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15: Top 3 Geological Mysteries
53 Plays1 year ago
Geology is full of mysteries that scientists are still trying to figure out today. Join us as we talk about our favorites. Broached topics: upside-down cups vs. columns, Mushrooms: The Perfect Shape, PCR Inventor Is Definitely Still Alive, erosion, erosion, erosion, Marian hates geology & astronomy sucks too, the power of pocket gophers, do we know why earthquakes happen?, Geology is Sexy, magma gophers, and Mara's personal hell. Follow us at @MyTopEverything on Insta for updates! Email us at mytopeverythingpodcast@gmail.com with topic suggestions, comments, or questions.
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Transcript
Introduction and Playful Banter
00:00:01
Speaker
I just need to look at one map real quick and then I'll be ready. Oh my god. You're involving maps in this? I'm just about to list off some geography and not know where it is. If you don't win this one, then like... What are you doing? Everyone will know it's rigged against me, so I win no matter what. I don't think so.
00:00:24
Speaker
She might have a point. I think I've only won once. Yes. You did when Anna was here and was actually keeping track of points, which is just so rude. I want to contest that point tracking. Well, can you? Did you keep trying? I mean, I guess I would have to go listen to it. And keep trying. Ain't nobody got time for that. Ain't nobody got time for that. Not even the unemployed. Wow. That's like what
00:00:54
Speaker
dedicated super fans are for. One day, one day, hopefully we have super fans who go back and they listen to each episode and they just tally up the points of each episode and they let us know. Just praying for the stalkers. Not stalkers.
00:01:14
Speaker
You guys think of stalkers and parents, and that's it. That's the only two types of people. And those that slip into Mara's DMs.
00:01:35
Speaker
Okay, welcome to My Top Everything.
Meet the Hosts and Topic Introduction
00:01:38
Speaker
I'm Marianne, I'm your host. I'm Kara. And I'm Mara. We are three best friends who argue about everything. Today our topic is top three geological mysteries. Did you want to go first, Kara? I think you should go first. Yes, I do. Start us off strong. All right. My, what is
Devil's Tower: Theories and Stories
00:01:59
Speaker
it again? My number three
00:02:01
Speaker
geological mystery is Devil's Tower. So this is my yes. Hell yeah. I was obsessed with this piece of rock when I was younger. It's fascinating. Yeah. So for those at home that don't know, Devil's Tower is a kind of like tall
00:02:25
Speaker
It's like an upside down cup in the middle of what is otherwise flat land in Wyoming. But wait, it's not hollow. Right. I'm just trying to describe the shape. And also it doesn't really look like a... Well, how do you describe it? How do you describe Devil's Tower? It's like a column rising from the earth. That's a much better story.
00:02:55
Speaker
It's a red column in the middle of what is otherwise flat land in Wyoming. The area around it is sedimentary and the oldest visible rock that we can see is from a shallow inland sea. We know that there was at some point some sort of ocean or something at that point.
00:03:17
Speaker
while the rock around it is sedimentary, meaning that rock was laid down over time from erosion and wind and that kind of thing. Devil's Tower is igneous rock, which means that it's from volcanic activity. And we don't know how it formed. We have four theories. One is that it's intrusion, which basically means that magma came up from below, pushed its way up, and then cooled. And then as erosion happened, it basically exposed.
00:03:44
Speaker
So it was like magma that came up into a bunch of soil and formed that way? Yeah, more or less, but it didn't peak over, it didn't peak out. Right, it was like underground magma and so then the erosion took away everything else, but then why did it form in that shape? Yeah, have you described the shape yet? I really wish I could like share the images, but
00:04:13
Speaker
I've got the, I've got the, I pulled up the figures. Yeah. So the first theory is called stock theory. And basically it means that like magma came up and then over time the sedimentary rock around it eroded. So it left that exposed. The second theory is called the lack of life theory. And that is where a large mushroom shaped max of igneous rock, uh, intrudes between layers of sedimentary rocks. So it kind of like pushes it around. Um,
00:04:42
Speaker
And it also doesn't reach the surface. So they're pretty similar. Well, then where did all that other rock go with the mushroom theory? It looks like it like basically everything but the stem of the mushroom eroded somehow. Everything but the stem like if you look at the picture, it looks like the mushroom was bigger of igneous rock and then it eroded to just leave a small part. Yeah.
00:05:09
Speaker
It was part of this, this theory is popular in the early Nitin hundreds, but it's not anymore. So when they were all, when they were all just like hyping up on mushrooms and they didn't know what they were doing. And they were like, mushrooms are the, they're like the circle of the universe. It's the number 42 man. It's the, it's the shape. It's the perfect shape. That's how PCR tests you want to discover. This guy got high on acid and are you serious? Yeah. For COVID.
00:05:40
Speaker
I mean, it's used for a lot more than just COVID. Yeah, totally. I knew that. Right. So he got high on acid and did what? And just discovered this revolutionary way of looking at DNA. Fascinating. He wrote a book. He's a surfer in California. He's still alive. Great. Anyway. Let's get him on. Let's get him on.
00:06:09
Speaker
plus number three theory for this formation. Oh, I like this one. It's sexy. It does look kind of odd. So the third theory is basically it, well, it's called
00:06:23
Speaker
a volcanic plug and basically what happened. The plug theory. Yeah. And it does look like that. Basically, it like was a volcano that then went extinct is basically what it is. So the neck of the volcano is like a tall, skinny phallic looking. It looks like a chimney almost like in the the top of the chimney is like gone. Yeah. The fireplace is still there.
00:06:46
Speaker
Okay, I had somebody asked me what something looked like today and I blinked and then I said out loud, for lack of a better word, it looks like a little sperm. Because it did. Because I was right. Sorry, what were you describing? An FID GC jet.
00:07:06
Speaker
Oh, I would say it looks more like a torpedo than a sperm, but okay. Oh, that's a good one. Like the tip of a volcano. Is it? It's not bad. It wasn't the worst thing. Oh my god. So that's theory number three is that it was a volcano, a little tiny volcano that had a little neck and then it stopped being a volcano eventually and then it eroded around it.
00:07:30
Speaker
The fourth theory is called the MAAR, M-A-A-R, diatreme volcano. And these form when magma encounters groundwater underneath the Earth's surface, which I think this is the coolest one. And then the superheated water becomes steam. And the steam expands explosively, creating a crater on the surface. And then the crater fills with lava, which cools and solidifies into a dome. And then eventually, again, it roads around it. And then you're left with that.
00:07:59
Speaker
stuff, which I think that's the coolest theory, personally. So with all these shapes, it's like showing that maybe there was more lava than what we see, but like with erosion, wouldn't there be evidence around Devil's Tower that there was lava? Like eroded little pieces or something?
00:08:20
Speaker
All of these theories other than the last one say that the magma was never exposed to the surface. So it would have been contained. And the last one wouldn't have, it would have been filling a crater. So it also would have been contained. So this is just the shape the lava made naturally. Right. And yeah, it's not like, well, it's not like an explosive volcano that we're used to. And why is it eroding in these like,
00:08:47
Speaker
those patterns. Yeah, the climate kind of shit. Yeah, it's kind of like what's Giant's Causeway? That's kind of like the. The shape, it's based on the temperature and the type of mineral that's involved. I don't know the answer. That guy who invented PCR is no longer alive. He died in 2018. Oh my God. Dead.
