments that are the Uinta group most likely are material scraped off the continents by the Cryogenian glaciations. TDLR The timing of these sedimentary units and their depositional environment suggests they are formed from material eroded out of those great unconformity layers by glaciers.

[@cdineaglecollapsecenter4672]

@@Dragrath1 So if this was a failed rift basin, which I guess it had to have been, were the successful rifts w/Antarctica and Australia at 120 degrees to it? Or would anyone know? That's a very cool idea about the isolated oxygenated basin. It seems to me that most deposition into this basin in the Cryogenian would have to have stopped when the glaciers actually covered this area. If I'm reading my Blakey maps right, we were right on the equator, so maybe they never did entirely cover it.

[@Dragrath1]

@@cdineaglecollapsecenter4672 I'm not sure the exact orientation it should be noted that most of northwestern NA is recent additions to the continent and the failed rifts don't really have much of a constraint on their orientation which you can see from the more modern examples of these basins like the Newark group basins produced by the Triassic opening of the south Atlantic or the smaller scale Irish Seaway which due to its considerably younger age dated to the Eocene is a still not yet entirely filled in basin from the formation of the North Atlantic during the Eocene extension when Greenland was torn off of Eurasia. It is basically a dropped down block graben which divides Ireland from Britain that partly connected into the successful rift that formed between Greenland and Ireland.

[@AnonymousTranquility]

I’ve been out there on a camping/fishing trip over twelve years ago. I still remember how tranquil and mesmerizing the landscape was to this day.

[@ToddBeck]

I love these, and the length is easy to watch anytime. Although your long-form lectures are also worth the time.

[@kevinharbeson8777]

You did a really good job on this video. The introduction was good to draw people in, and then you provided a very informative narration explaining everything. The world needs more content like this.

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for the kind words. I hope others will find it as interesting as you did.

[@melissagregory-oc5jq]

Love Utah. My first backpacking trip was in the Unitas. Beautiful!

[@bertdaniel1449]

I rode my touring bike through the Uinta Moutains in 1994. Part of the ride followed what was called the geologic highway. Roadside markers described the very interesting geology of this special region and I will never forget the experience of traveling through it. From Dinosaur National Monument near Vernal to Manilla close to the Wyoming border is a beautiful trip. If you want a short stretch of highway that epitomizes a sampling of scenery you might see in Utah, this might be it.

[@over60withdeb57]

I always look forward to your videos. I’m puzzled, though. I don’t think you addressed why the Uintas runs E-W rather than N-S as do most ranges formed during the Laramide Orogeny.

[@markashurst8626]

@over60withdeb57 Great explanation of the range origins, but ya still wondering why east weat?

[@shawnwillsey]

The existing faults (east-west) were weak zones and even though they weren't optimally oriented for Laramide stress, they were able to be reactivated as reverse faults, which pushed the basin sedimentary rocks up to form the Uintas. Nature is lazy and reuses existing structures or weaknesses where possible.

[@jake5993]

This rocks! Thanks for this video, and it is the first of many from you to watch. Your pacing and explanations are really straight forward and east to follow.

[@halbear4068]

My ancestors would hunt in the Uintas coming from the North and West and always viewed them as very sacred and knew they were very different from the Wasatch and others they were familiar with. Also very grateful our reservation includes a good amount of the Uintas!! 😊

[@thejosephpowell]

Are you Ute?

[@halbear4068]

@@thejosephpowellNo I am Shoshone. The traditional Ute bands before they moved were mostly East, Southeast of the Uintas 😊 They would call the Uintas home now, but originally they were home to Eastern & Northern bands of Shoshone 😊

[@thejosephpowell]

@ thank you for this education. It is very important to me to know whose land I walk. I worked on a fire in the Uintas this past Autumn, the Yellow Lake Fire. I worked on both the Provo River side and the Duchesne River side. I made many videos from that land and wondered who are the People of that Land. I suppose now I know, but correct me if I’m wrong. I’m sure the names are not the names given by the Peoples, but the Provo River is Shoshone, and The Duchesne River is Ute?

[@halbear4068]

@ Both would be on traditional Shoshone lands. The Tavaput plateau desert was sort of the buffer zone between Shoshoni and Ute. The original bands of Cumumbah and Sahpeech were some of the last Shoshone bands to inhabit the area before the Ute were relocated to the Uinta basin. Some numbers of Shoshone from those bands ended up merging with some of the Ute after the reservation was enlarged in the 1880’s.

[@don_sharon]

I finished a 9 month tour of the western US, largely based on your educational videos. Ranging from the Salton Sea, to the Bishop Tuff to St George, then to your home state, even my wife found exploring the geological profile fascinating. Thank you.

