Outburst Floods GSA Penrose Conference Visits West Bar
The 2023 GSA Outburst Floods Penrose Conference made a field trip stop on Tuesday afternoon, June 6, at Ken Lacy’s (IAFI Wenatchee Valley Erratics Chapter member) home, for a spectacular overview of the West Bar Current Megaripples that can be seen well from that vantage point. The 75 conference attendees were all at the conference by invitation only. They were accompanied by organizers Jim O’Connor, Isaac Larsen, Joel Gobiner, Vic Baker, Richard Waitt, Jerome Lesemann. The purpose of the conference was to review the current outburst floods fieldwork being done, encompassing the range of science conducted both on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system. The timing of the conference coincided with the 100th anniversary of J Harlen Bretz’s first publication on the Channeled Scabland, and took place at Camp Delany, which occupies a spectacular flood-carved setting at the foot of Dry Falls in Grand Coulee, Washington. The conference was meant to review past and present work, as well as help chart the future science on outburst floods through presentations, discussions, and multiple field trips. Everyone who shared Ken’s hospitality were in particularly good humor, as considerable amounts of cookies, popsicles, and bottled water were consumed. There were many comments about how well the meeting was going and how lots of new insights were being discussed. These kind of comments suggest that the meeting was being extremely well received. Ken was also pleased to talk to Justin Radford, along with his USGS Research Geologist… nice to see them in attendance.
Sea levels from the Maximum of the Last Ice Age to the Present Day
The Wenatchee Valley Erratics’ next program will be on Tuesday, June 13 at 7:00 PM at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 127 South Mission St., Wenatchee. Erratics’ member Kirk Laird will talk about “Sea levels from the Maximum of the Last Ice Age to the Present Day.” His presentation will focus on information directly available from NOAA’s Tides and Currents Office, and from NOAA’s Office of Satellite Altimetry. The 400 foot change in sea level over the last 22,000 years is directly attributable to the melting of continental and montane glaciers. With degrees in both Geology and in Oceanography, Kirk has observed earth science issues his entire life. And for the last 25 years, he has paid very close attention to the status of the oceans, in particular. This is a hybrid meeting. You can attend in-person at the Museum. Or you can participate via a Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84520197937 Please sign in at 7:00 PM, June 13! The program is free and open to the public.
Erratic in the Bitterroot
An 8 ton erratic left behind by Glacial Lake Missoula in the Bitterroot Valley on the property of a local rancher was relocated to serve as the focal point of an outdoor kiosk exhibit at the Ravalli County Museum at the former County Courthouse, 205 Bedford Street in Hamilton. Unlike their counterparts at other location along the National Geologic Trail, erratics in this part of the Ice Age Floods did not come from Canada nor did they travel as far, but the action of the floodwaters and iceberg rafts is equally evident despite more shallow waters. There are similar erratics found elsewhere in Bitterroot, on the campus of the University of Montana, and at the Bison Range. The outdoor display tells the same story as other locations on the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail but also includes information on two other National Park Service trails that pass through this area – the Nez Perce and the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trails. The museum has other indoor exhibits of historical interest and about Glacial Lake Missoula.
Little Money Creek Gulch Fill
Mounds of soil, sand, gravel, and other coarse materials covered with light vegetation can be seen in the side gulches all along the Flathead River where tributaries drained into what was Glacial Lake Missoula. They were deposited by currents eddying into the slower water in these gulches and also by the drop in velocity of the streams carrying deposits from higher elevations on the far side of the river along the path of the escaping floodwaters. The flow of floodwaters through this narrow valley was estimated by J.T. Pardee at between 8 and 10 cubic miles per hours – more than the combined flow of all modern rivers in the world. Similar gulch fill can be seen in many locations along this beautiful stretch of the river, which today generally flows smoothly and looks completely flat. There are numerous pull-outs along MT 200 between Perma and Paradise; the view pictured here is at mile marker 91.