00:09:15
Speaker
fucking blotch. The fact that that was the one thing you told us that you promised us about him. You just know what you're telling us. People are alive. We weren't.
00:09:28
Speaker
Oh my god. 100. Okay well I'm glad to know I guess. You're welcome. Also I love the
Skepticism in Geology
00:09:36
Speaker
Native American stories about how Devil's Tower was formed. Tell me. There are these two girls and they were running away and they needed
00:09:49
Speaker
A place. I can't remember what they were running from, but they were running and they ran on top of this rock and they were running from two giant bears and they got on top of this rock to be safe. And it was so tall that the bears couldn't get it, but the striations are caused by the bears like scratching the side of the tower to like get at the girls. I love that. Yeah, that's one of them. There's a bunch of them, but that's cool. Yeah.
00:10:16
Speaker
Yeah, I researched some Native American stories about earthquakes for my thesis and I got into the biggest rabbit hole. That was like my favorite part of what I did for my thesis. I just researched it for like a week, probably. Honestly, just as believable as geology. Here's what I want to say.
00:10:34
Speaker
Ah, nice. I'm just going to get into it early. All of geologies, if they can't explain anything, the answer is erosion. Like, that's just their catch-all. And basically, like, Devil's Tower, they're like, oh, erosion made this formation. Grand Canyon? No, they're saying erosion exposed the formation. Yeah, because they have no other way of explaining it. But then how is it formed?
00:11:03
Speaker
I don't even understand why you're confused. I can't even argue. You can't. I just say, anytime there's a weird formation, they're like, the other rock around it must have been weak. And so it eroded in this form.
00:11:19
Speaker
That is not true. Well, we're going to see basically what I just heard you say. We have nine things that we're going to talk about. This was number one. All four theories are like erosion. All right. We'll see. We'll find out. I disagree wholeheartedly.
00:11:41
Speaker
Just so we're all clear. No, I'm clear. I have like such regrets coming. Like I came up with this topic and proposed it and scheduled it. And there is nothing I am like, this is my least comfortable zone in the world. I hate geology. I hate everything about it. And something Karen and I argue about all the time, because it just all seems like of all the sciences, it seems the most like woo woo to me. It's like it's it's just like
00:12:09
Speaker
If you came across a crime scene from a thousand years ago and you tried to explain what happened, you're like, oh, somebody pushed someone. So then they fell this way. And that's why everything's broken. Like you would not be able to explain what happened. And oh my God. You are. She's so pissed.
00:12:28
Speaker
It feels like to me, they're like, oh, this thing that happened 150 million years ago. Let's get nervous. You know that we have like, carbon dating, and we have like... I'm not saying like, the timing is inaccurate, by any means. But like, when you explain it,
00:12:48
Speaker
with like you're pushing and you're shoving and you're cracking and you're erosion. It just sounds like you just kind of came up with like your own recipe that could not be the recipe. It could very well not be the recipe for how this thing was made. And you're just like coming up with a recipe. Yeah, but it's harder. It feels like much, much harder to prove than other sciences. This type of science is like, I feel like
00:13:15
Speaker
Exactly. You can't repeat it and therefore it seems more woo woo to me than the other sciences. I mean, but like astronomy is going to be similar. You know, like you're just looking. I'm serious. You can't you can't go out and test it. You can't recreate the situation. You're just like getting evidence. You're trying to prove a theory that you have, which is all science is. I mean, everybody has competing theories. See the thing that I just talked about.
00:13:37
Speaker
I agree with astronomy. I'll go on a rant any day about how dark matter is just... I don't know if I have yet on this podcast. I'm sure I have, will now, and will in the future. But when they say dark matter, that's just them saying unknown element.
00:13:53
Speaker
A nono element that makes the universe go, that's what's, like space, it's everywhere and we don't know what it is. We're just gonna call it dark man. And it's also woo woo woo. Yeah, both of them. I mean, I'm just saying using astronomy as your big point here has no ground with me. I'm just finding it has a category to add because if I have another one, then you can't say that's the worst.
00:14:16
Speaker
No, I can say I think geology is worse than astronomy. What? Why? Oh, my God, I love this because we can touch, feel and test it. Well, you can test it to a certain extent, but you can you can observe. I feel like a lot of astronomy is just about observation of things that are actually happening. Like we watch stars burn out or fade like we watch a lot of these things. There's a lot of like when things come back around, like there are like some things that are one time events, but also like
00:14:45
Speaker
to prove that something's there, like you have to see it more than once. Yeah.
00:14:50
Speaker
like those two stars that are together and they have like these weird. I mean, all right. So Rachel, for example, I'm about to give you an example. So we as a group of people on the West Coast know that there is something called the Cascadia. See, I'm going to get into my number two later. We're going to continue the argument in a little. OK, OK. Because it'll actually it will make you happy. I will support your theory with my number two. OK, great. Mara, do you want to go with your number three?
Mima Mounds: Theories and Debates
00:15:18
Speaker
I do. We might we might be sharing a number two here. Oh, oh. I found these things called Mima Mounds. Oh, Mima Mounds. This is my number one, actually. Oh, really? Yeah. Damn. That's OK. We'll just talk about it here. They are. I can't believe this is your number three.
00:15:43
Speaker
This is crazy. Okay. I'm not about to rip apart your ranking when we get to the other ones, but okay. Tell your little number three for Mima Mounds. Thanks. They're like these mounds in Washington state and they thought like when they first came upon them, when the white men first came upon them, they thought they were
00:16:09
Speaker
more Native American burial grounds, kind of like the effigy mounds in Iowa. But when they dug into them, it was just loose stones. And there's also some of these mounds in California and Colorado. They're all over the world, actually. They're found on every continent except Antarctica. That's crazy.
00:16:38
Speaker
What? Yeah, they're all over the world. Where are they the most at? Where are they the highest density? I don't know about the highest density. I can look that up while you continue. I don't really have much to say.
00:16:53
Speaker
They- Oh my god. Marion's about to rip you apart. You are butchering this subject, which is crazy. I know. That's why I laughed at the beginning when you said it was your number one. I was like, you're going to hate what's about to happen. They think some of the theories involve- Wait, wait, wait. Glacial flooding, whirlpools. Stop.
00:17:15
Speaker
even wind-blowing sediments. If you get into it, I'm going to talk about a certain theory because I just... Well, the leading theory... No, stop. No, stop. Is that pocket gophers created the mounds. But no one's ever seen a pocket gopher building one. So there's doubts. Do we even have pocket gophers in Washington? Yeah, yeah. So you have pocket gophers. Okay, so... Okay, here. I'm just gonna...
00:17:43
Speaker
So Mima Mounds found all over the world, but there are a lot in the West of America. And yeah, so I was wondering, Kara, if you've been to these, I think you should get like a negative half point for not knowing these were around. And you're a geology person and you live in Washington and you live in the West. Personally, I think you should get an honor. Nobody goes to Olympia. This is like the
00:18:03
Speaker
armpit of Washington. Mara, what do we think? Because this seems like something. No. What? I'm supposed to know everything about a state I didn't grow up in? So you lived there for years and you were a geology major and you didn't even find it when you were looking up geological mysteries? I knew when I was looking up.
00:18:21
Speaker
Kara already had her ideas. She's not the one that had to type in their Google geological mysteries of the world. Fine, but whatever. I am excited. Okay. So they are up to eight feet tall and 30 feet across.
