Ice Age Floods Institute

Cheney-Spokane Chapter Hike - Fishtrap Lake Scablands
2025-04-05 10:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Fishtrap Lake North Loop, Sprague, WA, 99032, United States
The Cheney-Spokane Chapter of the IAFI is scheduling a hike at the north loop trailhead of Fishtrap Lake on Saturday, April 5th. The hike will start at 10:00 a.m. It will be led by Don Chadbourne, geologist and board member of the Cheney-Spokane Chapter. You will meet the leader at the trailhead.
Fishtrap Lake, Washington (BLM Photo)
Description of Hike
The hike will begin and end at the north trailhead at Fishtrap Lake. The hike will follow the north loop trail, with a total length of about 5 miles. The trail is mostly single track over dirt and rock, with an elevation gain and loss of about 500 feet. The hike will provide an intimate view of the channeled scablands that were carved out by the ice age floods. Features will include pothole lakes, rock benches, Mima mounds, and streamlined and scarped Palouse hills. The hike will also provide wide open views of Fishtrap Lake and the surrounding country. This hike is included in On the Trail of the Ice Age Floods – Northern Reaches, by Bjornstad & Kiver. However, we will be following trails that were constructed after the book was published.
Directions to the trailhead
From I-90 take Exit 254 and proceed south 2.4 miles on the Sprague Highway. Turn left (east) on Fishtrap Road and proceed 0.6 miles to the trailhead parking on the right.
Register for the hike using the buttons below. This event will be limited to 20 hikers.
Items to bring with you: appropriate shoes, day pack, water, snacks, appropriate clothing for changes in the weather, sun protection, emergency items, camera and binoculars. Walking poles will be helpful.
The hike is free; however, donations for support of Chapter activities will be accepted.
For addition questions contact Don at 509-891-5875.

Margins of the Eastern Cascades Field Trip
2025-04-05 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Central Washington University, 400 E University Way, Ellensburg, WA, 98926, United States
Margins of the Eastern Cascades: Western Kittitas Basin—Lower Teanaway—Lower Swauk Loop
Topics will include volcanism, tectonics, alpine glaciation, landslides, and stream channel changes in the area between Ellensburg, Cle Elum, and Lauderdale Junction.

Here’s the schedule and the topics to be covered:

9:30 Meet at CWU Parking Lot O-5
9:45 Depart
10:00 Stop 1—WA Highway 10 Along Yakima River—Climate transitions; Yakima River Watershed; Ellensburg Formation origin & age;
10:45 Depart
11:00 Stop 2—Hayward Hill Road—Thorp Gravels origins & age; Alpine glaciation; Outwash terraces
11:45 Depart
12:00 Stop 3—Teanaway River Floodplain—Columbia River Basalts; Teanaway River floodplain, discharge & flooding; Lookout Mountain landslide
12:45 Depart to find restrooms in Cle Elum
1:30 Stop 4—Swauk Prairie—Teanaway Formation flow origin & age; Glaciers & climate; Glacier impacts on Teanaway & Swauk paths
2:15 Depart
2:30 Stop 5—Horse Canyon Overlook—Horse Canyon enigma; Wrap-up
3:15 Depart
3:30 Arrive in Ellensburg

Logistics:

This trip is free and open to the public.
Plan on carpooling. We have, at most, about 30 parking spots at Stop 1.
There will be very little hiking associated with this field trip. On all stops, we will be within a couple of hundred feet of our automobiles.
There are no restroom or picnic facilities along our field trip route. Therefore, we will break briefly so you can make a very quick trip to Cle Elum between Stop 3 and Stop 4. Plan on eating lunch/snacks on the road or at the stops. There won’t be a formal lunch stop given the lack of facilities and time.
Dogs and kids are fine to bring as long as they are well-behaved.
Dress for the weather. Early April here can vary from sunny and warm to windy & chilly, all in a day! A windbreaker is a really good idea.
I will post a pdf of the field guide by 19 March on my CWU website at https://www.cwu.edu/academics/geography/_documents/karl-lillquist.php. Scroll down the page to “Field Guides”. You will find it under “Margins of the Eastern Cascades”. Feel free to download and bring it on the field trip in digital format or print it out.
The Ellensburg Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute will also provide ~40 hard copies of the field guide for the trip. There is no cost for the field guides. However, if you are not a member of the Ellensburg Chapter, please consider making a donation to the chapter to help cover the costs of the field guides (each cost ~$12).

