1 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:06,240 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:08,840 Speaker 1: there's Chuck and Dave's here again, which makes this a 3 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:13,200 Speaker 1: special edition of short Stuff. Don't you feel special, Chuck does. 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: It's short Stuff. Let's go. So this had a recent 5 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:20,279 Speaker 1: inspiration as well as the last one that we just 6 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:24,200 Speaker 1: recorded about washer women. This one was Emily and I 7 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 1: for her birthday. Every year we go to a new 8 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: place that we've never been for a weekend. Uh it's 9 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: some place it's not, you know, obviously super far because 10 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:33,920 Speaker 1: it's like a long weekend and we look at a 11 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: map and just say, like, this looks interesting. And this 12 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 1: year it was Santa Fe, New Mexico. Awesome, highly recommend 13 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:44,839 Speaker 1: Have here been there? I don't think so. I may 14 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 1: have driven through, but it's possible it was a different 15 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: part of New Mexico. I'm not sure. Great town. UH 16 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 1: didn't know it, but it's like one of the art 17 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 1: capitals of the world. Uh. There's a road called Canyon 18 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: Road where there's literally a hundred plus galleries and you 19 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:01,080 Speaker 1: just start at one end and start walking. Uh. Great 20 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: food to the best meals I've ever had in my life. 21 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: But on the drive from Albuquerque to Santa fe Emily 22 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: looked over at the expanse and said, what's that big 23 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: flat mountain over there? And there's like a few of them, 24 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: and I went, I don't know. And then I went, 25 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: wait a minute, and this is a kid from the 26 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: South and a and his wife from the Midwest. You know, 27 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: because it sounds like we're dummies that we didn't know 28 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:26,920 Speaker 1: what this was, But you know what I said, I 29 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:29,479 Speaker 1: think that's a mesa. I said, I think a mesa 30 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: is like a flat topped thing, and it is. And 31 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:35,560 Speaker 1: now we're gonna talk about it. Yeah, all those road 32 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 1: Runner cartoons paid off finally. Yea, yeah, definitely. So um 33 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,960 Speaker 1: the mesa is named after the table, and it's a 34 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: Spanish word for table. And the reason that it has 35 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: a Spanish name is because in the sixteenth century Spanish 36 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: explorers slash conqui stores slash colonialists I guess, came up 37 00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: from Mexico in search of Umu's city of gold called 38 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: the Seven Cities of Cibola, which I had never heard of, 39 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: but it's basically akin to El Dorado. And of course 40 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:09,919 Speaker 1: they didn't find it because those kind of lost cities 41 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: of gold don't actually exist, but they did see some 42 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: really amazing geological features that no European had ever seen. 43 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: And one of the things that they slapped a label 44 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: on was those amazing maces that you saw. And again 45 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: they called it table because it's a flat top and 46 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: sides that drop off very steeply. That's right. Uh, you 47 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: can't talk about maces though, without talking about their flatheaded partners. 48 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: The beaute and the plateau and the beginning of the 49 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: nineteenth century is where the word beaute came from. Of course, 50 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,680 Speaker 1: from the French. Uh. It is not a Spanish word 51 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: at all, but a beaute and a mesa. Depending on 52 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: how you talked to There may be a definition, like 53 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:57,000 Speaker 1: a literal definition of size, like comparative size. But I 54 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 1: think generally you would just say it's a asa if 55 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: it is wider than it is tall, and it's abute 56 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: if it's taller than it is wide. That seems sensible 57 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 1: because some of these other ones get a little wonky, 58 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: like one one definition of mesas it has to have 59 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: a surface area of less than four square miles, Like 60 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,600 Speaker 1: who can tell, Yeah, who's gonna get up their measure? 