[@jamescarroll4945]

Like your video love geology, I'm a amateur geologist still got a whole alot to learn especially in the west which its very fascinating out there learn something new everyday 😊

[@commander989]

Great video. In spite of this anomaly, are the Uintas still considered part of the greater Rocky Mountains?

[@thejosephpowell]

@@commander989 yes they are

[@ttgarage71]

Thank you from Park City 🤙🍻

[@nealhyde7179]

Very informative. Spent a lot of time in the Uintas and always wondered why this range ran east-west.

[@cindy8426]

So interesting to learn how these mountains came to be. Thanks Shawn!

[@amacuro]

Sorry Shawn, I didn't get why the mountain is aligned East-West, when the subducting plate was also coming in East-West direction. Shouldn't this generate the North-South direction mountains you pointed out earlier in the video?

[@VirginiaBronson]

I think it was because the existing faults were already running east-west. But I’m not sure. I also wish his explanation had been more clear lol

[@martinlewitt431]

I appreciated learning the rift valley origin, but I was totally waiting for the explanation of the east-west orientation. The subduction zone to the west made everything else north-south. Were there weaknesses on particular faults that forced the east-west configuration?

[@samwise1790]

​@@martinlewitt431to get into the nitty gritty details of why you can have reactivation of non-preferred orientation faults gets a bit technical for his audience. He did try to explain it as simply as one can: previous large faults persist as areas of weakness into the geologic future, and so when new tectonic regimes develop, sometimes in quite different orientations to the existing dormant fault, it is still 'energetically advantageous' for strain to accumulate and to be released on these large, weak, existing faults than to break the rock/crust in new faults even if the hypothetical new faults are more reflective of the new stress regime. What you get is what you see at the uintah mountains: fault reactivation in the opposite sense of displacement as they formed, and you invert the basin (it was below the stratigraphy at the time the laramide orogeny started, now it is higher than the younger rocks). There are many examples of reactivated structures during the laramide inverting rocks of old basins all over western NA, from the eastern front of the rockies to east of the Sierra Nevada.

[@darylloth3237]

I believe he said in the last moments of the explanation at 10:50 that the east to west sides of the rift became thrust faults forcing the UMG upward.

[@martinlewitt431]

@@darylloth3237 both the introductory diagram at 4:50 and the final diagram at 10:50 are cross-sections of the rift basin. We aren't given the compass trend of that rift and the most natural assumption is that rifts are longer than they are wide. I think the confused among us, absent other guidance, assume that original rift was north-south trending and we don't know whether that rift was rotated to trend East - West during the subsequent breakup and motion of the pieces of the supercontinent. Whatever the original trend of the rift, if the final trend was east-west, that would explain why the mountains are longer in the east-west direction than they are in the north south. But no place are the faults depicted that ultimately limited the length of that uplifted rift. The slanted sides of the cross-section are assumed to be the width of the rift. If rift was actually trending north and south at the time of the eroded uplift, we get an east-west range only if the rift was truncated in the north south direction so as to be much wider than it is long. It would help to know the final orientation of the uplifted and eroded rift basin and what were the limiting factors or faults on its length. Thinking of the range as an east-west oriented rectangle we only have two sides of the rectangle and we don't know which of the two sides are those depicted by the only drawings we have.

[@YewtBoot]

I had known for decades that the Uintas were the only major east-west range in North America. Thanks for answering why and pointing out more unique features of them.

[@zoegagnon3651]

The Ozarks are also east/west! They are pretty old and worh n down tho, so "major" might be a stretch

[@westho7314]

San Gabriiel mountain range in California is also a major east/west range, Which for those who don't know is commonly called a" transverse range" in geological terms

[@MegaRacerDave]

Also the San Bernardino mountain range running east/west. Both San Bernardino and San Gabriel definitely major mountain ranges.

[@empressassassin9975]

Wow, what a striking (ha) outcrop! If I'm ever out west I'll put that on my list!

[@stephenmadl5609]

This was a very well done video. It was detailed and informative without being long-winded or meticulous. Well illustrated and demonstrated with the perfect pace to keep my interest. I've always loved this sort of thing and did quite a bit of hiking and exploring when I was younger. Now that I have a blown out knee this is the only way I get to explore the magnificence that is geology. I'm definitely going to subscribe. Thank you.

[@shawnwillsey]

Glad it was helpful! Welcome aboard

[@tannerr.424]

This was an excellent video! I've spent lots of time out in those mountains and it's awesome to learn more about them.

[@jamessmelcer616]

Great presentation professor ! I have been wanting to know more about the Uinta’s for a long time . There is a small East/West range in my home area, the Siskiyou mts. Love your videos ! Keep up your good work sir! GEOLOGY “ROCKS !( pun intended). 👍👏❤️🌄🏞️❗️

[@ShellyPurple47]

I live in Utah and had never thought about the Uinta's being east/west mountains. Very interesting!

