Sedona's Red Rocks: Vortex Site, Sexy Geology, or Both? Random Roadcuts #28
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 6 фев 2025
- Learn to "READ" the rocks with this innovative video series designed to help you learn geology. Join geology professor Shawn Willsey and investigate a random roadcut, make observations, and formulate basic interpretations. Here in Episode #28, we check out a large roadcut along Highway 89A, west of Sedona, Arizona. GPS Location: 34.84702, -111.83708
Support these educational videos! Your generous support allows me to create more videos. Send support via:
PayPal: www.paypal.com...
Buy Me: buymeacoffee.c...
Venmo: @shawn-willsey
or click on the "Thanks" button above.
Or a good ol' fashioned check to:
Shawn Willsey
148 Blue Lakes Blvd N
#141
Twin Falls, ID 83301
WIllsey website: www.willseygeo...
Willsey merch store: geologyexplain... 
Наука
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
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
These roadside geology lessons take me back to my childhood in Western Pennsylvania, where my dad would often pull over and show us how roadcuts revealed synclines, anticlines, and other features of the Northern reaches of the Appalachian mountains.
Thanks for doing these educational videos!!
Random road cuts is my favourite, the rock is quite beautiful. Loving the new graphic at the starts too.
I love learning about rocks thru Random Roadcuts, thank you!
That is really interesting! I like the roadcuts and your explanation about the layers and rocks .... thank you Shawn!
I love these! More RRC’s please!
What a great place to visit, and a hellish place to dwell!
Love seeing the Arizona content and northern AZ. I used to live in Sedona so its fun to learn a bit more about it. Thanks!
Neat! Thanks Shawn. Random Roadcuts are so much fun. 👍
The "random roadcuts" series is the most fun. My wife wonders why I stop to investigate some of there. IYKYK.
Thanks for all the hard work on these videos Shawn
Very nice! The Sedona Vortex results in some interesting geology. 😜
It’s so fun to see you poking around a place we know so well. Next time let’s arrange for you to give a talk while you’re here.
Loved your daughter's rendition of River Cut Rocks today!
Thank you for another random roadcuts!
Always my fav segments.
Love the stream-of-consciousness narration so we see how you analyse what you're seeing as it happens.
Love your random road cuts. I’m heading to Sedona in a few weeks and will stop by to check this one out. Thanks.
I love it thank you
A new Random Roadcut, awesome! I love this detective work you do for us, it's such a great way to learn :) Beautiful sandstones and these mafic dikes are very interesting. Also, we can clearly see the crystals if we pause the video at the right moment :) Thank you, Shawn. À bientôt ! :)
Yay! A new Random Roadcuts. I think sandstones are a form of "glamour rock" because of their beautiful color.😊
Welcome to Arizona Shawn. I wish you could a whole series of Arizona road cuts, especially driving down I-17.
Random Roadcuts is so educational.
Fascinating! Beautiful site. It's so interesting to have you tell us what you see. It's a really enjoyable way to learn from home!
Oh my goodness. I was just thinking about learning the geologic background on these Sedona rocks, we just cataloged some from a deceased collector, two of them were labeled “energy vortex.” I’m so excited for this haha
Your video got me thinking back on my time in the Verde Valley and the wonderful man and Geologist Paul Lindburg, who worked at the mine in Jerome. His drawings and illustrations were fantastic, and his work can be seen at the museum in Jerome.
I love the road cut videos. Watching and interpreting at the moment itself.
One question though. I thought that basalt was less prone to weathering and erosion than sandstone. So I would expect the basalt dikes to be more standing out of the road cut in stead of forming a sort of gully to the inside of the road cut.
Can anyone who reads this come with an explanation?
Same. We have some places in western Scotland where basaltic dykes cut through sedimentary rock, and the sedimentary tends to erode away leaving the basalt sticking out like a wall, I wonder what processes would degrade the basalt more than the sandstone?
I would like to see information on the green rocks in that area.
Perhaps the next time you're in the area you can do a Meetup? Professor Willsey when is your next geology 101 your students are waiting😊
If not for the 60 mile wide volcanic domes would this still be the Red rocks of the colorado plateau?
Could those narrow dikes, with no sign of high temperature alteration of the surrounding material, be clastic dikes rather than basaltic ?
Watching the Great Courses, John Renton in Geology course, mentioned that the Arizona and New Mexico region was not uplifted by plate tectonics, i.e. western Farallon plate 66-20 MYA, and Pacific plate 20-current. Farallon plate was the more northern states of Utah, Colorado plateau uplifts, while Pacific plate created the 2nd generation of the Sierras. He mentions his impression that there was asthenosphere uplift, not volcanic, and this caused the Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico uplifts and plateaus.