00:18:37
Speaker
So these things are, yeah, they're big. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. This is Mara's completely glazed over this and they, in Washington, they cover several hundred acres, like these pockets. It looks like dimpled, like if you look them up, they look like, like speckled, like almost like pimply like range of hills of land. Um,
00:19:01
Speaker
And, yeah, so they're a mix of gravel and dirt. There is dirt in them. They're not just piles of rock. So, yeah, for a long time, they thought, of course, the geological mystery cop out that erosion must have somehow just naturally created these mysterious mounds. It was glaciers, right? It wasn't erosion. It was glacier action.
00:19:21
Speaker
Glaciers eroding the fucking land. No, there were I think a natural erosion. I literally wrote down natural erosion. Like that's literally one of the just one of the catch all theories that they had for the natural erosion somehow created these perfectly formed like beautiful mounds. So, yeah, when they so in the 60s, basically someone was like,
00:19:43
Speaker
What about pocket gophers? Like these bad boys. Of course it was the 60s. Pocket gophers for reference are the size of your hand. Okay. They're very small. That's so small. And we know that these mounds, this is the crazy part about the series. Well, one of the craziest parts of the series. These mounds would have taken about 500 to 700 years to form. That's what they found out. So we're talking about
00:20:05
Speaker
countless generations of pocket gophers that were digging upward. This is a confusing part. They're not like, you know, like most like digging rodents, they're going to put their hands and like kick back the dirt. You know, so these guys digging upward, pushing, pushing rocks, gravel and dirt upward for 500 to 700 years.
00:20:31
Speaker
Okay. And apparently, so this was so that they would have been able to stay high and dry above wet ground. So they're basically creating their own dry mounds that they can live in. Hollow mounds. Yeah. Well, I mean, go first dig through dirt. So it'd be like whole like tunnels, but they haven't found like holes or tunnels in these mounds. And they eroded away.
00:20:56
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Or they got filled by dirt. Who knows? Who knows what crazy thing these geologists have come up with to explain the pocket gophers. So the size of each mature MIMA, which is a real phrase that they use. Mature MIMA!
00:21:15
Speaker
Roughly matches the territorial range of a single gopher. So basically for 700 years, gophers were making these mounds so that one of them, you know, could be king of the castle at the end of the day. And that's their little roost.
00:21:35
Speaker
And no one's seen, as Mara said, no one's seen pocket gophers ever make these mounds. Everyone has accepted. This is why geologists are woo woo. Everyone's like, yeah, this is the best theory we've got. And we are accepting that pocket gophers, this is probably what happened, even though no one has ever seen a pocket gopher even begin to make one of these mounds or try and make one of these mounds. Yes, Kara, you're what?
00:22:03
Speaker
My favorite activity is raising my hand in this podcast.
00:22:07
Speaker
Are you sure that this was an accepted theory or was this a prevailing? Because when a scientist puts forward something and then everybody else is like, yeah, okay, there's still like, you know, a third of the group that's like, fuck you, that's crazy. Cara, no, it's the current leading theory is pocket gophers. Yeah, everyone's like done and dusted. So semi-accepted. Everyone's like done and dusted, mystery solved. Don't really need to go into this further. Washington Theory disagrees with you for the record.
00:22:37
Speaker
But OK, more than 30 explanations have been proposed. OK, well, and everybody needs a group project at some point.
00:22:47
Speaker
So here's the thing, because these mysterious hills are found on every continent except Antarctica, that's far from the range of pocket gophers. Surprise, pocket gophers aren't on every continent in the world. So this is how they explain that. And they twist this into evidence. They say this suggests
00:23:10
Speaker
Other burrowing mammals have evolved the same type of adaptive behavior on other continents. So there's other mystery burrowing animals that we have no proof of making these mema mounds that are all kind of the same all over the world. Mockery. And the reason this was my number one is because
00:23:29
Speaker
It's the one that seems like the most complete still mystery. Like there really isn't a good explanation for it. And the fact that geologists have decided that gopher mounds is like the leading like it's truly like even their best solution is such a complete like ideological stretch full of literal holes just doesn't
00:23:53
Speaker
I want this to be like the thing that they give to the public, but behind closed doors and their little secret society, societal cult of geologists. They're talking, sorry, they know the real answer. They're just unwilling to share it.
00:24:12
Speaker
They don't think we can handle it. World can't handle it. I know that, Mariette, are you done with your theory? Yeah, we can move on because I mean. No, I have a theory. Oh. I like the idea of that it was created by earthquakes. So actually, when I saw the picture, I thought this. So this thing that I'm reading from W&R says that they might have formed when earthquakes generate vibrational shock waves that travel through the soil. And in this hypothesis, the soil would move the most where the peak waves intersect with each other. And then they collect as mounds where the waves cancel each other out.
00:24:42
Speaker
I like that theory. I think that's reasonable. Since this hypothesis has been proposed, this is right at the top of Google, there have been many large earthquakes throughout the world and none of them have been reported to have formed MIMA mounds. There's never been any evidence of a MIMA mound formed by this amazing theory that you just proposed. Are they all in earthquake active zones?
00:25:03
Speaker
I don't know, but at the same time, still, not one amima mound has been formed. Well, but we haven't, we'd only started tracking earthquakes regularly in like the 1800s. So I don't feel like that's necessarily a solid. That's hundreds and hundreds of years. Yeah, but you have to have a really specific set of conditions, I would assume. Like undeveloped, it has to have like the right kind of soil, the right kind of rock, like close enough to the epicenter, you know,
00:25:32
Speaker
Gotta get that young peak waves intersecting. I think I think if MIMA mounts were created so like easily by earthquakes and freaking pocket gophers, we would have seen new ones. Like, why aren't we watching these things be made then? Because these are things that still exist.
00:26:01
Speaker
I don't know. This is the first time hearing of me, mom, my own. Also, I love the name. Mima Mima Mima. It's Mima. I looked it up so that way when I fuck it up. It's not Mima. Correct us. So. Oh, my God. This episode is going to be so hard for me to get through. This can be my fucking number three. Fuck the great unconformity. I mean, you don't know that I don't
The Great Unconformity and Earthquake Mysteries
00:26:25
Speaker
come for me. OK, so it's a huge gap in the geological.
00:26:30
Speaker
And they say geological record. OK, so layers of rock dating from about one point two billion years ago. I read about this. I know. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Sorry to interrupt. I I am just so proud. I do know what this is.
00:26:48
Speaker
Great, explain it. So missing rocks, it's the, like there's this entire, there's this huge chunk of time that's just, there's like a million years, there's like a complete layer and chunk of time missing. It's not a million years. I'll say that right now. It's 500,000. No. Do you want to make another guess? One billion. It is one billion here. Good job.
00:27:14
Speaker
That's so many. It is layers of rock from 1.2 billion years ago to 250 million years ago, completely missing from certain areas around the globe. Don't have them. Erosion. Erosion. But where the fuck did it go? No. So we have the Cambrian period that happened 540 million years ago, but the layer beneath it is basement rock, whatever the fuck that means.
00:27:44
Speaker
don't know, formed roughly 1 billion years ago, and it's completely empty of fossils. So there's just this huge gap. The Great Unconformity is seen in the Grand Canyon, it's seen all over, and they don't know where all this rock went.
00:28:00
Speaker
can't explain it, just was magically sucked out of the Earth by the dino aliens when they left, I guess. I was going to reference aliens. Yeah, actually, probably the dino alien. You know what? I've come up with a really good kind of pocket go for geological theory that I think will be accepted by the community.
