The Columbia River flood basalts are the reason why only a relatively narrow stretch of the Oregon coastline has an abundance of these basaltic features.
Effusive eruptions that are more voluminous than the Columbia River Basalt Group, since Dinosaur times, include the North Atlantic Igneous Province, Siletzia (also very likely a product of the Yellowstone Hotspot) -- and, IIRC, the Ethiopia-Yemen Continental Flood Basalts are also larger than the Columbia flood basalts? The earliest manifestation of the N American plate overriding the Yellowstone Hotspot is the Tillamook Volcanics, just a little southeast of Haystack Rock, in NW Oregon. Eruptions began in that region about 45 million years ago. Mostly basalt, but there are some dacite and rhyolite flows up there. They are so far up north because of clockwise rotation in the PNW, and as I recall Siletzia rifted post-accretion and slid up to the north somewhat? So there was quite a long period of time, from 37Ma until 17Ma when there wasn't any clear-cut eruptive manifestation of the Yellowstone Hotspot (unless one thinks that Crooked River is related to the YHS). I think common view now is that the subducted Farralon slab remnant essentially blocked the YHS magmas. Then nearly 17Ma, basalts that had sort of pooled under the slab made their way through in the Picture Gorge and Steens eruptions, something like that -- which shortly preceded the highly explosive High Rocks (NW Nevada) and McDermitt (SE Oregon-Nevada border) rhyolitic volcanism, which began that YHS track that goes up through the Snake River plain.
I lived in Banden Oregon for a bit and found out by native Indian tribes that have lived there for years that a rock out in the ocean called Face Rock was most likely made by a tsunami.
@John Cena - Flood basalt eruptions happen _very_ infrequently. The last 2 continental flood basalts have been around 15 million years apart. I think we would have a pretty good idea one was going to start some years ahead of time, and I don't believe there's any indication of a continental event happening anytime in the foreseeable future -- our channel host could speak better to that. The Yellowstone Hotspot is under thicker continental crust now, so as I understand it that makes it highly unlikely to produce flood-scale basalts -- it will continue to produce volcanism of the sort it generated through the Snake River Plain and current location. Maybe the next Continental flood basalt is most likely to happen in Africa, driven by a plume generated from that African mantle blob. Don't know.
Another mind-blowing story told in just 4 minutes. Makes me wonder how many years or decades of research, field and lab work, plus inspiration it took to put all the findings together to such an amazing story.
@@BAR162O Yes! And he's mainly the one who distills and communicates the findings of a good many geologists whose life's work are tied into this and many connected findings. These four minutes are indeed a fine summary, but Nick Zentner has given many fine talks on NW geology that are around an hour each and give fuller detail. (Yet they are summaries too.) So, you can go as deep as you want. (Not bad for geology exploration, yes?) Going on 60 years living in the NW, and I'm finding whole new ways to appreciate this marvelous land! Many thanks GeologyHub, and Nick Zentner!
My grandmother took me to Haystack Rock when I was a child. She lived in Portland and also showed me some of the dormant volcanoes in greater Portland area. There is an abundance if red fluffy lava rock used for many things. Her retaining wall was made with it. I live in Yakima, Central Washington State. We are sitting on top of hundreds of lava flows ranging in depths of 1 - 2 miles thick. After the flood basalt event ended our area experienced another major geologic event. The Yakima Fold Belts formed major anticlines that uplifted the previously deposited basalt up several thousand feet. Hard to even imagine how many cubic miles of lava was deposited here. The Yakima River which is very old and was entrenched before uplift carved spectacular formations. Yakima River Canyon revealed many lava flows and is very well studied by geologists. I live next to Union Gap, where the river cut through several thousand feet of basalt. The flood basalt traveled west all the way to foothills of Cascade mountains in our area. Before uplift, our area would have been flat. Today, our economy depends on the rich volcanic soils from eroded basalt. Agriculture is very big here. The 'Yakima Valley' was formed by fire (lava) and uplift (anticlines). If not for these geologic forces, we wouldn't be here today.
@@SJR_Media_Group That's one long typo..) Well put, and I can only imagine what lurks in the layers beneath your feet.. I was referring to Nick Zentner's channel.. that kid digs deep.
Minor correction, its just Central Washington University, the word "state" is not part of the name. Sorry us Washingtinians get picky about the word state being added to names. Thanks for reading.
I think that the Pacific northwest is probably THE most interesting geology on the planet. Case in point, your video about Smith Rock. Ancient lava dikes, many active volcanoes, and The Metolius River that literally just appears out of the side of a mountain. I love your videos.
This reminds me of the what's called a volcanic plug at morro bay, at morro Bay in California there's a rock formation that us just like this but is called a ancient volcanic plug.
This video is exciting for me because I've lived most of my life in TIllamook, Oregon, and I've visited Haystack Rock many times, as well as other related seastacks north and south. I studied geology in high school and college, so when my son's 5th grade class wanted to know about the rock features of Oceanside, Oregon, they called on me to give a presentation which included this geologic history of the Columbia River basalts making their way west. The basaltic headlands and seastacks exhibit pillow lava, brickbat jointing, and large columns. Maxwell Point at Oceanside is bisected by a dramatic diagonal line where it joins the coastline, clearly showcasing how the basalt uplifted under sedimentary rock. It's a fascinating and beautiful coastline. Thank you for making this video!
I live near Newport and just up near Devils punchbowl more Basalt formations when its low tide and the cliffs are nothing but basalt formations along the coastline.
We have another haystack rock on the Columbia River. I don't know if it's still there, but it used to have a kind of rickety looking set of stairs that people could climb. Then there's Rooster Rock also on the Columbia. It seems like they must have been made in a similar fashion as Haystack rock on Cannon Beach.
