Hi y'all! So unfortunately, Steve's camera was not working during our interview, so it is just the voice over, but it's still just as insightful! I hope you all enjoy this collab and go check out his channel for all things Precambrian tectonics & tons of other geology content! -> www.youtube.com/@stevenbaumann8692
Great presentation! 🇻🇮 US Virgin Islands here. Can you exemplify this video using the Caribbean plate? St. Croix is different than the boundary islands. Also, the plate has moved contrary to the other plates (or conversely hasn’t moved while the American Plates did move by). 🔹 2nd point are the impact and antipode of Theia impact and Roach Limit deposition 🔹 3rd point Lunar drift out of the gravity well and tidal churn within Earth’s various core and mantle interactions. 🔹 lastly, hot spots and traps.
Thank you Steven for teaching us about drip tectonics. This was incredibly fascinating and insightful, I had no knowledge about this mechanism before, and explains tectonics before the formation of plates, and also explains the relic hotspots that provide an alternate vestigial tectonic mechanism in the modern world.
Of course! It was so fun and enlightening, we will certainly have to do it again sometime! ;D Thanks for all the amazing info, people really like this one!
Physicists be slumming it, solving major problems in other fields without even putting their pants on these days. Who'd a thunk fluid physics would be solving economic and demographic problems, lol.
I've been asking my geology professors to help with these questions. Thank you for providing such clear, illustrated answers on the best understanding we have so far!
This video added to my understanding of, simply put, geology. I have watched many, many hours of videos on plate tectonics, geology of western N.America and it is a challenge, a big challenge to grasp these concepts. I learned on this video what tectonics is. How plate tectonics came to be. And most noteworthy describing the mantle as plastic. It is difficult to understand how a subducting mantle could move so deep into the 'solid' mantle. Now I understand this. Finally! Thank-you for your terrific geology talks.
Finally! It’s like you read my mind. This is great stuff. I’ve been trying to hash through this stuff from academic conferences and lingo that was just a little Beyond my understanding. Thank you for synthesizing this into something that is digestible for someone who who is interested in geology but doesn’t have the education background to fully comprehend academic work presented to other academics in that field. Great stuff! Always enjoy the wide variety of topics you cover.
Thank you so much for this video!!! I've been reading some articles about early tectonics and it has become a new fascination for me. As someone who was born after Plate Tectonics was the accepted modern model, I just couldn't imagine any other process going on in our planet. So the thought of "what was before Plate Tectonics?" was like someone asking me "what was before the Big Bang" haha. Lovely stuff, I can tell you are keeping yourself current with the latest developments in the geology field
Wonderfully illuminating - and the picture of how planetary tectonics evolved over the cooling phase of planet Earth is apparently transferrable(!) and maybe the typical template for most if not all planets. Amazing!
Yeah, but to much of the male-leaning audience for videos like this, Rachel has a leg up in eye and audio appeal, although I am not at all judging Steve and his rustic, bearded appearance.
Thanks so much! Was the first time I have tried anything like this so there were certainly some hiccups, but I want to start incorporating more interview-like videos like this so I think it was a great start and good practice for me :) And it was so fun to get to talk to him about this. We may do another one at some point about tectonics on other planets like Venus, so let me know if you'd be interested in something like that! ;D
i love these videos, there's a lot of good science creators on youtube, I like how technical and specific your channel is, feels like undergrad classes rather than high school which is nice
Howdy Rachel, great topic. I was a little unsure of Steve Baumann’s definition of tectonics, which he described as heat loss of the earth. I had considered tectonics as the mechanical results driven by heat loss, elastic and brittle deformation. It might be as a result of hanging out at the Center of Tectonophysics at TAMU way back in the early 70’s. Seems we were studying how rocks deform. Drip tectonics was unknown then, but earth’s internal heat was a likely culprit for the drive. I was aware of the greenstones belts, and learning much more about newer theories of their evolution. Might have to look into Steve Baumann’s channel. Thanks!
It's ALWAYS in the definitions, Joe, and you were correct to question. Look up the definitions given for "tectonics". What I see is...the evolution, structure and deformation of the lithosphere, not heat loss. Heat transfer seems to be the driving force, but stars do NOT involve tectonics because stars are not the same beasts as the rocky planets. Seems to me, then, that a better definition is the interactions of rock forming components of the lithosphere and how they change and evolve in their arc from accumulations of star particles, to molten state, and on to plastic and brittle states. Plate tectonics is the longest and current champion, but will it continue forever on earth? Probably not. I didn't recall hearing about the importance of radioactive decay to the long time span of plate tectonic or even garden-variety tectonism, but perhaps I dozed off. I, too, was not taught drip tectonics, but remember reading about many who questioned when plate tectonics kicked in during the early differentiation of the earth. Lumpers, splitters, and pigeon-holers never die, friends; they are absorbed into the literature. The stripes of the classifiers NEVER change. Thanks to Rachael and Steve for the great discussion.
I think that's something that got lost on the cutting floor (3 hrs -> 30 min!) - as you say, tectonics is *driven* by the heat loss of the earth, and, important to this discussion, the heat differential and loss rate is what determines the structure and behaviour of the tectonics given the composition of Earth. That is, the way tectonic behaviour has changed over the past on Earth directly relates to how heat loss behaviour has changed over that time period.
I thank the algorithm for recommending this fascinating video & introducing me to your great channel with a bunch of cool videos to catch up on. And thanks for all the hard work making it! It’s a really interesting topic because, as far as I’m aware, no other planetary bodies in our system have plate tectonics. Which makes me wonder if they’re a critical factor (via nutrient cycling & ecosystem change) for the evolution of complex life.
Excellent video, and an excellent choice for a guest speaker! I subscribed to Steven’s channel immediately! I should correct you on one extremely minor point - you mentioned twice that plate tectonics will end “when Earth loses all of its heat.” Plate tectonics will end long before then. Another celestial body is a good example of this - Mars! That planet has a mantle that is too cold and brittle to allow plate tectonics, even though it still has plenty of heat in its molten core. Exactly how long it will take for plate tectonics to slowly grind to an end on Earth, we’ll have to wait a loooong time before we’re sure!