61 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: If you can look at that with a thumb, even 62 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:24,960 Speaker 1: and be like that's a mesa, that's abute, Yes, and 63 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: impress your friends who aren't from the Southwest. Yeah. I'm 64 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: just glad I got it right, because I would have 65 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 1: felt like a real dummy if I would have said Mason, 66 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: I was completely off. Yeah. So let's let's take a break, 67 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 1: an early break, and come back and talk about how 68 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: these things form. Okay, because it's pretty interesting if you 69 00:03:40,680 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: ask me. I agreed. Okay, Chuck, you have masa fever, 70 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:16,840 Speaker 1: so I think you should kick this off. Well, I mean, 71 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: both of us love uh land forms, we love geographical 72 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 1: science and earth science, and it doesn't get any better 73 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,040 Speaker 1: than maces and buttes and plateaus. My friend. Uh, these 74 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: are very very flat on top, and it is basically 75 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: due to the rock that is forming them. Uh, it's 76 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: sedimentary rock and it's accumulated. This isn't something that happens 77 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: in an instant. It happens over millions of years these 78 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: things are formed. But Uh, that top rock, it's called 79 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:49,919 Speaker 1: a cap rock, and it's it's flat on top because 80 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,720 Speaker 1: it is eroded down to that level. It didn't used 81 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: to look like that. It used to probably be more 82 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 1: pointy like a mountain or something, but it has warned 83 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: away over the years until it gets to that cap rock, 84 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: and then the cop rock says, no, I'm I'm not 85 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: going anywhere. I'm too hard to eroad. I may even 86 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 1: be hard and lava for all you know, but I'm 87 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: not going anywhere. I'm just gonna be flat, right. That's 88 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:16,920 Speaker 1: not the story for the sedimentary rocks, though. Sedimentary rock 89 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:20,720 Speaker 1: is laid in layers, made up of little particles of rock, 90 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:26,040 Speaker 1: and it's pretty hard. But the old saying live by 91 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: the particle, die by the particle has never been truer 92 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 1: when it comes to sedimentary rock, because it can be 93 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,479 Speaker 1: weathered back into particles depending on whether it's exposed to 94 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:39,039 Speaker 1: water or wind, that kind of thing. And when you 95 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: step back and look at a mesa, what you were 96 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: looking at is a piece of land that used to 97 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: be as tall as that keptn't That isn't now because 98 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 1: over millions of years, water has run down the sides 99 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:55,880 Speaker 1: and carved a bunch of it, including the surrounding landscape away. Yeah, 100 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: and it's it's more water. You did mention when win 101 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: has a bit of an effect, but not nearly as 102 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:04,159 Speaker 1: much as water. Uh, And you know it's just cool 103 00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:07,040 Speaker 1: like this, Uh, this great article points out that, and 104 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:08,600 Speaker 1: this is one of my favorite things. When you get 105 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 1: a new land form from the million year erosion of 106 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,040 Speaker 1: a different land form, like you end up getting something 107 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,919 Speaker 1: else entirely. And that's the case with Mace's beauties and 108 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:25,440 Speaker 1: plateaus um plateau. I don't fully get the difference between 109 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: a plateau and a mesa. Is it? Is it just 110 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:32,200 Speaker 1: that a plateau only has to have one side that's eroded. Yeah, 111 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:35,280 Speaker 1: it's like the difference between a peninsula and an island. 112 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:39,360 Speaker 1: But land on land. Okay, well that makes sense. Yeah. 113 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: And the cool thing is that the plateau is the 114 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: grandfather of mesa's and buttes, right, yeah, I mean the 115 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:50,720 Speaker 1: plateau came around first, right. So it's this piece of 116 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:55,159 Speaker 1: land that's pushed up, usually from um magma that wants 117 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 1: to break through the Earth's crust but can't find a 118 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:00,280 Speaker 1: weak enough spot. But it's so strong and there's so 119 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:03,719 Speaker 1: much pressure it actually pushes up a pretty good sized 120 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:06,680 Speaker 1: chunk of the earth at least on one side. Now 121 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 1: you have yourself a plateau. But there may have been 122 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:12,440 Speaker 1: a river on that um that part of the land. 123 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 1: A river might somehow spontaneously form in the rainy season. Um, 124 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: there's a lot of ways that water can end up 125 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:21,960 Speaker 1: on a plateau, and as it does, it wants off 126 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: that plateau. It wants back to sea level as fast 127 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:28,080 Speaker 1: as it can go. And as it moves, UM, it 128 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 1: takes a lot of that sedimentary rock, not the capstone, 129 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 1: but the sedimentary rock below it with it. Yeah, And 130 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:36,640 Speaker 1: here's the thing with rain out there. It's not like 131 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: rain here in the Deep South, where there's all this 132 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: rich soil that just soaks all up and it rains 133 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 1: for three days and uh somehow still never floods because 134 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 1: the land is just drinking it up. Those arid landscapes 135 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:51,360 Speaker 1: out there. The rain comes in very hard and very 136 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: fast and generally leaves pretty fast, and it's very intense, 137 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,680 Speaker 1: and the water isn't or the ground isn't soaking it 138 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 1: up like it is with this rich soil that we have. 139 