The Fascinating Geology of Iceland's Spectacular Gullfoss Waterfall

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  • Опубликовано: 25 ноя 2024

Комментарии • 121

  • @shawnwillsey
    @shawnwillsey  Год назад +5

    You can support my field videos by clicking on the "Thanks" button just above (right of Like button) or by going here: www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=EWUSLG3GBS5W8

  • @notinmanitou
    @notinmanitou Год назад +26

    I hope your students realize how lucky they are to have a teacher like you. We learn so much from your videos, thank you!

  • @riverAmazonNZ
    @riverAmazonNZ 8 месяцев назад +6

    Lol imagine you’re at a magnificent waterfall and some guy’s filming the dirt 😂
    Really interesting to see the layers and the faultlines. Great stuff!

  • @margreetanceaux3906
    @margreetanceaux3906 Год назад +8

    I learned this only recently. In 1978 my parents and I visited Iceland, and went to see the Gullfoss. My dad considered it even more impressive than the Niagara Falls. He was intrigued by this twisting and turning, and would have been so impressed to learn all this (and so am I).

    • @tightropewalkergirl6485
      @tightropewalkergirl6485 Год назад

      Try and get to Schaffhausen in Switzerland for incredible waterfalls too - I have also been to Niagara and they are definitely better and you can get very close

  • @marionnadeau8457
    @marionnadeau8457 4 месяца назад +1

    I had no idea of the geological differences when I visited Gullfoss in 2022 and 2023! Thanks for the explanation, Shawn!

  • @johntharp6925
    @johntharp6925 Год назад +3

    A beautiful illustration natural earth processes.

  • @jacobblumin4260
    @jacobblumin4260 Год назад +9

    Wow! Wow!! The closest thing I'll ever come to a geology field trip to a spectacular place. Please keep it up, Shawn.

  • @secolerice
    @secolerice Год назад +9

    I am fascinated by the geology of Iceland! Thanks for this wonderful lesson and enduring the elements. Absolutely spectacular!

  • @2flight
    @2flight Год назад +5

    Dynamic, young country. Hard to believe that canyon has only been there a few thousand years!

  • @jcadult101
    @jcadult101 Год назад +2

    "with the crazy wind here" as I'm looking at those water slick rocks everyone is on.

  • @kingsgaurd
    @kingsgaurd Год назад +2

    We were at Gullfos about a month before this video was taken. It is an amazing place. I can verify it is very windy and very wet.

  • @jahl5130
    @jahl5130 8 месяцев назад +2

    HI I was at Gullfoss last April. I must have lucked out as the weather was much nicer than you are having. I got a great pic of the falls with a rainbow in it. Thanks for your videos.

  • @williamlloyd3769
    @williamlloyd3769 Год назад +3

    Appreciate the education! Visited waterfall when stationed at Naval Air Station Keflavik during winter when Gullfoss looked like an ice castle, beautiful

    • @pootthatbak2578
      @pootthatbak2578 Год назад +1

      In the p3 asw community we theorized an icelandic fantasy wife was hiding behind every tree😂

  • @barbaracarlisle8930
    @barbaracarlisle8930 7 месяцев назад +1

    It is so amazing and terrifying at the same time. Visited Iceland (including Gullfoss both times) in fall 2017 and snowy May of the next year. I don’t think there were any fences and my fear of heights kept me well back. Wonderful to learn about its geology.

  • @SusanHurst-n1l
    @SusanHurst-n1l 7 месяцев назад +1

    Thanks Shawn. We we at Gulfoss 6mths ago, it's good to hear and see your video and explanation.

  • @khajiitkitten5679
    @khajiitkitten5679 Год назад +4

    Thanks for being willing--and enthusiastic!--enough to brave the cold and the wet! I guess this reminds us that beauty has to be worked for to appreciate.

  • @MsMcwill
    @MsMcwill 4 месяца назад

    My family visited this waterfall last summer. I remember wondering what the geological story was. Now I know. Thank you for the great story!

