Juneau Glacial Outburst Floods – Missoula Floods Analog?
Around 3:30 in the morning on August 6, the first arrivals made their way into the emergency shelter officials had set up in a school gym in Juneau, Alaska. “We were getting people in that were covered in glacial silt and soaking wet in their pajamas,” says Robert Barr, Juneau’s deputy city manager. “It was folks who lived so far inland, so far away from the river, that they just weren’t expecting to get water.” Over the previous 24 hours, the Mendenhall River, which runs through Alaska’s capital city, had risen to a peak of about 16 feet above normal levels. The flood inundated houses and apartments blocks away from the riverbank, surprising residents who lived so far away from the river they didn’t expect flooding—even after a warning. For the second year in a row, the city experienced a record-breaking flood in early August. But these floods didn’t follow heavy rains or snow. Instead, they came as a lake held back by the nearby Mendenhall Glacier released more than 14 billion gallons of water in a matter of hours. This year, says Barr, “we were super lucky that we didn’t have any casualties or deaths as part of this.” Before 2011, the glacial lake contained in Suicide Basin near Juneau had never drained catastrophically. Located on the flank of the Mendenhall Glacier, the lake now drains multiple times every year, sending a pulse of floodwater rushing down the river into Juneau with little warning. These floods can destroy homes, apartment buildings and roads. They’re part of a global phenomenon of catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods. “They’re really dynamic systems we don’t know much about,” says Bri Rick, a glacial scientist at the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center who studies glacial lake outburst floods in coastal Alaska and published an inventory of past Alaskan floods in 2023. “There’s no hard and fast rule about how they’ll behave.” Glacial lake outburst floods are a reality for the estimated 15 million people living downstream from glaciers worldwide. They occur anywhere glaciers exist, like the Andes in South America, the Himalayas in Asia, the European Alps, Iceland and Alaska. Outburst floods, just one of many natural disasters influenced by climate change, have killed thousands of people and caused millions of dollars in damages. A warming climate and receding glaciers are making it increasingly uncertain how flooding from these glacial lake systems will behave in the future. These sudden releases occur when a dam holding back water adjacent to a glacier fails. These dams can be made either of the ice of the glacier itself or of rocky material deposited by a past glacial advance. In coastal Alaska, ice-dammed lakes are most common. They’re so potentially dangerous, Rick says, since the water melts a larger and larger channel in the glacial ice as it flows. Because of this, during an outburst flood the contents of the lake swell downstream rivers suddenly—sometimes without warning for those in the deluge’s path. They’re more surprising than normal flooding caused by heavy rain or snow, Rick says, as precipitation-caused flooding is slower because the rain “has to move through the entire basin, whereas an entire lake moves down the channel at once” during an outburst flood. Studies like Rick’s, which inventoried glacial lakes in Alaska to reveal potential flooding hazards, are key to helping those living in the potential path of a glacial flood understand the risks they face. However, Rick says that before her work, the most recent attempt at cataloging potential outburst floods in Alaska was done in 1971. Even this 50-year-old inventory was incomplete. It was biased toward events with human impacts, since modern technologies like satellite imagery that could detect floods in remote locations weren’t yet available to scientists. Rick is part of an effort by scientists around the world to create databases as an important tool in better understanding patterns of outburst floods. “These inventories are there to provide context,” says Simon Cook, a glaciologist at Scotland’s University of Dundee who has worked on similar databases for South American glacial lakes. But, until recently, inventories based on modern remote sensing techniques just didn’t exist, he says. With studies like his and Rick’s, though, that’s changing. In the recent Alaska inventory, Rick was able to identify 60 percent more outburst floods in Alaska over the 35 years between 1985 and 2020 than had previously been documented over a 100-year timeframe. “We do now have quite a powerful bank of data to try to get a feel, really, for how frequent these events have been and whether there’s any sort of pattern to that,” says Cook. To create the recent Alaskan catalog, Rick spent hours poring over satellite imagery to find glacial lakes that could send water rushing downstream. After identifying their location, Rick generated a time-lapse for each lake using Google Earth Engine, and then clicked through the images one-by-one looking for signs of a flood event. For each of the 121 lakes in her inventory, this took about 30 minutes. After spending so many hours looking at these images, Rick says, “I’d close my eyes and just see lakes draining.” In the Alaska study, Rick and her fellow researchers found that the number of outburst floods seems to be holding steady in Alaska since 1985, and the average flood size is decreasing. But this regional-scale pattern doesn’t mean individual downstream communities are necessarily safer. Like the recent onset of climate-caused damaging floods from Suicide Basin in Juneau, Rick cautions, “any individual lake can have very different trends or experiences.” The risk to human life and property at any given location downstream of a glacier is dependent on a multitude of physical and social factors unique to the locale, says Caroline Taylor, a glacial lake outburst floods researcher at Newcastle University in England. Researchers like Taylor calculate the risk to any given downstream location by considering the physical conditions of the lake and surrounding terrain, the infrastructure and people in the path of a potential flood, and how prepared a community is to predict and deal with an outburst. For example, an outburst flood