Puget Sound Area has a Glacial Story to Tell
Although the Seattle region was not impacted by the large floods from Glacial Lake Missoula, Glacial Lake Columbia, or other glacial lakes east of the Cascades, the Puget Sound region has its own glacial story to tell. It’s interesting that J Harlen Bretz, who first imagined that a massive flood produced the Floods features in the Columbia Plateau, also did his PhD on “Glaciation of the Puget Sound Region”. The Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet advanced and retreated over the Puget Lowland at least seven times during the Quaternary Ice Age. In the process, it left behind rocks, sediments, and other geologic clues that tell the intriguing story of ice, proglacial lakes, and flooding across the landscape near Seattle. Snoqualmie Falls, near North Bend, WA east of Seattle is a popular tourist destination. At the falls, the Snoqualmie River plunges 82m over a wall of volcanic rock. Few tourists, however, understand the role that the Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet played in the formation of the falls. Prior to glaciation, Snoqualmie Falls did not exist, instead, the river flowed in an incised channel east of the current falls. As the Puget lobe advanced into the Puget Lowland about 18,700 years ago, the glacier’s eastern margin blocked drainage from rivers flowing out of the Cascades, including the Snoqualmie River. A large glacial lake known as Glacial Lake Snoqualmie formed over North Bend and over the Snoqualmie Valley. Tokul Creek, one of the tributaries, formed a thick underwater delta in the lake as its sediments poured into Glacial Lake Snoqualmie. When the Puget Lobe retreated, Glacial Lake Snoqualmie drained to the west and the Snoqualmie river attempted to follow its original channel. However, the original course of the river was blocked by the delta deposits from Tokul Creek and the river was forced to flow over a narrow band of rocks from an eroded volcano further to the south. Snoqualmie Falls flows over this volcanic rock today, but since the last glacial maximum, cataract recession has rapidly eroded the rocks back to a 200m wide band of andesite and volcanic breccia. Behind the thin volcanics is a thick layer of soft alluvium. At the current rate of recession, the Snoqualmie River will erode through the volcanic rock in about 7,200 years. When that happens, the river will hit the alluvium and the falls will quickly devolve into a series of rapids. You might want to hurry to see the falls before they disappear! Other glacial lakes were formed at the southern margin of the Puget Lobe near modern day Seattle. As the Puget Lobe advanced south, it dammed rivers and streams that were flowing north. In places, the bluffs surrounding modern Puget Sound hold a record of the advancing glacier and the pro-glacial lakes backed up by the ice front. One good place to view these sediments is from the beach at Discovery Park in Seattle. A layer cake of sedimentary units records the pre-glacial river system, the advance of the ice, the damming of the proglacial lakes, and the retreat of the ice sheet to the north. At the base of the cliffs the Olympia Formation records the pre-glacial environment of north-flowing rivers and streams. The Lawton Clay layer indicates the formation of proglacial lakes. The Esperance sand represents a period of glacial retreat. The glacier that repeatedly covered the Puget Lowland left behind multiple geologic clues for us to interpret. The Puget Lobe of IAFI welcomes members from other chapters to join us as we explore the glacial history of the Puget Lowland.
McBones – Ice Age Floods Mammoth Dig
The Tri-Cities area, home to the Lake Lewis Chapter of IAFI, is inching its way into spring and it’s time to say goodbye to winter. And for some of us, it’s time to begin the 2023 dig season at Coyote Canyon, the resting place of a 17,500-year-old Columbian mammoth. Coyote Canyon is just a few miles southwest of Kennewick in the Horse Heaven Hills. Last month we cleaned up the winter erosion and set up the field equipment so work can begin in earnest in April. Several bones, yet to be identified, were partially exposed last fall and hopes are high for exposing and removing them this summer. This elephant relative was deposited on the west side of Coyote Canyon during one of the earlier Ice Age floods and is buried by possibly six layers of floods sediment. Numerous erratic rocks have been found among the bones. Just before the pandemic temporarily paused work at the site, a local high school girl was assigned the task of identifying rock types of a cluster of small erratics buried near the animal’s left shoulder blade. She then identified outcrops of the same types of rocks in northern Idaho, at or near the ice dam. Finally, she documented her work with a poster and presented it at the 2019 GSA conference in Portland, Oregon. With digging comes tourism. As usual, public tour lists have filled for spring and summer-fall tour reservations will open on June first. To sign up for a tour the public can visit our new website, www.mcbones.weebly.com. School and private group tours are also available. At the time of this writing, we have scheduled six public tours, 30 elementary class tours and 13 group tours, including one for vision impaired and one for non-English speakers. All of our presentations emphasize the importance of the Ice Age floods to the mammoth story at Coyote Canyon.