@@JustinMShaw when i was 14 a gal was climbing the rock and sat down to restand got stuck.. i mean clinbing it as in no the trail.. me and a buddy climbed from the parking area to within a couple feet of her, and eventually got her to take my hand and use it to get turned around.. once she was off the ledge she was ok.. but.. yeah.. we got yelled at.. we could have gotten hurt if we fell.. sure but.. that was quite unlikely... and.. we had not started from the side where she had.. she didnt realize how close she was to the parking lot due to where she sat down.. im told by a few people, at one time, haystack rock did have stairs somebody made that went at least part way up, i have only been to the area a few times, mostly we went to the WA coast instead... alot less crowded and as a kid we had more fun being able to easily get on the gocarts and, fort campby (sp?)/cape dissapointment state park/etc, were amazing back then... the little beach was a very popular place to swim and for families to hang out, fishing on the jetty, just a good time all around.... i miss those days....
@@AshenTechDotCom That makes sense. The northern Oregon beaches get lots of traffic from the Portland and northern Willamette Valley area. In fact the roads from the valley to the coast have a dangerous reputation because of that, and it dates back several decades at least.
Yes you need to talk about the land that was on a plate that was crashing with Western Oregon at that time. The plate that is now subducting and causing the cascade volcanoes. The volcanoes of that same time frame are worn down to almost nothing but what's really interesting is the west coast crumple zone which they call the coastal range. It's all sand or compressed sand even where I live in the Willamette valley there's 40 ft of blue clay because of glacial floods from Canada but underneath that is a huge basaltic layer from the flood basalts. I really wish you had a way to do a graphic that would show the transformation of Western Oregon over time because it's estimated that most of the lime at valley was an island off the Oregon coast during the shallow seas phase as it migrated in crash into the North American plate. This is on what's called the San Juan de fuca and there's a very small section of it left that has not been subjected. Yep a graphic would be very useful to try to explain this to people.
This makes the story spiral out farther, but it's a good story to know, because it explains our sandbar issue. Welcome to the Grave Yard of the Pacific! Mind the sandbars, they like to shift around! That's why Astoria was founded, but that's a story for another day.
I'm an Oregon Kid born and raised and had no idea how Haystack Rock was formed. I always thought it was giant pieces of the rocky cliffs that the ocean carved out over time. We even have giant pictures of Haystack Rock in our home taken by a photographer named Brent Bradly!... THANK YOU Sooooooo much for the backstory of such a magnificent oddity standing right here in our beautiful state!....
I live on top of 2 miles of that flood basalt. The forces and quantities are almost impossible to imagine in human terms. I can go out on my deck in Union Gap and see many layers that were later uplifted that formed the Yakima Valley.
@@allangibson8494 When St Helen's erupted, the north flank failed. It was largest landslide in recorded human history. Although it was really big, it was insignificant compared to Columbia Flood Basalt. It flowed from NE Oregon to the Pacific Ocean. A drive in Columbia River Gorge shows just a small part of this massive event.
@@SJR_Media_Group the key word is recorded. People who saw the earlier larger ones rarely got the chance to record it… (and a lot of the ones who saw Mt St Helen’s didn’t get to talk about it either).
@@allangibson8494 Yes, many really huge landslides but before humans. 1/2 of Island of Molokai Hawaii slid into the Pacific Ocean. Debris flowed over 100 miles from source. That one probably caused one of the largest Mega Tsunamis ever.
Really cool! The funny part to me was that most of the photos used in this informative video were from Hawaii (as you noted). But I just got back an hour ago from spending all night out at Volcanoes National Park viewing said lava. So while I was learning something new about Oregon, this video really hit home ;-)
I love being born and raised in Oregon. So damn interesting to witness all the geologic features in today's world and learn about their origins and what they're doing today (ecologically speaking ) . I appreciate the video!!
The farthest south outcropping of the Columbia Flood Basalts is actually in Seal Rock, OR about 1.5-2 hours south of Cannon Beach (where Haystack Rock is). Big jutting chunks of well-weathered columnar Basalt exist there. There are a couple beaches farther south yet from Seal Rock that have what appears to be big ridges of wildly eroded basalt. Occasionally, you can see chunks of chalcedony/agate still trapped in the host rock. I lived on the OR coast for about a year and a half. Would be happy to assist with pics or video should you choose to do another video on this area :D
I wonder if you've already made a video of how the Yellowstone hotspot has migrated basically from the middle of the Cascades in California up the Cascades and then turned right essentially at the Oregon border and migrated to the east where it's current location is at Yellowstone. The hotspot actually is in Idaho and I know that but the surface features of Yellowstone come from it.
Yes, the hot spot didn't move, the Continental Plate did. At one time all those huge exit points for flood basalt was under ancient Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. There are still ancient volcanic dikes visible where the basalt originated from.
There is a theory that the Yellowstone Hotspot is at least 55 million years old, and it used to be out in the Pacific Ocean. Before the Columbia Basalts, the hotspot did make calderas between ~40 and 23 million years ago, but there's a catch. Those older calderas formed and were in Northern California, but they were moved north into central Oregon due to the "clockwise rotation of the Pacific Northwest crust." These are just the hypothesis and theories that scientists are currently debating.
@@jerrylitzza8842 I'm a big fan of Nick Zenter. I would love to have him explain the many parallel lines that follow contours on Ahtanum and Rattlesnake Ridges. I live at Union Gap and see the many lava flows from my deck. The lines appear to be high water marks. Yet when Missoula floods happened we did get flooded via ancient Lake Lewis backwater. It is my understanding water was only several hundred feet deep. These marks are 1-2 thousand feet up from valley floor. My new theory is valley was flooded many times as the ridges uplifted faster than river carved. Lines were not up that high yet. And lines on ridges were lifted up together.
@@jop4649 Yes, I have seen that proposed and it makes lots of sense. The forces involved are bigger than we can relate to. The Yakima Belt Folds Anticlines are the result of this slow clockwise movement too. When entire plate moves, the surface gets deformed and changes.
Superb presentation; Haystack Rock looks so similar to a volcanic plug it can be easily mistaken for one. The amazing story here is just how voluminous the CRBG was over the 2 or so million years it had been erupting -- enough to sink the Columbia Basin about 1.5 *_MILES_* deep in basaltic lava flows -- like you said, about 350 individual layers of basalt lava, some upwards of 150 ft thick. The mere fact that some of it managed to flow all the way out to the Pacific Ocean tells you something about the volume of these lavas.
