Ice Age Floods Institute

The Case for Rapid and Recent Flooding in Upper Grand Coulee
2024-10-07 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Bellevue College Building T Room 117, 3000 Landerholm Cir SE, Bellevue, WA, 98007, United States
On 07 Oct 2024 the Puget Lobe Chapter will have Dr. Karin Lehnigk, Postdoctoral Researcher at Georgia Tech, who has studied the Channel Scablands in Eastern Washington by performing cosmogenic nuclide exposure dating on Missoula flood transported-boulders to determine what path they took at different points in time. It will be a very informative lecture with new information. Think Mars and Himalayan Mountains.
Cosmogenic nuclide dating is a method used to estimate the age of rock exposure at the Earth’s surface. It relies on the interactions between cosmic rays and nuclides in glacially transported boulders or eroded bedrock. By measuring nuclide concentrations, scientists can determine the age of landforms ranging from a few hundred years to tens of millions of years. It looks like a crust or rind on surface of the sample when you cut or break a sample open. (Micrsosoft Bing)
Presentation will be at Bellevue Collage, Bldg R, Rm 11o or click on Zoom link: https://us02web.Zoom.us/j/82985244730

UNESCO International Geodiversity Day - Oct. 6th
2024-10-06 | WA
The International Geodiversity Day was established today by the 41st session of the UNESCO General Conference!! From now on, the 6th of October will be an annual worldwide celebration, raising awareness across society about the importance of non-living nature for the well-being and prosperity of all living beings on the planet!
The winner of the competition for the International Geodiversity Day logo, Silas Samuel dos Santos Costa, is a student at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (Natal, Brazil) and produced the attached logo that can be freely used in all initiatives related with the International Geodiversity Day. Congratulations Silas!
The success of this initiative was in no small part due to the breadth of international and national organizations that endorsed the proposal. In particular the support of both IUGS and the Permanent Delegation to UNESCO from Portugal played an essential role in submitted the proposal.
The website geodiversityday.org is the virtual focal point for all information regarding this International Day. New social media feeds were launched that you can use to stay updated with plans for International Geodiversity Day:
facebook.com/GeodiversityDay
twitter.com/GeodiversityDay

Cheney-Spokane Members Meeting and Public Lecture by Dr. Eugene Kiver
2024-10-05 14:00 - 17:00 | Doris Morrison Learning Center (DMLC), 1330 S Henry Road, Greenacres, Washington, 99016
This event is open to the public, but only IAFI Cheney-Spokane members can vote during the member meeting. It will be held at the beautiful new Doris Morrison Learning Center at 1330 S. Henry Road. Exit the freeway south on Barker Road, turn left at the roundabout at Sprague Road, then right at the three-way junction on Henry Road.

Member meeting: 2:00-3:00 PM
Dr. Kiver’s lecture will begin around 3 PM, after the member meeting. It is open to the public (see title and blurb below).

Note: At present, we have three openings on our chapter board. Our board meets the third Tuesday of each month from 3-5 PM at the Wren-Pierson Building in Cheney. Interested? Members with expertise in accounting or K-12 education or medical experience or any other expertise that would aid our chapter’s mission should send a very brief vita to Dr. Linda McCollum, President, IAFI Cheney-Spokane Chapter, lmccollum@ewu.edu

Dr. Eugene Kiver Lecture: GLACIERS AND MISSOULA FLOODS IN NORTHEASTERN WASHINGTON
Immense quantities of Glacial Lake Missoula floodwater roared through not only the Rathdrum/Spokane floodway but also through the rugged mountain topography of the Northern Rockies in northeastern Washington. Here floods ripped across non-basaltic glaciated rocks and through the Little Spokane River drainage into the Channeled Scabland south of the present course of the Spokane River. This alternate route is often overlooked.
The Pend Oreille River course north of Newport has been reversed and now flows north into Canada. Glacial suppression of the crust is the suspected culprit. Over a mile of ice buried the Pend Oreille River valley near Canada during the late Wisconsin ice advance allowing water to flow north and cut deep canyons along the river course.

Save the Date: 2024 Ritzville Flood Fest
2024-09-27 17:00 - 2024-09-28 19:00 | Best Western Bronco Inn, Ritzville,WA, 105 W. Galbreath Way, Ritzville, WA, 99169, United States
Join us for a weekend of lectures and sight seeing in Ritzville, Washington!
There is a small block of rooms set aside at an event rate through the Best Western Bronco Inn (509) 659-5000, ask for the Ice Age Floods Tour rate when you reserve your rooms.
$170* field trip fee– Registering as a non-Ice Age Floods Institute Member
$150* field trip fee– Registering as a Ice Age Floods Institute Member.
If joining now or renewing as an IAFI member, also include your IAFI Membership Application with your field trip registration, fees and liability release form. Please write one check to IAFIPF for registration and a separate check to IAFI for membership fee.
$145* field trip fee – Registering as a Palouse Falls Chapter Ice Age Floods Institute Member (thank you for your support!)
*FIELD TRIP FEE covers:
1) outstanding and knowledgeable field trip leaders,
2) a very detailed and well-illustrated Field Trip Guidebook,
3) delicious lunch, snacks, and drinks,
4) comfortable deluxe chartered bus with microphone system for lectures while in route, and
5) delicious Mexican banquet!
-Friday evening: Dinner is on-your-own-adventure. Check-in located in the lobby of the Bronco Inn between 7 and 8 p.m., as well as after the FREE pre-trip lecture at 8:00p by Lloyd Stoess on the topic “Following the Course of the Columbia River” in the Bronco Inn meeting room.
-Saturday: Check-in located in the lobby of the Bronco Inn between 7:15 and 7:45 a.m.
FIELD TRIP LEADERS: Lloyd Stoess, Palouse Falls Chapter President and Dr. Eugene Kiver, Professor Emeritus Eastern Washington University.
DESCRIPTION OF FIELD TRIP: This bus tour will revolve around Saddle Mountain with stops including Lind Coulee, Drumheller Channels, Corfu Landslide Complex, Corfu ghost town, Smyrna Bench, Vantage interbed exposure, Beverly Bar, Sentinel Gap, McCoy Canyon Landslide, Priest Rapids Bar, Saddle Mountain summit, Othello Channels, multiple exposures of the Ringold Formation, Collier Coulee, and the Staircase Rapids.
ITEMS TO BRING WITH YOU: Binoculars, camera, sunglasses, and clothing for variable weather conditions. Snacks, drinks, and lunch provided.
-Saturday evening: FREE post-trip lecture at by Gene Kiver on the topic “Bonneville Flood and the Snake River” in the Bronco Inn meeting room.
Cancellation refunds will be made only if field trip registrar, Jacqui Hair, receives notice no later than September 22 and
vacancies can be filled from a stand-by list.
Registration and liability form are both available for download at this link.

