WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Mesas: Flat

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and

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<v Speaker 1>there's Chuck and Dave's here again, which makes this a

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<v Speaker 1>special edition of short Stuff. Don't you feel special, Chuck does.

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<v Speaker 1>It's short Stuff. Let's go. So this had a recent

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<v Speaker 1>inspiration as well as the last one that we just

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<v Speaker 1>recorded about washer women. This one was Emily and I

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<v Speaker 1>for her birthday. Every year we go to a new

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<v Speaker 1>place that we've never been for a weekend. Uh it's

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<v Speaker 1>some place it's not, you know, obviously super far because

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<v Speaker 1>it's like a long weekend and we look at a

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<v Speaker 1>map and just say, like, this looks interesting. And this

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<v Speaker 1>year it was Santa Fe, New Mexico. Awesome, highly recommend

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<v Speaker 1>Have here been there? I don't think so. I may

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<v Speaker 1>have driven through, but it's possible it was a different

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<v Speaker 1>part of New Mexico. I'm not sure. Great town. UH

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<v Speaker 1>didn't know it, but it's like one of the art

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<v Speaker 1>capitals of the world. Uh. There's a road called Canyon

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<v Speaker 1>Road where there's literally a hundred plus galleries and you

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<v Speaker 1>just start at one end and start walking. Uh. Great

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<v Speaker 1>food to the best meals I've ever had in my life.

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<v Speaker 1>But on the drive from Albuquerque to Santa fe Emily

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<v Speaker 1>looked over at the expanse and said, what's that big

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<v Speaker 1>flat mountain over there? And there's like a few of them,

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<v Speaker 1>and I went, I don't know. And then I went,

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<v Speaker 1>wait a minute, and this is a kid from the

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<v Speaker 1>South and a and his wife from the Midwest. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>because it sounds like we're dummies that we didn't know

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<v Speaker 1>what this was, But you know what I said, I

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<v Speaker 1>think that's a mesa. I said, I think a mesa

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<v Speaker 1>is like a flat topped thing, and it is. And

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<v Speaker 1>now we're gonna talk about it. Yeah, all those road

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<v Speaker 1>Runner cartoons paid off finally. Yea, yeah, definitely. So um

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<v Speaker 1>the mesa is named after the table, and it's a

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<v Speaker 1>Spanish word for table. And the reason that it has

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<v Speaker 1>a Spanish name is because in the sixteenth century Spanish

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<v Speaker 1>explorers slash conqui stores slash colonialists I guess, came up

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<v Speaker 1>from Mexico in search of Umu's city of gold called

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<v Speaker 1>the Seven Cities of Cibola, which I had never heard of,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's basically akin to El Dorado. And of course

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<v Speaker 1>they didn't find it because those kind of lost cities

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<v Speaker 1>of gold don't actually exist, but they did see some

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<v Speaker 1>really amazing geological features that no European had ever seen.

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<v Speaker 1>And one of the things that they slapped a label

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<v Speaker 1>on was those amazing maces that you saw. And again

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<v Speaker 1>they called it table because it's a flat top and

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<v Speaker 1>sides that drop off very steeply. That's right. Uh, you

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<v Speaker 1>can't talk about maces though, without talking about their flatheaded partners.

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<v Speaker 1>The beaute and the plateau and the beginning of the

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<v Speaker 1>nineteenth century is where the word beaute came from. Of course,

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<v Speaker 1>from the French. Uh. It is not a Spanish word

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<v Speaker 1>at all, but a beaute and a mesa. Depending on

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<v Speaker 1>how you talked to There may be a definition, like

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<v Speaker 1>a literal definition of size, like comparative size. But I

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<v Speaker 1>think generally you would just say it's a asa if

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<v Speaker 1>it is wider than it is tall, and it's abute

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<v Speaker 1>if it's taller than it is wide. That seems sensible

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<v Speaker 1>because some of these other ones get a little wonky,

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<v Speaker 1>like one one definition of mesas it has to have

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<v Speaker 1>a surface area of less than four square miles, Like

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<v Speaker 1>who can tell, Yeah, who's gonna get up their measure?