What was previously quite shallow sloped flatlands of sandstones, that were part of the former equatorial region of Laramidia and the (great) Inner Seaway, that is (currently) wrongly depicted as our current N-S Rocky and Sierra Nevada mountains ranges, but that Laramidia was originally a W-E alignment, and with the 5th mass extinction, impacts by black body (naked star core fragments - commonly and wrongly said as black holes), the Farallon plate sliced under the proto-West Coast, uplifted the Rockies, and continued slicing through the Inner Seaway uplifting the northern Midwest states until contact and confrontation with the ancient Appalachia sub-continent. Laramidia then broke at the proto-West Coast, and started subducting. Later the Pacific plate would undercut the Southwest and create the proto-southern West Coast, push up this former Laramidia eastern sub-continental landmass. In its present, spun 90 degrees clockwise, what was W-E alignment, was turned to its current N-S alignment of the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas.
The Inner Seaway east of the Rockies, and erosion of the eastern side of the Rockies flowed into this Inner Seaway. The southern (southwest) regions received these various northern basaltic erosions of irons, creating the iron-rich embedded sandstones, and such flash floods of material from the uplifted north down into the southwest regions. All during this time, these flatlands of the Southwest, like the Colorado river was making all of the same sea level ox bow meanderings, like the Mississippi delta of Louisiana, and cutting through the Colorado and Arizona delta lands, in what would be these later deep river cuts that continued while the Southwest was uplifted and the once meanderings of the Colorado river, ... and mass wastings of the river banks, created all of these other current non-channel pinnacles, towers, and islands in the Colorado river basin. So the river was there before the Grand Canyon was made. As the land uplifted, the river cut back down, attempting to reach sea level again, and you have land uplift, with river cuts, and mass wastings creating the vastness of the mile(s) deep Grand Canyon from uplift and river erosion.
Oak Creek canyon river was also doing its own Tucson to Mexico river meanderings and cuts into its present geological and hydrological appearance.
What is noted is that oxbows and meanderings say that the hydrological process was mature into adult and old age having achieved its horizontal maximum erosion. It is only with the uplifting, that the river had its hydrological age turned back and the river became vigorous and healthy again. All of the current uplift and river erosion shows that the Colorado river stills retains its youthful hydrological age ... as told by the many white water rafter expeditions.
So these dikes would be from uplifted asthenosphere, and any greater volume of basalt and iron-rich erosions would have come from the earlier uplifts of the southern Rockies, washing down across the flatlands of the Southwest, until they were also uplifted.
What is perceived as massive volcanic debris of iron-rich ash, tephra, and debris in the Southwest, was nothing of the sort. There are no volcanoes in the area. So only the non-volcanic, and non-subduction zone of the Sierra Nevadas, once glaciated, had erosion of natural rock strata there flowing south and southeast across the once flatlands. It is the greater northern regions of mafic basalts, (ancient volcanic Laramidia Rocky Mountains) that would have erosions and mass wastings spreading down across the flatlands of the Southwest. As such, the mafic basalts would bring down flash floodings of iron-rich sedimentation onto the flatland sandstones. But, most importantly, it is the uplift of asthenosphere mafic-felsics andesite, diorite, and granodiorties that would bring such asthenosphere faults and dikes. The black sands of the mafics, with the other said felsic crystals, speaks to these veins being mafic-felsics, ... not from the Sierra Nevadas, not from the southern portions of the Rockies, but this was pure asthenosphere uplift.
As mentioned in collateral geology lessons, volcanic igneous rocks display various viscosity, and their respective volcano cinder cones, stratovolcanoes or explosive Mt Lassen granitic volcanoes. Mafic iron- and manganese-rich basalt lava runs like olive oil. Mafic-felsic andesite runs like pancake syrup. It is the larger crystal categories of mafic gabbro, mafic-felsic diorite, and the felsic granite that would flow like refrigerated molasses. In subduction zones, andesite flows upward faster than the slow moving granitic plutons that never truly reach the surface, and never have a truly impressive granitic blow a chunk of the Earth's surface into the sky. So these asthenosphere uplift veins and dikes of eroded andesite and diorite would be the "tells" in this region of non-subduction, non-plate tectonics, and non-volcanic igneous rocks, ... that only an asthenosphere uplift would push up mafic-felsics in this greater area of the Southwest. Any other iron-rich deposits with the sandstones of deep layering or the many thin layers, ... suggests the mention of freshwater sedimentary shoreline and lake bed varves ... and the northern erosion and mass wastings with flash floods, northern hydrological cycle washing down eroded iron-rich sediments onto these flatland areas. Only later would these flatlands be uplifted and former erosion processes were diverted to other locations.
@@johnlord8337 In what area? Im in Sedona, and House Mountain is across the road an anciant shield volcano. Suposedly was the hot spot that is now in Flagstaff twin peaks, although I do think Sunset crator is from fault activity. And although they say its not connected, we had a 4.0 quake on the Oak Creek fault, and Sunset crator released steam. Then they say it's not connected. Oh, it was just a coincidence?
@@Emprivan look at a topo map and see that the Southern Rockies flank the eastern side of Arizona, and wash down ancient mafic basalts and mafic-felsic andesites into the high Tucson plateau and lower Sedona plain. Any other mountain formations of these southern Rockies are 252.2 - 66 MYA as an equatorial orogeny of the Laramidia volcanic island arc, that was spun clockwise with the Farallon plate (66 - 40 MYA). All of the mountain range can have any large portion of rising andesite asthenosphere, and other hydrothermal activity with the Rockies and its granites. Shield volcanoes are usually basalt but can be constructed of mostly andesitic lava flows. As such this shield volcano et al in the Sedona plain speaks more of being andesite and of asthenosphere origin movement and uplifting.