  • @roseturvey1430
    @roseturvey1430 2 месяца назад

    Stunning waterfall. Great memories of my visit there. Thanks for fascinating geological explanation.

  • @SkepticalRaptor
    @SkepticalRaptor Год назад +14

    Wait, you just went from Hawai’i to Iceland? Wow!

    • @MountainFisher
      @MountainFisher Год назад

      🤣

    • @shawnwillsey
      @shawnwillsey  Год назад +3

      Uh, yeah. Overzealous planning on my part. May 8-14 with students in Hawaii then led a trip to Iceland for some folks on May 22-30. Turn and burn.

    • @MountainFisher
      @MountainFisher Год назад

      @@shawnwillsey Heck, I thought it was part of your 2022 trip you hadn't released yet. You really did "Turn and Burn."

  • @garz75
    @garz75 Год назад +3

    Fascinating to learn with you about the landscapes I visited last year. The Iceland series is great thanks!

    • @shawnwillsey
      @shawnwillsey  Год назад +2

      Glad you enjoyed it! More to come.

  • @rossdtool
    @rossdtool Год назад +2

    These diagrams really help, I have been watching lots of your videos lately because of the amazing sites and great explanations.

  • @AbbyS933
    @AbbyS933 3 месяца назад

    I just visited Iceland July 2024, that was one of my favorite places! We walked exactly down by the falls! The weather was perfect but I wonder how is in winter!!! Thank 11:52 you for explaining more about it!

  • @johnlaforte700
    @johnlaforte700 2 месяца назад

    Great view of those amazing Falls.

  • @jenniferlevine5406
    @jenniferlevine5406 4 месяца назад

    It's a spectacular location, I am really captivated by it. Very dramatic river and the site shows so much of the dynamic history of Iceland. Thank you for this really interesting video and for explaining it so well!

  • @tomnolan9651
    @tomnolan9651 Год назад +1

    Excellent presentation

  • @Panicagq2
    @Panicagq2 Год назад +2

    That was awesome, thank you!

  • @gatekeeper3657
    @gatekeeper3657 Год назад +2

    A real privilege to see and learn from you. I enjoy your field videos paired with classroom videos. Thank you for your efforts. I wish you dry clothes and a hot beverage.

    • @shawnwillsey
      @shawnwillsey  Год назад

      After getting pretty soaked, I quickly changed into dry clothes and had perhaps the best hot coco I've ever had at the gift shop.

  • @jj74554
    @jj74554 6 месяцев назад +1

    This is so interesting the way you're able to read the land like that. I will be here in Sept. and am so grateful to have some of this knowledge while there. Thank you!

  • @ethanklein982
    @ethanklein982 Год назад +1

    Geology is simply the science of observation. Cool stuff

  • @hilandmalt
    @hilandmalt Год назад +1

    Great video! Scuba diving in Silfra is on my bucket list.

  • @fernie5128
    @fernie5128 Год назад +1

    That was terrific! Thanks so much.

  • @anitapaulsen3282
    @anitapaulsen3282 7 месяцев назад +1

    Wow!.......
    Spectacular falls and amazing geology!
    Thank you......

  • @Rachel.4644
    @Rachel.4644 Год назад +2

    Exciting, Shawn, and it's obvious you're in your element! Fantastic! Distinctly different angles from the "wet" view. Holy moly, that's a steep fall. So worth it to take a soaking (easy for me to say!)... thanks for taking us along. 👏🏻❣️🤩

  • @susierider55
    @susierider55 Год назад +1

    I was just there on May 19, 2023. The wind was wicked that day too so this is great. To see what I missed for fear of getting blown away. Love the geology explanation. Follow Idahoan😊.

  • @runninonempty820
    @runninonempty820 Год назад +1

    I've been to Hawaii once, but Iceland is at the top of my bucket list. So many cool (and hot) features to check out.