@@GEOGIRL You sound intelligent, but you're posting a lot of questionable theories. Check out the Hydroplate Theory. If you're as smart as you seem, you'll appreciate this advice.
Is partial melting like boiling salt water. The felsic is the water. It bubbles sooner. The mafic is the salt. It doesn’t evaporate away? I could be thinking about this wrong or flipped
When I was at school in the 1970s plate tectonics was the hot new thing. Forty plus years has seen the field move on so far and it's amazing learning about all the new ideas that have developed. Thanks.
Thanks for this great video! You've answered questions I've had for a decades about formation of the 2 kinds of crust, and What Happened Before. Clarification that it's all about heat loss very helpful. Also helpful are Ideas about differential temperatures of melting and how Hawaiian hot spot plumes fit into tectonics. It makes sense!
ive been watching geology videos for a couple of years now and always wondered where continental crust originated. Most people aren't concerned with the archaea era geology so no one ever bothers to explain it! I've also long wondered about the formation of hotspots and no one ever gets into that either. Thank you and your collaborator for the wonderful video. It was extremely educational.
You really should upload the whole vid, Gutsick Gibbon has many 3 plus hour vids about evolution and we love them. Plus I do fins Steven's lectures awesome, love his interviews.
That was great. I had not realized there were three forces moving the plates around nor the geology of the US and Canada was so different. Rocks are cool, or I guess I should say hot so they move around.
1: I know you must be a good person, because you have a cat. 2. I started college in the early 1970's, after my active-duty service in the Marines. I had to choose a science course and I chose geology. I had a great professor who introduced us to plate tectonics, which was then new and NOT widely accepted. This presentation introduced me to more and newer information on the subject. Thank You for this! I will be looking for more information on plate tectonics. Now that I know there is a Lot More to learn, u will be looking our for it.
I had a cat that LOVED thicker plastic bags and shower curtains. She would just sink her teeth into them. I think she just liked the puncturing sensation because she would immediately move on to another spot and do it again. It was her bubblewrap I guess.
my tortie has a major plastic fetish. sometimes she bites, sometimes licks, doesnt ever seem to consume any, but she's like a truffle pig if plastic bags are in a room
20:45 I remember from my geography classes back in school the "Sial" and "Sima" layers in the Earth's crust. It occured to me much later that Sial stands for Si+Al, SIlicon and Aluminium, while Sima stands for Si+Ma, Silicon and Magnesium. It wasn't explained to us back then, just the names were dropped. Do I remember correctly, that the continental crust mainly consists of Sial-layers, while the oceanic crust consists of Sima? Are Sial synonymous to felsic (feldspar + silicon) and Sima to mafic (magnesium + ferric)?
What caused the earthquake in New Jersey on Friday? Plate tectonics? We had 4.6 earthquake in SW Michigan in May of 2015 but I was in the woods cutting firewood so I didn’t feel it. My mom felt it, she thought her furnace was about to explode. I ❤ GEO GIRL
All earthquakes are the result of sudden movement along faults within the Earth. The movement releases stored-up ‘elastic strain’ energy in the form of seismic waves and causes the ground surface to shake. Such movement on the faults is generally a response to long-term deformation and the buildup of stress. Not all faults mark tectonic boundaries though - most don't, but they are more minor than the plate boundary versions.
I felt tremors up here in Poughkeepsie, NY. First time "ever," cuz I didn't notice the one that happened in 2011. That might have been because I grew up in NYC and was somewhat used to the vibrations that subway activity caused in some Manhattan buildings.
That quake was movement along a ~100 million year old transform fault, caused by tensional forces when Pangea was splitting apart and North America was moving away from Europe.
I'm sure that was a cool experience for her! The reason for the earthquake there is linked to an old normal fault formed there when North America was splitting away from Europe over 100 million years ago. At that stage, tension forces caused the plate to break, causing faults, very similar to what's happening right now in Iceland. That fault is no longer at a spreading ridge, but clearly some stresses were operating on it to activate it at the weekend.
@@ahamillphotographyI think another factor in the earthquake was the ongoing erosion of the Appalachian mountains. Like an iceberg, most of a mountain chain is below the surface. As the top erodes, the roots of the mountain are buoyed upward by the denser mantle on which the mountain floats. The upward movement produces stress that can be suddenly released.
Haha Actually, this interview format was more work for me lol! But I think it was just because it was the first time I was trying it and next time I think I will prepare better which will make editing much more efficient ;) I am super excited to incorporate more of these collabs into my channel! :D
We did an interview, but unfortunately his camera wasn't working so it is just the audio ;) (you can tell it's an interview if you listen close because occasionally you can hear me saying 'mm hmm' lol)
There is no way to know why a cat does what it does and the effort to stop a cat from doing what it wants generally is far beyond the worth of getting the cat to stop.
The recent research into the tectonic activity on Venus is really interesting - it has a totally different tecronic regime than Earth. Mars on the other hand has its huge volcanoes, which completely has shifted the mass centre of the planet.
@@GEOGIRL Yeah, but I already know the climate and bio schtuff. Besides that they are kinda frilly and decorative like trim work, whereas the rocks are more structural, like framing.
New to your channel and you got my sub right away. Great video, very informative. I always assumed that tectonics was plate tectonics and never even considered that it was related to heat convection through the earth more generally. On a side note, I imagine I'm not the only one who might enjoy listening to you full 3 hour conversation with Steven.
31:47 Cat licking a plastic bag, SO CUTE! Cats are like this -- they have their idiosyncrasies. I LOVE this explanation of how our tectonic regime has evolved! Thank you!
I love geology. I love the fact that we still have a lot of research happening. We need to learn more about the earth. I know they tried to read the basalt rocks in the northwest US and could not determine age of North America because the plumes it formed in was erratic. It is hard to learn everything. Knowing the basics of density and rocks is enough for me. I am a builder. I drill, rock blast, excavate earth materials and recycle my earthwork (always sustainable) and backfill using virgin soils. I do some geotechnical work. Mini-caisson piles -125' into bedrock. The fracking is 1,000's of feet down for natural gas. I don't do that work. I don't know how I feel about drilling that far down.