I hope you can join us on Saturday April 5th.
Karl Lillquist

Othello Sandhill Crane Festival
2025-03-21 - 2025-03-23 | Othello, WA, WA, 99344, United States
The 27th annual Othello Sandhill Crane Festival – March 21, 22, and 23! Founded in 1998, the Othello Sandhill Crane Festival highlights the spring return of Sandhill Cranes to the greater Othello area and the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge. Not only are there bird lectures and tours on all three days, but the Festival always incorporates many geology talks; and field trips into Flood Country. Please see the events brochure here: https://www.othellosandhillcranefestival.org/_files/ugd/00304c_e3ceea5f94c44279af5e6e7a1cd036d7.pdf?index=true
General admission is $10 and covers lectures and activities at the School and Church. All other tours and activities priced as noted in the schedule along with general admission.

Friday Night Featured Lecture – Bruce Bjornstad – The Grand Coulee Nowhere is the evidence for Ice Age Megafloods so dramatic and awe-inspiring than Grand Coulee. The evolution of Grand Coulee will be presented via a unique bird’s eye view of this unique 50-mile-long canyon. Evidence for dozens of megafloods through Grand Coulee, as recently as 15,000 years ago, will be examined. This Lecture is free to attend in the Red Room at 7 PM.

Saturday, March 22 there will be several talks on geology at the Crane Festival..
Ice Age Floodscapes. Bruce Bjornstad tells of an appreciation of the huge scale of Ice Age Megafloods and the features they left behind are often hidden and lost at close range. An aerial perspective of dozens of different unique flood features will be presented to bring the immense power and magnitude of the Ice Age Floods into focus
Coulees, Canyons, and Valleys, Oh My! Lloyd Stoess will present a somewhat tongue-in-cheek look at how scientists can’t always agree on the definition of landforms, like coulees. Coulees interlace the landscape of
the channeled scablands of eastern Washington which were carved by the Ice Age Floods, but what really defines them and how do they differ from canyons and valleys?
Coyote Canyon: A Mammoth Burial in Ice Age Floods Sediments. Gary Kleinknecht will introduce the audience to Columbian Mammoths, North America’s elephant. He will present evidence for the assertion that this specimen is buried in slack water deposits left by a series of huge floods which created temporary Lake Lewis in the southern Columbia Basin. The discovery of mammoth bones, the on-going excavation of the site, and the paleoenvironmental study at Coyote Canyon will also be discussed.
Sunday, March 23, Geology Field Trips
Mega Floods Through Wild Drumheller Channels Hike, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. $60.00. This moderately difficult 3-4-mile hike, led by geologist Bruce Bjornstad, will directly explore the flood channels (including the former path of the Columbia River), potholes, erratic, and streamlined basalt islands
rimmed with towering 50’ basalt columns. One hundred years ago, J Harlen Bretz recognized this area as one of the most spectacular examples of Ice Age Flood erosion in the Channeled Scabland. Note that there will be no restrooms available on this hike. Bagged lunches are available for order on the registration form. This tour is six hours in length, so bring food, drink, and sturdy walking shoes.
SONY DSC
The Great Escape of Quincy Basin, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. $60.00. Join Lloyd Stoess and Ken Lacy on a tour to showcase some of the most impressive floodscape that they have ever shown. It will focus on the impact of flood waters escaping the Quincy Basin. Imagine 150 feet of water dropping 800 feet in less than 3 miles, we will see this at the Potholes Coulee. We will also visit places with particularly dramatic views in the Drumheller Channels, Frenchman Coulee, West Bar, and the Ephrata Fan. There will be no hikes but open-toed shoes will not be appropriate. There will be bathroom breaks along the way. This tour is about 8 hours from start to fin

