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What are the Ice Age Floods?

When geologists first saw the vast Columbia Basin in eastern Washington State, they recognized that glaciers and flowing water had played a large part in shaping the extraordinary landscape, with its canyons (coulees), buttes, dry cataracts, boulder fields, and gravel bars. It was taken for granted that what they saw was the cumulative effect of familiar processes, operating on a familiar scale.

However, a closer examination of the features in the Basin led one geologist, J Harlen Bretz, to propose that it could only have been a sudden cataclysmic flood, on a scale never before considered possible, that could account for the phenomenal size and distinctive characteristics of the landforms. This radical idea was not well received by fellow geologists, and a long-running scientific dispute followed. Ultimately his extensive field work, plus additional research by others, conclusively established that many extraordinarily huge and powerful Ice Age floods had shaped the region. Two National Natural Landmarks, Wallula Gap and the Drumheller Channels, are the direct result of the floods.

These floods are a remarkable part of our natural heritage. They have profoundly affected the geography and ways of life in the region, but have remained largely unknown to the general public. The legacy of the floods includes not only stark scabland and dramatic dry coulees and cataracts, but also exceptionally fertile, productive farmland, and significant wetlands and aquifers.

Among geologists, the most recent Ice Age Floods in the Pacific Northwest have been called the Missoula Floods, the Spokane Flood(s), Bretz Floods, and Ice Age Floods. By whatever name, their striking effects are undeniable, and available for all of us to see and explore.

more:
How was the geologic puzzle solved?
How did these floods happen?
Phenomena related to the Ice Age Floods

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