Sunset Crater, and its cinder cone region appears more as low viscosity mafic iron-rich basaltic volcanic "diarrhea" and quick flowing lava fields, throwing gas, ash, and small cinders, ... and being associated with the nearby San Francisco peaks. These peaks are the ancient eroded San Francisco mountain stratovolcano that would be the intermediate viscosity of mafic-felsic andesite eruptions and further ash falls etc. All these again speak to this region being an asthenosphere, not volcanic subduction, (per se), not tectonic, with elastic and/or tension compression of the Sedona region. All of the massive region of iron-rich overburden onto the most-ancient of sea level sandstones from the Mesozoic period of the dinosaurs Triassic-Jurassic-Cretaceous (252.2 - 66 MYA period) came from these later large asthenosphere movements covering the region in further ash, lahars, pyroclastic flows, and hydrological erosion and flash floodings as the Colorado plateau uplifted south to Tucson, while the more-southerly ancient lands of Sedona and southward remained virtually flat, alongside New Mexico and its Carlsbad plateau and plains stretching out southward, eventually reaching the Gulf of California.
@@johnlord8337 And what about that chunk of AZ thats part of Tazmania? I feel the Colorado uplift happened faster than is thought. I mean most of Sedona's errosion is layered in Cottonwood, and flood plains along the Verde River. I have trenched down to bed rock here, also up on horse mesa I found an anciant hard basalt manmade pick laying partly embeded in white ash layer about 4 ft down thru clay. Ash layer was still soft or decomposed about 1 1/2 inch thick on top of past eroded redrock. Those people droped what they were doing and ran. I'm curently looking for the place where they were harvesting that hard Clovis rock, I know they traded the Obsidian from Flagstaff later.
@ Arizona and Tasmania - part of Australia ? The only part of China and NE Australia that touched Laramidia was norther California, Oregon, and Washington. Coastal cedar, sequoias, and ginkgo biloba trees are found fossilized in Ginkgo State Park,. Vantage, Washington, John Day Fossil Beds, John Day, Oregon, and the coastal cedars, redwoods, and sequoias (all greater Asian origin trees) were all part of the once connected areas between these now 3 continental landmasses.
there is some blatant layering of vastly different materials in Prescott, within 1000 yards of Prescott Parkway and its intersection with highway 69.
I know what I’d love to know the reasons for: PURPLE rocks, of any shade; lavender, lilac, mulberry, violet, there are certain small usually deposits of rocks with those tones, and at least from the examples I’ve ever noticed in northwestern Nevada, that they are layered in general but seem to be fairly continuous in the color range, not too separated in the color results seen from those minerals.
Thank you, if you happen to see this, and if you have done a talk about this, send me there, if you would!👏🏻
looks like fault gauge. you take a pan and sample for gold. ,intrusive. ,
sample. for precious metals.
It also seems that the Flagstone quarries in the area around Drake and Ashfork have been lava covered, cooked then Erosion exposed, does that contribute to the easy cleavage of sandstone?
Iv'e come to understand that the purple comes from hydrothermal alteration. It can be hard but if left in air it will decompose pretty fast into that crumbly stuff. You need to see the metamorphic veins of rock or dikes, I found one that looks like Cinabar. You might check for radio activity too. Also looking at the Colorado uplift, seems like it happened faster than slower. Sedona caldera at least looks like it slid down the side left behind. Also a few places where newer stuff was covered over by older stuff and then resolidified. Just how it's all cracked up shows there is loads of stress when water seeps in and then freezes. And we have 3 chunks of sea floor here, and cant find any more around like it fell from the sky and broke into 3 big chunks. Tecnicaly they should of decomposed being they litraly are sitting on the redrock with no associated layer, like someone put them there. Bright white just packed with sea shells about 3 ft thick maybe 6ftx6ft, they just shouldn't be there all by thier lonesomes. Also at the top of the complex seems like someone draged one single huge chunk of redrock all the way to the top of the limestone layer, seemingly imposable task.
theres a spot near there where I think you can see the edge of the old mogollon rim....if you are where I think you are. I think.
Wonderful geology and yes sexy rocks
Where's the lava? lol.
Looks really interesting. Looks brittle 🤷♀️
Where is the gold?
👍🏽
Get back to Iceland! Earthquakes have increased from 1-2 a week up to 5-6 a week. It may pop within the next week or two. I don't think it's going to hit the same inflation level before it goes. Will be interesting to see how much it deflates in the next eruption. If the peaks narrow again, it's probably going to go to a steady state eruption within the next few eruptions. It will become like Pu'u O'o and erupt continuously until the conduit shuts off.
Since when is basalt less hard than sandstone? These remind me of the clastic dikes in Nick's video.
the only vortex there is in the Empty space in idiots heads....