Cheney-Spokane Chapter Hike – Escure Ranch / Towell Falls
2025-03-15 10:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Escure Ranch, Washington, 99125
The Cheney-Spokane Chapter of the IAFI is scheduling a hike at Escure Ranch on the BLM Rock Creek Recreation Site on Saturday, March 15th. The hike will start at 10:00 a.m. It will be led by Don Chadbourne, geologist and board member of the Cheney-Spokane Chapter. You will meet the leader at the trailhead.
Description of the Escure Ranch Hike
The hike will begin and end at the Escure Ranch parking area, of the Bureau of Land Management, Rock Creek Recreation site. The hike will follow an old ranch road to Towell Falls and return on the same route. The out and back hike will be about 6.5 miles. The trail is mostly double track over dirt and rock, with an elevation gain and loss of about 160 feet. The hike is a pleasant trek through a remote scabland canyon. Features will include rock benches and basins, flood bars, Mima mounds, mesas and waterfalls. This hike is included in the book, On the Trail of the Ice Age Floods – Northern Reaches, by Bjornstad & Kiver.
Directions to the trailhead will be provided to hikers after registration.
Click on the Register button to sign up for the hike. The hike will be limited to 20 hikers.
Items to bring with you: appropriate shoes, day pack, water, snacks, appropriate clothing for changes in the weather, sun protection, emergency items, camera and binoculars. Walking poles will be helpful.
The hike is free; however, donations for support of Chapter activities will be accepted.
For additional questions, contact Don at 509-891-5875.

Terroir and the floods
2025-03-04 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | OR
(12Dec24) Scott Burns is back in March to talk about the impact the Ice Age Floods had on vinticulture in the Pacific Northwset. Join us as Scott explains how the Floods influenced the regional properties of Northwest soils and ultimately made the Pacific Northwest one of the prime wine producing regions in the United States.
The “virtual wine tasting” will happen at our chapter meeting 04Mar2025 at 7:00pm at Bellevue College, Building B ,ROOM 104. This lecture will be in-person and livecast on Zoom.
Click on Zoom link: https://us02web.Zoom.us/j/82985244730
Bellevue College, Bldg B Rm 104

Take a Bee-Line to the Wild Side
2025-02-26 17:30 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | White Salmon Valley Community Library, 77 NE Wauna Ave, White Salmon, WA, 98672, United States
Wild bees are a diverse group of bees that are important pollinators for many crops and plants. The U.S. has roughly 4,000 species of wild bees that pollinate thousands of plants, including many common foods like apples and almonds. Wild bees, along with many pollinators, are declining around the world due to land changes, human activities, pesticide use, and other threats. Despite growing concern about population declines, there are limited data about wild bees. You can help wild bees by providing nesting boxes, restoring pollinator-friendly habitats, and encouraging legislation that protects bees. In his “Take a Walk on the Wild Side” presentation, Steve Castagnoli will provide an introduction to the natural history of wild bees in the Pacific Northwest.

Steve Castagnoli is an apprentice level melittologist with the Oregon Bee Atlas. The Oregon Bee Atlas Master Melittologist Program trains and equips citizen scientists to: a) create and maintain a comprehensive and publicly accessible inventory of the state’s native bees and their plant-host preferences, b) to educate Oregonians on the state’s bee biodiversity and c) to conduct an on-going survey of native bee populations in order to assess their health. Specimen records are added annually to newly digitized historic records from the Oregon State Arthropod Collection to build the first comprehensive account of the native bee fauna of Oregon.

Oregon Gold - This valuable mineral is brought to you by Geology
2025-02-18 18:45 - 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Tualatin Heritage Center, 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR, 97062, United States
Geologist and professor, Sheila Alfsen, will show how geologic processes that occurred in Oregon paved the way for the discovery and utilization of gold in our state. Sheila is an Adjunct Instructor of Geology at Portland State University, Chemeketa Community College, and Linn-Benton Community College.
Tuesday, February 18, 2025, In Person 6:45PM PST at
Tualatin Heritage Center, 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR 97062
Simultaneous Live ZOOM from THC if you cannot attend the in-person THC meeting yourself.
Click here for Zoom meeting, Meeting ID: 869 4651 3479 Passcode: [REDACTED]