My cats go quite mad for the cellophane on cellophane-wrapped boxes. Including licking the cellophane which must be a good deal less than hygienic. (Probably logienic.) The pix of drip tectonics makes me sort of think that the Earth has a hernia.
This is a wonderful video. I'm very interested in the geological history of Earth from its earliest times up to the Phanerozoic -- which of course is also interesting, but we tend to hear a lot more about it. I'd like to note that the Magma Ocean picture of the early Hadean is not universally accepted among planetary scientists, where there is a more recent competing idea that even the earlier Hadean was cool and wet. In this picture the surface of Earth solidified very rapidly after the giant impact that formed the moon. Earth in the Hadean, as in the later Archean, may have been a water world, with island arcs and crater rims projecting above water. Studies of Hadean zircons indicate that they formed under water in pillow lavas. While some of Earth's water may have been delivered by bombardment, the solar nebula during Earth's formation was rich with hydrogen, and the planetesimals that formed the planets were rich in silicon dioxide. Under conditions in the early mantle, these can react to form water, so the Earth's mantle was probably hydrated as it formed and outgassed water vapor. This, together with the lower luminosity of the young sun, lead to a cool, wet Hadean.
Hey! I'm merely one of your viewers, this isn't meant to be anything. I just wanted to say that I really like your lectures and hope you keep doing them. You hit the right and a particular rare spot on the technical knowledge to simple scale. I really hope your numbers are doing good, I have been pursuing a degree in animal health and thus have found myself lacking in time to watch your deeply interesting and insightful presentations (There were Rockies before there were Rockies!?). Did you ever look into the Post Permian Extinction Fungal Event? Atop a mountain tomorrow seeing the eclipse, hope you get to see it to.
I'm curious how Earth's water wasn't all evaporated away during the hadean or archaen? A vid I watched yesterday on Sci Show about the sun mentioned that the sun's luminosity is increasing 1% every 100m years and in just 1b years the sun will get bright enough to evaporate Earth's oceans. So I'm guessing during the hadean or archaen, the sun wasa lot dimmer/cooler, making me think Earth's water must have been frozen, but Earth was still very hot from accretion then? Some models show the later, expanded sun nearly or completely engulfing the Earth. Could the sun continue to drive tectonics after Earth's own heat is lost?
😽hello to your cat! And thank you for these great videos. I considered going back to school to get a degree in geology after my first one in English, but never got around to it. I have always been interested in the natural processes of Earth: geology, weather…
Hello from Netherlands 🌷 I looked over your videolist if you already made one on supervulcanos, their eruptions and especially the MtToba eruption being potentially the cause of the bottle neck hypothesis that homo sapiens experienced an almost extinction around the same time… (as you asked for subjects to further videos 😉). Looking forward 👀 and thanks 🙏 in advance. And good luck with your post-doc 🍀
Excellent analysis of the data, I really can see the drip better than the sheet like subduction of the entire boundary of a plate. Especially as the temperature at depth was higher. Better model if you ask me, even in the Siletzia stuff the plate wasn't a uniform sheet.
Given that fluids (gasses, liquids) volume decreases or expands based on its temperature, does a plastic deformation regime solid also change volume (minuscule as it may be) with temperature change? If so, then as a planet cools its size would shrink, and thus its surface area decreases- does this decreasing area stress on a brittle crust also play a role? I can almost picture that contributing to the formation of plates.…
Very interesting, thank you. So many questions... I'd love to see a follow-up or three! For now, questions: Cratons, how? And... Best guesses on how the terrestrial planets compare - ie: if Venus, Mars, and Mercury are 'stuck' in states Earth is going though that implies sufficient size + water = plate tectonics. Current best guess is Venus was Earth-like until it's runaway greenhouse - so how do you go 'backward' from plate to drip tectonics? Alternately if plate tectonics isn't 'automatic', how did this happen on Earth but not Venus?
Slightly off topic. There is a channel called SSGEO that discusses the planetary forces on the earth and attemps to predict earthquakes and their magnitude. I wonder if this seems reasonable? Tale a look and see what you think.
Gosh we haven't discovered much of anything on earth like tectonic plates in many many many decade actually more like a century. But I am curious to learn more about the milkyways galactic nuclei past and if earth was indeed on the outskirts of the center of our galaxy. It's the best uniformity hypothesis I've ever heard. If you ever see it up close in like the grand canyon it's horizontal ground up deposit on top really makes it hard to adopt our mainstream narrative on its ordering. It's like gyroscope earth took place as if the inside was moving faster than the mantle or vice versa. A very cool thing to witness in person at some point in life. It will draw out the scientist within us all. Lol
I rejoiced when I saw the Video-Topic, hoping it may shed some Light on some Thoughts that I have been having lately: Can it be the the Development of Free Oxygen through early Cyanobacteria in the Archaean somehow kicked off Plate Tectonics? I get that it would seem more obvious that tectonic Activities affect Oxygenation, but if I understand correctly, the cyanobacterial Oxygen-Production seemed to be influenced by other Factors like the increasing Brightness of the Sun above the Water-Surface, and Plate-Tectonics begin only around / shortly befoer the Great Oxygenation Event, so it almost seems like the GOE could have caused Plate Tectonics. That Oxygenation also involved the Oxidation of Iron(II)-Ions and Hydrogen Sulfide (and also cooling the Earth quite a Bit more), so maybe that Change in the Water surrounding the Crust somehow affected the Composition of the Crust and aided the Beginning of Plate Tectonics? Or in this Case, it may have aided the "Drip & Plume" Tectonics which probably set the Foundation for later Plate Tectonics? I am just a clueless Layman throwing around Ideas, please have Mercy on me.
I've always wondered what early earth was like and how it changed trough geologic time, ever since i was a kid reading books on dinosaurs and prehistoric life - but i never got a solid answer and always just kind of assumed plates and continents formed directly as the molten earth cooled down, long before life appeared. This video was kind of mind blowing to me. Combined with how drastically life has changed even basic things we take for granted like composition of atmosphere, it really makes you realise how incredibly alien and unrecognisable to what we see our planet used to be for a large part of its existance.