  • @guitsynthcw
    @guitsynthcw 4 месяца назад

    Visited Gullfoss during my Golden Circle trip last year.

  • @michaelnancyamsden7410
    @michaelnancyamsden7410 Год назад +1

    Good video trip.

  • @skagited9617
    @skagited9617 Год назад +1

    Thanks for posting, Shawn.... Awesome set of Falls on that fault intersection!

  • @susiesue3141
    @susiesue3141 5 месяцев назад

    Really awesome waterfall! Thanks for sharing! 😊

  • @stevew5212
    @stevew5212 Год назад +1

    Kool stuff. Thanks

  • @nancyscipione9876
    @nancyscipione9876 Год назад

    I was there in May 2022. After I watch all your videos, I want to go back as senior citizen “Shawn” student and really “see” what is around me in the lava. You are an exceptional teacher and I imagine you inspire many folks to become geologists!! Please keep recording, showing your diagrams, and teaching us all about our Earth, especially Iceland. Thank YOU!!!!

  • @harlycorner
    @harlycorner 5 месяцев назад

    This was one of the coolest places I saw when I visited Iceland :)

  • @jolewis-brown6608
    @jolewis-brown6608 7 месяцев назад +1

    I visited Gullfoss in 2019; great to have this explanation.

  • @lisadyck9503
    @lisadyck9503 5 месяцев назад

    Absolutely fabulous. Thanks to Shawn, I will never look at a cliff the same way again. I will always be wondering what the story is.

  • @lynnerodgers4461
    @lynnerodgers4461 11 месяцев назад

    Very cool. I felt the same way overlooking the lighthouse and cliffs on the Isle of Skye. Windwhipped and soaked to be sure!

  • @ronboff3461
    @ronboff3461 Год назад +1

    excellent as always! thank you

  • @valoriel4464
    @valoriel4464 Год назад +1

    Wow! Thx for another grt geo-adventure. ✌🏻

  • @muzikhed
    @muzikhed Год назад +1

    Geology against all odds ! Admire your determination and enthusiasm. Great video, explanation and views. Thanks.

  • @dorisotte-janssen3461
    @dorisotte-janssen3461 5 месяцев назад

    Shawn thank you so much for this every exciting video and thanks for these wonderful drawings ✍️ every good explained.

  • @grandparocky
    @grandparocky 2 месяца назад

    OK you endured the elements to show us the composition of the falls. Thank you for the effort! nice video!

  • @shlby69m
    @shlby69m 11 месяцев назад

    We live on flat, dry land BUT love to visit HOSTILE terrain. THX! Beautiful shots of blue filled canyon.

  • @stevengeorge5605
    @stevengeorge5605 Год назад +1

    Thank you, Shawn for another great video!

  • @jeffmyers7062
    @jeffmyers7062 Год назад +1

    beautiful!

  • @juliamarple3785
    @juliamarple3785 Год назад

    Wow. That is so incredible.

  • @kaasieman
    @kaasieman 9 месяцев назад

    years ago I visited Iceland and the gulfoss Falls. Great to watch your video now and learn more about these magnificent falls.

  • @pencilpauli9442
    @pencilpauli9442 Год назад +1

    I've heard of island hopping but that's one huge leap for geology to go from Hawaii to Iceland! lol
    A Song of Ice and Fire? lol

  • @loisrossi841
    @loisrossi841 4 месяца назад

    Powerful, thank you.

  • @tightropewalkergirl6485
    @tightropewalkergirl6485 Год назад

    That was absolutely brilliant thank you - I’m super excited to go there next April and look at the geology for myself

  • @colinayers3498
    @colinayers3498 Год назад +3

    Beautiful! Random question that I've always wondered: why do Eastern Washington and North Idaho have zero hot springs? Eastern Oregon, Southern Idaho, Western Montana, and British Columbia all have hundreds of hot springs, it's never made sense to me

    • @colinayers3498
      @colinayers3498 Год назад

      I grew up near Post Falls and never thought about it, but now I live in Stanley, Idaho and I'm within a half hour from about 50 hot springs

  • @mapleleaf902
    @mapleleaf902 Год назад

    Stunning!