Exploring Another Montana Flood
One of Montana’s other floods has been tickling the curiosity of some of our members.. This grew into a desire to plan a trip over to the upper Missouri River to see the channels from the diversion damming and outburst of Glacial Lake Great Falls. Thus, a reconnaissance was planned for 4 people. As the word got out everyone wanted to go and we wound with 14 souls on a loosely planned ‘let’s go over and see what we can find’ trip. The map below portrays Lake Great Falls when the Keewatin lobe of the Laurentide Continental Ice pushed the Missouri River out of its banks, pushing it south to the ice margin until the ice sealed off on the Bears Paw Mountains, then rapidly snaked off a sub lobe that sealed off on the Highwood Mountains. The lake began to fill to about 600 feet deep over Great Falls. It burst catastrophically at least once, creating the mile wide 500-foot deep Shonkin Sag (AKA Big Sag). This history appears to be a little more complicated than that as we turned up places where the last flood cut previous flood gravels. MBMG Special Publication 122: Geology of Montana, vol. 1: Geologic History by IAFI member DR Larry Smith is an excellent read for the details. This is a flood channel in soft rock (Cretaceous shale and sands). The lakes along the flood channels are endorheic (allows no outflow to other, external bodies of water or groundwater) so equilibrate by evaporation and are salty like the sea. The presence of these is a major clue the swale or drainage they are in is a flood channel. This is a flood channel in Shonkinite, a peculiar, dark igneous rock that would be basalt if it were not greatly enriched in potassium. Importantly it forms the columnar jointing common in basalt making it subject to plucking and the formation of retreat cataracts and geometry like the Washinton scablands. Note the column size. These are 5 to 10 feet in diameter and weigh many tens of tons but still the high surface area makes them subject to plucking if you have enough water moving quickly. We extracted a piece of Shonkinite gravel with blebs of white felspathoid syenite (like feldspar but having a different structure and much lower silica content) exsolving from Shonkinite magma like oil from water in salad dressing We stayed at Fort Benton, the historic steamship terminus on the Missouri river. Much of this is on private land and the landowner graciously allowed access to our group after being forced to close it due to trash and bad behavior. Lynne Dickman was the persistent silver tongued devil that made this happen. In all this was a very interesting reconnaissance of one of the other Montana floods. Article by Jim Shelden, President, Glacial Lake Missoula Chapter of Ice Age Floods Institute
Discovery Park bluffs tell the story of Seattle’s glacial history
The cliffs at Discovery Park in Seattle offer a glimpse into the past, revealing layers of sediment left behind by advancing and retreating glaciers. This “layer cake” of rock tells the story of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet’s movement over the Seattle area during the most recent ice age. Before we dive into the specific layers, let’s rewind time. Over 100,000 years ago, Seattle’s climate was similar to today, with a river system flowing north. As the Earth’s climate cooled and became wetter, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet began to form in what is now southeast Alaska and British Columbia. Fast forward to around 19,000 years ago. The massive ice sheet reached the Canada-US border, pushing southward and splitting into two lobes. One lobe went southwest down the Strait of Juan de Fuca, while the other, the Puget Lobe, advanced south over the Puget Sound region. When this lobe reached Port Townsend, it blocked the existing river, forming a giant proglacial lake. By 18,000 years ago, the unstoppable ice sheet had overridden the lake and covered Seattle. Water was forced to find a new route south through the Chehalis River system. Around 16,900 years ago, the glacier reached its maximum extent, pushing all the way to Olympia and reaching thicknesses of up to 3,000 feet over Seattle. Now, let’s explore the layers of sediment visible at Discovery Park: Olympia Formation: This is the oldest layer, formed before the most recent glacial advance. It consists of sand, clay, and silt deposited by a river system in a non-glacial environment. Imagine a climate similar to Seattle’s present-day with streams, ponds, and backwaters. Lawton Formation: As the ice sheet approached Seattle, a lake formed at the edge of the glacier. This layer is made up of dark clay deposited on the bottom of that lake. The fine-grained materials suggest deep, calm water. Esperance Formation: As the ice got even closer, the particles deposited changed. This layer consists of sand, with some gravel lenses, deposited by glacial meltwater in a high-energy environment. Vashon Formation: This layer, not visible at this specific location but found nearby, is the glacial till left behind by the retreating ice sheet. It’s a mix of all sorts of materials – clay, silt, sand, pebbles, and boulders – deposited as the glacier melted. These layers at Discovery Park serve as a record of Seattle’s glacial past, offering a window into a time when massive ice sheets ruled the landscape. Click here to read a more detailed article written by Dale Lehman, President of the Puget Lobe Chapter, about this interesting glacial feature.