I’m curious: how important are hydrated rocks to the dynamics of subduction? Because the oceans are likely to boil off eventually-potentially prior to the predicted end of plate tectonics. So I wonder how subduction would operate on such a planet.
That's a great question! To my understanding, the hydration of the rocks that are subducting doesn't actually affect or heavily alter the actual process of subduction, but rather it drives melting and volcanism at the surface. Now, it is plausible that the melting has a small effect on the plate remaining in the mantle, but I doubt it is large given that such a small amount of the plate actually melts and rises to the surface. My guess is plate tectonics, including subduction would continue to go on as normal without water, but I could be wrong, I am not the right person to ask this question, just taking an educated guess ;) I hope there is a geophysicist or geodynamicist in the comments who can answer this for us! ;D
I have a question 🤔. Research out of northwestern university recently discovered more water under the earth's surface in the blue rock or ringwoodite than in all the oceans above. Will this change the understanding of everything you just talk about, or does it support it even more? Peace and Ahev
Let's cut to the chase, where's the gold at? Ok mostly kidding, but it's worth saying that gold prospecting has driven my desire to understand more about geology and thus Techtonics which then triggers larger questions about our planet and my little garden plot on it, the solar system, and the meaning of life! lol. Good show! Keep them coming.
As usual, great stuff Rachel and Steve. I have often been puzzled by why one side of the planet is covered with water. It is very fluid and could also move around Earth in less than a day and be more evenly distributed. I concluded that the centre of mass of Earth must be offset towards the Pacific Ocean. Otherwise we'd all be a bit wetter on the other half of the planet. If I am correct, then you could resolve the g force on the crust into two components... vertical and a tiny horizontal component pulling the Pacific rim continents 'downhill' towards each other, Ripping other oceans apart and making things like the mid Atlantic ridge. Does this sound silly ?
28:20 "Hotspots will probably cease to exist" @Stevenbaumann8692 is probably wrong about that. If we look at Mars, plate tectonics (if they ever existed there) died before the hotspots responsible for the tallest mountains in the Solar System.
Geo Girl...... You are almost ready for the Transition to Growth and Expansion of Planets. It took me 32 years of Plate tectonics to finally make the slow transition to Growth and Expansion of Planets. 24.5 Years later, I am finally finishing up most of the concepts for Growth and Expansion. 56.5 years is a long time to evolve concepts.
Alfred Wegner and plate tectonics is to geology as Charles Darwin and 'the Origin of Species' is to biology. They both transformed their respective fields of study and ushered in a whole new era.
I remember the old song - And those cratons go rolling along Also, totally off topic: Do you have a plan for hurricane season? Did any hurricanes reach to your area when you were in Texas?
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Hi y'all! So unfortunately, Steve's camera was not working during our interview, so it is just the voice over, but it's still just as insightful! I hope you all enjoy this collab and go check out his channel for all things Precambrian tectonics & tons of other geology content! -> www.youtube.com/@stevenbaumann8692
It's fine to have the illistrations and not talking heads
Great presentation!
🇻🇮 US Virgin Islands here. Can you exemplify this video using the Caribbean plate? St. Croix is different than the boundary islands. Also, the plate has moved contrary to the other plates (or conversely hasn’t moved while the American Plates did move by).
🔹 2nd point are the impact and antipode of Theia impact and Roach Limit deposition
🔹 3rd point Lunar drift out of the gravity well and tidal churn within Earth’s various core and mantle interactions.
🔹 lastly, hot spots and traps.
It was great! And I was just having a conversation with astronomy friends about the difference between oceanic and continental crust the week before.
Great one ❤️
Their should be laws against anti education on social media platforms. Like this channel
Thank you for having me on Rachel!
Thank you Steven for teaching us about drip tectonics. This was incredibly fascinating and insightful, I had no knowledge about this mechanism before, and explains tectonics before the formation of plates, and also explains the relic hotspots that provide an alternate vestigial tectonic mechanism in the modern world.
Of course! It was so fun and enlightening, we will certainly have to do it again sometime! ;D Thanks for all the amazing info, people really like this one!
@@scionofpluto3420I'm glad you enjoyed it!
@@GEOGIRLmost definitely. I won't babble so much. I have a working camera now
@@stevenbaumann8692 How was the total eclipse?! It looked amazing on all the videos I've seen :D
Metal casters will recognize that we live on what is basically the "slag" that has floated to the surface of the molten mesosphere.
15:07 I was just coming here to say that. 😅
I'm not a metal caster, but I (and countless other people in the future) thank you for that analogy!
Good to know I'm composed of slag, never did feel pure :)
As a teenager I remelted lead type in a print shop and scooped the slag from the surface before pouring new 'pigs'.
This is a fantastic description. Just.. perfect.
I am a theoretical physicist, with a passion for all sciences. Thank you for making geology accessible and exciting
Physicists be slumming it, solving major problems in other fields without even putting their pants on these days. Who'd a thunk fluid physics would be solving economic and demographic problems, lol.
I'm a hypothetical physicist! I propose that I _could_ earn a degree in physics if I ever intended to go back to school. 😁
I've been asking my geology professors to help with these questions. Thank you for providing such clear, illustrated answers on the best understanding we have so far!
This video added to my understanding of, simply put, geology. I have watched many, many hours of videos on plate tectonics, geology of western N.America and it is a challenge, a big challenge to grasp these concepts.
I learned on this video what tectonics is. How plate tectonics came to be. And most noteworthy describing the mantle as plastic. It is difficult to understand how a subducting mantle could move so deep into the 'solid' mantle.
Now I understand this. Finally! Thank-you for your terrific geology talks.
Finally! It’s like you read my mind. This is great stuff. I’ve been trying to hash through this stuff from academic conferences and lingo that was just a little Beyond my understanding. Thank you for synthesizing this into something that is digestible for someone who who is interested in geology but doesn’t have the education background to fully comprehend academic work presented to other academics in that field. Great stuff! Always enjoy the wide variety of topics you cover.