Mike Full, Dave Ellingson - "Paleontology Panel"
2024-09-26 18:30 - 19:30 | Tualatin Public Library, 18878 SW Martinazzi Avenue, Tualatin, Oregon, 97062, United States
“Paleontology Panel” – The Willamette Valley Pleistocene Project – The river & landlocked search for Ice Age Fossils
with Mike Full & Dave Ellingson, Moderator: Yvonne Saarinen Addington
Thursday, September 26, 2024, Presentation 6:30-7:30PM
Simultaneous/ZOOM presentation from the Tualatin Public Library, 18878 SW Martinazzi Avenue, Tualatin, OR 97062
Note: We must Depart Tualatin Public Library by 8PM Sharp!!!
If you cannot attend in person, join us online. Click here to join zoom meeting Meeting ID: 869 4651 3479 Passcode: [REDACTED]
The Willamette Valley, at the time of the Ice Age Floods 18K-15K years ago, was backwater many times for massive floodwaters raging through the Columbia River Gorge to the Pacific Ocean. It became known as Temporary Lake Allison for the Geologist who first studied the Willamette Valley as a lake.
The Willamette Valley Pleistocene Project explores the late Pleistocene and early Holocene of the Willamette Valley in Northwest Oregon. Comprised of local volunteers and resources, avocational paleontologists, land owners, and local government working alongside trained professionals and museum staff, the goal is to discover, study and preserve our prehistoric past. Mike, Dave and Yvonne are all members of this project. Every fossil is collected according to scientific standards, documented, stabilized and curated into a database open to the public. The entire collection is destined to stay within the public domain and will ultimately be donated to an appropriate educational institution.
Mike Full
David Ellingson
Mike Full is a retired Police Officer and native Oregonian with a life long fascination of fossils and prehistoric life. Each summer finds him searching rivers in the Willamette Valley for fossils. He is accompanied by friends, students. volunteers and researchers. His fossil collection includes mammoth, mastodon, giant ground sloth, bison, horse, elk, camel, deer, giant beaver & wolf.
David Ellingson, a biologist and paleontologist, teaches Paleontology at Woodburn High School. Here he has a dig going many years (25) for megafauna and fauna fossil bones which involves his students in summer months.
Yvonne Addington
Yvonne Addington is a native Oregonian. She has lived in Tualatin most of her life. In her public service career, she has worked for five Oregon Governors. She is Tualatin’s first City Manager and had a role in the formation of the City. She also served for years as Municipal Judge. Her main interest has been preserving the history of the area, particularly fossil bones and erratic rocks of the Ice Age Floods. She’s a member of the Tualatin/Willamette Ice Age Foundation. Yvonne is a Board Member of Willamette Falls Heritage Area Coalition representing LCC/ IAFI where she’s on the Lower Columbia Chapter Board of Directors.
Tualatin Mastodon
She rediscovered the bones of the Tualatin Mastodon at Portland State University, which she then gave to the City of Tualatin where they are now on display on the Library’s glass wall (see photo). The Mastodon bones were found and originally dug by PSU student John George near the creek South of Tualatin’s Fred Meyer store.

Ellensburg Chapter Field Trip - Teanaway Frm. in Swauk Watershed
2024-09-21 11:00 - 16:00 | WA
The Ellensburg Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI) will host a field trip that covers the western portion of the Swauk Watershed including Teanaway Ridge north of Ellensburg in the Wenatchee Range on Saturday 21 September. We will meet near the cabin on USFS road 9738 just off US 97 at 11:00am on the 21st. The trip will include stops at:

along Blue Creek to examine Teanaway Formation dikes;
the east side of Teanaway Ridge to explore recent landslides;
Red Top Mountain atop Teanaway Ridge to examine Teanaway Formation flows, forests, fire, landscape change, and the Red Top fire lookout.

The trip should conclude at about 4pm.
Ellensburg IAFI field trips are free and open to the public. There’s no need to pre-register—just show up! We typically car pool on these trips. We will drive USFS roads 9738 and 9702 from US 97. USFS road 9702 is potholed and rough in places but very passable for passenger cars (as of July 2024). Several of the stops will include short (<0.5 mile hikes) over sometimes steep and uneven terrain. Pets are OK if leashed and well-behaved.
If you have questions, feel free to contact Karl Lillquist at lillquis@cwu.edu. Click here for a pdf of the field trip guide. I will also provide a limited number of hard copies of the field guide at Stop 1. Lets hope for good weather and smoke-free skies for the trip! Hope you can join us!

Course Changes of Inland NW Rivers Due to the Ice Age Floods
2024-09-19 18:00 - 19:00 | Connell Library, 118 N. Columbia, Connell, Washington
Lloyd Stoess will present a free lecture with information showing how the Columbia, Palouse, and Yakima Rivers all had course changes during the last glacial period of the Ice Age. All three were changed by different forces. One was temporary and the other two were permanent. This lecture is in partnership with the Mid-Columbia Libraries Connell branch.