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<v Speaker 1>If you can look at that with a thumb, even

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<v Speaker 1>and be like that's a mesa, that's abute, Yes, and

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<v Speaker 1>impress your friends who aren't from the Southwest. Yeah. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>just glad I got it right, because I would have

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<v Speaker 1>felt like a real dummy if I would have said Mason,

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<v Speaker 1>I was completely off. Yeah. So let's let's take a break,

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<v Speaker 1>an early break, and come back and talk about how

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<v Speaker 1>these things form. Okay, because it's pretty interesting if you

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<v Speaker 1>ask me. I agreed. Okay, Chuck, you have masa fever,

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<v Speaker 1>so I think you should kick this off. Well, I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>both of us love uh land forms, we love geographical

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<v Speaker 1>science and earth science, and it doesn't get any better

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<v Speaker 1>than maces and buttes and plateaus. My friend. Uh, these

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<v Speaker 1>are very very flat on top, and it is basically

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<v Speaker 1>due to the rock that is forming them. Uh, it's

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<v Speaker 1>sedimentary rock and it's accumulated. This isn't something that happens

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<v Speaker 1>in an instant. It happens over millions of years these

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<v Speaker 1>things are formed. But Uh, that top rock, it's called

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<v Speaker 1>a cap rock, and it's it's flat on top because

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<v Speaker 1>it is eroded down to that level. It didn't used

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<v Speaker 1>to look like that. It used to probably be more

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<v Speaker 1>pointy like a mountain or something, but it has warned

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<v Speaker 1>away over the years until it gets to that cap rock,

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<v Speaker 1>and then the cop rock says, no, I'm I'm not

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<v Speaker 1>going anywhere. I'm too hard to eroad. I may even

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<v Speaker 1>be hard and lava for all you know, but I'm

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<v Speaker 1>not going anywhere. I'm just gonna be flat, right. That's

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<v Speaker 1>not the story for the sedimentary rocks, though. Sedimentary rock

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<v Speaker 1>is laid in layers, made up of little particles of rock,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's pretty hard. But the old saying live by

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<v Speaker 1>the particle, die by the particle has never been truer

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<v Speaker 1>when it comes to sedimentary rock, because it can be

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<v Speaker 1>weathered back into particles depending on whether it's exposed to

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<v Speaker 1>water or wind, that kind of thing. And when you

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<v Speaker 1>step back and look at a mesa, what you were

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<v Speaker 1>looking at is a piece of land that used to

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<v Speaker 1>be as tall as that keptn't That isn't now because

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<v Speaker 1>over millions of years, water has run down the sides

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<v Speaker 1>and carved a bunch of it, including the surrounding landscape away. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's it's more water. You did mention when win

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<v Speaker 1>has a bit of an effect, but not nearly as

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<v Speaker 1>much as water. Uh, And you know it's just cool

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<v Speaker 1>like this, Uh, this great article points out that, and

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<v Speaker 1>this is one of my favorite things. When you get

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<v Speaker 1>a new land form from the million year erosion of

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<v Speaker 1>a different land form, like you end up getting something

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<v Speaker 1>else entirely. And that's the case with Mace's beauties and

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<v Speaker 1>plateaus um plateau. I don't fully get the difference between

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<v Speaker 1>a plateau and a mesa. Is it? Is it just

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<v Speaker 1>that a plateau only has to have one side that's eroded. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it's like the difference between a peninsula and an island.

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<v Speaker 1>But land on land. Okay, well that makes sense. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>And the cool thing is that the plateau is the

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<v Speaker 1>grandfather of mesa's and buttes, right, yeah, I mean the

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<v Speaker 1>plateau came around first, right. So it's this piece of

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<v Speaker 1>land that's pushed up, usually from um magma that wants

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<v Speaker 1>to break through the Earth's crust but can't find a

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<v Speaker 1>weak enough spot. But it's so strong and there's so

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<v Speaker 1>much pressure it actually pushes up a pretty good sized

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<v Speaker 1>chunk of the earth at least on one side. Now

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<v Speaker 1>you have yourself a plateau. But there may have been

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<v Speaker 1>a river on that um that part of the land.

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<v Speaker 1>A river might somehow spontaneously form in the rainy season. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a lot of ways that water can end up

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<v Speaker 1>on a plateau, and as it does, it wants off

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<v Speaker 1>that plateau. It wants back to sea level as fast

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<v Speaker 1>as it can go. And as it moves, UM, it

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<v Speaker 1>takes a lot of that sedimentary rock, not the capstone,

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<v Speaker 1>but the sedimentary rock below it with it. Yeah, And

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<v Speaker 1>here's the thing with rain out there. It's not like

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<v Speaker 1>rain here in the Deep South, where there's all this

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<v Speaker 1>rich soil that just soaks all up and it rains

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<v Speaker 1>for three days and uh somehow still never floods because

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<v Speaker 1>the land is just drinking it up. Those arid landscapes

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<v Speaker 1>out there. The rain comes in very hard and very

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<v Speaker 1>fast and generally leaves pretty fast, and it's very intense,

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<v Speaker 1>and the water isn't or the ground isn't soaking it

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<v Speaker 1>up like it is with this rich soil that we have.

