Do you want to learn about the fascinating general geology of the Pacific Northwest? Well, perhaps the easiest and one of the most ways to do that is to watch some of the many videos Nick Zentner and his film crews have made and posted on YouTube. Nick has been the host of a dizzying number of short (2 Minute Geology) to long (1+ hour free public lecture) videos covering everything PacNW geologic from 40+ million year old continental accretion to ice-age floods, flood basalts to our awesome volcanoes, huge landslides, and even earthquakes yet to happen.
Nick is an award-winning professor of geology at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA. His is an ongoing crusade to bring the drama of Northwest geology to life for everyone – not just academics and die-hard rock hounds. Pacing and narrating with gee-whiz enthusiasm, Nick combines simplicity and scientific rigor, presenting his subject matter in a way that’s stimulating, fun and educational to students and the general public.
Here are links to some of his YouTube channels and the topics you’ll find there:
Huge Floods Channel – 2-Minute Geology Series – 13 videos including:
Geology Video Blooper – Columnar Basalt – 0:54
Columnar Basalt – Geologist explains spectacular stone columns – 2:31
What is a Coulee? 2:36
Erratic Boulders – Rafted in Icebergs by the Ice Age Floods – 2:37
Giant Current Ripples Created by the Ice Age Floods – 2:51
Pillow Basalt (Lavas) and Palagonite. Result of lava flowing into water – 2:52
Columbia River Basalt Group – Related to Cascade Volcanoes? 2:59
The White Bluffs at Hanford Reach – Columbia River Free Flowing Stretch – 3:00
What is a meander – Geologist describes meandering streams, rivers and oxbow lakes – 3:02
Petrified Wood – 15 million-year-old Petrified Tree – 3:31
Seattle Earthquake Fault – Beneath Largest City in the Pacific Northwest 3:42
Wenatchee Washington – Ice Age Floods Geology – 4:34
Palouse Falls and the Palouse River Canyon – Ice Age Floods Features – 5:12
Nick Zentner Channel – Roadside Geology Series – 7 videos including:
Frenchman Coulee: Central Rocks – Roadside Geology #1 – 10:48
Vantage Erratics: Central Rocks – Roadside Geology #2 – 11:55
Yakima River Rocks: Central Rocks – Roadside Geology #3 – 10:36
Yakima River Canyon: Central Rocks – Roadside Geology #4 – 11:55
Thorp Moraine: Central Rocks – Roadside Geology #5 – 8:38
Thorp Lahars: Central Rocks – Roadside Geology #6 – 9:37
Dry Falls: Central Rocks – Roadside Geology #7 – 9:50
Nick On The Rocks – 18 videos, including:
Seattle Fault – 4:01
Yakima River Canyon – 4:16
Lake Chelan — Battle of the Ice Sheets – 4:24
Puget Sound’s Exotic Terranes – 4:25
Dry Falls – 4:37
Chasing Ancient Rivers – 4:42
Ice Age Mystery of Lake Lewis – 4:42
Bridge of the Gods Landslide – 4:44
Steamboat in the Desert – 4:50
Mt Rainier’s Osceola MudFlow – 4:51
Ghost Forests – 4:54
Ancient Cascades Volcanoes – 5:01
Columns of Basalt Lava – 5:01
Giant Lava Flows – 5:06
Liberty Gold Mines – 5:07
Mount Stuart – From Mexico? – 5:11
Giant Ripples in the Scablands – 5:11
Goldilocks Miracle of the Palouse – 5:20
Downtown Geology Lectures – CWU Geology Series – 14 videos, including:
Supercontinents and the Pacific Northwest – 56:33
Ancient Rivers of the Pacific Northwest – 57:17
Liberty Gold and the Yellowstone Hotspot – 58:05
Tsunami In Our Future – 59:09
“Bing Crosby, the Sunset Highway and the Channeled Scablands” – 1:01:24
Flood Basalts of the Pacific Northwest – 1:02:35
Great Earthquakes of the Pacific Northwest – 1:04:01
Hells Canyon and the Ringold Formation – 1:04:35
Bridge of the Gods Landslide – 1:05:22
Mount Rainier’s Osceola Mudflow – 1:05:52
Lake Chelan Geology – 1:07:18
Exotic Terranes of the Pacific Northwest – 1:09:23
Floods of Lava and Water – 1:10:18
Supervolcanoes in the Pacific Northwest – 1:10:50
Ghost Volcanoes in the Cascades – 1:11:15
Plant Fossils in the Pacific Northwest – 1:13:17
Dating the Ice Age Floods – 1:26:23