00:28:17
Speaker
The dino aliens must have used all that rock for their technology and their ships. And that's why we can't find it. That's why it's no longer here. We're going to find it in 100,000 years. Mystery solved. Don't need to go through the dumb ass theories. No, I want to know.
00:28:32
Speaker
So the most popular theory is, this is the only one I wrote about, Snowball Earth, they call it. And they say it may explain where the rock disappeared to around 700 million years ago. So not quite the 1.2 billion that we're looking for. Just like 500 million casual years missing. Yes, Kara.
00:28:52
Speaker
I don't like that we're calling it missing rock, because you're assuming it was there in the first place, which means that you have to have evidence that there was rock there at some point. I don't like it. Well, then why is, how is there a billion years? Do you think there was no rock created for a billion years? Well, we're trying to explain this why there's a gap in the carbon dating between two different types of rocks. That's what we're trying to explain. I don't like that they're simplifying this bullshit to say like, missing rock. We don't know what's there.
00:29:13
Speaker
You just think that zero amount of rock, there was no, oh my God, I'm so... You think that there was a billion year old glacier on various parts of the world that just created no rock? Well, that answers part of my question. So in other parts of the world, is there rock during that time period, that missing gap?
00:29:34
Speaker
Um, does rock of that, I believe so. Cause it says completely missing from certain areas, but it sounds like there must be some, so that's why it's called the great unconformity. Cause they know there was some rock, but then there's like all this rock that they can't find. My theory is not bad that it eroded. No, that there might've been something preventing rock from reaching that place. Like a glacier might've been in there in the, during that time or something.
00:29:57
Speaker
or it was above sea level and we only had you know I don't know I'm just saying I don't like that we're talking about missing rock you're just assuming that it's missing yeah making a big jump there logically I mean I think because they know that it does exist in some places they're wondering where and how so okay this is your theory then which they have which is the leading theory snowball earth
00:30:18
Speaker
So around 700 million years ago, Earth was encased in snow and ice. So there's still 500 million years where they can't understand based on the weather why there would be these huge glaciers preventing rock from forming. But 700 million years ago, Earth was encased in snow and ice. Moving glaciers peeled off the planet's crust with the help of lubricating sediments, a lot of lube.
00:30:43
Speaker
And pushed it into oceans where it was, you know, subducted by the tectonic plates, the heat, all that hot stuff. And now it's the same lube that's coming out of the Washington Luzu plate. The old geology is lube and erosion. But yeah, so there's basically this like completely unanswered, like multi-million year gap.
00:31:10
Speaker
like, and the start of the Cambrian period where like there's no accounting for why the rock would be like, snowball earth cannot explain that. Like, cause there just wouldn't have been that like amount of ice and cold. And we say that because why? I think temperature, like knowing like, just like how you know, like in the Jurassic, the temperature of the earth and things, that's the end of it. It's just a grave on conformity. Seems like a big load.
00:31:40
Speaker
a BS. I feel like it's interesting. I am going to look it up more and I will come back for an update and a next thing. But I also feel like the way that they've written about it makes a lot of assumptions. Yeah. And I would need to back up those assumptions with evidence. An honorable mention that I wasn't really going to go into. That's fair. Yeah.
00:32:01
Speaker
Um, okay. So my second one is about predicting earthquakes. So that's basically my number two. No way. Yeah. How it, yeah. Why don't you go first? No, we'll do a similar situation to what just happened. Oh, where I talk and then you completely come in and wreck my shit. I probably have, I probably have like something you don't. So I can add to what you say.
00:32:32
Speaker
All right. Uh, basically we have no idea how and what causes earthquakes. And for a time scientists thought they had it, but they were like, they predicted this earthquake. No, no, no. Parkfield, California to happen by 1994, but they were off and actually happened in 2004.
00:32:57
Speaker
Um, they don't understand where they start or stop. Wait, because I, I felt like earthquakes were one of the more solid geological things that is now because tectonic plates do the rubby, rubby, dancey, wancy, little, little friction, little heat under the ocean or land.
00:33:22
Speaker
and one goes up, one goes down, blah, blah, blah, whatever, geology jerk off. And then when there's a collision, boom, boom, waves of motion. You're not making an argument, you're just reducing my. Like I don't understand how this is a mystery. Just because you know how an earthquake function doesn't mean that you can predict it.
00:33:51
Speaker
Oh, so the question is not how they're made? Correct. It's about how you predict them. And like when they're going to. Yeah. Oh, I thought Mara started this off. Yeah, I did. I said how and why earthquakes happen. Yeah. No, you're not wrong. Yeah. I did. So they know the why. Do we have the same number too, though, about predicting? Yup. OK. So they know how and why. They just don't know when. Yeah, basically. So I looked up. They know why.
00:34:22
Speaker
Yeah, I have a lot. I could tell you a little thesis about why. But they know.
00:34:27
Speaker
So there's different types of earthquakes. So there's different types of fault lines. There's ones that slide past each other, which is happening in California. Yeah. But why do they slide past each other? Because they're moving. We don't. Everything's moving because the plates are on top of the molten whatever bullshit and they're going down, getting melted in and they're reforming and they're getting cool. They're getting hot. They're getting cool. They're getting hot on and on again, off again relationship with the core of the earth. And so they keep moving around. That's why Pangea happened. And then everything split up.
00:34:56
Speaker
And I can't prove it. Also, to my knowledge, we don't know what the center of the Earth looks like. Correct. The center center, but we have all of those layers and we know the core.
00:35:11
Speaker
We don't know anything about the core, actually. No, we don't know the core. But we have the molten layer or whatever, and on top of that, the plates sit, and that's how they move, right? This is basic. Basic, yeah. I mean, yes, correct. But the reason that they move, I believe, and I might not be wrong in this, but I think that it's pressure from the other side of the plate. So like Washington, for example, the western side of the Juan de Fuca plate is upwelling. What? I just looked it up, and I'm right, and you're wrong.
00:35:39
Speaker
What did I say wrong? The heat from radioactive processes within the planet's interior causes the plates to move. So it's the heat. I'm not saying that's wrong. You didn't even let me finish. I'm saying... You're saying that they bump into each other and then they keep... No, you don't let me finish, my dude. Bumping cars. What happens is in the Pacific Ocean and in Iceland, for example, that's the only one that's exposed to air that we can witness, but there's magma coming up that pushes the plate.
00:36:03
Speaker
because it needs somewhere to go and that plate is being pushed into the North American plate, which is slipping underneath the North American plate. So it's, they're all connected and all these different processes are affecting each of the tectonic plates. They're moving on the hot lava. That's literally what I said. They're moving on the hot lava. It's not like, it's not like they're a dinner plate on water though. They're like, it, there's like magma pushing on one side. Pushing down, pushing down. Yeah.
00:36:30
Speaker
Anyway, so I looked up USGS to see how they figure out how to predict earthquakes, and they are so fucking sassy. Their webpage basically is like, if anybody tells you they can predict earthquakes, they're fucking wrong. That's not accurate. Don't try. Don't trust them. They're frauds. It's very funny. They're really sassy. Are they creating a scheme to get you out of your money as a fraud?