[@3xHermes]

Fantastic Video, very well done!! Thank you for sharing!

[@bravendyer9529]

Thanks!

[@francoutah]

Great work. I wish I would have stuck with the natural sciences sometimes.... My high school geology teacher in the early 90's called the Uintas a failed aulacogen. It's one of the few things I actually remember from those days. Thank you for the flashback.

[@bronsoncvijanovich2231]

This is such a great video! I still don’t quite understand how the East-west tectonic stresses of the Laramide orogeny were able to be transferred perpendicularly to cause shortening in the north-south direction though. How does that actually work?

[@shawnwillsey]

The existing faults were weak zones and even though they weren't optimally oriented for Laramide stress, they were able to be reactivated as reverse faults. Nature is lazy and reuses existing structures or weaknesses where possible.

[@TCook-d3s]

Great video Shawn. The Uinta mountains definitely look out of place due to running east to west. Thanks for posting.

[@susiesue3141]

Very interesting video! Thank you for sharing.😊

[@icejunki]

I have enjoyed the Wasatch and Uintas ranges since moving there 17 years ago. It is still one of my favorite things to intruduce people to the Uintas in its many seasons. They often don't realize such a range exists so close to the metropolis of Salt Lake

[@thedunelady]

Thanks! I'd been wondering about this mountain range for a while. And those are incredibly lovely xbeds. :)

[@ScottJB]

The Rockies aren't only in Colorado. The major ranges of Utah are also the Rockies. I live in the Wasatch Front.

[@PrincessTS01]

los angeles has transverse mountain ranges due to the motion of san andreas strike-slip fault and the baja-bc movement

[@cleonclink6811]

I’m in central Utah but I rarely get up to the uintahs but it’s fascinating to learn about them. This video was very informative!

[@ScottMabry-v3k]

I have a kitty named Utah. I drove truck. Utah was one of my favorite states. It doesn’t belong in the United States. It’s an oddball, but I love it.

[@classyhob0485]

Got some relatives that live on the tail end of the Uintas (Flaming Gorge/Dinosaur area). They just moved out there a few years ago to work for the forestry service and one of the first questions I asked them when visiting was “isn’t it odd these mountains are sideways (east-west)?”. Unfortunately since they were new to the area they couldn’t answer why but now I know thanks to you! Great info + video as always, Shawn

[@tbluemel]

What a wonderful explanation of the unique Utah Unitas! Thanks!!

[@sandrine.t]

Thanks for another very educational video about our beautiful planet Earth, Shawn :) Added 'trough cross-beds', 'anastomose' and 'braided stream system' to my geology lexicon. However, I'm not sure I can memorize all of that…! ;)

[@shawnwillsey]

Ha. It takes practice I suppose.

[@sandrine.t]

@@shawnwillsey Ha! Definitely! ;)

[@J0hnC0ltrane]

Enjoyed the explanation of the formation of this sediment and mountain range, and hearing new terminology. The curved troughs look like feathery brush strokes. thank you Shawn.

[@guyonthebike]

I should go on a hike with a geologist

[@caseyjude5472]

This was super interesting to me. And easy to understand. Thank you!

[@scottcole1423]

This was super cool! I learned something new today.

[@jackiekane297]

So much fun to listen to this clear explanation that is easy to remember!! I hiked these in outward bound so many years ago, including King's Peak I think. Beautiful country.

[@Poppageno]

So Professor, Are you saying the Pre-Cambrian fault lines lined up to a E-W direction when the Laramide Orogeny occurred as the NA Plate rotated towards it's present position? Otherwise without this weakness the Uintas would be more N-S axially?

[@donalda760]

This was my question too. Also when the rift valley that formed the UMG moved/rotated from its original orientation to its present day E-W orientation? Thanks.

[@platinumtaterbug]

Love backpacking in the Uinta mountains. I’ve climbed Kings Peak a few times. Always wondered why they ran east-west instead of north-south like the other ranges in the west. Thanks for the explanation!

[@VTPSTTU]

Thanks for the video.

[@s.davidcox7523]

Love this! Thanks for sharing your knowledge so generously and clearly. I am fascinated by geology; wish I had discovered it sooner.

[@UintaMountainMan]

I see “Uinta Mountains” in title, I click, I “like”. End of story.

[@MaxPixUT]

Thanks for another great video Shawn! There are places in the Uintas I find stripped purplish/pink colored rocks, seems like a type of quartzite, but not sure. I think it was the ridge above Toquer Lake where I last saw a boulder field of this rock, but it's been over 15 years since I've been there.

[@plumtree1846]

I watched a video by Nick Zentner offering an alternative theory for the formation of the Rock Mountains caused by the North American continent colliding with a fixed microcontinent in the Pacific (versus the Laramide Orogeny). Do you think this theory will gain more acceptance in the future? Can this theory explain the formation of the Uinta Mountains?