Of all your uploads, this one by far the coolest I've been to Haystack Rock, and I never had a clue. WOW man, I'm totally blown away. I always thought it was an unremarkable rock. Thanks for schooling me.
I've been to the Oregon coast dozens of times, as it's one of my favorites vacation spots. I always wondered about these formations. Thank you for this awesome explanation. Love your videos.
Thank you for this video! I Absolutely loved exploring Haystack Rock and the unusual rocks there at low tide back in 4/2016. Birds now nest on almost every ledge of the rock so climbing Haystack is no longer allowed. However, walking out to its base and seeing how enormous it is was beautiful! There was no information that I could find in the area that Haystack was comprised of basalt. It is a beautiful black in contrast with the Sandy sea floor and beaches. The birds (Baird's cormorant) have carried grasses and twigs there for nesting material. If you visit Haystack, check the tide chart so you can reach the rock at low tide. We also climbed the north face of Mount St. Helens as gases arose from the uplifted dome. It was an unsettling feeling….mild ground movement under our feet. After coming back home, i was able to see the EQ Swarm we felt on the news. We also explored some of the empty lava tubes. The area has recovered quite nicely since the major blast in May of 1980. It’s amazing to still see so many debris blowdown trees most laying in the same direction still even though new pine have been planted on the hillsides as well as old gray tree logs still floating like a huge raft in the lake below the North Face. It was stunning to see how deep/wide the main mudflow area is where several creeks converge on the NW side of the volcano that travel to the west coast. Standing on one side looking across with only what appeared to be a trickle of stream in center allowed me to remember that massive mudflow filmed back in 1980. There is a combination of beautiful regrowth, but still a strong reminder of that gray day in 1980.
Actually, I think the monoliths show up all the way down the coast of Oregon into California. There are ones in Bandon, Oregon on down past Port Orford, Oregon. One of the most beautiful small coastal towns is Port Orford. I stayed there for 3 days in the end of August. The sunlight hit the water in the morning and reflected like diamonds off the water out the picture window of my hotel room.
My wife and I were in Portland in 2018, and decided to go to the beach one day. Drove out to Cannon Beach and wandered past Haystack Rock, not knowing beforehand that it was there. Since then I’ve recognized it in Windows background photos.
So very cool! Thanks!! I’ve wondered about those features!!! Hard to imagine such enormous amounts of lava!!! It completely filled full valleys in Washington!! Fascinating ear!!! 🙏💟🙏
The fun thing about this video is that the Oregon coast actually has three completely different structures named Haystack Rock! Some people get confused or even angry, arguing about which is which.
Stanley Park was one of my most favourite places in that beautiful city set between the mountains and the ocean! It was in the early 70s, and I always went straight to the Aquarium and the Orca. I never got past it, I'd hang out there for hours. Every time it circled the pool it would stop in front of the underwater viewing window where I was. He(she?) would use its sonar and probe me - I could feel it. It felt like it could sense more than what i might have eaten. Years later I came across a retired veterinarian that used to capture orcas back in the 60s for various aquaria in North America. He confirmed that sensation of being probed and that they seemed to also sense emotion. Vancouver is a world class city in a spectacular natural setting. Great food too!!
Great video! I have watched many of the lectures by CWU’s Nick Zentner explaining the flood basalts and the entire Pacific NW geology. Pretty amazing. As a resident of NC, I would like to see a video about the formation of the Uwharrie Mountain chain in Central North Carolina. I know they were formed as part of the accretion of ‘Africa’ and the arc of volcanic islands ahead of it as it joined Laurentia to form Pangea, but would love to know more. It’s a favorite camping spot for my family! Cheers!!
Thank you. I mistakenly thought it was a leftover volcano, but that is consistent with Nick Zentner's presentations. I presume the Beacon Rock monolith is the same story.
You should do a video on the geology of the Wallowa mountains in Oregon. Having backpacked out there, it's incredibly striking to see granitic mountains capped off with the layers of basalt that they pushed up through.
SO this just reminds me of Beacon Rock onto other side of the Columbia River. How about a piece on that? This one was really good and answered a few questions I have had about the Haystack. Nice timing.....
So astonishing. I can’t even wrap my head around that amount of lava. Watching updates on the lava creeping toward the road in Hawaii is comical in comparison to a flow that reached the ocean from friggen Idaho. Thank goodness the planet has calmed down. Hundreds of feet, holy cow.
I feel like Haystack Rock is everyone's favorite, because you can just go right up to it if the tide is low enough. I've been tide pooling on Haystack Rock more than once. My favorite of these formations has to be either Castle Rock, just off of Hug Point, or the trio of basalt formations at Oceanside, which I've only just learned is called Three Arch Rocks. Castle Rock is a way off the cost, but it's got this enormous concretion sticking out of the top. It looks sort of like a black couch with a box sitting on top, it's very odd. Three Arch Rocks have a monolith that is taller than haystack rock, and it appears to have some sort of cave feature in the bottom. I've only ever seen in with binoculars, as it's too far from the shore for me to properly explore, but the cavern looks manmade. The opening is a very even archway. It's not decorated in anyway, it could be natural, but I don't think it is. It's directly next to that sea cliff that has a passage carved through it. Either way, it's the oldest wildlife refuge west of the Mississippi River. Neat!
I was talking with my sisters boyfriend. Was talking about your channel. He brought up Antarctica and it’s volcano chain. I’d like to learn more about it if you can find any good info. Keep up the good work, enjoy watching. Sadly I live in Washington and hate/love seeing how active our volcanos are. I live at the base of Rainier.
Fellow Washingtonian, not at the "base" per se, but living at a low place between 410 & 167, which is a lohar clear cut. The town tests its lohar warning alarm the first Monday of each month, tho really all that would do in a real emergency is let us know how little time we have left. 🙋♀️
Thank you for your wonderful video and I hope you know how much I appreciated it because I was in Seaside, Oregon and I was just wondering how the structure s there originated. Bless you and have a wonderful week 👍
There was a huge cave near there with a very interesting history. A pirate called One Eyes Willie was chased into the cave by a Royal Navy armarda. He then blew up the cave entrance. Over the years, his men dug caves and set booby traps. Over time people went looking for it, including the expert Chester Copperpot. But in the mid 1980s a group of kids who called! themselves Goonies, managed to get past the bobie traps and reach the ship. They set off a rigged sailing system that opened the cave. The ship sailed out and it's whereabouts is currently unknown.