Google Earth & the Field Notes of Bretz & Pardee
2025-02-12 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | North Spokane Library, 44 E Hawthorne Rd, Spokane, WA, 99218
Join Glenn Cruickshank as he shares a look at 16 years of J Harlen Bretz’s field notes about the historic ice age floods and 30 years of Joseph Pardee’s USGS field notes, now publicly available for the first time in 100 years and visible through Google Earth. This presentation will introduce you to a large and growing collection of historic notes by early ice age floods investigators, but if you can’t make the presentation you can explore much of the material on Nick Zentner’s CWU webpage.
Presentation will be by Glenn Cruickshank, Vice President, Cheney-Spokane Chapter, IAFI, Liberty Lake
Presented in partnership with Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI)
(Registration required on SCLD website. Registration opens at 6:00 PM Wednesday, January 15, 2025.)

The Ancient Ice Age Floods in the Pacific Northwest
2025-02-11 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | 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, February 11 at 7:00 PM. Our speaker will present remotely via Zoom from Portland. Those not computer- or Zoom-savvy can attend in-person for a live screening at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 127 S. Mission, Wenatchee. Or at home using Zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81855547958 Meeting ID: 818 5554 7958
Dr. Scott Burns, Professor Emeritus of Geology at Portland State University, is a researcher, teacher, and story-teller of Pacific Northwest Geology. He will discuss “The Ancient Ice Age Floods in the Pacific Northwest.”
We know that Ice Age Floods have inundated the Pacific Northwest over the past 2.8 million years. But we primarily concentrate on the last ones, the Missoula Floods, that occurred between 20,000-15,000 years ago. That’s because the Missoula Floods left the most visible record; they obliterated nearly all the evidence of earlier inundations. Current research, however, shows an unfolding story of the many torrents that preceded the Missoula Floods. Erica Medley, an MS student of Dr. Burns, discovered many deposits of these rarely discussed ancient floods. Dr. Burns, a most dynamic speaker, is here to talk about those older ones!
The program is free and open to the public.

New Interpretations of Old Strandlines
2025-01-29 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Denver) | Montana Natural History Center, 120 Hickory Street, Missoula, MT
It’s that time of the year! Time to contemplate ice ages and glacial lakes. Time for the Glacial Lake Missoula Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute’s Cabin Fever Lecture! Warm up your curiosity about those iconic strandlines we can see from town with a lecture from renowned geologist James W. Sears.
New “LiDAR ” mapping techniques may imply that the famous Lake Missoula strandlines on Mount Sentinel and Mount Jumbo record only one draining of the ice-age lake. The draining coincided with massive erosion at the bottom of the lake, but passive lowering of lake level at the top, marked by short-term strandlines cut a few inches into thin colluvial soil on the mountainsides.
About the Instructor: Dr. James W. Sears received his PhD from Queen’s University, Canada, in 1979, and has taught at the University of Montana since 1982.
This is a live event that will not be recorded or streamed.

Richard B. Waitt - The "Debacle Which Swept the Columbia Plateau" 100 years on
2025-01-16 18:45 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Tualatin Heritage Center, 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR, 97062, United States
J Harlan Bretz
“It was a debacle,” wrote J Harlan Bretz in 1923, that carved Washington’s Channeled Scabland. This prescient finale today brings to mind debacles geologic, personal and periodic.
The cataclysm in Bretz’s “Spokane flood” initiated a famous controversy. Published arguments against great Scabland flood erupted in the 1920’s and raged on into the 1940’s–critics by various more conventional schemes calling for less water over more time. As Bretz had almost no published support, it seemed to many his personal debacle. Yet re-reading the early reports, and recently the summary field notes, I sense that by the extraordinary field evidence he had documented throughout the region, Bretz knew all along that his ‘catastrophysm’ would prevail. After J.T. Pardee showed in 1942 that huge glacial Lake Missoula had discharged abruptly. Bretz and colleagues in 1956 show with the old evidence–and with stark new evidence in giant current dunes adorning many gravel bars–that water from glacial Lake Missoula had indeed carved the ‘Channelled Scabland’. With detailed geomorphic field evidence they skewer Bretz’s critics–this in turn becoming their personal debacle.
waittThe story takes a more gradualistic turn with discovery that Lake Missoula drained periodically. In his final Scablands paper in 1969, Bretz, by geomorphic evidence counts seven floods at most. But hardly a decade later, new stratigraphic evidence was showing that Lake Missoula released scores of giant floods during the last glaciation alone. These outbursts were both periodic and gigantic by degrees, truly colossal and coming decades apart when the damming Purcell Trench lobe was thick, but as the ice gradually thinned diminishing to coming only a decade or a few years apart, and at the end one year apart. This ‘jokulhlaups’ idea erupted new controversy, this one also lasting more than two decades. If it has simmered down lately, this argument is also being settled by field evidence.
If Missoula floods were numerous and periodic during last-glacial marine-Isotope stage 2 (25-15 thousand years ago), what happened during seemingly equally deep glaciations of AR-isotope stages such as 6 and 12 (140-440 thousand years ago)? So far we know of no supporting field evidence–only scattered field sites that suggest one gigantic flood far back, perhaps a million years ago. It will be for today’s young scientists to decipher this and other remaining enigmas.
Thursday, January 16, 2025, In Person 6:45PM PST
Tualatin Heritage Center, 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR 97062
ALSO Simultaneous Live ZOOM from THC if you cannot attend the in-person THC meeting yourself.
Click here for Zoom meeting, Meeting ID: 869 4651 3479 Passcode: [REDACTED]