[@samwise1790]

Just to be clear in whatever case we would still call the episode 'the laramide orogeny', there are just differences of hypotheses about what was the driving force which best explains the resultant deformation we observe in the rock record today.

[@michaelpeck1346]

This is my favorite place on earth. Lots of great childhood memories made in those mountains.

[@eaglepursuit]

Sounds somewhat similar to what I've been able to piece together for the Williams Fork Mountains in NW Colorado, also a E-W running range made of sandstone.

[@bradrtorgersen_videos]

I have lived near the Uintas most of my life. Thanks for this educational piece! Nicely done.

[@Jeckenstein]

Thanks for the info & field work!

[@xwiick]

Thanks for all the hard work on these videos!

[@tommunyon2874]

Interesting revelations. My buddy and I had considered going north from our backyards in Los Alamos to Abiquiu which meant crossing over several east-west running ridge lines with intervening canyons. We always joked it was like the song lyrics, " First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is." The Jemez is volcanic so the east-west ridges have different origins.

[@PhisherEntertainment]

Great video! Well-structured, well-scripted, clear visuals. Only critique is that your voiceover is pretty distorted - maybe try recording it with the voice memo app on your phone? Or a standalone mic, of course, but that’s a bit of an investment.

[@shawnwillsey]

Was reduced to my old, crappy mic. Have since upgraded. Thanks for your understanding.

[@daryltremain9975]

This video is fascinating for me because it goes back to when the continents were forming. I've been wondering about that period, but never imagined how much it affects what we see on the surface of the earth today. Thank you very much, Shawn! 🇨🇦🍁

[@timault8209]

(7:30) How exactly do I quarry a ten foot by four foot slab of that rock? I'd like to render and polish it to produce an exquisitely unique countertop in my kitchen and kitchen island.

[@YOICHIHAGIWARA]

ありがとうございます！

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for your support.

[@CrankyOtter]

Nice texture in those cross trough bed sandstones. Delightful.

[@michaelmcgovern8110]

Go, prof, GO! Excellent Science, quickly and easily presented. Nice.

[@Trex531]

Seems that Laramide Orogeny was a pretty big event. Could you dedicate an entire video to this subject? Thanks Prof. Willsey.

[@ChrisSwygard-x6m]

I enjoy this teacher's methods, liked geology but I love it. This teacher makes sense.

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy it.

[@octajon]

Good stuff Shawn! Thanks!

[@TruckHoss]

Love this, thanks for putting this explanation together. One thing I've always wondered is why the mountain range is much less sharp and dramatic peaks compared to the mountains found in SLC and Provo area?

[@kennethsmith4202]

This is a great video, I was interested to learn about the rift basin that presumably ran east west and so when it was re-activated in the Laramide orogeny, the Uintas ran east west. But it is a little unclear from the video. It would be helpful to hear in the summary exactly why the forces that resulted in north-south ranges in the rest of the western U.S. resulted in the east-west orientation of the Uinta Mountains.

[@TrenSteggell]

Beautiful video. Do you have any info on the legend that the lone peak massif on the border of Utah and salt lake counties is actually part of the Uintas that the wasatch fault thrust up? It is perfectly in line with the Uintas and is an oddity in the wasatch as it runs east west

[@Douglas_413]

Lived in Utah my whole life and had no idea the mountains I see out my window everyday are funky

[@zoegagnon3651]

Thank you for this video. I'm enthusiastic about geology and particularly the west of north america. My understanding is that the Larimide orogony was generally to the east of utah, and consisted of plutonic uplift, and that the mountains in Utah were more associated with thrust faulting in the Sevier orogony. With the west-to-east compression of the Sevier, I'm puzzled that this rift became a compressional zone rather than a strike-slip fault. Was there anything special about this area that changed the direction of the forces? Is there something missing or incorrect in my mental model? Thanks for your consideration!

[@zoegagnon3651]

Another thought: the Colorado plateau rotated clockwise during the Laramide, and I think the Uintas are on the northern edge? Do you know if we have evidence suggesting that this may have (or may not) have had a role in the formation of the Uantas?

[@kenhutch7727]

Whitney canyon has a lot of rocks with fossils in them

[@toughenupfluffy7294]

Strange how the subduction zone to the west caused major compression running perpendicular (N/S) to its main E-W thrusting. This must be because the once normal faults were zones of weakness, allowing N/S compression where otherwise it was E/W. I wonder if there was some CCW rotation incorporated in this scenario?

[@BigKandRtv]

I remember some 25-30 years ago hiking in a dry river bed in these mountains not far from Vernal, UT. The bed was nearly exclusively these well-rounded, red and tan striped stones. They were very hard. My brother and I tried and tried to break one stone against another, but we never could. I so wish I knew what those stones were...