I live in south west oregon and there are similar "rocks" on the southern oregon coast. Also we have the table rocks which i was told were formed from immense lava flows that filled the valley then eroded away.
I'm not a geology expert, but Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has a lot of somewhat similar protruding volcanic rocks, some 1000 feet high, that make a very dramatic landscape, but there is no current tectonic activity in the region. I'd love to know when and how these formed!
Pretty sure those rocks are granitic domes, that is, of plutonic origin. So, magma intrusions that froze well beneath the surface and were exposed by uplift and erosion.
The 'Morros' in central California are a string of 13 volcanic plugs that culminate with Morro rock which was an island but has been connected to the land with fill. You can see them by driving along CA-1 from San Luis Obispo to Morro Bay.
You should do a video on the Issaquah Alps mountains (Cougar, Squak and Tiger) which are not part of the Cascades and are apparently remnant of a more ancient mountain range that juts east west close to Seattle
I just got back from Fort Davis and Big Bend National Park. I am wondering if anyone has a source for the geologic history of the area. Portions of the area were part of a shallow sea in the distant past, but many of the the mountains in the area appear to be red volcanic rock.
I haven't gotten this far north on 101. Farthest north for me, Florence, OR. I have live in Boise thought and seen the basalt columns shown by the Snake and Boise Rivers.
It’d be interesting to have you discuss places like Saddle Mt near here or Wright’s Point south of Burns, OR, places where apparently a valley was filled with flood basalt and then the rest of the land eroded around it, leaving mountains or ridges that are inverses of the original topography
haystack rock should you choose to search it out go south from Tillamook to "Pacific city" and cut in from the highway a bit and you will be staring right at haystack rock plus great small town and good pubs
There have been multiple 4.5-ish quakes where I live, in the Matsu valley AK. Two within an hour of each other today alone. I've been watching this earthquake storm working it's way around the Pacific rim. . . . . should I be worried? also , Happy Birthday, Nick ! 🎂
Have we found any connection between super volcanoes and asteroid impacts? In a prior video you said that large enough asteroid impacts cause massive volcanic activity on the opposite side of the planet. I'm really curious if we can find asteroid impacts by looking at each of the known super volcanoes and then looking at the area that would have been on the opposite side of the planet at the time of that super volcano's initial eruption? Thanks for the great work you do. I LOVE your channel!
Cooling time depends largely on the thickness of each individual flow. Thinner flows, years. Thicker flows, decades. Really thick flows, or flows that we’re still hot and then got buried under more flows, centuries.
The Columbia River flood basalts are the reason why only a relatively narrow stretch of the Oregon coastline has an abundance of these basaltic features.
Have you seen the latest InSar imagery of taal volcano on 10/02/2022 sir? It seems that the inflation is reaching a very critical point
Effusive eruptions that are more voluminous than the Columbia River Basalt Group, since Dinosaur times, include the North Atlantic Igneous Province, Siletzia (also very likely a product of the Yellowstone Hotspot) -- and, IIRC, the Ethiopia-Yemen Continental Flood Basalts are also larger than the Columbia flood basalts?
The earliest manifestation of the N American plate overriding the Yellowstone Hotspot is the Tillamook Volcanics, just a little southeast of Haystack Rock, in NW Oregon. Eruptions began in that region about 45 million years ago. Mostly basalt, but there are some dacite and rhyolite flows up there. They are so far up north because of clockwise rotation in the PNW, and as I recall Siletzia rifted post-accretion and slid up to the north somewhat?
So there was quite a long period of time, from 37Ma until 17Ma when there wasn't any clear-cut eruptive manifestation of the Yellowstone Hotspot (unless one thinks that Crooked River is related to the YHS). I think common view now is that the subducted Farralon slab remnant essentially blocked the YHS magmas. Then nearly 17Ma, basalts that had sort of pooled under the slab made their way through in the Picture Gorge and Steens eruptions, something like that -- which shortly preceded the highly explosive High Rocks (NW Nevada) and McDermitt (SE Oregon-Nevada border) rhyolitic volcanism, which began that YHS track that goes up through the Snake River plain.
I lived in Banden Oregon for a bit and found out by native Indian tribes that have lived there for years that a rock out in the ocean called Face Rock was most likely made by a tsunami.
@@ericclift1773 a rock out in the ocean - submerged? at the surface? you realize that tsunami evidence is fairly easy to establish?
@John Cena - Flood basalt eruptions happen _very_ infrequently. The last 2 continental flood basalts have been around 15 million years apart.
I think we would have a pretty good idea one was going to start some years ahead of time, and I don't believe there's any indication of a continental event happening anytime in the foreseeable future -- our channel host could speak better to that.
The Yellowstone Hotspot is under thicker continental crust now, so as I understand it that makes it highly unlikely to produce flood-scale basalts -- it will continue to produce volcanism of the sort it generated through the Snake River Plain and current location.
Maybe the next Continental flood basalt is most likely to happen in Africa, driven by a plume generated from that African mantle blob. Don't know.
Another mind-blowing story told in just 4 minutes. Makes me wonder how many years or decades of research, field and lab work, plus inspiration it took to put all the findings together to such an amazing story.
Central Washington university/ Nick Zentner... Look him up on yt
@@BAR162O Yes! And he's mainly the one who distills and communicates the findings of a good many geologists whose life's work are tied into this and many connected findings.
These four minutes are indeed a fine summary, but Nick Zentner has given many fine talks on NW geology that are around an hour each and give fuller detail. (Yet they are summaries too.) So, you can go as deep as you want. (Not bad for geology exploration, yes?)
Going on 60 years living in the NW, and I'm finding whole new ways to appreciate this marvelous land! Many thanks GeologyHub, and Nick Zentner!
He’s amazing
My grandmother took me to Haystack Rock when I was a child. She lived in Portland and also showed me some of the dormant volcanoes in greater Portland area. There is an abundance if red fluffy lava rock used for many things. Her retaining wall was made with it.