Dr. Vic Baker: Martian Megafloods: Investigating the Ice Age Floods Helped Understand Ancient Mars
2024-08-15 19:00 - 20:30 | Tualatin Heritage Center, 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR, 97062, United States
Lower Columbia Chapter hosts Dr. Victor R. Baker presenting: “Martian Megafloods: How Investigating the Ice Age Floods Helped Advance Geological Understanding of Ancient Mars”
Dr. Baker collecting samples
A few billion years ago the planet Mars was somewhat similar in its surface environmental conditions to the Ice Age Earth. At that time Mars had lakes, flowing rivers, glaciers, and even a kind of planetary ocean, the Ocean Borealis. This relatively recent understanding of Ancient Mars was partly achieved because of geological studies of the ice age floods that created the Channeled Scablands landscape of eastern Washington. This talk will focus on some of my personal experience with the relevant geological investigations and discoveries of the past 55 years.
This will be a simultaneous Live/ZOOM presentation Thursday, August 15, 7:00 PM PDT, from Tualatin Heritage Center, 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR 97062.
If you cannot attend the in-person meeting at THC, join us on-line: click here to join zoom meeting,
Meeting ID: 869 4651 3479 Passcode: [REDACTED]
For more information contact: LowerColumbia@iafi.org
Dr. Baker at the Channeled Scablands
Our speaker: Dr. Victor R. Baker is Regents Professor of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, Geosciences and Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona. Dr. Baker has authored or co-authored about 1200 scientific contributions, including 22 books and monographs, 450 research articles and chapters, 560 abstracts and short research reports. His research concerns paleoflood hydrology (a field of study he defined in the 1970’s and 1980’s); flood geomorphology; channels, valleys and geomorphic features on Mars and Venus; catastrophic Pleistocene megaflooding in the northwestern U.S. and central Asia; history/philosophy of Earth and planetary sciences; and the interface of environmental science with public policy.
Dr. Baker has received many honors in geology and geomorphology, and he has supervised more than 70 graduate students, including 31 for the P.hD. degree. His work on megafloods has been featured in multiple television documentaries, including the 2005 NOVA production “Mystery of the Megaflood” and the 2017 NOVA production “Volatile Earth” episode on “Killer Floods.”

Mapping the Glacial Legacy of the Pacific Northwest
2024-08-13 19:00 - 20:30 | Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 127 S. Mission, Wenatchee, WA, United States
The Wenatchee Valley Erratics Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute will meet Tuesday, August 13 at 7:00 PM, at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 127 S. Mission, Wenatchee. Or via Zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84520197937
Our speaker is Daniel Coe, graphics editor for the Washington Geological Survey in Olympia; and an editor for the North American Cartographic Information Society’s Atlas of Design. He will talk about “Mapping the Glacial Legacy of the Pacific Northwest.”
Glaciers have shaped much of the Pacific Northwest’s landscape over the past 15,000 years. The Cordilleran ice sheet, repeated ice age floods, and expansive alpine glaciation have left their distinctive fingerprints on the topography of our region. Geologists and cartographers have been mapping and interpreting glacial landforms since the late 19th century. In the past decade, the Washington Geological Survey has created new maps that build upon this rich cartographic history by fusing older datasets and techniques with modern insights and technology, such as lidar.
Using both historical and modern maps, this presentation will be a visual journey through the Pacific Northwest’s glacial past and present.
You can see Daniel’s work at dancoecarto.com
The program is free and open to the public.

Cascades24 - NSF Meeting on the Cascade Arc System
2024-08-05 - 2024-08-09 | Oregon State University Cascades Campus in Bend, 1500 SW Chandler Ave, Bend, OR, 97702, United States
Cascades24 is a National Science Foundation sponsored meeting focused on magmatic, volcanic, and tectonic processes in the Cascades. It will be a small meeting environment, Monday August 5th through Friday August 9th at Oregon State University Cascades Campus in Bend.
Cascades24 will be a multidisciplinary examination of critical aspects of magmatism in subduction zones from the perspective of the canonical Cascade Arc system, from the deep mantle to the surface, and will serve as a forum for synthesizing a broad range of geophysical, geochemical, volcanological, geological, cultural, and other observations relative to understanding the complex roles played by magmatic processes in subduction zone systems.
Cascades24 is an NSF sponsored meeting, no registration fees are required and lodging is provided on campus, but there are limited spots available, so you must register to attend. Limited travel support will be available to early career participants (use the registration form to apply for these funds).

When Yellowstone was in Oregon: A Talk by Bill Burgel
2024-07-30 17:30 - 18:30 | White Salmon Valley Community Library, 77 NE Wauna Ave, White Salmon, WA, 98672, United States
Bill Burgel, retired railroad geologist, will present a talk on “When Yellowstone was in Oregon”, on Tuesday evening, July 30, beginning at 5:30 at the White Salmon Valley Community Library.
Approximately 50 million years ago, an island the size of Iceland docked onto the west coast of North American. That island was formed similar to the formation of modern-day Iceland, which is being created by a relatively rare combination of mid-ocean ridge volcanism coinciding with a mantle plume.
After colliding with the continent in the area of present-day Oregon, this Iceland-like land mass, now known as Siletzia (southern half) and Yakutat (northern half now in Alaska), was scraped off the subducting oceanic crust and imbedded on the west coast of the continent.
As the North American continent continued moving westward the motion of now-attached Siletzia was reversed. But the motion of the mantle plume continued its relative motion in the eastward direction, creating volcanoes and calderas on the as the North American plate moved west over it.
Bill will explain the circuitous path the plume took through Oregon, creating the Crooked River Caldera (including Smith Rock State Park), then into SE Oregon creating the voluminous Columbia River Flood Basalts before exiting Oregon around 16-million-years ago to form the McDermitt Volcanic area in Nevada, the home of one of the world’s largest lithium deposits. Afterward, the plume’s relative path motion was directly through Idaho, forming the Snake River Plain, arriving at its current temporary location in Yellowstone.

