Fantastic Columns and Geology at Reynisfjara: Iceland's Most Scenic and Dangerous Beach

Рет қаралды 16,558

Жыл бұрын

Hold on to your hat at Reynisfjara, Iceland and explore the amazing geology and scenery with geology professor Shawn Willsey. Learn how the beautiful columns form and experience the full fury of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Help me make more videos! Your generous support allows me to travel to these locations and create videos. Send support via:
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Shawn Willsey
College of Southern Idaho
315 Falls Avenue
Twin Falls, ID 83303
Approximate GPS Location: 63.40256, -19.04151

Пікірлер: 82

@waynewallace6630 Жыл бұрын

Just there! Iceland is a wonderland!

@hunt4redoctober628 Жыл бұрын

What a fantastic beach! Stunning scenery and amazing geology. Another great film.

@Antiquity_Zine Жыл бұрын

I love geology. I’ve never been there but I am going to school for a second degree in geology because I want to live in Iceland someday.

@patrickkillilea5225 Жыл бұрын

Dude, it's so awesome there. Thank you Prof. Willsey!

@shawnwillsey Жыл бұрын

You bet!

@Deb-vu7gk 4 ай бұрын

@@shawnwillsey The Colums look a bit like the ones in Irelands (UK) Giants Causeway

@josephmartin1540 Жыл бұрын

Oi. Wish I had been smart enough and rich enough to have gone with you! So grateful to watch the vids, Doc. Keep on!

@markday5797 6 ай бұрын

Thank you Shawn for the tour of an amazing beach, wow Iceland is an amazing place. To all in Iceland best to you and stay safe.

@anthonyfaye3344 Жыл бұрын

I love this channel. In my own geology program, I loved the field work and field trips. I think I would have enjoyed Shawn's field classes. (especially if we have to go to Iceland or Hawaii)

@shawnwillsey Жыл бұрын

Wow, thank you!

@Anne5440_ Жыл бұрын

What a beautiful place! I love those waves. Beautiful sea stacks. 🌊 Those small columns surprised me. But then I'm used to Columbia Basin Basalt flows that surround my home. It's nice to see so much difference in columns size and angle on one beach. Thank you.

@TheDevice9 Жыл бұрын

Wow... that is an amazing location.

@brookeshaffer4377 Жыл бұрын

Felt like a treasure hunt.Many thanks for sharing.

@Panicagq2 Жыл бұрын

That looks like our coastline in Northern OR, but on steroids! Such an amazing trip, thank you for your suffering so we can ooh and aah from home...

@Dragrath1 Ай бұрын

It's about a year late (waiting for some of the new Iceland trip stuff from Shawn) but at least part of that similarity is likely down to origin as Siletzia based on igneous petrology appears to have once been a Pacific analog of Iceland i.e. a mantle plume hotspot formed along the East Pacific Rise prior to North America crashing into and overriding it. The hot spot responsible is now in western Wyoming but the seismic tomography shows that the deep solid mantle discontinuity associated with the EPR persists below Yellowstone making out the rough boundary of the Basin and Range + Colorado plateau. Point is when he time comes for the Atlantic to close Iceland will likely get smeared accreted onto a continent or two as Siletzia's other half is Yakutat up in Alaska.

@jenniferlevine5406 17 күн бұрын

That has to be the most amazing beach I have ever seen. Amazing, dynamic rocks! Thanks so much for all your efforts and for the opportunities to learn.

@LanceHall Жыл бұрын

Those columns are amazing.

@skagited9617 Жыл бұрын

Thanks, Shawn.... for putting in the effort to put out these entertaining geo-vids! Great info!!

@shawnwillsey Жыл бұрын

Thank you for this kind and generous donation. This will help me travel to more locations and make more videos.

@marsharose2301 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for this great video of these columns in Iceland. I really appreciate your sharing this!!

@shawnwillsey Жыл бұрын

My pleasure!

@Mchelle021 3 ай бұрын

What stunning geological formations! Thanks for filming out in that wind and sharing your knowledge.

@robbirobin9657 5 ай бұрын

Beautiful place. Amazing rocks formations, wow. The sea is awesome.

@nitawynn9538 7 ай бұрын

What an amazing place! It’s a landscape that belongs in myths.

@Rachel.4644 Жыл бұрын

Whoa! Magnificent! Can these forms be 'delicious?? LOL Interpretation of how this all formed seems crazy difficult. Dang! Gorgeous day and place. Thank you!

@wtglb Жыл бұрын

I’ve been there, it’s amazing!

@corrinneloudon525 2 ай бұрын

Wow, Shawn! What an amazing place! Thank you for sharing it.🙂

@johnwelbourn3811 Ай бұрын

I'm gobsmacked! That is an amazing location! Incredible video!

@hughaskew6550 8 ай бұрын

The two spire-like sea stacks look like a scene from a fantasy story.

@MountainFisher Жыл бұрын

Near Devil's Postpile Shawn, up the San Joaquin River Canyon near the river trail is a Basalt outcropping like DP, but it goes up and curves to the right, looked like it was being crushed. If I recall correctly there was more than one in the area, but I haven't been there since the 1980s.