I live in Yakima, Central Washington State. We are sitting on top of hundreds of lava flows ranging in depths of 1 - 2 miles thick. After the flood basalt event ended our area experienced another major geologic event. The Yakima Fold Belts formed major anticlines that uplifted the previously deposited basalt up several thousand feet. Hard to even imagine how many cubic miles of lava was deposited here.
The Yakima River which is very old and was entrenched before uplift carved spectacular formations. Yakima River Canyon revealed many lava flows and is very well studied by geologists. I live next to Union Gap, where the river cut through several thousand feet of basalt. The flood basalt traveled west all the way to foothills of Cascade mountains in our area. Before uplift, our area would have been flat. Today, our economy depends on the rich volcanic soils from eroded basalt. Agriculture is very big here. The 'Yakima Valley' was formed by fire (lava) and uplift (anticlines). If not for these geologic forces, we wouldn't be here today.
Nick on the rocks much?)/*
@@andretokayuk8100 LOL my typo ?
@@SJR_Media_Group That's one long typo..) Well put, and I can only imagine what lurks in the layers beneath your feet.. I was referring to Nick Zentner's channel.. that kid digs deep.
thank you
@@creativecatalyst777 Thank you for comment... may you be blessed today and every day.
Professor Nick Zentner of Central Washington State university has a series on CZcams about these lava eruptions that is definitely worth watching!
I love his channel, too!
Zent-nerds in the house!!
@@BAR162O I feel like he's been slackin' a bit lately..) Maybe it's just summer, and now as rain sets in, he'll have time to cut some episodes..)
Minor correction, its just Central Washington University, the word "state" is not part of the name. Sorry us Washingtinians get picky about the word state being added to names. Thanks for reading.
Nick is the shitzz
Nick Zentner did a great set of lectures on this if anyone is interested in learning more.
Zent-nerds in the house!!!
One of the most beautiful places on earth💚
Cape Kiwanda south of Tillamook, OR has a big sea stack too. 1.3 miles off shore. Beautiful, unique area. Nice waves too 🤙
I think that the Pacific northwest is probably THE most interesting geology on the planet. Case in point, your video about Smith Rock. Ancient lava dikes, many active volcanoes, and The Metolius River that literally just appears out of the side of a mountain. I love your videos.
I live near Smith Rock.. Been here about 5 years and this place is crazy diverse in geology and climates.
Ever since I first saw Haystack Rock (and friends), I’ve wondered about how it formed. Thank you for explaining!
This reminds me of the what's called a volcanic plug at morro bay, at morro Bay in California there's a rock formation that us just like this but is called a ancient volcanic plug.
I live in southern Oregon and love to see the great rocks at Gold Beach. Finally saw Haystack rock this summer
Port Orford/Humbug Mountain area is one of my favs
Spent a lot of wonderful days playing on the beach around that rock
This is the first video in which I've been to the place you talk about!
This video is exciting for me because I've lived most of my life in TIllamook, Oregon, and I've visited Haystack Rock many times, as well as other related seastacks north and south. I studied geology in high school and college, so when my son's 5th grade class wanted to know about the rock features of Oceanside, Oregon, they called on me to give a presentation which included this geologic history of the Columbia River basalts making their way west. The basaltic headlands and seastacks exhibit pillow lava, brickbat jointing, and large columns. Maxwell Point at Oceanside is bisected by a dramatic diagonal line where it joins the coastline, clearly showcasing how the basalt uplifted under sedimentary rock. It's a fascinating and beautiful coastline. Thank you for making this video!
I live near Newport and just up near Devils punchbowl more Basalt formations when its low tide and the cliffs are nothing but basalt formations along the coastline.
Looks similar to Morro Rock a volcanic plug in Morro Bay, California, on Pacific Coast at entrance to harbor.
That was my first thought also
Great work on one of the many Oregon wonders. Thanks!
We have another haystack rock on the Columbia River. I don't know if it's still there, but it used to have a kind of rickety looking set of stairs that people could climb. Then there's Rooster Rock also on the Columbia. It seems like they must have been made in a similar fashion as Haystack rock on Cannon Beach.
And there's another Haystack Rock at Cape Kiwanda.
Beacon Rock in The Gorge has a trail to the top, in some places a walkway bolted to the cliff face. I wonder if that's the one you were thinking of.
@@JustinMShaw when i was 14 a gal was climbing the rock and sat down to restand got stuck.. i mean clinbing it as in no the trail.. me and a buddy climbed from the parking area to within a couple feet of her, and eventually got her to take my hand and use it to get turned around.. once she was off the ledge she was ok.. but.. yeah.. we got yelled at.. we could have gotten hurt if we fell.. sure but.. that was quite unlikely... and.. we had not started from the side where she had.. she didnt realize how close she was to the parking lot due to where she sat down..
im told by a few people, at one time, haystack rock did have stairs somebody made that went at least part way up, i have only been to the area a few times, mostly we went to the WA coast instead... alot less crowded and as a kid we had more fun being able to easily get on the gocarts and, fort campby (sp?)/cape dissapointment state park/etc, were amazing back then... the little beach was a very popular place to swim and for families to hang out, fishing on the jetty, just a good time all around.... i miss those days....
@@AshenTechDotCom That makes sense. The northern Oregon beaches get lots of traffic from the Portland and northern Willamette Valley area. In fact the roads from the valley to the coast have a dangerous reputation because of that, and it dates back several decades at least.
Yes you need to talk about the land that was on a plate that was crashing with Western Oregon at that time. The plate that is now subducting and causing the cascade volcanoes. The volcanoes of that same time frame are worn down to almost nothing but what's really interesting is the west coast crumple zone which they call the coastal range. It's all sand or compressed sand even where I live in the Willamette valley there's 40 ft of blue clay because of glacial floods from Canada but underneath that is a huge basaltic layer from the flood basalts. I really wish you had a way to do a graphic that would show the transformation of Western Oregon over time because it's estimated that most of the lime at valley was an island off the Oregon coast during the shallow seas phase as it migrated in crash into the North American plate. This is on what's called the San Juan de fuca and there's a very small section of it left that has not been subjected. Yep a graphic would be very useful to try to explain this to people.