00:36:54
Speaker
I think that there's lots of theories on how to predict earthquakes and that you can, I'm assuming that you can probably make money off of them. Like there's this theory right now in China that you can predict them by looking at electrically charged particles in the ionosphere. You know, like there's different things that happen where people are looking at, you know, like animals, they looked for a long time to see if animals could predict earthquakes, that sort of thing. Currently, machine learning is like the newest thing that we're hoping that they'll notice, like machines can notice something that we as humans or animals can't notice. So there's all these different, like,
00:37:23
Speaker
theories out there. But what's really scary when I found, and I didn't know this, which is terrifying because I live in Seattle, but so off the coast of Oregon where the Juan de Fuca plate starts, there's hot liquid coming out of the seafloor, like in little jets.
00:37:40
Speaker
Um, constant jets that always are spewing out this little liquid and it's relatively like we just found it. And it's what they're saying is it's basically fluid that's being released from the fault zone. And it's like leaking lubricant basically. And when you lose that lubricant, it's causing more friction and will cause like a bigger, more damaging quake. So they're, they're seeing this now and it's super scary. So bigger, more damaging quakes.
00:38:07
Speaker
Well, we are predicted to have somewhere between like an 8.5 and 9.5 earthquake off the Cascadia subduction zone, but it depends on how much locking there is basically, like how stuck they get and how much pressure builds up. So they're thinking that because we're losing this lubricant, it's going to be extra locked and extra big is kind of the idea. This guy, so the scientist says, the mega thrust fault zone is like an air hockey table. If the fluid pressure is high, it's like the air is turned on, meaning there's less friction and the two plates can slip.
00:38:37
Speaker
If the fluid pressure is low and the two plates will lock, that's when stress builds up and that's when the earthquake gets bigger. And why can't they predict it? If they know it's pressure. I mean, people have been trying for generations to figure out how to predict earthquakes and we can't, I don't know how to, that's just this big old mystery. And we don't know if you can, we don't even know if it's possible. So we keep studying different stuff to see like, got anything to add more? No. Okay.
00:39:07
Speaker
Did I do a good job? Yeah, you did great. You did wonderful. This topic's really hard for me, apparently. It's okay.
00:39:20
Speaker
I apparently read the first bit of every article that I went into. And I was like, good enough. Great. Done. Two sentences. Sum it up. I'm really hoping you're number one, no one else researched. So you could just go at it alone. Because so far, it's been both of us on the other side. I can't wait.
00:39:44
Speaker
I wonder if she has researched it alone, how much are we missing from the topic when we get to it? Nothing. My number one, I looked at the most.
00:39:55
Speaker
Um, well, OK, so I'll do my number two. OK, so yeah, wait, wait, before you go. So yeah, your number two does kind of go back to my original woo woo bullshit geology thing. In what respect? I thought you said that you said maybe we can get it. No, no, no, it's it's. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because they can't predict it. Yeah. So honestly, they're not saying erosion is the cause, to be fair. Yeah. Well, it's like a heat erosion in a way.
00:40:27
Speaker
Just kidding. You're reaching like those scientists. Like pocket gophers. It's actually magma gophers and they're sucking in the place. They're digging down. It's the spirit animals. The earth is losing its lube.
00:40:44
Speaker
How do you think that? That's literally what they're saying, right? Like, oh, God. And it's going to cause a mega thrust. You use the words mega thrust, Kara. I'm telling you, there is something about thinking of tectonic plates like as like in a relationship with one another is something very there's something very sexual about geology. Yeah. And they make sure all of us can feel the tension. Yeah. Yeah. It's like.
00:41:11
Speaker
Yeah. Who do you ship? Which, which tectonic plates do you ship? That's the real question. The WooZoo.
00:41:23
Speaker
I want you to spend 10 minutes talking about the Cascadia Subduction Zone. No, the Wanda Fuca plate. Wanda Fuca. North American plate. The Wuzu. As the true fans like to call it. The Wuzu plate. The Wanda Fuca. Wanda Fuca. Basically, okay, so my number two is the blue eye of the Sahara or the Rishat structure.
The Blue Eye of the Sahara and Atlantis
00:41:45
Speaker
OK, good. I'm glad you did Mauritania. Yeah. So this is the whole reason I came up with this, like, cool topic. It's because I was looking at it during conspiracy theories because there's a conspiracy theory related to it. So this is in Western Sahara, like on the west side of Africa, and it's about 25 miles in diameter and it can be seen from space. So astronauts use it all the time to like figure out where they are, because things like the Great Wall can't actually be seen from space. But the eye of the Sahara can.
00:42:15
Speaker
And originally they thought it might have been a meteoric impact, but there's no like recess in the center of it. But there are these like concentric circles that go out and they're like perfectly equidistant from the center. So then they were like, well, maybe it's a huge volcano, but there's no volcanic rock. So like, probably not. And now they think kind of like
00:42:44
Speaker
most go to freaking things kind of like Devil's Tower. I think it was a molten dome that was uplifted and shaped by like wind and water. But that is still a mystery why the rings are equidistant and nearly perfect circle. People have connected the eye of the Sahara with the missing city of Atlantis. So which is wild. But there's a group of people who theorize for a while that this might be the thing. I mean, it's like
00:43:13
Speaker
It's one of those things you want to believe. It was on my list of conspiracy theories I very much want to believe. On my long one. Yeah, same. Basically, Plato wrote about fictional island that rivaled the naval power of ancient Athens. And it gets submerged in the Atlantic, and it was powerful in advance. And they think it was around 10,000 BC, basically.
00:43:36
Speaker
is when it sank in. And the ancient Greeks were divided about whether Plato's story was history or mere metaphor. And some people were like, yo, Plato plagiarizes just a ton from the Egyptians. And we think the Egyptians think that that Atlantis was real. So there were a bunch of ancient Greeks that were like, this is an Egyptian thing.
00:44:02
Speaker
There have been thousands of artifacts found in and around the structure, which are about 12,000 years or older. So it kind of puts them, not really, it's like still like a 3,000 year difference, but kind of puts them in the timeframe of Atlantis. And it's like arrowheads, spears, stone spheres, surfboards. Oh, kangloos. And ship holes and more. So like suggesting that there was water, like very close to this,
00:44:30
Speaker
to this land. Well, I think the Sahara used to be underwater, didn't it? Yeah. So you think these things were sunk down there?
00:44:39
Speaker
I'm just saying that there's evidence to support the water was there. OK, so they theorize that there might have been like temperate jungle conditions and like the water was much closer because like, yeah, part of the Africa was underwater. So they think like probably it was very close to the coast and like it was a great place to live and people like were there. But like a lot of people think, oh, this is just a place where like hunter gatherers win and it's not like a real place. But I'm like, why are people surfing over here?
00:45:06
Speaker
Like, what is this? Also, did you know surfboards are 12,000 years old? That's crazy. Maybe even older, I don't know. So yeah. Could it be the bottom of a boat? Why do we know it's a surfboard? What were the surfboards made out of? They say surfboards and shipholes.
00:45:22
Speaker
I don't know. Got to look it up. This is just causing so many questions this episode. I agree. So there are a lot of stretches because like supposedly there were the canals like people believe like, oh, what if it was a natural structure and not like something like Plato said it was manmade. But then like there was supposed to be like a tunnel into the rings that like supposedly
00:45:43
Speaker
you know, we're there, but like they don't exist. So, of course, that's like one of the reasons people are like, there's no way this was real. But yeah, I mean, he talks about the colors, which like match. So it's all very like kind of odd. And we think that Atlantis was outside the pillars of Hercules, which was is the Strait of Gibraltar. So that would also match up. So it's like kind of it's a little like far. It's kind of south. Do you think that he could have been told a story because there were trade. There's like trade happening at the time. Like maybe he had heard the story from the traveler.