Thank you so much for this video!!! I've been reading some articles about early tectonics and it has become a new fascination for me. As someone who was born after Plate Tectonics was the accepted modern model, I just couldn't imagine any other process going on in our planet. So the thought of "what was before Plate Tectonics?" was like someone asking me "what was before the Big Bang" haha.
Lovely stuff, I can tell you are keeping yourself current with the latest developments in the geology field
Hell yeah geogirl! So stoked to watch this & thanks for bringing more rad content creators into my feed:)
Thank you for always providing such interesting and high quality content. Every video delivers so much 😊
Wonderfully illuminating - and the picture of how planetary tectonics evolved over the cooling phase of planet Earth is apparently transferrable(!) and maybe the typical template for most if not all planets. Amazing!
Just stumbled across your channel. I love geology and am subscribed to several channels and podcasts and now i am adding yours.
Thanks so much! So glad to have you :D
This video was amazing. Super interesting and well made. Thank you!
Thank you so much! I am so happy to hear that! :D
Nice to see Steve on here, he’s a RUclips geology original who deserves many more subscribers.
Yeah, but to much of the male-leaning audience for videos like this, Rachel has a leg up in eye and audio appeal, although I am not at all judging Steve and his rustic, bearded appearance.
Rachel 🛼,
Superb format with Steve. Great idea 💡.
👏👏👏👏
Thanks so much! Was the first time I have tried anything like this so there were certainly some hiccups, but I want to start incorporating more interview-like videos like this so I think it was a great start and good practice for me :) And it was so fun to get to talk to him about this. We may do another one at some point about tectonics on other planets like Venus, so let me know if you'd be interested in something like that! ;D
It would be worthwhile for you to do more videos with him and other experts. Geology of other planets and moons is fascinating.
Hydroplate... hydroplate... hydroplate...
i love these videos, there's a lot of good science creators on youtube, I like how technical and specific your channel is, feels like undergrad classes rather than high school which is nice
So glad to hear that ;D Thank you!
Howdy Rachel, great topic. I was a little unsure of Steve Baumann’s definition of tectonics, which he described as heat loss of the earth. I had considered tectonics as the mechanical results driven by heat loss, elastic and brittle deformation. It might be as a result of hanging out at the Center of Tectonophysics at TAMU way back in the early 70’s. Seems we were studying how rocks deform. Drip tectonics was unknown then, but earth’s internal heat was a likely culprit for the drive.
I was aware of the greenstones belts, and learning much more about newer theories of their evolution. Might have to look into Steve Baumann’s channel. Thanks!
It's ALWAYS in the definitions, Joe, and you were correct to question. Look up the definitions given for "tectonics".
What I see is...the evolution, structure and deformation of the lithosphere, not heat loss. Heat transfer seems to be the driving force, but stars do NOT involve tectonics because stars are not the same beasts as the rocky planets. Seems to me, then, that a better definition is the interactions of rock forming components of the lithosphere and how they change and evolve in their arc from accumulations of star particles, to molten state, and on to plastic and brittle states. Plate tectonics is the longest and current champion, but will it continue forever on earth? Probably not.
I didn't recall hearing about the importance of radioactive decay to the long time span of plate tectonic or even garden-variety tectonism, but perhaps I dozed off.
I, too, was not taught drip tectonics, but remember reading about many who questioned when plate tectonics kicked in during the early differentiation of the earth.
Lumpers, splitters, and pigeon-holers never die, friends; they are absorbed into the literature. The stripes of the classifiers NEVER change.
Thanks to Rachael and Steve for the great discussion.
I think that's something that got lost on the cutting floor (3 hrs -> 30 min!) - as you say, tectonics is *driven* by the heat loss of the earth, and, important to this discussion, the heat differential and loss rate is what determines the structure and behaviour of the tectonics given the composition of Earth. That is, the way tectonic behaviour has changed over the past on Earth directly relates to how heat loss behaviour has changed over that time period.
@@bluerendar2194 Gold star for your comment, Senor Azul.
Cheers Geogirl for the video!
Great job Doc. I look forward to your next presentation.
Thank you, Rachel. Also an great summary review of plate tectonics.
I thank the algorithm for recommending this fascinating video & introducing me to your great channel with a bunch of cool videos to catch up on. And thanks for all the hard work making it!
It’s a really interesting topic because, as far as I’m aware, no other planetary bodies in our system have plate tectonics. Which makes me wonder if they’re a critical factor (via nutrient cycling & ecosystem change) for the evolution of complex life.
Excellent video, and an excellent choice for a guest speaker! I subscribed to Steven’s channel immediately! I should correct you on one extremely minor point - you mentioned twice that plate tectonics will end “when Earth loses all of its heat.” Plate tectonics will end long before then. Another celestial body is a good example of this - Mars! That planet has a mantle that is too cold and brittle to allow plate tectonics, even though it still has plenty of heat in its molten core. Exactly how long it will take for plate tectonics to slowly grind to an end on Earth, we’ll have to wait a loooong time before we’re sure!
Oh yes, that is very true! Thanks for clarifying that! ;D
@@GEOGIRL You sound intelligent, but you're posting a lot of questionable theories. Check out the Hydroplate Theory. If you're as smart as you seem, you'll appreciate this advice.
Very informative and well explained.
That was a superinteresting talk, Dr Phillips. Y
You are a treasure.
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR ALL MY LIFE THANK YOU BOTH
22 minutes in is where it’s at!!! Look at all those cratons!!!!!!!! It’s seeing those pieces that makes so much sense in getting this.
Is partial melting like boiling salt water. The felsic is the water. It bubbles sooner. The mafic is the salt. It doesn’t evaporate away? I could be thinking about this wrong or flipped
I want be a fly on the wall on that talk between you too.
Thank you for watching!
When I was at school in the 1970s plate tectonics was the hot new thing. Forty plus years has seen the field move on so far and it's amazing learning about all the new ideas that have developed. Thanks.
Thanks for this great video! You've answered questions I've had for a decades about formation of the 2 kinds of crust, and What Happened Before. Clarification that it's all about heat loss very helpful. Also helpful are Ideas about differential temperatures of melting and how Hawaiian hot spot plumes fit into tectonics. It makes sense!