This makes the story spiral out farther, but it's a good story to know, because it explains our sandbar issue. Welcome to the Grave Yard of the Pacific! Mind the sandbars, they like to shift around!
That's why Astoria was founded, but that's a story for another day.
Juan de Fuca. No San
I'm an Oregon Kid born and raised and had no idea how Haystack Rock was formed. I always thought it was giant pieces of the rocky cliffs that the ocean carved out over time. We even have giant pictures of Haystack Rock in our home taken by a photographer named Brent Bradly!... THANK YOU Sooooooo much for the backstory of such a magnificent oddity standing right here in our beautiful state!....
10,000 m^3 of lava a second is just unimaginable.
I live on top of 2 miles of that flood basalt. The forces and quantities are almost impossible to imagine in human terms. I can go out on my deck in Union Gap and see many layers that were later uplifted that formed the Yakima Valley.
When you start talking cubic kilometres you are just talking an average volcano…
@@allangibson8494 When St Helen's erupted, the north flank failed. It was largest landslide in recorded human history. Although it was really big, it was insignificant compared to Columbia Flood Basalt. It flowed from NE Oregon to the Pacific Ocean. A drive in Columbia River Gorge shows just a small part of this massive event.
@@SJR_Media_Group the key word is recorded. People who saw the earlier larger ones rarely got the chance to record it… (and a lot of the ones who saw Mt St Helen’s didn’t get to talk about it either).
@@allangibson8494 Yes, many really huge landslides but before humans. 1/2 of Island of Molokai Hawaii slid into the Pacific Ocean. Debris flowed over 100 miles from source. That one probably caused one of the largest Mega Tsunamis ever.
Another great one on a subject that I had no idea about!! 👍
I'd like to hear about ancient volcanoes in NSW, Australia 🇦🇺 😀
Really cool! The funny part to me was that most of the photos used in this informative video were from Hawaii (as you noted). But I just got back an hour ago from spending all night out at Volcanoes National Park viewing said lava. So while I was learning something new about Oregon, this video really hit home ;-)
Just booked a couples getaway with a beachside balcony view of this rock, 2 hours later this video comes up. Awesome!
GH is tracking you! 😃😃
I love being born and raised in Oregon. So damn interesting to witness all the geologic features in today's world and learn about their origins and what they're doing today (ecologically speaking ) . I appreciate the video!!
The farthest south outcropping of the Columbia Flood Basalts is actually in Seal Rock, OR about 1.5-2 hours south of Cannon Beach (where Haystack Rock is). Big jutting chunks of well-weathered columnar Basalt exist there. There are a couple beaches farther south yet from Seal Rock that have what appears to be big ridges of wildly eroded basalt. Occasionally, you can see chunks of chalcedony/agate still trapped in the host rock. I lived on the OR coast for about a year and a half. Would be happy to assist with pics or video should you choose to do another video on this area :D
Yep, go out there all the time.. Love these sections of the coast line.
@@Killswitch1411 - I miss living out there for sure. Portland is too crowded.
I wonder if you've already made a video of how the Yellowstone hotspot has migrated basically from the middle of the Cascades in California up the Cascades and then turned right essentially at the Oregon border and migrated to the east where it's current location is at Yellowstone. The hotspot actually is in Idaho and I know that but the surface features of Yellowstone come from it.
Yes, the hot spot didn't move, the Continental Plate did. At one time all those huge exit points for flood basalt was under ancient Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. There are still ancient volcanic dikes visible where the basalt originated from.
Watch Nick Zentner Exotic Terranes A-Z and The Crazy Eocene A-Z and find out the extents and causes. In November starts Baja BC A-Z
There is a theory that the Yellowstone Hotspot is at least 55 million years old, and it used to be out in the Pacific Ocean. Before the Columbia Basalts, the hotspot did make calderas between ~40 and 23 million years ago, but there's a catch. Those older calderas formed and were in Northern California, but they were moved north into central Oregon due to the "clockwise rotation of the Pacific Northwest crust." These are just the hypothesis and theories that scientists are currently debating.
@@jerrylitzza8842 I'm a big fan of Nick Zenter. I would love to have him explain the many parallel lines that follow contours on Ahtanum and Rattlesnake Ridges. I live at Union Gap and see the many lava flows from my deck. The lines appear to be high water marks.
Yet when Missoula floods happened we did get flooded via ancient Lake Lewis backwater. It is my understanding water was only several hundred feet deep. These marks are 1-2 thousand feet up from valley floor.
My new theory is valley was flooded many times as the ridges uplifted faster than river carved. Lines were not up that high yet. And lines on ridges were lifted up together.
@@jop4649 Yes, I have seen that proposed and it makes lots of sense. The forces involved are bigger than we can relate to.
The Yakima Belt Folds Anticlines are the result of this slow clockwise movement too. When entire plate moves, the surface gets deformed and changes.
Superb presentation; Haystack Rock looks so similar to a volcanic plug it can be easily mistaken for one. The amazing story here is just how voluminous the CRBG was over the 2 or so million years it had been erupting -- enough to sink the Columbia Basin about 1.5 *_MILES_* deep in basaltic lava flows -- like you said, about 350 individual layers of basalt lava, some upwards of 150 ft thick. The mere fact that some of it managed to flow all the way out to the Pacific Ocean tells you something about the volume of these lavas.
I have visited this rock since I was a kid. Thank you for explaining it.
Happy birthday Nick B. Great video topic.
Thank you ;) it’s also my wonderful partner Samantha’s birthday, this video is for her too
I really like how your map shows lava stops at the Oregon border in northeast Oregon.
👏👏👏 one of my favorite geologic stories!
Of all your uploads, this one by far the coolest
I've been to Haystack Rock, and I never had a clue.
WOW man, I'm totally blown away.
I always thought it was an unremarkable rock.
Thanks for schooling me.
I have been here many times. It is very interesting, looks very out of place compared to everything nearby.
I really enjoyed the opening picture of Manzanita and the Nehalem River Bar. Its one of my favorite hikes to that particular viewpoint.