00:46:12
Speaker
I mean, like I think I think that the idea that the Egyptians maybe have a story about that area makes a lot of sense. That was passed down for thousands of years of like this of a place like that that maybe got bastardized or Plato bastardized it. But I mean, I think I think it probably wasn't that. But it is pretty cool because it's like the closest thing, like it's the closest thing we've ever had to like something that's kind of like Atlantis.
00:46:37
Speaker
It's still a geological mystery because they don't know really how it was formed. And one thing that I could not figure out, and I tried really hard, is what makes, because it is pretty blue, and I'm like, why is it blue? And that was a mystery for me that made this my number two double mystery, because I was like, I could not find online someone just explaining to me what mineral or what was causing it to be blue. Could not figure it out. I was kind of hoping you knew. No. Okay, should we go on to our sponsors?
00:47:06
Speaker
Paz Partax!
00:47:12
Speaker
Our number three sponsor this week is Grayson. Thank you for editing a two-hour episode, your champ, and making it listenable. Our second sponsor could be you. I'm going to say it is you, listener. Please like us or review us on iTunes, especially if you have an iPhone. I don't, so I can't make 10.
00:47:36
Speaker
accounts and like us over and over again, but you could, and that would be amazing. Please tweet about us or put us on Instagram, subscribe, follow, tell someone about it. Do one, think every day about how you can pay it forward to this podcast specifically by doing one more.
00:47:56
Speaker
We know there's a lot going on in the world. This is such a simple act that you can do to feel better about yourself. Yeah, and to make us feel good and let us know when you do it and we will thank you. Nobody has told us they've done it. I thought people would be more interested in being our number two sponsor. And our number one sponsor, does anyone have anything?
00:48:20
Speaker
Look at those rocks. Those are some pretty neat rocks. You might know that YouTube video.
00:48:28
Speaker
Number one sponsor is who wrote the guy who wrote the short history of nearly everything. Bill Bryson. Bill Bryson. Bill Bryson out here making complicated shit easy to digest with graphics and explanations and stories. And if you are interested in geology, you should read it. It's freaking fascinating. Thank you, Marian, for giving it to me. And then 10 years later, I read it. Classic.
00:48:59
Speaker
Okay. Um, Kara Mara, what's your number one? I'll go first. Um, okay. So my number one geological mystery is the mid continent rift system.
Midcontinent Rift System and Tectonics
00:49:10
Speaker
So this is a structure that is 1.1 billion years old. It's about 1800 miles long and it's a scar across North America through
00:49:20
Speaker
have a map up. It's through Michigan up to Lake Superior, through Minnesota, through Iowa, and then down through like Nebraska. And it's kind of like a U-shape. And the idea is that it used to be a rift system. So kind of like if you've heard of the East African rift in like Tanzania, Kenya area, have you heard of this? I barely know what I'm talking about. I know.
00:49:46
Speaker
So kind of how I was talking about how like two tectonic plates are like pushing into each other and one slipping underneath. This is the opposite. So it's two continental rips or continental tectonic plates pulling apart. And so there's like a so like in like in Iceland, how they have that. That thing, you know, because that's forming new rock. This is like forming a new ocean, essentially, or like a new
00:50:11
Speaker
OK, like like if you see is that what the San Andreas fault line is ripping apart? No, that one is two plates like doing this. They're like passing each other in the night. Oh, the if you have you watched the Spooky Lakes lady? Yes, yeah, Gio.
00:50:29
Speaker
Okay. Have you seen how she talks about the deepest Lake, Lake by call? Yeah. Okay. That is an example of this. So it's like pulling apart and it's filling with fresh water, which is why it's the deepest. It's deeper than, uh, the San Andreas or then like Mariana or Mariana trench. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Crazy. Only when you take the sediment out of it. Anyway. Um, so anyway, so basically they're used. So rift systems are two existing plates that are pulling apart and like,
00:50:57
Speaker
leaving gaps essentially. And usually it fills with water because that makes sense. And so there used to be one in North America and it started tearing the continent apart through what is now Lake Superior, but for some reason it didn't continue. It just stopped. Um, and it's the basis for our like great lake system. And can I say a theory? Yeah, after you finished, that's why we what? That's why we have like copper and like certain types of stone and stuff is because of that type of system.
00:51:26
Speaker
Okay, I think maybe, maybe it was like breaking apart and then like the other sides hit other plates and they were like, oop, and then they couldn't move. That's very Midwestern. Sorry. I'll just stay here. And now it's just got like that rift of the lakes and it's like, but it can't move anywhere. So it's just, it's just chilling.
00:51:48
Speaker
So is that scar connected to the plate in Washington that's pushing up against the other plate? So it's on the North American plate and the North American plate is what is connecting or what is touching the Juan de Fuca. So, yeah, it's like that side's going on so they can't they can't keep pulling. I mean, everything is pressure related. That's why I like the Himalayas are going up is because two are pushing together. Like everything is connected.
00:52:13
Speaker
So then when the West Coast earthquake happens, is there going to be a new rift, a larger scar in the Midwest? No. So what will happen is the Wanda, so basic visuals are very helpful in this. That's hard in a podcast, but the North American plate, when there's friction is being pushed upward slowly. So it's creating like a mound, think of. And the Wanda Fuca plate is trying to slip underneath.
00:52:40
Speaker
the North American plate. And so when that pressure builds up enough, the North American plate slips and it like- Releases and it flattens. Yeah, it releases. And so that will be the impact. The West Coast is gonna just like slip into the ocean. Basically like you'll drop between like one to 10 feet probably depending on like how severe the earthquake is. But yeah, like the whole West Coast of Washington and Oregon is gonna drop in elevation.
00:53:07
Speaker
And it's happened before. This is the cool part. This is the cool part is like we can prove that it happened before because there's petrified forests from when that happened. So when the forest was on the edge of the ocean and then that happened and it snapped and dropped in elevation, those trees were then exposed to salt water and then like mummified more or less. So we can test them. It's very cool. They're in Washington. Wow.
00:53:30
Speaker
Let's continue on. My number one is like by call. Hell yeah! And I had written that it's a Rift Lake.
00:53:40
Speaker
And it was formed with a deep rift by tectonic plate movement on fault lines. So when you said to Kara, I don't know what a rift is. That's why I started laughing because then she mentioned, like, by call. So I looked at my notes and I was like, well, sure enough. Oh, my God. I wasn't going to say that part of my notes, but now it's relevant, huh?
Lake Baikal's Mysteries
00:54:04
Speaker
I just like it's the oldest lake
00:54:07
Speaker
in the world and it's like they think it's about 25 million years old and it's like the
00:54:13
Speaker
Huge freshwater lake. Apparently, Gagas Khan was said to have been born on the island within the lake. It completely freezes over in the winter. And more recently, they're having these bubbles, gas bubbles being frozen in the lakes. And they think that it's because there's being more methane produced from the bottom, I'm pretty sure. And then the ice is kind of melting. And then so the gas is moving slowly up.
00:54:43
Speaker
it and then like rephrasing, freezing. They're the only place that a freshwater seal is found and there's no current connection between Lake Baikal and any sea. They think that maybe at some point there was a connection from the closest sea to Lake Baikal and then
00:55:03
Speaker
the seals were coming there for some sort of migratory reason, and then just decided to stay, and then they got locked off, and they're like nowhere near endangered, which is so cool. Oh, that is cool. So what's the mystery? How'd those seals get there? Geological mystery? Kind of... Oh, no, all my mysteries are about fishes.