The Advance and Retreat of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet Revealed in the Bluffs at Discovery Park, Seattle
During his time teaching in Seattle, J Harlen Bretz noted the extensive array of glacial features present in the Puget Sound area. The Puget Lowland is an extensive glacial outwash plain of highly elongated drumlin topography adorned with kames, eskers, kettle lakes, glacial erratics, and other glacial features indicative of continental glaciation. The Seattle Basin is filled with a layer cake of distinctive sedimentary layers that reveal the advance and retreat of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet during the most recent (Wisconsin) glacial advance. South Beach at Discovery Park in Seattle offers visitors an easily accessible exposure of the stratigraphic layers which tell this story. Magnolia Bluff at Discovery Park ranks as one of the most interesting and important geologic sites in the central Puget Sound Lowland. In its near-vertical cliffs, there is a record of the advance and retreat of the last great Ice Age glacier to enter western Washington from the extensive ice fields that covered southwestern Canada. At no other place near Seattle are the geologic relationships of this record so clearly displayed and so accessible to study. The exposure of sediment at Discovery Park is unique in that several distinct layers can be seen in the bluffs during a short walk along the beach. To the inexperienced, the cliff appears to merely consist of a large pile of sand and clay; however, the different layers each tell a story of strongly contrasting environmental conditions over the past 25,000 years. Each of the major beds represents a depositional episode. Their depositional environments can be deciphered by close examination of the composition and texture of each layer of sediment. Sediments comparable to those exposed at Discovery Park are found across Puget Sound, along Hood Canal to the south, and near Tacoma. The large regional extent of these deposits indicates that conditions throughout the central and southern Puget Sound Lowland were similar throughout the time period represented by the deposition of these sediments. A half century of field investigations in the southern Puget Lowland (Armstrong et al., 1965; Crandell et al., 1958; Mullineaux et al., 1965; Noble & Wallace, 1966; Waldron et al., 1962) and in the northern Puget Lowland (Clague, 1981; Easterbrook, 1986, 1994; Troost & Booth, 2008) show that ice sheets have advanced south into the lowlands of western Washington. Evidence for the latest glacial advance can be seen by examining the layer cake of sediments exposed at Discovery Park as the Cordilleran Ice Sheet advanced and retreated over the Seattle area. This recent advance is called the Vashon Stade of the Fraser glaciation. Timeline Prior to 100,000 years ago, the climate in Seattle must have been similar to the climate today. Evidence shows that a river system drained north through the Puget trough. ~100,000 years ago, Earth’s climate began to cool and became more moist. The Cordilleran Ice Sheet began to form in SE Alaska and in British Columbia. ~19,000 years ago, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet advanced to the Canada/US border, sliding at a rate of 135 meters/year. The ice sheet split into two lobes as it passed Victoria B.C. The Juan de Fuca Lobe extended out the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Puget Lobe extended south over the Puget Sound region. When the ice reached Port Townsend, it blocked the north-flowing river that occupied the Puget Trough, forming a proglacial lake. ~18,000 years ago, ice overrode the lake and covered Seattle. Water was forced to drain to the south through the Chehalis river system. ~16,900 years ago, glacial maximum. The ice sheet extended to just south of Olympia, with ice thickness of ~3,000 feet over Seattle and 6,000 feet over Port Townsend. Sediments visible at Discovery Park Olympia Formation. This is the oldest formation on the exposed bluff wall. The Olympia Fm contains layers of sand, clay, and silt. These beds indicate a fluvial (river) non–glacial environment which existed in the Puget Sound region before the Vashon Stade glacial advance. The sand layers suggest stream deposition, the clay layers suggest ponding, and the silt layers suggest backwaters. There are shallow, broad ripple marks in some of the layers. Radiocarbon dates for wood in the layers at the base of the fm range from 22,000 to 20,000 years BP. A yellowish-gray silt layer 8 m above the bottom of the fm; this 2-m-thick layer contains wood fragments that are 18,000 years old. Pollen in the layers between the base of the Olympia Formation and the base of the overlying Lawton Formation are dominantly spruce and pine, representing a cooler climate than at present. These deposits reflect the climatic conditions in the area before the most recent arrival of ice in Puget Sound. Lawton Formation. The Lawton