International Old Rock Day - January 7
2025-01-07 | OR
International Old Rock Day – January 7
Celebrate Old Rock Day on January 7 every year. It’s a day to remember the Earth’s incredible history and to pay tribute to the amazing geologists who help us understand it. We’ve been dependent on rocks since we first walked the Earth, and today it’s no different, with rocks forming the foundation of our daily lives.

History of “Old Rock Day”
The study of rocks was first introduced by the Ancient Greek Theophrastus in his work, “Peri Lithon” (“On Stones”), and became the cornerstone of geology for other interested scientists. The study was advanced by Pliny the Elder, who recorded numerous minerals and metals in great detail, with a particular focus on their practical use. Although working without the tools we use today, Pliny was able to correctly identify the origin of amber as fossilized tree resin.
It wasn’t until 1603 when the word ‘geology’ was used for the first time by Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi. It took a further 150 years for the first geological maps to be drawn by British geologist William Smith, whose work began the process of ordering rock layers by examining the fossils contained in them.
Then, in 1785, James Hutton wrote and presented a paper to the Royal Society of Edinburgh called ‘Theory of the Earth’, which outlined his belief that the world was far older than previously thought. His breakthroughs make him widely considered the first modern geologist.
In 1809 William Maclure produced the first geological map of the USA, a task he completed thanks to two painstaking years spent personally traversing the country. With the invention of radiometric dating in the early 20th century, scientists could finally provide an accurate figure for the age of the earth by tracing the radioactive impurities found in rocks. It helped scientists to see that the Earth is one very old rock indeed!
Rocks have been essential for human development, which is why we celebrate Old Rock Day and the wonder of the geological world.
Why We Love “Old Rock Day”
Geology is cool
Studying the natural world helps us protect, preserve, and predict it so that we can live in harmony with nature
Rocks are useful
From the sturdy bricks of our homes to the sidewalk beneath our feet, rocks are essential for human existence
Rocks are precious
Some of the most coveted things in the world today — gold, diamonds, and other gemstones — are old rocks (minerals)
Reprinted from National Today – Old Rock Day

Northern Ice
2025-01-06 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Bellevue College Building T Room 117, 3000 Landerholm Cir SE, Bellevue, WA, 98007, United States
(2 Dec 2024) Grace Sherwood Winer is a geologist and explorer who has done extensive studies on the melting of glacial ice in the Arctic. She will present present her work on the islands of Svalbard and Iceland at our meeting on 06Jan2025 at 7:00pm at Bellevue College, Building B, Room 104. Note room change! This will be an In-person lecture and livecast via Zoom.
Click on Zoom link: https://us02web.Zoom.us/j/82985244730
Bellevue College, Bldg B, Rm 104

