Geoclysm

I visited Battle Ground Lake today.

At first glance, it looks like a quiet forest lake. But this basin was created by underground steam explosions when volcanic magma came into contact with groundwater.

The crater is called a maar — a volcanic crater formed not by flowing lava, but by explosive pressure from steam.

It is part of the Boring Volcanic Field, a chain of more than 80 small volcanoes, vents, and lava flows around the Portland–Vancouver area.

Most people would probably walk past this place and just see water, trees, and silence. But geologically, it is the scar of a violent eruption.

One thing I would like to do more often is visit real locations connected to the disasters, eruptions, landslides, floods, and geological events we cover on Geoclysm — not as travel content, but as field notes: photos, short videos, and context from the actual place.

Would you be interested in seeing more posts like this from real disaster and geological sites?

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4 days ago | [YT] | 34

Geoclysm

For almost a year, GEOCLYSM has been created behind the scenes by two people: Anna and Vlady.
We research the disasters, review sources, write the episodes, direct the reconstructions, edit the videos, build the sound, and fact-check the final story before it reaches you.
Until now, we kept ourselves mostly behind the work because we wanted the events, the evidence, and the mechanics of each disaster to remain the focus.
GEOCLYSM has always used reconstructed visuals and synthetic narration as tools — and we have been transparent about that from the start.
But GEOCLYSM is entering a more open stage.
Starting with the next episodes, Anna will become the voice of GEOCLYSM, and you will see her in our episodes as we open up the channel.
GEOCLYSM will remain focused on historical disasters, documented evidence, physical mechanisms, and cinematic reconstruction. We are making the channel more transparent and more connected to the people who have been watching this work.
The next episode is already in production — and it begins this new chapter.


Update: after testing this direction and reading the feedback, we are adjusting the format. Anna will remain part of GEOCLYSM behind the scenes and in selected updates, but the main episodes will return to the familiar narration style that better fits the channel.

2 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 175

Geoclysm

Spent the last few days in the digital archives of the National Diet Library of Japan.
In 1896, a man named Yamana Soshin walked 435 miles of broken coastline in Iwate Prefecture. Mostly on foot, in straw sandals. He had no government commission and no funding. Forty-four days, one notebook, one measuring rod.
He mapped 168 villages by hand. Some of them in color. Many of those villages no longer exist on any map made after his.
Stretches of his survey are still held by the National Diet Library, and his original notebooks are in the Tono Municipal Library archives.
Working through what's available for the next video.

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 50

Geoclysm

When we released our first tornado reconstruction as a test format, the response from this community was incredible. So many of you asked us to dig deeper into historical weather disasters—so we listened.

Tomorrow at 7:45 AM Los Angeles time / 10:45 AM New York time, our new GEOCLYSM episode goes live: the 1974 Super Outbreak.

On April 3, 1974, an atmospheric collapse spawned 148 tornadoes across 13 states in just 18 hours. But the deadliest element wasn't just the wind—it was an analog warning system pushed past the point of failure.

In this episode, you’ll see how the disaster moved through radar blind spots, power grid failures, and agonizing 23-minute teletype delays. We break down the multiple suction vortices that leveled Xenia, Ohio, the 75 mph nighttime terror in Guin, Alabama, and the nightmare of Tanner being hit by two F5s in the exact same corridor just thirty minutes apart.

The hardest realization is not the sheer number of tornadoes. It is understanding that for many towns in the path, by the time the official alerts finally printed out, the weather network was just watching the past.

See you in the premiere!
https://youtu.be/PnXNys-5dPQ

3 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 91

Geoclysm

Today at 10:45 AM Los Angeles time / 1:45 PM New York time, our new GEOCLYSM episode goes live: the Laki eruption of 1783.

This is the volcano that opened a 17-mile fissure across Iceland — yet the lava itself directly killed no one.