@frinoffrobis 2 ай бұрын

oh man I love those columns

@naoakiooishi6823 Жыл бұрын

Scenery is almost an art

@jimbarker506 2 ай бұрын

Wow such spectacular scenery with the columns and sea stacks Shawn, hope you get back OK, it looks like the tide is coming in. Jim from Dartford UK.

@rainman7992 Жыл бұрын

when I saw those flat round stones, I immediately thought....skipping contest

@annafdd 7 ай бұрын

The wind will probably skip it back and smack you on the face with them!

@bjorgolfurhavarsson3984 2 ай бұрын

Those are some of the best skipping stones you ever would find, however, you would be hard pressed to find a day with our heavy surf, making any ambition of a new personal best in skipping mote.

@JanetClancey 3 ай бұрын

MAGNIFICENT!!! Thank you for a vicarious visit to black sand beach.. those columns!!! Wow!!!

@susiesue3141 24 күн бұрын

Great video footage! Thanks for sharing! 😊

@susierider55 Жыл бұрын

Great video. I was there in mid-May but the surf was killer ( about twice as high as the day you were there) and I (slow old lady) was hesitant to walk around the corner.

@ZebaKnight 7 ай бұрын

Make that "wise old lady". This beach has taken many lives. Not all of those lost were being foolish. "Sneaker waves" sweep people away. Shawn was watching the sea, but vigilance would not have saved him if a sneaker wave had come at a bad moment.

@annafdd 7 ай бұрын

I have been on that beach! It was indeed windy but oh so beautiful.

@sdmike1141 Жыл бұрын

Aside from the black sand and other basaltic features, very reminiscent of agate hunting on the beaches of our Pacific Northwest…where one needs to be very mindful of rogue waves crashing down on you!

@LizWCraftAdd1ct Ай бұрын

Love those basalts.

@ETRuT1 7 ай бұрын

Thanks, Shawn. That was really exciting.

@valoriel4464 Жыл бұрын

Great geo-adventure. Thx Prof. ✌🏻

@music100vid 7 ай бұрын

On a beach like that you have to pay attention to the tide schedule lest you be caught between the raging sea and the cliffs! Thanks for taking us on a video tour of these most interesting formations.

@jahl5130 3 ай бұрын

I was at this beautiful beach in May of 09. It still looks the same. Which makes me happy. The little town near this beach _Vik- is also a sweet place to stop. Thanks for showing this location.

@felicitymckellar1653 3 ай бұрын

Wow Shawn that was amazing !!! I have to go there myself.

@gordybishop2375 Жыл бұрын

When that first sea stack came into view my first though5 was the end of Planet of the Apes…lol Thanks for sharing your adventures

@patmayer7222 Жыл бұрын

Land o Lakes,wi.usa,,,,,,,,,here for class,,,,,,,,tnx,pat &family.

@curtnichols Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@shawnwillsey Жыл бұрын

Thank you.

@shellyboyette287 5 ай бұрын

Thank you! I enjoy your videos a lot.

@shawnwillsey 5 ай бұрын

Glad you like them!

@mixolydian2010 11 ай бұрын

amazing place,cheers,

@santa3756 Жыл бұрын

Great. Thanks!

@7inrain Жыл бұрын

Another nice video from you, thank you. One question concerning the diameters of the basalt columns: Are these similar to the grain size in plutonites, meaning that the bigger the diameter of the column is, the slower it cooled down?

@TheWadetube Жыл бұрын

That's awesome. I wish the collumnar rock would make square collumns which could be useful in building houses and cathedrals.

@PomegranateChocolate 11 ай бұрын

Hong Kong has some of these hexagonal column formations also.

@InSurrealtime 6 ай бұрын

I'm trying to catch up on all the older videos.

@pauldietz1325 Жыл бұрын

I feel like you should be wearing a hardhat there.

@lauram9478 Жыл бұрын

❤

@johndefalque5061 4 ай бұрын

Keremeos needles in BC, Canada are basaltic columns I've seen. Layer Cake Mountain near Kelowna is far more spectacular though.

@davidk7324 Жыл бұрын

Aspirationally hexogonal.

@johnmcclelndon7641 Жыл бұрын

I wonder if stone tools where made from the basalt

@Fryed_Bryce Жыл бұрын

About to go be homeless on that beach. So beautiful. Jeez

@martinjanoschek6867 Жыл бұрын

Is there an explanation as to why some columns are smaller or bigger than others?

@Barley150 6 ай бұрын

Are the geometric shapes of the columns related to the geometry of the crystals?

@pope1089 Жыл бұрын

Hi, I've a rock from Ireland that's attracted to magnets. I haven't a clue what it is. Probably ingenious of some sort. Ive No idea where to get it check in Ireland

@shawnwillsey Жыл бұрын

Try a geology professor at a nearby university.

@sharonm1224 Жыл бұрын

I am concerned that you didn't more forcefully remind viewers how often "sneaker waves" on that beach have taken lives at times when the sea seemed quite calm. Iceland hasn't figured out an effective way to warn visitors there. Pls add a strong warning on this vid and anywhere else your viewers might see it.

@bjorgolfurhavarsson3984 2 ай бұрын

There is a huge sign by the the parking lot now. Three large colour lights indicating sea state, with three clearly drawn (map on the sigh) lines in matching colours. Other than barbed wire and anti personnel mines, I really don´t know what more to do.