I lived 3 miles from there for a year, beautiful area
I've been to the Oregon coast dozens of times, as it's one of my favorites vacation spots. I always wondered about these formations. Thank you for this awesome explanation. Love your videos.
I just recently visited Haystack Rock for the first time, so this information is amazing!! Thank you.
Thank you for this video!
I Absolutely loved exploring Haystack Rock and the unusual rocks there at low tide back in 4/2016. Birds now nest on almost every ledge of the rock so climbing Haystack is no longer allowed. However, walking out to its base and seeing how enormous it is was beautiful! There was no information that I could find in the area that Haystack was comprised of basalt. It is a beautiful black in contrast with the Sandy sea floor and beaches. The birds (Baird's cormorant) have carried grasses and twigs there for nesting material. If you visit Haystack, check the tide chart so you can reach the rock at low tide.
We also climbed the north face of Mount St. Helens as gases arose from the uplifted dome. It was an unsettling feeling….mild ground movement under our feet. After coming back home, i was able to see the EQ Swarm we felt on the news. We also explored some of the empty lava tubes. The area has recovered quite nicely since the major blast in May of 1980. It’s amazing to still see so many debris blowdown trees most laying in the same direction still even though new pine have been planted on the hillsides as well as old gray tree logs still floating like a huge raft in the lake below the North Face. It was stunning to see how deep/wide the main mudflow area is where several creeks converge on the NW side of the volcano that travel to the west coast. Standing on one side looking across with only what appeared to be a trickle of stream in center allowed me to remember that massive mudflow filmed back in 1980. There is a combination of beautiful regrowth, but still a strong reminder of that gray day in 1980.
My family in Portland took me there the last time I was there.We had a picnic and ate, talking about our family in Bham. Very beautiful place.
Always fun to see articles about places near home!
I like how some are just called "other monoliths"
The ones closest to Haystack rock are usually referred to as The Needles.
Actually, I think the monoliths show up all the way down the coast of Oregon into California. There are ones in Bandon, Oregon on down past Port Orford, Oregon. One of the most beautiful small coastal towns is Port Orford. I stayed there for 3 days in the end of August. The sunlight hit the water in the morning and reflected like diamonds off the water out the picture window of my hotel room.
Not sure if there are part of the same lava flows.. Could be separate ones.. The ones as far as Seal Rock are connected to the ones in Cannon Beach
My wife and I were in Portland in 2018, and decided to go to the beach one day. Drove out to Cannon Beach and wandered past Haystack Rock, not knowing beforehand that it was there. Since then I’ve recognized it in Windows background photos.
Some of my first memories as a child were walking along the beach near Haystack Rock. I've always wondered how it formed, and now I know!
So very cool! Thanks!!
I’ve wondered about those features!!!
Hard to imagine such enormous amounts of lava!!!
It completely filled full valleys in Washington!!
Fascinating ear!!!
🙏💟🙏
Thanks! I have been there many times but never knew their origin.
The fun thing about this video is that the Oregon coast actually has three completely different structures named Haystack Rock! Some people get confused or even angry, arguing about which is which.
Probably not related but there is a monolith off of Stanley Park in Vancouver called Siwash Rock.
Stanley Park was one of my most favourite places in that beautiful city set between the mountains and the ocean! It was in the early 70s, and I always went straight to the Aquarium and the Orca. I never got past it, I'd hang out there for hours. Every time it circled the pool it would stop in front of the underwater viewing window where I was. He(she?) would use its sonar and probe me - I could feel it. It felt like it could sense more than what i might have eaten. Years later I came across a retired veterinarian that used to capture orcas back in the 60s for various aquaria in North America. He confirmed that sensation of being probed and that they seemed to also sense emotion.
Vancouver is a world class city in a spectacular natural setting. Great food too!!
I really like your interesting volcano lectures. I never worry if your information is accurate. Thank you. I look forward to your next lecture.
Great video. I've visited this beach in Oregon, very cool!
A video on the mount holyoke and mount Tom ranges in Massachusetts would be very interesting.
I really enjoyed learning about that. Thank you.
I have traveled through much of this area and wondered about the geologic history. Thanks.
Great video! I have watched many of the lectures by CWU’s Nick Zentner explaining the flood basalts and the entire Pacific NW geology. Pretty amazing. As a resident of NC, I would like to see a video about the formation of the Uwharrie Mountain chain in Central North Carolina. I know they were formed as part of the accretion of ‘Africa’ and the arc of volcanic islands ahead of it as it joined Laurentia to form Pangea, but would love to know more. It’s a favorite camping spot for my family! Cheers!!
Thank you. I mistakenly thought it was a leftover volcano, but that is consistent with Nick Zentner's presentations. I presume the Beacon Rock monolith is the same story.
Awesome video! This is so cool! I’ve never seen it before
Great quick explanation of a well known feature. Thank you! Always love your videos, though sometimes my brain can’t process the info fast enough.😊
You should do a video on the geology of the Wallowa mountains in Oregon. Having backpacked out there, it's incredibly striking to see granitic mountains capped off with the layers of basalt that they pushed up through.
Love these stories stemming from flood basalt events. Would love to see more of them on your channel!
SO this just reminds me of Beacon Rock onto other side of the Columbia River. How about a piece on that? This one was really good and answered a few questions I have had about the Haystack. Nice timing.....
So astonishing. I can’t even wrap my head around that amount of lava. Watching updates on the lava creeping toward the road in Hawaii is comical in comparison to a flow that reached the ocean from friggen Idaho. Thank goodness the planet has calmed down. Hundreds of feet, holy cow.
Very good, thanks.
My dad had a friend growing up that died trying to climb this
Bummer.
I feel like Haystack Rock is everyone's favorite, because you can just go right up to it if the tide is low enough. I've been tide pooling on Haystack Rock more than once. My favorite of these formations has to be either Castle Rock, just off of Hug Point, or the trio of basalt formations at Oceanside, which I've only just learned is called Three Arch Rocks. Castle Rock is a way off the cost, but it's got this enormous concretion sticking out of the top. It looks sort of like a black couch with a box sitting on top, it's very odd. Three Arch Rocks have a monolith that is taller than haystack rock, and it appears to have some sort of cave feature in the bottom. I've only ever seen in with binoculars, as it's too far from the shore for me to properly explore, but the cavern looks manmade. The opening is a very even archway. It's not decorated in anyway, it could be natural, but I don't think it is. It's directly next to that sea cliff that has a passage carved through it. Either way, it's the oldest wildlife refuge west of the Mississippi River. Neat!