This saga, though geologically complex, is a fascinating one that will help you make sense of the new research into the 50 million year-long journey of the Yellowstone Hot Spot!
Bill Burgel
About Bill Burgel – Bill retired in 2010 after a successful 40-year career working for several railroads in both the engineering and operating departments. His work for Union Pacific encompassed the design of the first computer-aided dispatching office in the nation. This office was located in Portland and Bill was the Regional Chief Dispatcher for several years before the office was moved to Omaha.
While working for the railroad, his interest and training in geology was often called upon to resolve landslide issues and rerouting studies, implement early earthquake warning strategies, and conduct numerous long railroad tunnel analyses. Bill has given numerous presentations on rail issues as well as earthquake preparedness and topics pertaining to regional geology to local audiences throughout the Pacific Northwest.
After retiring from the railroad in 1989, he assisted the Surface Transportation Board as their rail operations manager for two major mergers, once in Washington DC and the second time in Chicago. Bill has managed many rail studies for both Oregon and Washington DOTs as well as for TriMet and Sound Transit in Seattle.

2024 Dry Falls Flood Fest
2024-07-20 10:00 - 15:00 | Dry Falls Visitor Center, 35661 HWY 17 North, Coulee City, WA, United States
What is Floodfest?

Presenters and Booths will share their knowledge and their appreciation of Ice Age Floods Geology, the Channeled Scablands, Shrub Steppe Ecosystems, Wildlife, Anthropology, Archeology, History, and Photography.

2023 Flood Fest Group
Where: Dry Falls Visitor Center – Sun Lakes Dry Falls State Park, 35661 HWY 17 North, Coulee City, WA
When: Saturday July 20th 10 AM – 3 PM on the campus of Dry Falls Visitor Center.

Field Trip Hike: 8:30 AM – 10 AM
Where: Lake Lenore Caves Heritage Area: Sarah Overby, Washington State Parks Interpretive Specialist, and Kaley Wisher, Columbia Basin Conservation District Biologist, will lead an educational hike from the Lake Lenore Caves trailhead. The park is situated above Lake Lenore, and it offers stunning views of the valley. The caves themselves are shallow basalt formations created during the Great Missoula flood.
3D Ice Age Floods Map
Dry Falls Visitor Center – Inside Presentations:
10am – 11am
Interpretive Specialist, David McWalter, will present an overview of Washington’s Ice Age Floods, introduce the rugged terrain of eastern Washington that was shaped by floods of unimaginable power during the last ice age, and share how the scientific views of the landscape have changed over the last century.
11:30am – 12:30pm
Justin Radford, Program Manager, NPS, Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, will present an overview of this unique geologic trail starting in Montana, through Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
1pm – 2pm
Learn about the fragile yet resilient landscape of the Shrub Steppe and its role in our lives with Interpretive Specialist, Sarah Overby. This short presentation will get you familiar with the Shrub Steppe ecosystem and the complex and beautiful parts that make it into a whole.
2:30pm – 3:30pm
Viewing of Bruce Bjornstad’ s – Ice Age Floodscapes
 Bretz’ Great Cataract Group
 Primordial Potholes Coulee
 Grand Coulee – NW Exposures
 Dry Falls
 Deep Lake Potholes
Floods Fest Sandbox
Outdoor Booths:
10 AM – 3 PM on the campus of Dry Falls Visitor Center
Including representatives of Federal, State, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Nonprofits, Historians, Authors, & Volunteers
 Ice Age Floods Institute: Lower Grand Coulee Chapter and other Ice Age Flood Institute chapters from Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Washington.
 Lucy Luevano: An enrolled member and Historian of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. Lucy will have historic photographs telling the story and the history of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. She will also share the legends of the beautiful landscape of the Dry Falls area and surrounding landscape.
 Dr. Karen Capuder: Anthropologist and Senior Archaeologist Colville Tribes, will share some of the cultural and political history of the Colville Tribes, from time immemorial to the present day.
 Grant County Historians/authors: Dan Bolyard & John M. Kemble – Dan Bolyard has been a lifelong Grant County Big Bend area resident and railroad historian. John M. Kemble is a local historian and explorer highlighting Dry Falls, Sun Lakes, Steamboat Rock, The Grand Coulee, and Banks Lake.
 North Central Regional Library –April Harward, learn about the NCW Summer Library programs – captivating storytelling to engaging workshops and fun activities, everyone can unleash their unique voice and explore their passions.
 National Park Service – Interpretive Rangers with a Mobile Interpretive Center showcasing the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail, the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, and The Grand Coulee: a National Natural Landmark.
 Foster Creek & Columbia Basin Conservation Districts – programs on Shrub Steppe ecology, water resources, wildlife, and native vegetation.
 Washington Department of Wildlife – wildlife found in Eastern Washington as well as the enhancement and preservation work that is done in the Columbia Basin.
 Archeologists – Mark Amara, Kim Lancaster, and Kellie Green; representing the Cascadia Conservation District, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Their booth will highlight the importance of historical artifacts, tools of the trade, and hands-on activity too.
 Bureau of Reclamation – Ben White and Brandon Heintz Reclamation Guides – will have an overview of the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project, and the Grand Coulee Dam.
Join us Saturday, July 20, 2024, for Ice Age Floodfest 2024

Dust in the Cockpit: Volcanic Ash Aviation Hazards
2024-07-18 19:00 - 20:30 | Tualatin Heritage Center, 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR, 97062, United States
Dust in the Cockpit: Volcanic Ash Aviation Hazards – The 50-Year Effort to Mitigate Them

The 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption was a watershed moment in our understanding of volcanic eruptions and their hazards. Among the lesser-known events during that summer was the first documented case of in-flight engine damage from volcanic ash on May 25,1980. Two years later, a 747 nearly crashed in Indonesia when it flew into an ash cloud from Galunggung Volcano and lost power to all four engines.
A similar event in December, 1989 at Redoubt Volcano, Alaska finally convinced meteorologists, air traffic regulators, and volcanologists that we need a global infrastructure to detect volcanic ash clouds and communicate their trajectory to aviators. By around 2010 the infrastructure was in place. But it was shaken up again when the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull sent an ash cloud to Europe, shutting down the world’s heaviest airspace, costing $5 billion dollars in economic loss.
This talk summarizes the ups and downs of these crises, and describes our efforts to mitigate the hazard through better technology and communication.
Larry G Mastin, Ph.D
Simultaneous Live/ZOOM presentation from Tualatin Heritage Center. If you cannot attend the in-person meeting at THC, join us on-line. Thurs. July 18, 7:00 PM PDT
click here to join zoom meeting
Meeting ID: 869 4651 3479 Passcode: [REDACTED]
Biography: Larry Mastin, PhD. is indeed a qualified authority on the topic being presented to us, having devoted his entire career to it. He is employed by USGS Volcanic Laboratory in Vancouver, WA.
His education is BS University of California at Davis cum laude in Geology. He received his Masters and Ph.D from Stanford University in Engineering Geology and Geomechanics respectively