In this episode, you’ll see how the real disaster moved through poisoned grass, collapsing livestock, famine, disease, and delayed relief. You’ll also see why one of Iceland’s most famous “miracle” stories was only the beginning of a much slower catastrophe.

The hardest question is not how the eruption began. It is why the worst dying started after the lava stopped

https://youtu.be/7OXuHuXkVZE?si=MHFNP...

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 59

Geoclysm

Which video would you want to see first next weekend?

ARkStorm / Great Flood (1862) — California’s Great Flood turned the Sacramento Valley into an inland sea. Towns went under, the state capital had to be moved for a time, and one storm cycle rewrote the map.

Vargas Mudslides (1999) — extreme rain triggered thousands of landslides, debris flows, and flash floods along Venezuela’s coast. Entire communities were hit by mud, rock, and water with almost no time to react.

Laki Fissure Eruption (1783) — a volcanic fissure in Iceland erupted for months, releasing toxic gas that spread a dry haze across Europe and helped trigger famine, crop failure, and one of the strangest volcanic disasters in recorded history.

Vote for the one you want first.

1 month ago | [YT] | 38

Geoclysm

The story of the PS General Slocum is one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history, yet it remains largely forgotten. A new video detailing the tragic events of that day is now live on Geoclysm! If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend checking it out.

To everyone who has already watched and supported the video—thank you! Your feedback and engagement are truly appreciated.

1 month ago | [YT] | 8

Geoclysm

Today. 5:15 PM PT.
A private fishing club bought a dam above a valley where 30,000 people lived. They removed the discharge pipes. Cut the crest to make room for a carriage road. Stretched fish screens across the spillway so their stocked bass wouldn't escape.
An engineer inspected the structure and warned them in writing: the dam will fail, and the valley will be devastated.
The club's president wrote back. His answer is on the record.
Nine years later, twenty million tons of water came down that valley. The flood picked up locomotives, ripped through a wire factory, and hit the city carrying half the valley inside it.
2,208 dead. No one spent a day in prison.
New video drops today at 5:15 PM Los Angeles time.

1 month ago | [YT] | 74

Geoclysm

In 1985, geologists handed officials a map showing exactly where the lahar would go.
Armero was colored green.

Dropping today at 5:15 PM PT · 8:15 PM ET · 1:15 AM GMT
GEOCLYSM releases the full story of Nevado del Ruiz — the disaster that had two hours of warning, a published hazard map, five sirens that were never built, and 23,000 people who were told to go back to bed.
The mud moved at 18 mph. Twice as dense as water. Closer to wet asphalt than a river.
The last voice from Armero over emergency radio said four words:
"Se nos vino el agua."

Then the signal cut out.
This one will stay with you.


🔔 Notification on. One hour.
#Geoclysm #Armero #NevadoDelRuiz #Lahar #Disaster #Documentary

2 months ago | [YT] | 78

Geoclysm

To everyone who showed up and cast a vote on which disaster to cover first — thank you. Seriously. Every poll response, every comment, every suggestion — it all shapes what this channel becomes. Geoclysm isn't just built by me. It's built by you.

The results are in. Unzen takes it.
That video drops this Wednesday.

But here's what's coming next.
Sunday, March 22nd. A story I've been wanting to tell for a long time.

Shaanxi, 1556.
830,000 dead. One earthquake. The single deadliest seismic event in recorded human history — and it's not even close. Entire mountains collapsed. Rivers changed course overnight. And the worst part? Hundreds of thousands of people were asleep inside yaodongs — cave dwellings carved directly into the loess cliffs. When the ground shook, the cliffs didn't just crack. They buried everyone inside.
No modern seismographs. No warning systems. No rescue teams. Just silence where cities used to be.
That one drops March 22nd. You don't want to miss it.
And after that? The runner-up from your vote — Armero, 1985. That story is coming too.

Stay tuned. Stay subscribed. This is only the beginning.
— Geoclysm 🌋

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 44