Grand Coulee – Geology of the Entire 50 miles
The 50-mile-long Grand Coulee should be on everyone’s bucket list for a “must see” feature. The immense power of the forces that created the Coulee are apparent to those who read the evidence recorded in its rocks and landforms. How did the Coulee form? Why did it form here? What do features like Steamboat Rock, Northrup Canyon, Dry Falls, and the Ephrata Fan tell us about the geological forces that created the Grand Coulee? This presentation will be made May 1, 2023 beginning at 7:00 pm, via Zoom _ https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82985244730 Dr Gene Kiver is professor Emeritus of Geology, Eastern Washington University. He studied alpine glaciation in the Rocky Mountains before moving to Washington State and discovering that J Harlen Bretz had correctly interpreted the bizarre landforms of the Channeled Scabland. Gene taught geology at Eastern Washington University for 34 years. He co-authored “On the Trail of Ice Age Floods” with Bruce Bjornstad that describes the flood history of the northern flood routes of the Missoula Floods. In addition, he authored/co-authored the book “Washington Rocks” and several other books. One item in particular is “Tour Guide Interstate 90 East Tour: Seattle to Spokane” (2007). A CD narration of the people and places as defined by the title. Of the 51 tracks, Dr. Kiver narrates 4 on the Geology of I-90. The Chapter webmaster has ordered it and will update this post after listening to the recording. I bring this up as many of our lectures are about or by people who explored or are exploring the geography of the Ice Age Floods. Look on Amazon under “Eugene Kiver” for this and other books.
Othello Sandhill Crane Festival -March 24-26, 2023
The Othello Sandhill Crane Festival announced the 2023 theme as “Silver Anniversary, Celebrating Our Annual Visitors.” The 25 th annual festival will be held March 24-26, 2023 in Othello Washington. We are excited to be celebrating our 25th year! The festival celebration of the spring migration of the Sandhill cranes offers a variety of events for the whole family to enjoy and learn. The festival will be in the same locations as last year. The lectures will be held at the Othello Nazarene Church, 835 S 10 th Ave, Othello, WA. The Church is next door to McFarland Middle School where we will have the children’s art projects, the vendors, the photo booth, the Rotary breakfast, and the art contest. We will be utilizing both facilities. Food trucks will be available for lunches. Online registration opens on February 6, 2023. Visit the Othello Sandhill Crane Festival website for more information on the events at Website: othellosandhillcranefestival.org. Follow us for updates on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Othello-Sandhill-Crane-Festival Cathy Nowak will be one of the featured speakers on Saturday, March 25, at 7:30pm. Cathy will be speaking about Sandhill Crane nests and how experience matters, with both words and photos. Dr. Kaeli Swift will be the other featured speaker on Friday, March 24, at 7:30 pm. This lecture will require masks. Swift will explore commonly asked questions about crows, how crows have co-evolved with people, and what crows and other corvids can teach us about the nature of intelligence. Saturday, March 25, the lectures will cover cranes, birds, Ice Age Floods, the Drumheller Channel, and much more. We are planning tours by bus, bike, boat, car and self-directed, crane viewing tours will be back. Some tours will be set up over two weekends. The Children Activities Committee will have fun activities for kids such as binoculars made of toilet paper rolls to use for “birding” in the gym by finding pictures of various birds, origami folded crane mobiles, mask making and many other activities. We will again have the free photo booth to take your picture with a digitized Sandhill crane in the background to take home as a memento.