Exploration of Geomorphic Features in Lake Chelan with an Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV)
2024-06-11 19:00 - 20:30 | Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 127 S. Mission, Wenatchee, WA, United States
The Wenatchee Valley Erratics Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute will meet Tuesday, June 11 at 7:00 PM, at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 127 S. Mission, Wenatchee. Or via Zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84520197937
Our speaker will be Philip Long of the Lake Chelan Research Institute (LCRI). Phil will talk about “Exploration of Geomorphic Features in Lake Chelan with an Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV)”
Swath bathymetry, chirp sub-bottom reflection profiles, and sediment cores…. These were techniques recently used by the U.S. Geological Survey (June 2023) to collect data from Lake Chelan, WA, The resulting information has provided insights into late- and post-glacial history of Lake Chelan. In addition, LCRI’s ROV dives have distinguished bedrock from till on lake bottom sediment profiles, and have directly observed landslide scarps, debris aprons, and other geomorphic features of interest to many of us here. Some of the features on the bottom of Lake Chelan resemble surface glacial features we are familiar with on the Waterville Plateau! Moraines, kames, drumlins, kettles, underwater landslides….
Find out what’s going on at the bottom Lake Chelan!

The program is free and open to the public.
Contact information:
Ken Lacy
1geospiracle2@gmail.com
(509) 787-9755
Susan Freiberg
Wenatchee Valley Erratics Publicity
wenvalerratics@yahoo.com

June Jamboree in Spokane, WA
2024-06-06 - 2024-06-08 | CenterPlace Regional Event Center, 2426 N Discovery Pl, Spokane Valley, WA, 99216, United States
The Cheney-Spokane Chapter invites you to the IAFI June Jamboree in beautiful Spokane, Washington! We will kick things off on June 6 (Thursday afternoon) with a short hike at Mirabeau Meadows Park from 4-5 PM with a lecture later in the evening. More short hikes are planned for Friday morning and early afternoon, an IAFI Board meeting at 5:30 PM, and an evening lecture by naturalist and writer Jack Nisbet. On Saturday there will be optional field trips by bus and caravan. In the evening there will be a barbeque for IAFI Members and a lecture presentation from 7-9 PM.
Mark this your calendar and plan to come! For more details, see the Jamboree event page.

Columbia Gorge Geology Field Trip, June 1
2024-06-01 08:30 - 15:30 | Original Wasco Co. Courthouse Museum, 410 W 2nd Pl., The Dalles, Oregon, 97058, United States
Lloyd DeKay, president of the Columbia River Gorge Chapter of IAFI, has volunteered to lead a day-long presentation and field trip 0n June 1, 2024, to explore the geology of the central-east portion of the Columbia River Gorge for participants from the Original Wasco County Courthouse Museum.
The day will begin at 8:30 AM with a slide presentation about the origins and geohistory of the Gorge. Then participants will board a bus for a 40+ mile roundtrip to see and discuss a number of uniquely interesting places and geologic features found in the Gorge between The Dalles and Hood River.
Basalt Pillows
We’ll see and discuss lahar deposits, kolk ponds, tree casts, differences between pillow basalts and Maar deposits, Ice Age Floods features, indigenous petroglyphs and even a brief trip through Africa USA.
Maar Deposits
This field trip is donated in support of the Original Wasco County Courthouse Museum, so if you wish to participate please contact the organizer, Karl Vercouteren, kjverc@gmail.com, 541 980-6558 for more details. Lunch will be no-host at a local restaurant along the way.

Dr. Jerome Lesemann Presents "Subglacial/proglacial mega floods from the Cordilleran Ice Sheet on the Channeled Scablands"
2024-05-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Bellevue College Building T Room 117, 3000 Landerholm Cir SE, Bellevue, WA, 98007, United States
From Wikipedia
Glacial Lake Missoula is most commonly invoked as the sole source of water to form the Channeled Scabland. However, early work by Bretz (and others) suggested more direct contributions of meltwater from the Cordilleran Ice Sheet to explain formation of some Scabland flood tracts. In some cases, these contributions may have been subglacially routed.
This presentation will examine new research on Moses Coulee – one of the more enigmatic Scabland coulees – that suggests subglacial meltwater flows best explain the erosional patterns of the coulee and its perplexing lack of connectivity to other Scabland flood routes. Further, the presentation will examine new evidence for proglacial (Mega) floods during deglaciation of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet that may also contribute to formation of flood features such as giant bars along the Columbia River Valley. The presentation highlights the need for greater integration of Cordilleran Ice Sheet hydrology in the interpretive framework of the Channeled Scabland. As a workup to this presentation please familiarize yourself with the IAFI News article, “Moses Coulee: Unveiling the Mystery of a Colossal Ice Age Scar“, that gives an overview on this subject.

Dr. Jerome Lesemann obtained his PhD from Simon Fraser University. He currently teaches in the Earth Science Department at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, BC. His research interests are in Quaternary geology and sedimentology with a focus on glacier processes and ice sheet hydrology. He has had an interest in the Channeled Scabland for over two decades, with a particular focus on the dynamics of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet along the northern reaches of the Channeled Scabland.
Date: 20 May 2024 at 7:00pm
Location: Bellevue College, Bldg. R, Rm. 103
or click on Zoom link: https://us02web.Zoom.us/j/82985244730

Ellensburg Field Trip - Wildhorse Wind/Solar to Vantage - May 18
2024-05-18 11:00 - 17:00 | Wildhorse Wind and Solar Facility and Renewable Energy Center, 25901 Vantage Hwy 98926, Ellensburg, WA, 98926, United States
The Ellensburg Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute will host a field trip that covers the Vantage Highway corridor between the Wild Horse Wind & Solar Facility & Renewable Energy Center (east of Ellensburg) and Vantage on Saturday 18 May 2024. We will meet at Wildhorse Wind and Solar Facility and Renewable Energy Center parking lot at 11:00am on the 18th. The trip will include stops at:

Ginkgo Petrified Forest

Renewable Energy Center for a big picture view of geology and physical geography of the area;
Pumphouse Road to see impacts of past and current erosion (including that from the 2022 Vantage Highway Fire);
Ginkgo State Park Trees of Stone Interpretive Trail for the upper limit of Ice Age flooding in the area; and
Ginkgo State Park Interpretive Center for discussion on the petrified forest plus impacts of Ice Age flooding along the present-day Columbia River channel.