Thanks for watching!
ive been watching geology videos for a couple of years now and always wondered where continental crust originated. Most people aren't concerned with the archaea era geology so no one ever bothers to explain it! I've also long wondered about the formation of hotspots and no one ever gets into that either. Thank you and your collaborator for the wonderful video. It was extremely educational.
Hydroplate Theory.
Very well done! ❤🎉😊
I've never heard tectonics described that way, but of course, it makes perfect sense.
Right it makes so much sense
Super video Geo Girl! Very informative. Great to find out about Steve 's channel.
this is fascinating, thanks for doing this
Great video DR GEO GIRL THANK YOU
You really should upload the whole vid, Gutsick Gibbon has many 3 plus hour vids about evolution and we love them. Plus I do fins Steven's lectures awesome, love his interviews.
One of your best Dr Rayray 😊. ❤❤❤to Hope
this is a great video. Love it 😘
Wow, at last I understand why the continents formed. Because they're kind of a felsic foam from subduction.
Chemical differentiation driven by heat that allows the less dense to separate from the more dense.
That was great. I had not realized there were three forces moving the plates around nor the geology of the US and Canada was so different. Rocks are cool, or I guess I should say hot so they move around.
1: I know you must be a good person, because you have a cat.
2. I started college in the early 1970's, after my active-duty service in the Marines. I had to choose a science course and I chose geology. I had a great professor who introduced us to plate tectonics, which was then new and NOT widely accepted. This presentation introduced me to more and newer information on the subject. Thank You for this! I will be looking for more information on plate tectonics. Now that I know there is a Lot More to learn, u will be looking our for it.
Thanks for your work.
I had a cat that LOVED thicker plastic bags and shower curtains. She would just sink her teeth into them. I think she just liked the puncturing sensation because she would immediately move on to another spot and do it again. It was her bubblewrap I guess.
my tortie has a major plastic fetish. sometimes she bites, sometimes licks, doesnt ever seem to consume any, but she's like a truffle pig if plastic bags are in a room
I'm no ultra-organic super-crunchy off-the-grid mofo, but OMG PLASTIC IS ADDICTING US ALL
Great job, most informative and interesting
20:45 I remember from my geography classes back in school the "Sial" and "Sima" layers in the Earth's crust. It occured to me much later that Sial stands for Si+Al, SIlicon and Aluminium, while Sima stands for Si+Ma, Silicon and Magnesium. It wasn't explained to us back then, just the names were dropped. Do I remember correctly, that the continental crust mainly consists of Sial-layers, while the oceanic crust consists of Sima? Are Sial synonymous to felsic (feldspar + silicon) and Sima to mafic (magnesium + ferric)?
What caused the earthquake in New Jersey on Friday? Plate tectonics? We had 4.6 earthquake in SW Michigan in May of 2015 but I was in the woods cutting firewood so I didn’t feel it. My mom felt it, she thought her furnace was about to explode.
I ❤ GEO GIRL
All earthquakes are the result of sudden movement along faults within the Earth. The movement releases stored-up ‘elastic strain’ energy in the form of seismic waves and causes the ground surface to shake. Such movement on the faults is generally a response to long-term deformation and the buildup of stress. Not all faults mark tectonic boundaries though - most don't, but they are more minor than the plate boundary versions.
I felt tremors up here in Poughkeepsie, NY. First time "ever," cuz I didn't notice the one that happened in 2011. That might have been because I grew up in NYC and was somewhat used to the vibrations that subway activity caused in some Manhattan buildings.
That quake was movement along a ~100 million year old transform fault, caused by tensional forces when Pangea was splitting apart and North America was moving away from Europe.
I'm sure that was a cool experience for her!
The reason for the earthquake there is linked to an old normal fault formed there when North America was splitting away from Europe over 100 million years ago. At that stage, tension forces caused the plate to break, causing faults, very similar to what's happening right now in Iceland.
That fault is no longer at a spreading ridge, but clearly some stresses were operating on it to activate it at the weekend.
@@ahamillphotographyI think another factor in the earthquake was the ongoing erosion of the Appalachian mountains. Like an iceberg, most of a mountain chain is below the surface. As the top erodes, the roots of the mountain are buoyed upward by the denser mantle on which the mountain floats. The upward movement produces stress that can be suddenly released.
Great video! I learned a lot! Thanks!
Glad to include Mr. Or Dr. Baumann and give Geo Girl a little break. She works so hard.
Haha Actually, this interview format was more work for me lol! But I think it was just because it was the first time I was trying it and next time I think I will prepare better which will make editing much more efficient ;) I am super excited to incorporate more of these collabs into my channel! :D
I can't tell, did you get an interveiw with him or did you use clips from his videos?
We did an interview, but unfortunately his camera wasn't working so it is just the audio ;) (you can tell it's an interview if you listen close because occasionally you can hear me saying 'mm hmm' lol)
Amazing video! Will be watching this one again and taking notes.
Awesome to get this deep technical talk. Thanks for the info.
So... Since tectonic activity gets rid of internal heat...the plate boundaries are kinda like the pit zips on a hardshell.
My brain is getting so big because of this channel that my scull is developing multiple ridge pushes.
Haha! Just as long as the slabs do not pull the sections of your skull down into your brain ;)
@@GEOGIRL No subductions so far, but there could be trouble if I stop watching and my brain atrophies.
Bist du Klingone?
Brain tectonics for the win. No smooth brains here.
Thanks ,great coverage of awesome topic🪨⛰️🏔🌏
There is no way to know why a cat does what it does and the effort to stop a cat from doing what it wants generally is far beyond the worth of getting the cat to stop.
unless you are obsessed with cats
I would really love to watch a three hour long vodeo of Geogirl talking to other geologists! One hour would also be ok I guess...
The recent research into the tectonic activity on Venus is really interesting - it has a totally different tecronic regime than Earth. Mars on the other hand has its huge volcanoes, which completely has shifted the mass centre of the planet.
One of the best channels on the internet!