  • @gerardacronin334
    @gerardacronin334 Год назад

    Wow! I was there in July but I didn’t learn any of what you just explained. Fascinating!

  • @victoriageorgopoulou4292
    @victoriageorgopoulou4292 6 месяцев назад

    Takk og bless!! Ι have been there so it was soooooo good to get to know some of the geology that explains those formations

  • @davidk7324
    @davidk7324 Год назад +6

    Outstanding, Shawn. Breathtaking interface between different chapters of this land's geologic story. Fascinating. Always a high point when you say "I've got a diagram here . . . ". Any similarity to the upper and lower Mesa Falls in Idaho or apples/oranges?

    • @shawnwillsey
      @shawnwillsey  Год назад +3

      Not really. Mesa Falls are more a story of river diversion by lava. No real faults of consequence there.

  • @johnschulte347
    @johnschulte347 Год назад

    Great work and dealing with formidable conditions to make it so educational to watch!

  • @Mchelle021
    @Mchelle021 9 месяцев назад

    You are a hardcore geology professor! Thank you for all of your efforts and descriptive drawings. I know you didn’t go for a soak at the BL after this outing, but hopefully were able to get warm and cozy later in the day!

  • @guitsynthcw
    @guitsynthcw 7 месяцев назад

    Spectacular!

  • @billbliss2500
    @billbliss2500 9 месяцев назад

    That was a GREAT VIDEO! Thanks!

  • @lisadyck9503
    @lisadyck9503 5 месяцев назад

    Loved the diagrams!

  • @bravendyer9529
    @bravendyer9529 5 месяцев назад

    Soooooo cool 😎! Wet too 🤭🤓
    You answered my question at what I saw yesterday!!!! 🥳 black basalt.
    I’m hooked , buying your books 📕

  • @epincion
    @epincion Год назад

    Very informative thanks

  • @J0hnC0ltrane
    @J0hnC0ltrane 9 месяцев назад

    Despite the the elements you made a great video and story along with the other ones from Iceland.

  • @marcialoofboro306
    @marcialoofboro306 7 месяцев назад

    Wow, cool, thanks!

  • @SoCo_Surfcasting
    @SoCo_Surfcasting Год назад

    Got engaged on the other side. Been to Iceland a few times... nothing else like it.

  • @hunt4redoctober628
    @hunt4redoctober628 Год назад +2

    Awesome scenery again Shawn! The geology is really fascinating. How old do you think the sedimentary units are?

    • @shawnwillsey
      @shawnwillsey  Год назад +2

      Hmm. Not sure. Age of basalt at top of upper falls and basalt of lower falls would easily bracket their age. Did not see that data in any of the papers I read.

  • @scifiron
    @scifiron Год назад

    Thanks!

    • @shawnwillsey
      @shawnwillsey  Год назад

      Your kind donation is much appreciated. Thank you!

  • @leamarie5627
    @leamarie5627 10 месяцев назад

    I love the diagrams

  • @lukeweidner9110
    @lukeweidner9110 Год назад +2

    I'd really like to know how they figured out those were strike slip faults...

    • @MountainFisher
      @MountainFisher Год назад +1

      Actually easy. Someone observed the movement. Does not take long to notice when one side moves.

    • @shawnwillsey
      @shawnwillsey  Год назад +1

      This info came from Agust Gudmundsoon's book, The Glorious Geology of Iceland's Golden Circle. He doesn't mention the evidence supporting strike-slip motion.

  • @DianeSmith-h3t
    @DianeSmith-h3t 4 месяца назад

    Thank you.
    Di…Cumbria

  • @weepingscorpion8739
    @weepingscorpion8739 Год назад

    There is a word used in northern England to mean waterfall or cascade and it was borrowed from Old Norse, and that word is force. So if you want to use that word (but yeah, I know it's pretty obscure for the majority of English speakers), you could translate the name of the waterfall as Goldforce. This is one place in Iceland I really want to see. Þingvellir being another.