Given that we will be field tripping on the 44th anniversary of the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens, that story will also be woven into several field trip stops. And if the weather stays somewhat cool and wet into May, we should see plenty of wildflowers in the shrub steppe.
The weather prediction for Vantage on Saturday is sunny with a high of 75°F. We will have several short (<0.75 mile) hikes over uneven ground on this trip. Make sure to wear sturdy hiking shoes or boots, dress for the weather, wear a shade hat, slather on sun screen, and bring plenty of drinks. You might want to bring hiking sticks if uneven ground poses problems for you. I will wear long pants as we will be walking through weedy areas (esp. cheat grass) at Stop 2 and Stop 3.
As on past Ellensburg IAFI trips, this is an automobile trip. No need to sign up—just show up! You will need a Discover Pass to park at three of the sites. I will bring a limited number of hardcopy field guides. You can also download or print out the field guide at https://www.cwu.edu/academics/geography/directory/_documents/east-of-ellensburg-field-trip.pdf.
If you have questions, feel free to contact Karl Lillquist at lillquis@cwu.edu. Hope you can join us!

Ellensburg Vantage Highway Corridor Field Trip
2024-05-18 11:00 - 17:00 | Wildhorse Wind and Solar Facility and Renewable Energy Center, 25901 Vantage Hwy 98926, Ellensburg, WA, 98926, United States
The Ellensburg Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute will host a field trip that covers the Vantage Highway corridor between Ellensburg and Vantage on Saturday 18 May 2024.
We will meet at Wildhorse Wind and Solar Facility and Renewable Energy Center parking lot at 11:00am on the 18th.
The trip will include stops at:
1) Renewable Energy Center for a big picture view of geology and physical geography of the area;
2) Pumphouse Road to see impacts of past and current erosion (including that from the 2022 Vantage Highway Fire);
3) Ginkgo State Park Trees of Stone Interpretive Trail for ancient Ginkgo trees and the upper limit of Ice Age flooding in the area; and
4) Ginkgo State Park Interpretive Center for a more complete view of the petrified forest plus impacts of Ice Age flooding along the present-day Columbia River channel.
Given that we will be field tripping on the 44th anniversary of the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens, that story will also be woven into several field trip stops. And if the weather stays somewhat cool and wet into May, we should see plenty of wildflowers in the shrub steppe.
We will have several short (<0.5 mile) hikes on this trip. Make sure to wear sturdy hiking shoes or boots, dress for the weather, and bring plenty of drinks.
As on past Ellensburg IAFI trips, this is an automobile trip. We will provide a hardcopy field guide for the trip at Stop 1. I will also send out a pdf of the field guide several days before the trip. If you have questions, feel free to contact Karl Lillquist at lillquis@cwu.edu.
Hope you can join us!

David Ellingson - "Fossil Dig in Woodburn, OR"
2024-05-16 19:00 - 20:30 | Tualatin Heritage Center, 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR, 97062, United States
The Willamette Valley at the time of the Ice Age Floods, 18,000 – 15,000 years ago, was backwater for massive floodwaters coming through the Columbia River Gorge multiple times. It was known as temporary Lake Allison for the geologist who first studied it as a lake.

David Ellingson, a biologist and paleontologist, teaches paleontology at Woodburn High School in Woodburn Oregon. Here he has led his students in an ongoing dig for many years for fauna and megafauna fossil bones. The dig will continue in the same location starting in early July this summer.
David has spoken to our group several times, always bringing fossils for us to view. We look forward to welcoming David in-person & online for a very interesting evening.
When: Thursday, May 16, 2024 @ 7:00 PM PDT
Where: Simultaneous In-Person Live and ZOOM presentation from
Tualatin Heritage Center, 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR 97062
For more information contact: LowerColumbia@iafi.org
If you cannot attend the in-person meeting at THC, please join us online
Click here to join the Zoom meeting
Meeting ID: 869 4651 3479 Passcode: [REDACTED]

MCBONES: The Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site
2024-05-14 19:00 - 20:30 | The Reach Museum, 1943 Columbia Park Trl , WA, Richland, WA, 99352, United States
Gary Kleinknecht will present MCBONES: The Coyote Canyon Mammoth Site
Learn about the activities going on at this local mammoth dig site, the impact of Ice Age floods revealed at the site and the ongoing paleoenvironmental study. Presented by our own Lake Lewis Chapter Program Director and ‘go-to’ mammoth dig volunteer: Gary Kleinknecht. Gary serves as the Education Director for MCBONES, the educational 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which oversees activities at the Coyote Canyon site.
Tuesday, May 14th @7PM at The REACH Museum
1943 Columbia Park Trail, Richland, WA 99352

Cheney-Spokane Chapter Hike – Saturday 5/11 at 12 PM – Waikiki Springs
2024-05-11 12:00 - 14:00 | Waikiki Springs Trailhead, Washington, 99218
Come join us for an easy hike just north of Spokane to explore Ice Age floods features, led by IAFICS board member geologist Michael Hamilton. This is one of the newest conservation areas in Spokane, and has well established trails. Waikiki Springs is an out-pouring of the Spokane Aquifer through the bottom of an ancient valley buried by sands and gravels of the great outburst floods of the last Ice Age. Hiking group size is limited to the first 20 people to sign up.