This was surprisingly easy to follow, even sped up ( I promise I was paying attention). I didn't realize the mechanisms of vulcanism.
So great to hear that! :D
Yes! Geo Girl is back to geology!
I appreciate your love for tectonics! But I also just want to point out that climate is also geology, Geo = Earth ;)
@@GEOGIRL Yeah, but I already know the climate and bio schtuff. Besides that they are kinda frilly and decorative like trim work, whereas the rocks are more structural, like framing.
@@reidflemingworldstoughestm1394 Hey, I can't blame you rocks are so cool! :D
@@GEOGIRL You could say they rock, but I won't.
New to your channel and you got my sub right away. Great video, very informative. I always assumed that tectonics was plate tectonics and never even considered that it was related to heat convection through the earth more generally. On a side note, I imagine I'm not the only one who might enjoy listening to you full 3 hour conversation with Steven.
31:47 Cat licking a plastic bag, SO CUTE! Cats are like this -- they have their idiosyncrasies.
I LOVE this explanation of how our tectonic regime has evolved! Thank you!
Thank for having Steve on
I love geology. I love the fact that we still have a lot of research happening. We need to learn more about the earth. I know they tried to read the basalt rocks in the northwest US and could not determine age of North America because the plumes it formed in was erratic. It is hard to learn everything. Knowing the basics of density and rocks is enough for me. I am a builder. I drill, rock blast, excavate earth materials and recycle my earthwork (always sustainable) and backfill using virgin soils. I do some geotechnical work. Mini-caisson piles -125' into bedrock. The fracking is 1,000's of feet down for natural gas. I don't do that work. I don't know how I feel about drilling that far down.
My cats go quite mad for the cellophane on cellophane-wrapped boxes. Including licking the cellophane which must be a good deal less than hygienic. (Probably logienic.) The pix of drip tectonics makes me sort of think that the Earth has a hernia.
I'm no ultra-organic super-crunchy off-the-grid mofo, but OMG PLASTIC IS ADDICTING US ALL
@@eaterdrinker000 The question is: Am I getting enough plastic in my diet?
It's kind of amazing how Io can be so active due to tidal stress while Mercury is a solid ball of rock so close to the Sun.
Yes, but Io is only about 400,000 km away from jupiter, while mercury is nearly 60 MILLION km away from the sun! ;D So it is quite a bit further :)
It's Hollow sames all Planets
What does the simulation of all this activity look like? An animation is worth a million words.
This was great! Well done! Followed him too! I have more questions about what a earthquake looks like and what moves?
I wish I could give four likes to this video... it cleared a lot of half-baked concepts I had about the topic. Thanks
This is a wonderful video. I'm very interested in the geological history of Earth from its earliest times up to the Phanerozoic -- which of course is also interesting, but we tend to hear a lot more about it.
I'd like to note that the Magma Ocean picture of the early Hadean is not universally accepted among planetary scientists, where there is a more recent competing idea that even the earlier Hadean was cool and wet. In this picture the surface of Earth solidified very rapidly after the giant impact that formed the moon. Earth in the Hadean, as in the later Archean, may have been a water world, with island arcs and crater rims projecting above water. Studies of Hadean zircons indicate that they formed under water in pillow lavas.
While some of Earth's water may have been delivered by bombardment, the solar nebula during Earth's formation was rich with hydrogen, and the planetesimals that formed the planets were rich in silicon dioxide. Under conditions in the early mantle, these can react to form water, so the Earth's mantle was probably hydrated as it formed and outgassed water vapor. This, together with the lower luminosity of the young sun, lead to a cool, wet Hadean.
Great video for grade schools!!
Such a wealth of new information for me, thanks.
Excellent. Please see Phil Anderson's work on the Yavapai Greenstone Belt of Arizona.
Hey! I'm merely one of your viewers, this isn't meant to be anything. I just wanted to say that I really like your lectures and hope you keep doing them. You hit the right and a particular rare spot on the technical knowledge to simple scale. I really hope your numbers are doing good, I have been pursuing a degree in animal health and thus have found myself lacking in time to watch your deeply interesting and insightful presentations (There were Rockies before there were Rockies!?). Did you ever look into the Post Permian Extinction Fungal Event? Atop a mountain tomorrow seeing the eclipse, hope you get to see it to.
What a fascinating video, subscribed!
I'm curious how Earth's water wasn't all evaporated away during the hadean or archaen? A vid I watched yesterday on Sci Show about the sun mentioned that the sun's luminosity is increasing 1% every 100m years and in just 1b years the sun will get bright enough to evaporate Earth's oceans. So I'm guessing during the hadean or archaen, the sun wasa lot dimmer/cooler, making me think Earth's water must have been frozen, but Earth was still very hot from accretion then? Some models show the later, expanded sun nearly or completely engulfing the Earth. Could the sun continue to drive tectonics after Earth's own heat is lost?
this video was so cool and informative
😽hello to your cat! And thank you for these great videos. I considered going back to school to get a degree in geology after my first one in English, but never got around to it. I have always been interested in the natural processes of Earth: geology, weather…
A lot of novel information for me communicated well. Well done. Great video.
Hello from Netherlands 🌷 I looked over your videolist if you already made one on supervulcanos, their eruptions and especially the MtToba eruption being potentially the cause of the bottle neck hypothesis that homo sapiens experienced an almost extinction around the same time… (as you asked for subjects to further videos 😉). Looking forward 👀 and thanks 🙏 in advance. And good luck with your post-doc 🍀
That's bs...😮.
Excellent analysis of the data, I really can see the drip better than the sheet like subduction of the entire boundary of a plate. Especially as the temperature at depth was higher. Better model if you ask me, even in the Siletzia stuff the plate wasn't a uniform sheet.
Given that fluids (gasses, liquids) volume decreases or expands based on its temperature, does a plastic deformation regime solid also change volume (minuscule as it may be) with temperature change? If so, then as a planet cools its size would shrink, and thus its surface area decreases- does this decreasing area stress on a brittle crust also play a role? I can almost picture that contributing to the formation of plates.…
How about solar máxime and storm vs earthquakes a over 4 points in the interval of 11 days post solar storm impact?