Fm includes relatively dark clays above the brownish-gray non-glacial sediments. The clays represent deposition in the bottom of a lake which formed in ice margin lakes. The Lawton has striking laminations, which look like varves. The lower portion, which is older, is very fine-grained, which suggests that it was deposited in deep, calm water. The upper part grades into coarser materials and contains ripple marks. The oldest beds of the Lawton Fm are approx, 18,000 years old. Esperance Formation. As the ice front of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet approached Seattle, the size of the deposited particles increased, grading from the clays of the Lawton Formation into the sand layer that we call the Esperance Fm. There are several different layers in this sand deposit, some of which are inclined. The sands are finer at the bottom and coarser on the top. The sands are well sorted, suggesting deposition from glacial meltwater, rather than by ice. The Esperance also contains lenses of gravel within the sand layers. Such lenticular bedding suggests a high energy environment of deposition. Geologically, layers or horizons in a deposit are referred to as “beds”. The orientation of the beds provides clues about the environment when these beds were deposited. The beds in the Esperance Fm show cross bedding. Cross bedding reveals flow direction. Vashon
Hike to Large Erratics in Gingko Petrified Forest State Park
In the approximate center of the state of Washington is the Gingko Petrified Forest State Park. And within the park is a trail, unnamed, which offers opportunities to view evidence of the terrific capabilities of the Ice Age Floods to transport huge boulders and leave huge deposits of rock material. The trail is off I-90 at exit 136 to the town of Vantage. After exiting the freeway travel north through Vantage for almost a quarter mile and turn right onto Recreation Dr. There is a sign to “Rocky Coulee Recreation Area.” It’s the old Highway 10 leading down to Lake Wanapum. This 0.3 mile section of road from the turn is bisecting the western margin of an eddy flood bar. The bar is about 0.75 mi in length and 0.25 mi in width. It extends down to the recreation area. At the end of this 0.3 mile section of road is the trailhead on your left. Parking is available here. A Discover Pass is required. The road continues another quarter mile to the Rocky Coulee Recreation Area at which restroom facilities are available. You could also park there. The trail starts along a slope above the Rocky Coulee. The bedrock here is all dark colored basalt. But deposited intermittently on the ground are light colored granitic rocks. Because they are not from this bedrock and are of a different composition than the basalt they are termed erratic. Where did they come from and how did they get here? That is the story of this hike. The last outburst floods from Glacial Lake Missoula are thought to have happened about 15,000 years ago. Huge chunks of ice, icebergs, broke away and carried whatever rocky material they had impounded during years of emplacement. The icebergs likely came from the Cordilleran Icesheet as it failed. This material was often granitic boulders and cobbles. Erratics here might have come from Rocky Mountain “Belt” bedrock or from glacial ice transporting Columbia-Okanogan valley bedrock and alluvium. When the flood waters made their way to this location, some 200 miles from their origin near Pend Oreille, they encountered some constrictions in the terrain which slowed their progress. The most significant constriction affecting this area was Wallula Gap, 70 miles south. It was less than 2 miles in width. That sounds like a wide gap but it was enough to prevent free flowing of these huge floods. Another, but less significant one, was Sentinel Gap, 10 miles to the south. Upon the waters slowing, eddies formed and the icebergs got caught up in those. The temporarily impounded water backed up onto these slopes. This resultant body of water has been named Glacial Lake Lewis. Inevitably some of the bergs became grounded on the slopes in the area. The highest erratic here is at 1,263 ft. The maximum water depth was about 800 ft. That’s about 700 ft above the existing water surface of Lake Wanapum reservoir. In the adjacent Schnebly Coulee erratics go up 3.5 miles. It’s estimated Lake Lewis existed and then drained within a few days, probably no more than a week. Upon the water finally receding through the gaps, with much less energy than upon arriving, the icebergs were left behind. Over time the bergs melted leaving behind their loads. These slopes are littered with hundreds of erratics. As you walk you can spot them along the trail. Most of them are small to moderate in size: less than 3ft². About a quarter of a mile into the hike the road starts taking a 90° right turn. As you round that turn you can see that Rocky Coulee below you takes a sharp turn to the south before again traversing to the east. It