After confirming your registration we will send you the hike details and keep you up-to-date on any changes that happen before the day of the hike.
Resources: Waikiki Springs Nature Preserve

LECTURE: An Overview of the Missoula Floods
2024-05-07 19:00 - 20:00 | Pomeroy Senior Center, 695 Main St., Pomeroy, WA, United States
Lloyd Stoess, Palouse Falls Chapter President, will take participants on an epic journey from northwest Montana, through northern Idaho, eastern Washington, the Washington-Oregon border and as far south as the coast of California.
Come and see how our channeled scablands are just a part of the story – a story like none other on earth.

Columbia Gorge Geology Field Trip - May 5th
2024-05-05 08:30 - 15:30 | Skyline Health Foundation, 211 Skyline Dr, White Salmon, WA, 98672, United States
Lloyd DeKay, president of the Columbia River Gorge Chapter of IAFI, has volunteered to lead a day-long presentation and field trip on June 1, 2024, to explore the geology of the central-east portion of the Columbia River Gorge for winning donors at the Skyline Health Foundation’s Cultivate Columbia fundraiser on April 13, 2024.
The day will begin at 8:30 AM with a slide presentation about the origins and geohistory of the Gorge. Then participants will board a bus for a 40+ mile roundtrip to see and discuss a number of uniquely interesting places and geologic features found in the Gorge between White Salmon and The Dalles.
Basalt Pillows
We’ll see and discuss lahar deposits, kolk ponds, tree casts, differences between pillow basalts and Maar deposits, Ice Age Floods features, indigenous petroglyphs and even a brief trip through Africa USA. Lunch will be no-host at a local restaurant along the way.
Maar Deposits
This field trip is donated in support of the Skyline Health Foundation. The Cultivate Columbia fundraiser is currently sold out, so if you don’t have tickets and you wish to participate, you should contact the foundation director, Elizabeth Vaivoda at 509-637-2602 for more details.

Field Presentations to 7th Grade Science Students
2024-04-25 10:00 - 13:00 | Fort Cascades Regional Park, North Bonneville, WA, 98639, United States
On Thursday, April 25, four classes of 7th grade science students from Henkle Middle School will be visiting Fort Cascades Park on the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam for talks by Jeanette Burkhardt and Margaret Neumann of Yakama Fisheries and Mid-Columbia Fisheries, and Lloyd DeKay of the Ice Age Floods Institute. All together, 90 students will learn more in the field about fish, natural resources and Gorge geology. The presenters also volunteer in leading field trips for the Columbia Gorge Master Naturalist program.

Field Trip to the Ice Dam Site
2024-04-18 - 2024-04-19 | WA
A field trip to Sandpoint ID to view geologic features related to the ice dam(s) that blocked the Clark Fork River causing the formation of Glacial Lake Missoula is planned for April 17-19th by the Glacial Lake Missoula chapter. Tony Lewis of the Coeur du Deluge Chapter will narrate a day long bus trip on April 18. A car caravan will visit Farragut State Park and other downstream sites the next day. Registration is limited and is being handled by the Montana Natural History Center at https://events.humanitix.com/ice-dam-field-trip
Discounted registration is available at Schweitzer Resort until March 18th. For further information check out these details or contact Sherry McLauchlan, 406-207-7760.

45th Parallel’s Concert: Lost in Deep Time. April 12, 2024
2024-04-12 19:00 - 22:00 | Straub Collaborative, 3333 NW Industrial St,, Portland, OR, United States
This live musical experience immerses the musicians and audience in large-scale projections of landscapes animated to the contemporary classical program. Using photogrammetry and LiDAR, the scenes are rendered in three-dimensional point clouds that animate to reveal the sculptural aspects of the geology and landforms.
The second half of the evening’s program is “He Who Saw the Deep,” which are five studies for a larger piece in development about the ice age floods. Principally drawing on floodscapes in the Channeled Scablands, these five works explore the enigmatic landscapes that inspired J Harlen Bretz’s cataclysmic flood theory set to a musical program performed by Pyxis Quartet.

Friday, April 12, 2024 at 7:00PM
Straub Collaborative
3333 NW Industrial St, Portland, ORMore information can be found here.
Get your tickets at 45th Parallel website.
WORKS
Andy Akiho: Prospects of a Misplaced Year
PERFORMERS
Ron Blessinger, violin
Greg Ewer, violin
Charles Noble, viola
Marilyn de Oliviera, cello
Yoko Greeney, piano
Brad Johnson, visual artist

Meanwhile, enjoy this trailer video

The Geology of Sunset Highway
2024-04-09 19:00 - 20:30 | Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 127 S. Mission, Wenatchee, WA, United States
The Wenatchee Valley Erratics Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute will meet Tuesday, April 9 at 7:00 PM, at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 127 S. Mission, Wenatchee. Or via Zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84520197937 Webinar ID: 845 2019 7937
Dr. Earl F. Cater, Director of the Douglas County Museum in Waterville, will present “The Geology of Sunset Highway.” Topics he will discuss include:

Early Euro-American explorations of the Big Bend country;
Difficulty in getting to Douglas County because of elevation and size;
Barriers to Euro-American settlement: Rocks and no roads, Banks Lake area’s 800-feet high basalt cliffs, Corbaley Canyon’s fractured gneiss and schist, rockslides from basalt layers;
Obstacles from glaciation: Yeager Rock and multiple haystack rocks and other glacial features;
The first stage in Okanogan, March 1884: The Jack Smith story;
1913 Declaration of the Sunset Highway as the Red Trail;
1926 Declaration of the Sunset Highway as the Yellowstone Trail.