00:55:31
Speaker
Cause they also kind of have like a Nessie situation where they like think a giant something is in there. Wow. I just looked up mysteries that surrounded Lake Baikal. Oh, that's like a whole, I mean, literally just go onto that lady's TikTok and it's like all Lake Baikal mystery. It's fascinating. Wow. Wow. It's a cool place. I did learn from her the other day that it's the deepest lake in the world by far. Like, okay. So it's insane. superior is the second deepest and it's like,
00:55:59
Speaker
I don't know, two to three times deep, Lake Baikal is two to three times deeper than Lake Superior. When you take out the sediment that's deposited in the bottom of Lake Baikal, again, it's deeper than the Mariana Trench, which is just like... Yeah, but the sediment, that feels like cheating because you're taking the sediment out. Yeah, but that just proves that... It's like, can you take the sediment out at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and then...
00:56:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's fair. But it's like, it's been deposited there from different rivers. So it's like, it would have been deeper had that segment not come from the rivers. I just think it's cool. Okay. My number one is the sailing stones of racetrack Playa.
Sailing Stones of Racetrack Playa
00:56:34
Speaker
It's in Death Valley.
00:56:36
Speaker
I've seen them. Yeah, I figured I've been there. You've been there. Done that. They're so cool. Yeah. So people have been studying these bad boys for over 100 years. And basically they're these rocks that tumble down, quote, due to the forces of erosion, unquote.
00:56:55
Speaker
which of course they do, but I actually believe that one. So there are these like rocks, you know, they're pretty substantial. They're like as big as your gourd or your head or whatever. And that pumpkin. Sure. Yeah. Okay. Once they reach the surface level of the playa, which is just this, you know, big desert Valley, basically the rocks somehow move horizontally.
00:57:21
Speaker
leaving perfect tracks behind them to record their paths. So when you look out, you can see these rocks and behind them, kind of like a snail or slug trail, you can see where they were and where they went. Most of the largest rocks have left behind trails as long as 1500 feet, suggesting that they've moved a long way from their original location, like 1500 feet from one place to another. I don't know. I wonder how many miles an hour they're going.
00:57:49
Speaker
one a year or something. Well, no, no, not because 1500 isn't a mile. Anyway, rocks with a rough bottom surface leave straight tracks and smooth ones tend to wander. What? Yeah. So the rough ones just straight shot and smooth ones, different personality, probably similar to like rough brained people and smooth brained people.
00:58:15
Speaker
Wow. Now the reason why this was my number two is because the mystery has been solved and I actually do believe this one. So basically this is weird because scientists, this is why geologists suck. People have been observing these rocks for a hundred years being like, how do them rocks move?
00:58:35
Speaker
And then finally, two guys in 2014 were like, you know what we should do? We should just sit down for a couple years every like every day and we're just going to watch these rocks. And like, that's what we're doing. And so they watched the obvious answer. Yeah, they watched it, which I thought if you've been wondering for 100 years how these rocks be moving, maybe you would have done that. But no, these guys first one. And I think in like the first year or two,
00:58:59
Speaker
finally observed it and basically in the winter when like conditions are just right rocks are nudged into motion by melting panels of thin floating ice and it has that you have to have these like very light winds in winter so that it's like slowly moving the rocks and they caught it on video you know it basically everything needed to be perfect with the temperatures
00:59:23
Speaker
and the weather to create this motion. So cool. Yeah. So not as exciting.
00:59:31
Speaker
you know, it wasn't magical. Sometimes people thought I think it was like part of gravitational force or something or like magnets, but yeah, like magnetic force. Yeah, and I think before the ice, they thought that the occasional like rain moved them. Yeah, so very, very interesting. But I like that, you know, somebody, see, this is why the whole meme amount thing is crazy because you can, like, they were able to see it happen. They're actually able to
01:00:01
Speaker
replicate, well, not themselves replicate the movement, but record the movement and figure it out after a hundred years. Only took a hundred years for that one. Geniuses. Okay. Anyway, that's my hour of bashing geologists.
01:00:15
Speaker
Nice. That was a good one.
Final Debate and Wrap-up
01:00:18
Speaker
Mara, I'm gonna take a point away from you because the last one was not a mystery. And I'm gonna take a half a point from Marion because it's not a current mystery, that last one. What? Nice. I think it counts. You gave a very direct answer that you said yourself you believe in. Maybe a minus point to Mara for each of her three things being mentioned by
01:00:40
Speaker
Someone else. Someone else directly before. And also like, like her version, not, not, like would have been fully covered by the other person. Listen, I would just like to leave myself out of the points for this round and you guys should just decide to point out between you two because it's clearly not where I shine. Uh, this topic.
01:01:07
Speaker
I think I find this stuff really difficult to focus on because it's so many words that I'm not familiar with. I instantly forget it. I will say that geology, I think, is one of the worst sciences for explaining to the general public, like the way that we explain to people
01:01:24
Speaker
It's not like flooding, right? Or something like that. Or a pandemic where you have to get the knowledge out and you have to simplify it. Nobody fucking cares about geology. So you don't have to simplify it for the general public. A point to me for making Marian angry at the beginning of the podcast for having her number one just be my number three throwaway situation. No, you don't get a point for that. You'd even do it.
01:01:51
Speaker
I should get the point for it actually end up explaining it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it sounds like it's a tie between the two of you. So I think we could end this episode tiebreaker. I know. Are we tied? I don't know. Tiebreakers are fun at least. All right. It has to be geology related. So I think I can't be the one to come up. It has to be Mara or Grayson.
01:02:18
Speaker
What is the least common type of rock? What are we to our time on minerals? We talking about like formations. That is. I'm going to go with formations. All I can give you. I don't know what the question is. I've got my answer. Wait, no, don't don't don't explain. I put an answer down. What's the least common type of rock? Geology has to type it in, too. What is the least common type of rock? Not typing this. I'll say it. OK.
01:02:47
Speaker
Well, no, no, no, hang on. OK. I don't OK. Well, then finish typing, Mara or Kara, because I got my answer. I this is not fair. This is this is geology, baby. I I think you'll be fine.
01:03:08
Speaker
Look at those rocks. Some pretty neat rocks. I'm glad you did that twice in this. That's all I can think about now. It's a good YouTube video. Kara, are you done? I'll send it later. No, one second. I'm trying to remember the
01:03:45
Speaker
I don't like this. I don't like the question. If I lose, it wasn't on me. I should have won automatically. Okay. Three, two, now. I typed in Sunrock from Mexico and then I thought that's bullshit. I gave two answers. So I deleted my Sunrock from Mexico, but I did put igneous as well. It's metamorphic. Is the least common? Yeah. Isn't that the same thing?
01:04:13
Speaker
No, it's formed under pressure. See, you don't even know. Sedimentary is done by erosion, igneous is from magma, and metamorphic is from pressure. God, geology sucks. Are we just calling this one a tie, or do we need to kill it? No! I'm winning this. I am winning this one. What is the most expensive rock?
01:04:40
Speaker
to purchase. I'm ready when you are. Okay. I'm going to win this one. Go. Kara said diamond. Quartz doesn't count. You just need to record.