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:06,560 Speaker 1: So I remember being out west seeing a storm coming 140 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:08,960 Speaker 1: from the distance because you can see forever out there, 141 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,320 Speaker 1: and me and my buddy Brett going, man, that looks ominous, 142 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 1: and it got closer and closer and closer until we 143 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:18,520 Speaker 1: were right in the middle of it and saw sideways rain, 144 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: saw telephone poles being it was almost a tornado literally 145 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:24,280 Speaker 1: being ripped up and falling across the road in front 146 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:26,720 Speaker 1: of us, and we stopped and got out. It was 147 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:29,640 Speaker 1: so scary, and we saw, I'll never forget it. We 148 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: saw water running uphill. Oh yeah, I've heard this story. 149 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:36,640 Speaker 1: I don't know how to explain it. But we saw 150 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:40,439 Speaker 1: a definite like stream of water going and it wasn't 151 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: like straight up hill or anything, but it was going 152 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:45,280 Speaker 1: up in incline and I guess that was just a 153 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:48,640 Speaker 1: testament to how much water there was, and it was 154 00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:52,120 Speaker 1: looking for a place to be right. It couldn't go downhill, 155 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:54,000 Speaker 1: so it was like, well, we'll just go up I guess, 156 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:56,079 Speaker 1: I mean eventually found a place to go downhill. I 157 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: assume we didn't follow it, and we should have. Yeah, 158 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:01,959 Speaker 1: you guys had your inner Bill Paxson and Helen Hunt. 159 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 1: They just didn't get fully engaged. I guess. But this water, 160 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:08,480 Speaker 1: you know, it carries with it a lot of loose sediment, 161 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: and the faster it's running, like it eventually becomes a 162 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: river and it's just carrying these like, you know, larger 163 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: and larger pieces of rock and sediment. That's where your money. 164 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:19,839 Speaker 1: Erosion is going to happen to the point where one 165 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:22,080 Speaker 1: day you may have, like, oh, I don't know, a 166 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: grand canyon. Yeah, so that's the river is going to 167 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:27,920 Speaker 1: carve out the canyon. So that comes from a plateau 168 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: where it can and then the canyon can be further 169 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:34,960 Speaker 1: divided into things like mesas and eventually beautes. And I think, Chuck, 170 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: I might be wrong, but I think abute is this 171 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:42,320 Speaker 1: is uh you um, a younger No, an older mesa. 172 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:47,080 Speaker 1: Wouldn't that be correct? Couldn't that be possible? I guess 173 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:51,559 Speaker 1: because they're tallerant, thinner. Yeah, so it's possible that it's 174 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: just lost more off the sides than the mesa that 175 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:58,400 Speaker 1: is nearby, because the Mason's say, hasn't it hasn't been 176 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:01,560 Speaker 1: eroded as long as the ute. But regardless, if you 177 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,079 Speaker 1: look at a mesa or a butte, it's it's got 178 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:07,080 Speaker 1: the flat top. It also has the steep sides, but 179 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:10,640 Speaker 1: then at the bottom it kind of slopes gracefully away 180 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:13,880 Speaker 1: in either direction away from it. And um, the reason 181 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 1: why is because that sedimentary rock that that flash flooding 182 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:22,640 Speaker 1: and flash upward flowing water takes with it kind of 183 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 1: deposits a lot of it at the bottom, at the 184 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:29,000 Speaker 1: base of the mesa. But that because it it's characteristic. Look, yeah, 185 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:30,920 Speaker 1: and you know the best thing about this show is 186 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 1: someone who knows a lot more about Earth sciences than 187 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: we do. Well, hopefully right in and confirm you and say, yeah, 188 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 1: you were right on it, Josh, Yeah, I'd love hearing that. 189 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:44,640 Speaker 1: Ori gently correct us, and we'll read that. I can't 190 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:48,560 Speaker 1: stand that. Now we're fine with those What else you got? 191 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: I don't really have anything else. You got anything else? No? 192 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:55,080 Speaker 1: I think that's it for Masa's ambutes for now. Who knows, 193 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:57,240 Speaker 1: Maybe we'll learn more about it someday and come back. 194 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:00,719 Speaker 1: Shout out Santa Fe. Go check it out. It's a 195 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 1: it's a great town. We missed the balloon festival, but 196 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:05,559 Speaker 1: go down Canyon Road look at art and then the 197 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:11,600 Speaker 1: big shout out to the restaurants, Geronimo and Sason. Literally 198 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 1: to the best meals I've ever had right there in 199 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:16,600 Speaker 1: that little sleepy town in New Mexico. That's awesome. And 200 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:20,040 Speaker 1: happy birthday to Emily too. Um And also I remember 201 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:21,720 Speaker 1: now I haven't been to New Mexico. I was just 202 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:26,719 Speaker 1: confused from watching Breaking Bad. That's right, Chuck laughed a 203 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:28,760 Speaker 1: joke of mine, So that means short, stuffs out,