is quite possible the slope on which we are standing, a landslide, blocked the coulee and constricted that tributary’s water flow. As the water rose high enough to overcome the barrier it found a newer path to the south of its original course. We’ll see more evidence of the landslide up the trail. In another quarter mile, about half way to our destination there is a group of erratics on the right of the trail. There is more than one within a 3 foot radius so that makes it a cluster. But with fewer than 10 rocks in a 30 foot transect and the ground surface not greater than 3 feet higher than the surrounding terrain this is defined as a Low Density Erratic Cluster. This is a definition derived by a Central Washington University Masters student, Ryan Karlson in 2006. It incorporates a definition given by Bruce Bjornstad. At this same location you can look to the north and see a head scarp from a translational landslide. This whole hike is on a landslide. Looking to the east you can see hummocky terrain. So, there are 3 signs of landslide on this hike: head scarp, hummocky terrain, and the irregular tributary channel seen earlier. The soil here is very thin and nutrient poor: lithosol. It forms from weathered basalt, windblown loess, and volcanic ash. (You can still find ash from the 1980 Mt St. Helens eruption). It mainly supports a few species of sagebrush and bunchgrass along with seasonal wild flowers. Among the fauna found here are deer mice and ground squirrels. There are abundant Elk droppings you will see when leaving the trail to reach the destination erratic. I have seen a video of an Elk herd I would estimate was well over a hundred, perhaps two or three hundred running across nearby terrain. It was incredible! Traveling up the trail another quarter of a mile you can see the destination erratic off to the left on the trail. It will take about a quarter of a mile walk off the trail to get to it. This erratic is the single largest one in the park area at 85 ft². It’s 10 feet long and 8.5 feet high. It lies in a High Density Erratic Cluster, so
Unearthing the Secrets of Spokane Valley: A Recap of the IAFI June Jamboree
This year’s IAFI June Jamboree delved into the fascinating geological history of Spokane Valley, contrasting it with the iconic Grand Coulee and Dry Falls, explored during last year’s Jubilee. Challenging the Landscape: Unlike the open spaces of Dry Falls, Spokane Valley presented a unique challenge – showcasing evidence of Ice Age Floods within an urban environment. Our chapter tackled this brilliantly, organizing hikes and car caravans departing from convenient public parks and commercial areas. Evening Explorations: The program’s highlights included captivating lectures. Professor Emeritus Dean Kiefer shed light on J Harlen Bretz’s Spokane associates, while renowned naturalist Jack Nesbit brought the story of the first Columbian Mammoth discovered near Latah Creek in the 1800s to life. Celebrating Success: The Jamboree culminated in a relaxed gathering at Mirabeau Meadows. Registrants, leaders, and participants exchanged insights and experiences, with a resounding appreciation for the chapter’s efforts. Comparisons were drawn, highlighting how our Spokane Valley exploration continued the excellence of the Puget Lobe’s outing at Dry Falls last year. A Delicious Finale: The grand finale was a catered Longhorn Barbecue overflowing with delicious food. Everyone left satisfied, with many even taking home doggie bags to savor the flavors afterward. Check out more images from the event in this Google Photo Album. Meet the Masterminds: Linda & Mike McCollum: This dynamic professor emerita and a research geologist duo co-led tours and car caravans, sharing their latest research on the Spokane area’s Ice Age Floods, and shaping the Jamboree’s theme. Michael Hamilton: A gifted geologist, Michael led hikes and the bus trip, encouraging questions and offering honest answers. Don Chadbourne & Chris Sheeran: Don, the chapter treasurer, managed logistics with expertise, while Chris, our media and registration guru, ensured a smooth experience. Melanie Bell Gibbs: A past president and national board member, Melanie oversaw participant check-in and badge distribution. Dick Jensen: Dick handled bus transportation and provided crucial support throughout the Jamboree. Jim Fox: The chapter vice president secured speakers and offered his assistance wherever needed. We also owe a great deal to the participant volunteers who proved invaluable in assisting us in all our efforts. Through the combined efforts of many the IAFI June Jamboree was a resounding success, fostering exploration, education, and a deeper appreciation for the Spokane Valley’s unique geological heritage. Being present with so much information and conversation among such extensive expertise was to witness the scientific process in action. Meeting people from other chapters was particularly nice, putting faces with names we know. We all learned a lot.