01:04:56
Speaker
No idea what that means. I just needed to record that I also thought of that answer. OK. But it wouldn't have counted. Marion said blood diamonds because it's not money. It's human lives. It's not just money. It's human lives. Oh, yeah. Well, the answer is blue diamonds. So I don't know how to handle it. Oh, blood diamonds and blue diamonds. That is so close. I said.
01:05:16
Speaker
Okay, that is extremely close. You went too specific, I was smart and went broad. Mine accounts. My god. No, they're different. I'm in my own personal health. For the record, a blood diamond. Mm-hm. They're minding conflict areas. Yeah.
01:05:35
Speaker
Yeah. Blood diamonds are red. No, no, no. A blood diamond care. A blood diamond is a diamond that's sourced irresponsibly and like causes issues. And so I'm not talking about red diamond, talking about blood diamonds, like what people wear.
01:05:53
Speaker
When are you gonna give up? I won. We both said diamonds. And mine agrees. No, I didn't go specific. I think I might have said Ruby had I been answering this question. I don't know if I would have said diamond. All right, next question. Oh my God. Yeah, I see your point, Marion. Fine. Thank you. I think we both like, neither of us said blue diamond. I don't think blood diamond sounds closer. I do wanna see what a blue diamond looks like. It's blue, spoiler.
01:06:25
Speaker
it looks just like that's why it's so instruct because of the way and the color it makes and it's really rare it looks like a sapphire anyway like it it's got different properties oh it's harder yeah let's do this one grayson asked can either of you name the mineral that releases radon
01:06:44
Speaker
Okay, I have a guess. Mari, she's sort of just queuing up another question I guess. Yeah, honestly. Never thought that I had enough knowledge to maybe like actually hold my ground. However wrong in this. All right, I have an answer written. This is how bullshit geology is. I could just bullshit my way through these and get some more answers to Cara. Ready? Three, two, one, go. The fuck is Feldspar? I said uranium because Grayson said uranium.
01:07:14
Speaker
Oh, that was smart. I mean, weirdly. If you won, I'll give it to you. It's called Torber Knight. Jesus Christ. Wait, it says radon is a decay product of uranium when I look it up. Yeah, radon is caused by a lot of things. But he said mineral and uranium is a mineral. Jesus Christ. It's found as a mineral.
01:07:45
Speaker
bound and bonded with other elements. Wow. For sure. This is... Yeah. Wait, what about Feldspar? This is rough. This is rough. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Let's just see if... Does Feldspar... It's not Feldspar. It's not Feldspar. Oh, yikes. Dude. Stop. Marrying one. No, no, no, no, no. We'll just do the next... We can cut that one out.
01:08:07
Speaker
What? How many types of rocks are there? This one I feel like is a true guessing. Oh, hey, Felds- wait, wait. Feldspar contains trace amounts of radon gas. What the fuck? So we both got that right. Jesus fucking Christ. Trace amounts? No, this is bullshit.
01:08:34
Speaker
It doesn't say it releases them. Yeah. If you open a rock and there's gas trapped inside, it's going to go out. Emanation of radon from rock. Yeah. For the record, when they say what rocks produce the most radon, they say uranium is going to produce the most radon.
01:08:54
Speaker
He didn't say which one produces the most radon. He said, can you name one that releases radon? That's true. OK. God, I can't believe this. What is this question? I am really excited right now. OK. Here's how much you guys aren't going to know any of these. Never mind. That's the point.
01:09:26
Speaker
I was not prepared for this. Deadliest volcanic eruption since 1500 AD. Ooh, AD is after... Christ. 1500. I'm trying. That's such a specific time. Must have happened right after 1501. Okay. Oh my god, I have so many guesses. You can't say more than one. No. None of your little cloaks. Bullshit.
01:09:56
Speaker
I put it, I specifically said doesn't count, but I just needed to record that I said it. Okay, well, just one thing here. Is obsidian a rock? I don't know if they would have recorded this. Yes. What kind of question is that? Somebody asked that on Google, dude. Oh, God. I should win this. God damn it. Are we ready? Yeah, I've been ready. Okay, three, two, one. Three, two, one, go. Wait, Pompeii was before 1500 AD.
01:10:26
Speaker
I couldn't remember. I thought it was right after Christ was, I thought it was like a hot, I don't know. They were still talking about this crazy guy from Jerusalem. Can we get a second guess? When Vesuvius went off. Can we get a second guess? Because we both didn't get it, I'm assuming.
01:11:01
Speaker
But for the record, for the record is what mine would be closer because there was a deadly volcanic eruption in Iceland in 1783. So that's only 283 years after 1500. Well, but how many people died and then we compare the deaths and then we talk about- No, Pompeii isn't close to 1500. Pompeii was 3400.
01:11:27
Speaker
What are you talking about? No, you're saying 30, 40 people. We're talking about years? Yeah, because you said after 1,500. I at least named one that, well, their most deadly one was after 1,500.
01:11:40
Speaker
It's true. I was looking more for the name of the volcano than just a broad region. Pompeii was 79 AD, so that's- I have an idea. I knew that it was like- I have an idea. Whoever's closest to guessing the number of people that died in the Mount St. Helens eruption. Okay, I like that. Oh, okay, I'm gonna guess. Okay. I'm gonna guess. And I don't know the answer to the question.
01:12:14
Speaker
When was the Mount St. Helens eruption? Did I get any, what is this? 1981. That was like 1983, yeah. 1980. It was pretty deadly. This isn't really a geology question.
01:12:28
Speaker
He's trying to end it. We're trying to end it. Well, I feel like I won this last one by a long shot with most deadly eruption after 1,500. Definitely got close. Got something that was after 1,500 and was Iceland's most deadly. You guys got your gas in? Yes. All right. Three, two, one, go.
01:12:51
Speaker
The answer is 57. Wow. I guess 50 or I guess 79 and married guests, 236. It would have been more with that guy at the watchtower state until the very end and died himself, like calling people to get people out of the way of like the stuff. That's sweet of him. Yeah. I originally put a hundred.
01:13:17
Speaker
I was going to put 129. I put 100. I deleted it. I put 75. I deleted it. I put 50. Oh my God. Wow.
01:13:26
Speaker
Well, you know that I'm not the winner of this episode. I am. We can call Kara. We finally stopped that one where she got a better answer, so. I mean. And we worked really hard as a team to make sure that Kara won this episode. Yes, we did. So congrats, Kara. Team effort. Yeah, I've done my duty over here. It's like when you back a horse, you just got to have a win.
01:13:52
Speaker
You're like, we're gonna do this until... I mean, you clearly knew the most about rocks. The extra should be a number. That's what I was trying to get at with how many types of rocks there were, apparently between 4,500 and 5,000. Wow, that's a lot.
01:14:12
Speaker
But types of rapid doing minerals, like that's just a very... No, it's just types of rocks. Oh, okay, cool. Every minute we keep going is another minute I need to edit. All right, I'm Marion, this has been my top everything. I'm Kara, you're a winner this week. And I'm Mara. Nice. Keeping my identity protected because I can't have this associated with myself.
01:14:35
Speaker
Email us at my top everything podcast at gmail.com if you want to interact with us and have a good week. Bye. Wow. So the music should be before that chaotic mess of a of a tiebreaker. The music?
01:14:56
Speaker
It's so long. I kind of think the tiebreaker might just be like a bonus content thing at some point. We can just skip all of it. To the point where I won. I would like it mentioned that... You held your own. You held your own. And arguably you probably could win. And there were a couple where we can argue that it should have ended. But that's fine.