6 Mysteries Geologists Can't Solve

There are some geological areas on the planet that scientists still don't understand. For most things it's pretty clear—combine a volcanic eruption a dash of erosion, and boom, you’ve got a striking cliff! But not all the features on this planet are so easy to figure out. Join Hank for a fascinating video about 6 geological mysteries we have yet to solve!

Hosted by: Hank Green

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Sources:
Siberian Craters

Nastapoka Arc

Indian Ocean Gravity Anomaly

Anjouan’s Impossible Rocks

Mima Mounds

Gulf of Guinea Microseism

Images:

[Lolibeth]

Hank losing his mind over the mima mound gopher hypothesis has made my day

[fratercontenduntocculta]

I love how accessible the content of this show is. It pairs difficult concepts with a simple explanation.

[johnopalko]

The 26-second microseism. Cthulhu's heartbeat?

[OddNumber]

As my geology professor once said: "Geologists don't know much and what we know is pretty hazy."

[summeryoung]

"They don't exactly want to go out and poke it, Because what if *you* are the next crater?"

[Mostly_Harmless]

Suggestion for another episode on geology weirdness: 1) There is the Baja-BC controversy which posits that much of Western WA and Vancouver Island started out 200Mya in Baja California and through the miracle of plate tectonics and rifting of Rodinia that shuffled the current continents’ locations. 2) The ‘slow slip’ phenomena around the Cascadia Subduction Zone in which most of Oregon, Washington and N Cal is rotating around Pendleton OR at 4mm/year, except every 15 months when it reverses.

[applerapple]

It’s always “except Antarctica” but never “only Antarctica” 😔

[meanjeanmccormack]

I'm kind of surprised that they didn't talk about the moving mud puddle in California. For me, that was a big, scary, and cool geological mystery to find out about!

[FNLNFNLN]

When is scishow going to start using chapter markers?

[angelop]

I have recently just finished taking a geography course at my university and the mima mounds (5) are similar to the patterns we studied. Patterns like COULD be caused by freezing and thawing events, as when freezing happens it expands the material and then settles when it thaws. Moving the material, not sure why the patterns occur but it could provide an explanation other than burrowing animals.

[rodbambauer]

Shortly after visiting the Mima Mounds, I was operating a heavy piece of machinery with a thick steel plate drilling deck. This deck was covered with a about an half inch layer of dust. When the down hole bit contacted an irregularity, there was about 3 or 4 very strong vibrations in less than 2 seconds. These vibrations piled up the dust in neat little mounds that had the same pattern as the ones I saw. Earthquake?

[tracker]

I used to wonder about the Mima Mounds in Eastern Oregon where I grew up. That was until I got my first real dirt bike at age 14. It was a Hodaka ace 100 B+ and after that they were just jumps, endless jumps that put an eternal smile on my face. I'm smiling just thinking about it!

[glenngriffon]

The hills are alive with the sounds of explosives.

[RobCCTV]

This is a million times better than all those 'mystery list' videos that just present you with list of things that appear superficially mysterious, but never actually give you any more information.

[Inannawhimsey]

may we never run out of delightful and delicious mysteries

[budhicks]

I grew up near the Mima Mounds. In fact, some of the mounds were on my fathers farm at there northern end.
The area is the southern most extreme of the Olympic Peninsula. It is glacial till up to forty feet deep sitting on a plate of basalt. There is a mirror prairie, on the other side of the valley, 10 miles to the east just north of the town of Tenino WA where the mounds are also evident.
The best explanation that I have ever seen for these mounds was when a geologist laid a sheet of plywood on a pair of sawhorses and covered it with sand. He proceeded to smack the plywood with a hammer. the sand sorted itself out into mounds on the plywood. These are called resonant nodes and anyone can do this do this simple experiment.
In the case of the geology of the area, the basalt plate is like the plywood and the glacial till is like the sand. The hammer is the subduction earthquakes that the area is subject to every 3 to 6 hundred years which liquefies the till.

[duskomorientes]

Number 7, the small hill of dirty clothes I don't feel like washing

[Adaginy]

Anecdotal support for gopher theory: I have a pet ground squirrel and I *thought* she piled up dirt just to irritate me, but apparently she's making mima mounds.

[lordodysseus]

When I was a little kid, like, 5 or 6, I thought that semi-circle in Hudson's Bay was left by the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. Fast-forward to when I was 12 or 13, and I'm learning about Thea, the Mars-sized planet that crashed into Earth, possibly creating the Moon. Fast-forward to now, and I think it just looks like a really nice semi-circle. Maybe a bit thicc.

[juanbazooka]

I love this channel and all of the hosts, but Hank is my favorite. He just seems so emotional invested in his videos.