There are 4 Pieces in Our “Big One” Puzzle
The ground beneath our feet could be more complex than we thought! The Cascadia subduction zone, a giant underwater fault line stretching from California to Vancouver Island, has the potential to unleash massive earthquakes along the Pacific Northwest. New research reveals this megafault isn’t one smooth piece, but rather several sections that could rupture independently. This means a future earthquake might impact different areas in very different ways. “For places like Seattle and Tacoma,” says study co-author Harold Tobin, a UW geophysicist, “it could be the difference between a scary jolt and a total disaster.” Unlike some subduction zones with frequent smaller quakes, Cascadia stays quiet, making it tough to study. But scientists recently gathered new seismic data along a 560-mile stretch of the fault. This data shows the incoming ocean floor isn’t just diving under our continent, it’s also subdivided into four main zones. One zone, stretching from southern Washington to Vancouver Island, is particularly interesting. Here, the plates meet at a shallow angle, creating a large area of contact. Bigger area of contact means bigger potential earthquake, according to the study’s lead author, Suzanne Carbotte. The last major Cascadia quake hit in 1700, a monster estimated at magnitude 8.7 to 9.2. We don’t know if that quake ruptured the entire fault or just one section. This new understanding of the fault’s structure will help scientists predict future hazards, including ground shaking in places like Seattle and Vancouver, as well as tsunami risks along the coast. The bottom line? This segmentation means scientists can make better predictions about how strong shaking might be in different areas during a future earthquake. Read more in this Live Science article. Or you might want to watch this PBS YouTube video about ‘The Big One’.
Explore Historical Ice Age Floods Field Research with Google Maps and Google Earth
Explore Historical Field Research with Google Maps Did J harlan Bretz (and Others) Do Field Work near You? Ice Age Floods Institute is now a repository for interactive Google Maps that show the travels and field locations/notes of J Harlan Bretz and other field researchers that led to, and continue to refine, Bretz’s of theories of massive floods having created the unique Ice Age Floods landscapes of the Pacific NW. These detailed Google MyMaps (geospatial database files), created by Glenn Cruickshank, are valuable contributions to the Ice Age Floods story in the PacNW. They enable users to locate individual field sites and associated field notes, and to intimately delve into the research, observations and speculations of adherents and detractors of the Ice Age Floods. These interactive maps can be used to zoom in and explore hundreds of Bretz’s and others field locations and notes throughout the area. Links below to a number of other similar maps can help you open a dizzying realm of opportunities to more deeply explore the elements and thoughts behind the discoveries and historic research into the Ice Age Floods. Use your scroll wheel to zoom the map, click a marker for detailed information about a field site. These maps are part of a Google Earth project created by Glenn Cruickshank, supported by Nick Zentner and by the Ice Age Floods Institute through the efforts of webmasters Lloyd DeKay and Chris Sheeran. Glenn Cruickshank has approved the hosting of his MyMaps and Google Earth KML/KMZ files on the IAFI.org website. Glenn is a member of the “IAF Historical Locations on Google Earth” Working Group. The Google Earth KML/KMZ data files and copies of Bretz’s field notes can also be downloaded free of charge and without restriction at NickZentner.com. More Maps Even More Maps J Harlan Bretz – His Personal Memories Glenn Cruickshank recently met with Dean Kiefer. who shared a copy of J Harlan Bretz’s 4-volume memoirs in scanned .pdf format. Glenn converted them to text that also made them searchable. They are a very interesting read, though a bit stream-of-Bretz-consciousness in some sections. Still historically interesting, and a good add to our repository. Click the links below and enjoy! J Harlan Bretz Memories – Part 1 – 1972J Harlan Bretz Memories – Part 2J Harlan Bretz Memories – Part 3J Harlan Bretz Memories – Part 4 – 1975 create a personal tour Map in google earth How to load the Google Earth Geospatial Database Files into Google Earth You can create your own personal Google Earth map to view and use to explore selected field sites from the KMZ files for various researchers. First, download the KMZ files (listed on the right) into your local computer. Or download files from Nick Zentner’s website where they are named “GOOGLE EARTH Bretz Field Sites (yyyy)”. There will be one (or two) field notes for each corresponding KMZ, named FIELD NOTES or FIELD BOOK. Glenn suggests also downloading the field notes as .PDF’s for easier reading. The most complete directions for downloading KML/KMZ files are on the Google Help website Older version of Google Earth on Android:1. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Earth app2. Tap Menu Projects3. At the top, tap Open …4. Tap the file you want to add.5. To return to the map and open the file, tap Back New version of Google Earth for Chrome:On chrome go to https://www.google.com/earth/1. Click Launch Earth in Chrome2. Click the Menu button on the left side navigation bar3. Click Settings. Scroll to the bottom of the settings and where it says Enable KML File Import turn it on then click save4. Click New Google Earth Pro on the desktop:1. Launch the Google Earth Pro application2. Select File Open3. GE will place each file in the “Temporary Places” area on the left hand side of the frame. Makesure to move them ABOVE the Temporary Folder into the My Places folder (click and drag) before you exit GE, or else you will have to reload them every time.4. Repeat the process for each Bretz KML file you want to load. Click Here to download a printable PDF of these instructions download KMZ files
National Park Service Volunteer Gigs
National Volunteer Week is an annual celebration established in the U.S. in 1974. The National Park Service marked the occasion by recognizing those who already choose to spend their time volunteering in parks and urging others to consider doing so. Join Volunteers-In-Parks (VIP) to support the National Park Service in its mission to preserve and protect our national parks. You can volunteer for a day or year-round; on your own or with friends and family; close to home or at a dream destination. Volunteer opportunities are available nationwide including in U.S. Territories. What Can Volunteers Do? The possibilities are as diverse as the national parks themselves. Here are some example volunteer activities: Lead or support education and public-facing programs Maintain or rebuild trails or historic buildings Conduct research or monitor wildlife to preserve our natural resources Help families make memories happen as a campground host Teach others about the park and swear in new Junior Rangers in the visitor center Support libraries, archives, and museums in parks to preserve our cultural resources Produce art while staying in a park as an Artist-In-Residence Educate train travelers on the natural and cultural heritage of a region through the Trails & Rails program You can check out some of the National Park Service’s volunteering opportunities here. Alternatively, if the prospect of making the country a greener and cleaner place sounds like an intriguing full-time gig for you, learn how you can apply to be one of the inaugural members of the newly formed American Climate Corps.
Scabland – The Movie, A Google Earth Odyssey
“Scabland” – the Movie, A Google Earth Odyssey “Scabland” is a media complement to CWU Professor Nick Zentner’s 2023-2024 A-Z YouTube geology series that re-treads the ice age floods and the work of Professor J Harlen Bretz and others. In this short animation, viewers virtually fly to a selection of locations visited by geologist Dr J Harlen Bretz, with quotes from his original field notes, geolocated in Google Earth and animated with Google Earth Studio. To see more of these locations, visit https://www.geology.cwu.edu/facstaff/nick/gBRETZ/ This video was done as an experiment/prototype by the authors, Glenn Cruickshank and Eric Larson, to showcase Google Earth, virtual special effects techniques, some of the spectacular landforms caused by the floods, the impacts of ice and water during the Last Glacial Maximum and the field locations of J Harlen Bretz. Eric Larson in Billings MT runs Shashin Studio, a VFX video production company (contact@shashin.studio). Google Earth Glenn is a retired photojournalist and consultant in Liberty Lake WA. Credits: Glenn Cruickshank Eric Larson Two Steps From Hell Made with Google Earth and Google Earth Studio. Thanks to The Families of J Harlen Bretz and Thomas Large, Nick Zentner, Glenn Cruickshank, Bruce Bjornstad, The Ice Age Floods Institute, and many others.