The program is free and open to the public.
Contact information:
Dr. Earl F. Cater
Director, Douglas County Museum
efcater@gmail.com
515-371-3535
Susan D. Freiberg
Erratics Chapter Publicity
wenvalerratics@yahoo.com

Geologist's Day - 1st Sunday in April
2024-04-07 | WA
Geologists Day, a day dedicated to an underappreciated science, takes place on the first Sunday in April every year. Without geologists, we would know nothing about the over 4.5 billion year history of the earth. Geology is a science that studies the materials, natural features, and processes found on earth, as well as the history of all life that’s ever lived. Geologists around the world have made an enormous contribution to our way of life by discovering and developing our natural resources of minerals, hydrocarbons and water, by understanding the evolution of our planet and our solar system, by defining the evolution of life on Earth, by identifying the risks associated with natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, and by the technological and innovation spin-offs derived from many branches of geoscience such as geophysics and geochemistry.
History of Geologists’ Day
Geology, or the study of the composition of rocks, soil and other materials, has been around since the times of Ancient Greece. In their pursuit of understanding the world around them, Greek scientists, who wondered how the rocks were formed, began studying fossils and generating theories to go along with their ideas and research. Later, during the Middle Ages, when science was thought to have challenged the Catholic Church, more advances came (albeit sometimes subversively) in the field of geology. During this time, Leonardo da Vinci explored the functions of the human body but also, one of his lesser-known pursuits, is that he became a pioneer in geology. One of da Vinci’s interesting lines of research was related to fossils. He concluded that the fossils he and others had found embedded on mountain tops must have been from animals that swam on an ancient sea bed, though none of them were exactly sure how they could have gotten there. During the 17th-century, scientists began to make important links between certain sedimentary deposits in the oceans and the strata observable in rock formations. Much of the explanation as to how that happened, however, continued to remain a mystery until James Hutton and William ‘Strata’ Smith came along. These two well-known geologists helped find the explanation of the earth’s long and slow development over the course of thousands of years. Smith was also credited as the creator of the first, geologically detailed, national map of any country in the world. In this case, the country was England and he has since become known as the ‘Father of English Geology’.
Geologists’ Day, itself, was actually the idea of a group of well-known Soviet geologists who established it in April, 1966. The day was chosen in the spring because it notes the end of winter and is a time that ramps up to the summer season field work when geologists are so active. While it continues to be a favorite day of the Russian Mineralogical Society, the day eventually made its way beyond the former Soviet Union and began to be celebrated by geologists, geophysicists and geochemists in various places in Europe, the United States and other countries around the world.
How to Celebrate Geologists’ Day
Held on the first Sunday in April, the celebration of Geologists’ Day can be fun for professional rock lovers and hobbyists alike! This day strives to help further the study of how the earth came to be. Geologists’ Day is all about learning the history of the earth, the geologists who studied the earth, and helping to inspire people out there to study geology.
Learn More About Geology
Give a nod to Geologists’ Day by learning a bit about what the discipline of geology is and how it works. Digging in rocks, observing maps, and studying how they all came to be is what a geologist’s job is all about. Make use of these online resources to learn more about geology:

Ice Age Floods Institute website
The Geological Society of America
Society of Economic Geologists
International Association for Promoting Geoethics

Those who are even more interested might take the time to join a few online classes to further their studies. Take a look into the history of geologists, what they believed about the earth at the time they lived. If it turns out there’s an inner rock-lover in there, just waiting to get out, why not go for a degree while you’re at it?!
Show Appreciation to a Geologist
Geologists’ Day aims to show appreciation for the geologists that continue to study rocks and all their formations. In fact, this is the perfect day to gather with some friends or family to thank some of those favorite geologists, or even just a science teacher, who may have made a difference in the understanding of the world we live in.
Listen to a Geology Themed Playlist
Hop onto Spotify or another favorite music hosting site and enjoy these songs that are reminiscent of the study of the earth, rocks, landslides and all the beautiful things that go along with geology:

We Will Rock You (1977) Queen
The Geologists are Coming! (2017) The Amoeba People
Landslide (1975) Fleetwood Mac
The Petroleum Age (2011) Philip Gibbs
Geology Rocks (2017) Los Beekeepers
Uranium Rock (1973) Warren Smith
Sweet Geology (aka The Mineral Song) (2007) The Akkademiks

Share Geology Day with Friends
Show appreciation for the studies of geologists by sharing this holiday with friends and family. Go big by throwing a geology party, or keep it small by simply gifting friends or coworkers with a small stone or rock as a token of the day. Whatever method is chosen, just the acknowledgment of this day is a step in the right direction toward appreciating the earth and its scientists!
(credit https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/geologists-day/)

Special Meeting of the IAFI Ellensburg Chapter
2024-04-05 16:30 - 18:00 | Central Washington University, 400 E University Way, Ellensburg, WA, 98926, United States
Dear Members, Former Members, and Friends,
I trust this message finds you in good health and spirits. I’m Mike Doran, a fellow member of the Ellensburg Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute, and I’m reaching out to you with an important invitation.
Our chapter has a storied past filled with enriching field trips, captivating lectures, and engaging speakers. However, it’s time for us to refocus our efforts and ensure that we’re set for continued growth and success in the future.
To achieve this, a dedicated group of us has been actively discussing strategies and ideas. Now, we’re eager to invite you to join us for a special meeting where we can gather your invaluable input, ideas, and concerns. Your participation, in any capacity you choose, is vital as we navigate our path forward.
We’re fortunate that Karl Lillquist has arranged for us to convene on Friday, April 5th, at 4:30 PM in a meeting room at Dean Hall on the Central campus. (Please note that parking restrictions on campus ease after 4:30 PM as there is no cost then. Use parking lot O-5. Just be sure to park in General Parking slots and not Staff slots. ) The meeting time aligns perfectly with Nick’s Bretz lectures, providing an ideal opportunity for us to meet before attending his 7:00 PM talk.
During our gathering, we’ll create an open forum for discussion and have light refreshments available. Additionally, we will be conducting elections for the following officer positions: Secretary, Vice-President, and President. This is an excellent opportunity for members to get involved and help shape the future direction of our organization.
Whether you’re interested in taking an active role in the organization, standing for election, or simply wish to share your thoughts, your presence will be immensely valued. Together, we aim to bolster Karl and Nick’s efforts and ensure the sustained success of our chapter.
We’re genuinely excited about the possibilities that lie ahead and eagerly anticipate seeing you there.
Should you have any questions or concerns beforehand, please feel free to reach out to me at 253-278-3470.
Warm regards,
Mike Doran