  • @AndrewGrey22
    @AndrewGrey22 Год назад +1

    I wonder if the Great Falls of the Missouri looked like this to Lewis in 1804.

  • @jimbarker506
    @jimbarker506 7 месяцев назад

    Thanks Shawn for getting wet so you could explain the geology here, that is truly spectacular that's for sure, one question if I may, how far away is the glacier or glaciers that feed that river ? Cheers. Jim from Dartford UK

  • @catsandcrafts171
    @catsandcrafts171 7 месяцев назад

    It's like a mini version of Victoria Falls, isn't it? And I guess, Niagara too in a sense.

  • @Anne5440_
    @Anne5440_ Год назад +1

    Is it possible for this river to have started underneath the glacier? The two faults meeting there have created a really interesting geologic feature. Definitely not a river I would have run. I stopped with low class three. Thanks for showing the layers that make up the stairsteps.

    • @shawnwillsey
      @shawnwillsey  Год назад +1

      With striations and polish from glacial ice on rock, the river clearly came after the glacier.

    • @pootthatbak2578
      @pootthatbak2578 Год назад

      What about that deep narrow exit canyon? besides the fact it is a fault line..maybe its a different depth due to a collapsed lava tube ?

  • @mikeclarke952
    @mikeclarke952 Год назад +9

    Who screwed up and named it something English speakers can pronounce?

  • @Grandpa82547
    @Grandpa82547 Год назад +1

    How, and when, did these layers form?

    • @shawnwillsey
      @shawnwillsey  Год назад

      I couldn't find an exact age in any of the references I used. The sandstone and conglomerate layers were deposited in a river environment. The basalt layers are lava flows.

    • @Grandpa82547
      @Grandpa82547 Год назад

      @@shawnwillsey 8000 years doesn't seem like much time for all those strata. Is Iceland a special case?

  • @davidbrooks1724
    @davidbrooks1724 Год назад

    that faulting is pretty wicked. obviously they occurred at different times

  • @craigdennis6911
    @craigdennis6911 Год назад +1

    Visit to glaciers this time Shawn?

    • @shawnwillsey
      @shawnwillsey  Год назад +3

      Yes indeed. Stay tuned for two videos with ice!

    • @craigdennis6911
      @craigdennis6911 Год назад +1

      @@shawnwillsey looking forward to it Shawn.

  • @robbirobin9657
    @robbirobin9657 7 месяцев назад

    I wonder how many visitors notice the striated rocks?😊

  • @grandpamoonstone7772
    @grandpamoonstone7772 10 месяцев назад

    Is that a convergence of plate movement or do they have different time lines?

  • @TheDevice9
    @TheDevice9 Год назад +1

    Can the canyon have been carved by water under the ice?

    • @shawnwillsey
      @shawnwillsey  Год назад +1

      Striations and polish on bedrock indicate glacial erosion preceded the modern river and canyon.

  • @rainman7992
    @rainman7992 Год назад +4

    yesterday, Hawaii, today Iceland....he has perfected teleportation technology and isn't sharing, not a nice guy.

    • @valoriel4464
      @valoriel4464 Год назад +1

      Yes, sneaky. Lol😅

    • @shawnwillsey
      @shawnwillsey  Год назад +1

      Disclaimer: Video posts do not necessarily reflect my location at that time.

  • @Fryed_Bryce
    @Fryed_Bryce Год назад +1

    Iceland kicks the crap out of Boise. Let's move to Iceland. We can buy one of those cream-colored thick wool turtlenecks and hunt whale

  • @johnschulte347
    @johnschulte347 Год назад

    Thanks!

    • @shawnwillsey
      @shawnwillsey  Год назад

      Thanks for your kind donation. Glad you enjoyed Gullfoss.