I was talking with my sisters boyfriend. Was talking about your channel. He brought up Antarctica and it’s volcano chain. I’d like to learn more about it if you can find any good info. Keep up the good work, enjoy watching. Sadly I live in Washington and hate/love seeing how active our volcanos are. I live at the base of Rainier.
Fellow Washingtonian, not at the "base" per se, but living at a low place between 410 & 167, which is a lohar clear cut. The town tests its lohar warning alarm the first Monday of each month, tho really all that would do in a real emergency is let us know how little time we have left. 🙋♀️
Thank you for your wonderful video and I hope you know how much I appreciated it because I was in Seaside, Oregon and I was just wondering how the structure s there originated. Bless you and have a wonderful week 👍
You should do a video aboutmorro rock too and about the 9 sisters in San Luis Obispo, originally what i thought it was about
Please discuss the Richat Structure. Thank you for these informative videos.
There was a huge cave near there with a very interesting history. A pirate called One Eyes Willie was chased into the cave by a Royal Navy armarda. He then blew up the cave entrance. Over the years, his men dug caves and set booby traps.
Over time people went looking for it, including the expert Chester Copperpot. But in the mid 1980s a group of kids who called! themselves Goonies, managed to get past the bobie traps and reach the ship. They set off a rigged sailing system that opened the cave. The ship sailed out and it's whereabouts is currently unknown.
I came here looking for this
@@roddmol Honestly, I am surprised I am the first.
You meant "boobie traps"?
@@marcusramirez464 THATS WHAT I SAID! BOOBY TRAPS! God! These guys!
I live in Oregon. Haystack Rock was one of the first places I saw on the Oregon coast when I moved from Idaho. It's iconic here.
I live in south west oregon and there are similar "rocks" on the southern oregon coast. Also we have the table rocks which i was told were formed from immense lava flows that filled the valley then eroded away.
Thank you
I'm not a geology expert, but Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has a lot of somewhat similar protruding volcanic rocks, some 1000 feet high, that make a very dramatic landscape, but there is no current tectonic activity in the region. I'd love to know when and how these formed!
Pretty sure those rocks are granitic domes, that is, of plutonic origin. So, magma intrusions that froze well beneath the surface and were exposed by uplift and erosion.
Love your videos.
I remember visiting that as a kid! I did not know it was of a volcanic origin 🌋 imagine that happened now, I couldn’t even imagine!
The 'Morros' in central California are a string of 13 volcanic plugs that culminate with Morro rock which was an island but has been connected to the land with fill. You can see them by driving along CA-1 from San Luis Obispo to Morro Bay.
Fantastic!! More like this!
rising seas levels are making this more difficult to reach at low tides.
Haystack rock is just a 1/2 hr drive from my place. The Oregon coast is amazing.
You should do a video on the Issaquah Alps mountains (Cougar, Squak and Tiger) which are not part of the Cascades and are apparently remnant of a more ancient mountain range that juts east west close to Seattle
I just got back from Fort Davis and Big Bend National Park. I am wondering if anyone has a source for the geologic history of the area. Portions of the area were part of a shallow sea in the distant past, but many of the the mountains in the area appear to be red volcanic rock.
Not too often I'm scrolling through CZcams and recognize something from the coast here.🤙
I haven't gotten this far north on 101. Farthest north for me, Florence, OR. I have live in Boise thought and seen the basalt columns shown by the Snake and Boise Rivers.
The glacier activity that produced the three rivers and topography in the Fort Wayne, IN area.
A good topic thats sorta like this could be Lion Rock in Piha.
I see One-Eyed Willy’s pirate ship peeking behind Haystack Rock…😊😊😊
Do you have any opinion on the unexplained uplift in Devon, UK? The area around the village of Willand is rising at 2cm per year
It’d be interesting to have you discuss places like Saddle Mt near here or Wright’s Point south of Burns, OR, places where apparently a valley was filled with flood basalt and then the rest of the land eroded around it, leaving mountains or ridges that are inverses of the original topography
haystack rock should you choose to search it out go south from Tillamook to "Pacific city" and cut in from the highway a bit and you will be staring right at haystack rock plus great small town and good pubs
There have been multiple 4.5-ish quakes where I live, in the Matsu valley AK. Two within an hour of each other today alone. I've been watching this earthquake storm working it's way around the Pacific rim. . . . . should I be worried?
also , Happy Birthday, Nick ! 🎂
you should do a video on morro rock in morro bay, california
I have been there many times, and never knew! thank you. I have a question on the sea level at that time, was the beach farther west? ALL stay safe
This is a great short
Please explane "Morro Rock", at Morro Bay, Ca!!
Have we found any connection between super volcanoes and asteroid impacts?
In a prior video you said that large enough asteroid impacts cause massive volcanic activity on the opposite side of the planet. I'm really curious if we can find asteroid impacts by looking at each of the known super volcanoes and then looking at the area that would have been on the opposite side of the planet at the time of that super volcano's initial eruption?
Thanks for the great work you do. I LOVE your channel!
NGL, I’ve always wondered about these rocks and how they were formed since i saw them in goonies when i was a kid.
That's my association of the image too, and it goes deep. Still one of my all time favorite movies.
Just out of curiosity, how long would it have taken for the flood basalt lava to cool?
I often think about this when I'm hiking around these areas. I figure it's probably something mind-bogglong, like in the hundreds of years range.
Cooling time depends largely on the thickness of each individual flow. Thinner flows, years. Thicker flows, decades. Really thick flows, or flows that we’re still hot and then got buried under more flows, centuries.
Geology Hub rocks ;)
It’s a giant tree stump. So is devil’s tower. So is Sigiriya rock. Tho, the process by which their molecular makeup’s were changed eludes me