IAFI Booth at WSTA-CSTA Conference in Wenatchee
Ken Lacy of the IAFI Wenatchee Chapter hosted an information booth at the 2022 Washington Science Teachers Association Conference on Oct. 14-15 in Wenatchee, WA. His was the first use of a new table-top display that we recently developed for conferences, meetings and conventions. Ken felt the display,with its impressive graphics, showing maps and images of Ice Age Floods features, attracted a lot of interest and attention and fostered great opportunities to further engage with the conference goers as they came in for a closer look. He felt there was a high level of interest in the Ice Age Floods topic and people were keen to learn more about the floods, which led to many good conversations. It also gave Ken and opportunity to talk to as many as 10 ESD Science Coordinators about our project to provide 4th Grade level education materials about the Ice Age Floods. Their response was uniformly that this idea would not be well received because there was no time available for additional non-formulary classes. One of these Science Coordinators suggested it might be possible to combine our Floods program with an existing program, such as Language Arts, by presenting Floods information and having the students “prove” the existence of the floods by listing facts that supported this hypothesis. In another discussion with a retired school administrator about the issue of available time for our 4th Grade Floods program, she cited two examples of havin had to turn down outside offers of valuable educational programs because there was just not enough class time available for those programs. However, when Science Coordinators and teachers were asked about the idea of having IAFI people either conduct classes themselves or help the teachers develop such a class, the response was quite positive. The different response to the idea of our 4th Grade Floods program and the proposal for individual classes is significant in terms of class-time and preparation required. A single class session can often be fit into the schedule, but a multi-class program may cut too deeply into the time needed for required cirricula. Still, there are several sections in the Washington State Fourth Grade Curriculum that can support the inclusion of our proposed Ice Age Floods program. It will therefore be necessary for IAFI to work with the ESD Science Coordinators in each school district to get their support for the inclusion of our project.
Puget Lobe Chapter Origins – A Brief History
The Puget Lobe Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute had its origins in Wenatchee in 2007 during the Institute’s annual field trip. While riding in the tour bus, long-time member Mark Sundquist informally suggested to some nearby Seattle area members the possibility of starting our own Seattle Chapter. The idea was met with an enthusiastic response. Some members had been making the long drive over to Wenatchee from Seattle to attend meetings. There was also a recognition the Seattle had a tremendous amount of ice age geology of its own to offer. Later during the field trip Mark mentioned the conversation to former Institute president Dale Middleton. Dale liked the idea and thought it was worth pursuing. During the fall of 2007 Dale and Mark had a series of meetings to lay the groundwork for establishing a Seattle chapter. Dale’s years of experience as Institute president, familiarity with Institute business, and attention to detail were invaluable. He also had an encyclopedic knowledge of the ice age floods, a love for geology, and great dedication to the work of the Institute. He had a list of greater Seattle area contacts from his work as Institute president and this list formed the genesis of the Seattle chapter’s mailing list. On December 3, 2007, a well-attended organizational meeting of the Seattle chapter was held at the Lynnwood library. Chapter officers were elected with Mark serving as president and Dale serving as vice-president. By-laws were adopted and the name Puget Lobe was selected. By a strange coincidence, during this time the Chehalis River, the ice age outlet for the Puget Lobe drainage, experienced record flooding. In January of 2008 the first regular meeting of the Puget Lobe Chapter was held at the Shoreline library. The meeting was again well-attended with Dale warmly greeting the arriving attendees many of whom he knew from his previous work on behalf of the Institute. Gene Kiver gave a program on the ice age floods. In July of 2008 the Puget Lobe’s first field trip took place. It included presentations on the recessional phases of the Puget Lobe and the Carbon River Glacial Outburst Flood, and tours of the Mima Mounds and Thurston County’s Glacial Heritage Preserve. In the fall of 2008 the Senior Center in Edmonds was procured as a regular meeting place for the chapter. With some members arriving from northern Puget Sound, some from southern Puget Sound, and some by ferry from across Puget Sound the central location adjacent to the ferry dock was convenient. Mark served several terms as president followed by several terms by Dale.