Very interesting, thank you. So many questions... I'd love to see a follow-up or three!
For now, questions: Cratons, how? And... Best guesses on how the terrestrial planets compare - ie: if Venus, Mars, and Mercury are 'stuck' in states Earth is going though that implies sufficient size + water = plate tectonics. Current best guess is Venus was Earth-like until it's runaway greenhouse - so how do you go 'backward' from plate to drip tectonics? Alternately if plate tectonics isn't 'automatic', how did this happen on Earth but not Venus?
Great episode 👍👍👍
Slightly off topic. There is a channel called SSGEO that discusses the planetary forces on the earth and attemps to predict earthquakes and their magnitude. I wonder if this seems reasonable? Tale a look and see what you think.
Gosh we haven't discovered much of anything on earth like tectonic plates in many many many decade actually more like a century.
But I am curious to learn more about the milkyways galactic nuclei past and if earth was indeed on the outskirts of the center of our galaxy.
It's the best uniformity hypothesis I've ever heard. If you ever see it up close in like the grand canyon it's horizontal ground up deposit on top really makes it hard to adopt our mainstream narrative on its ordering. It's like gyroscope earth took place as if the inside was moving faster than the mantle or vice versa. A very cool thing to witness in person at some point in life. It will draw out the scientist within us all. Lol
I rejoiced when I saw the Video-Topic, hoping it may shed some Light on some Thoughts that I have been having lately: Can it be the the Development of Free Oxygen through early Cyanobacteria in the Archaean somehow kicked off Plate Tectonics? I get that it would seem more obvious that tectonic Activities affect Oxygenation, but if I understand correctly, the cyanobacterial Oxygen-Production seemed to be influenced by other Factors like the increasing Brightness of the Sun above the Water-Surface, and Plate-Tectonics begin only around / shortly befoer the Great Oxygenation Event, so it almost seems like the GOE could have caused Plate Tectonics. That Oxygenation also involved the Oxidation of Iron(II)-Ions and Hydrogen Sulfide (and also cooling the Earth quite a Bit more), so maybe that Change in the Water surrounding the Crust somehow affected the Composition of the Crust and aided the Beginning of Plate Tectonics? Or in this Case, it may have aided the "Drip & Plume" Tectonics which probably set the Foundation for later Plate Tectonics? I am just a clueless Layman throwing around Ideas, please have Mercy on me.
I've always wondered what early earth was like and how it changed trough geologic time, ever since i was a kid reading books on dinosaurs and prehistoric life - but i never got a solid answer and always just kind of assumed plates and continents formed directly as the molten earth cooled down, long before life appeared. This video was kind of mind blowing to me. Combined with how drastically life has changed even basic things we take for granted like composition of atmosphere, it really makes you realise how incredibly alien and unrecognisable to what we see our planet used to be for a large part of its existance.
I’m curious: how important are hydrated rocks to the dynamics of subduction? Because the oceans are likely to boil off eventually-potentially prior to the predicted end of plate tectonics. So I wonder how subduction would operate on such a planet.
That's a great question! To my understanding, the hydration of the rocks that are subducting doesn't actually affect or heavily alter the actual process of subduction, but rather it drives melting and volcanism at the surface. Now, it is plausible that the melting has a small effect on the plate remaining in the mantle, but I doubt it is large given that such a small amount of the plate actually melts and rises to the surface. My guess is plate tectonics, including subduction would continue to go on as normal without water, but I could be wrong, I am not the right person to ask this question, just taking an educated guess ;) I hope there is a geophysicist or geodynamicist in the comments who can answer this for us! ;D
@@GEOGIRL Plate subduction has not happened.
Most certainly did, fascinating it was too. . Merci 👍
I have a question 🤔. Research out of northwestern university recently discovered more water under the earth's surface in the blue rock or ringwoodite than in all the oceans above. Will this change the understanding of everything you just talk about, or does it support it even more?
Peace and Ahev
Let's cut to the chase, where's the gold at? Ok mostly kidding, but it's worth saying that gold prospecting has driven my desire to understand more about geology and thus Techtonics which then triggers larger questions about our planet and my little garden plot on it, the solar system, and the meaning of life! lol. Good show! Keep them coming.
Help!! Please make a video on Palaeomagnetism!! Some of the concepts brought up this semester are unnecessarily hard to grasp 🥲
As usual, great stuff Rachel and Steve. I have often been puzzled by why one side of the planet is covered with water. It is very fluid and could also move around Earth in less than a day and be more evenly distributed. I concluded that the centre of mass of Earth must be offset towards the Pacific Ocean. Otherwise we'd all be a bit wetter on the other half of the planet. If I am correct, then you could resolve the g force on the crust into two components... vertical and a tiny horizontal component pulling the Pacific rim continents 'downhill' towards each other, Ripping other oceans apart and making things like the mid Atlantic ridge. Does this sound silly ?
Hydroplate Theory. I suggest Bryan Nickel's six part series, or Pastor Kevin Lea's discussions.
28:20 "Hotspots will probably cease to exist" @Stevenbaumann8692 is probably wrong about that.
If we look at Mars, plate tectonics (if they ever existed there) died before the hotspots responsible for the tallest mountains in the Solar System.
very informative, thanks.
Geo Girl...... You are almost ready for the Transition to Growth and Expansion of Planets. It took me 32 years of Plate tectonics to finally make the slow transition to Growth and Expansion of Planets. 24.5 Years later, I am finally finishing up most of the concepts for Growth and Expansion. 56.5 years is a long time to evolve concepts.
Alfred Wegner and plate tectonics is to geology as Charles Darwin and 'the Origin of Species' is to biology. They both transformed their respective fields of study and ushered in a whole new era.
Could there be drip tectonic going on still today, for example around hotspots under oceanic crust?
Yea, to my understanding the hot spots are potentially relics of this regime! :D
Thanks!
Thanks for the video cheers from Canada 🙃
I remember the old song - And those cratons go rolling along
Also, totally off topic: Do you have a plan for hurricane season? Did any hurricanes reach to your area when you were in Texas?