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<v Speaker 1>So I remember being out west seeing a storm coming

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<v Speaker 1>from the distance because you can see forever out there,

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<v Speaker 1>and me and my buddy Brett going, man, that looks ominous,

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<v Speaker 1>and it got closer and closer and closer until we

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<v Speaker 1>were right in the middle of it and saw sideways rain,

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<v Speaker 1>saw telephone poles being it was almost a tornado literally

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<v Speaker 1>being ripped up and falling across the road in front

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<v Speaker 1>of us, and we stopped and got out. It was

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<v Speaker 1>so scary, and we saw, I'll never forget it. We

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<v Speaker 1>saw water running uphill. Oh yeah, I've heard this story.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know how to explain it. But we saw

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<v Speaker 1>a definite like stream of water going and it wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>like straight up hill or anything, but it was going

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<v Speaker 1>up in incline and I guess that was just a

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<v Speaker 1>testament to how much water there was, and it was

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<v Speaker 1>looking for a place to be right. It couldn't go downhill,

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<v Speaker 1>so it was like, well, we'll just go up I guess,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean eventually found a place to go downhill. I

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<v Speaker 1>assume we didn't follow it, and we should have. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you guys had your inner Bill Paxson and Helen Hunt.

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<v Speaker 1>They just didn't get fully engaged. I guess. But this water,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, it carries with it a lot of loose sediment,

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<v Speaker 1>and the faster it's running, like it eventually becomes a

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<v Speaker 1>river and it's just carrying these like, you know, larger

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<v Speaker 1>and larger pieces of rock and sediment. That's where your money.

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<v Speaker 1>Erosion is going to happen to the point where one

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<v Speaker 1>day you may have, like, oh, I don't know, a

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<v Speaker 1>grand canyon. Yeah, so that's the river is going to

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<v Speaker 1>carve out the canyon. So that comes from a plateau

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<v Speaker 1>where it can and then the canyon can be further

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<v Speaker 1>divided into things like mesas and eventually beautes. And I think, Chuck,

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<v Speaker 1>I might be wrong, but I think abute is this

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<v Speaker 1>is uh you um, a younger No, an older mesa.

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<v Speaker 1>Wouldn't that be correct? Couldn't that be possible? I guess

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<v Speaker 1>because they're tallerant, thinner. Yeah, so it's possible that it's

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<v Speaker 1>just lost more off the sides than the mesa that

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<v Speaker 1>is nearby, because the Mason's say, hasn't it hasn't been

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<v Speaker 1>eroded as long as the ute. But regardless, if you

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<v Speaker 1>look at a mesa or a butte, it's it's got

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<v Speaker 1>the flat top. It also has the steep sides, but

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<v Speaker 1>then at the bottom it kind of slopes gracefully away

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<v Speaker 1>in either direction away from it. And um, the reason

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<v Speaker 1>why is because that sedimentary rock that that flash flooding

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<v Speaker 1>and flash upward flowing water takes with it kind of

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<v Speaker 1>deposits a lot of it at the bottom, at the

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<v Speaker 1>base of the mesa. But that because it it's characteristic. Look, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and you know the best thing about this show is

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<v Speaker 1>someone who knows a lot more about Earth sciences than

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<v Speaker 1>we do. Well, hopefully right in and confirm you and say, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you were right on it, Josh, Yeah, I'd love hearing that.

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<v Speaker 1>Ori gently correct us, and we'll read that. I can't

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<v Speaker 1>stand that. Now we're fine with those What else you got?

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<v Speaker 1>I don't really have anything else. You got anything else? No?

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<v Speaker 1>I think that's it for Masa's ambutes for now. Who knows,

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe we'll learn more about it someday and come back.

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<v Speaker 1>Shout out Santa Fe. Go check it out. It's a

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<v Speaker 1>it's a great town. We missed the balloon festival, but

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<v Speaker 1>go down Canyon Road look at art and then the

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<v Speaker 1>big shout out to the restaurants, Geronimo and Sason. Literally

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<v Speaker 1>to the best meals I've ever had right there in

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<v Speaker 1>that little sleepy town in New Mexico. That's awesome. And

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<v Speaker 1>happy birthday to Emily too. Um And also I remember

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<v Speaker 1>now I haven't been to New Mexico. I was just

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<v Speaker 1>confused from watching Breaking Bad. That's right, Chuck laughed a

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<v Speaker 1>joke of mine, So that means short, stuffs out,