Geology Alive: Understanding Geologic Hazards in the Columbia Gorge
2024-11-13 18:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Columbia Center For the Arts, 215 Cascade Ave, Hood River, OR, 97031, United States
The great scenic beauty of the Gorge owes much to the geological processes that have shaped it. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and debris flows still occur in the area today, and they can pose hazards to Gorge residents and visitors. What is the scope, severity, and likelihood of these hazards? How do scientists use evidence from the geological and historical past to evaluate the hazards, and how do they use models to forecast future hazards and inform our efforts to prepare for them?
Join Dr. Richard “Dick” Iverson, Scientist Emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascades Volcano Observatory, as he digs into the geological hazards of the Gorge—and explains why they don’t discourage him from living here!
GET TICKETS HERE
When: NOVEMBER 13th, 2024 | Doors 6pm, Show 7 pm
Where: Columbia Center For the Arts, 215 Cascade Ave, Hood River, OR
This event will be livestreamed on our Givebutter page: https://givebutter.com/geologyalive
Doors open at 6 pm, show starts at 7 pm. * We encourage people to take their seats by 6:45. * Seats not filled by 6:45 will be made available to our waitlist. * Event tickets are non-refundable.

Richard (Dick) Iverson spent 34 years as a research scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash., and he remains affiliated with the observatory as a scientist emeritus. His work there has focused mostly on the dynamics of landslides, debris flows, and volcanic eruptions, with particular emphasis on evaluating hazards downstream from Cascades volcanoes. Iverson grew up in Iowa, received his Ph.D. from Stanford University, and moved from Vancouver to Hood River in 2018.

Dr. Scott Burns - Ancient Ice Age Floods Before the Missoula Floods
2024-11-12 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom Meeting
Join in to Learn About The Unfolding Story of Ancient Ice Age Floods in the Pacific Northwest
Ages End – Stev Ominski
We have had Ice Age Floods in the Pacific Northwest over the past 2.8 million years. We mostly concentrate on the last ones which are called the Missoula Floods that happened between 15,000-20,000 years ago. But there is an unfolding story in the Pacific Northwest of many Ice Age Floods before the Missoula Floods. Erica Medley, an MS student of Scott Burns, did her thesis on the topic and discovered many outcrops of these ancient floods which are rarely discussed. Dr. Burns will talk about these oft-forgotten floods and the very interesting story of these neglected Ancient Ice Age Floods in the Pacific Northwest
Join on Zoom to learn more about these very interesting older Ice Age Floods,
Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024 at 7:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Only on Zoom – Click Here to Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 867 5486 6921
Passcode: [REDACTED]
One tap mobile: +12532158782,,86754866921#
Meeting ID: 867 5486 6921
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdugrTW42K
Dr. Scott Burns taught geology for 54 years in Switzerland, New Zealand, Washington, Colorado and Louisiana before coming in 1990 to Portland State University. He loves talking about the geology of the Pacific Northwest and this subject that is so many times neglected.
Professor Emeritus of Engineering Geology, Portland State University
President IAEG (International Association of Engineering Geologist and the Environment)
Member Board of Directors, Lower Columbia Chapter Ice Age Floods Institute.
Co-Author revised Second Edition: “Cataclysms on the Columbia”
Email: BurnsS@pdx.edu Telephone: (503} 725-3389 Website: http://dr-scott-burns.com

Mammoths of Coyote Canyon
2024-11-11 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom Meeting
On Nov11, 2024, Join the Ice Age Floods Chapter Puget Lobe for a look at the Coyote Canyon (Mammoth) dig site: This site was originally discovered in 1999; but left undisturbed until 2008, with formal excavation beginning in September,2010. The accompanied photo shows the work done thru Jun 2014. In the intervening 10+ years additional work has completed. As you can see by the photograph, the cinder block, 5-gal bucket, and the4x4 lumber bream, this may be a small portion of the overall site.
The presentation will be Zoom only and given by IAFI Vice President Mr. Gary Kleinknecht. Meeting starts at 7:00pm with sign-ins starting at 6:45.
click on Zoom link: https://us02web.Zoom.us/j/82985244730
Working Site as of June 2012

Lower Grand Coulee Field Trip
2024-11-09 10:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Soap Lake Senior Center, 121 2nd Ave SE, Soap Lake, 98851, United States
Monster Rock – Ephrata Fan
Join Geologist, Mark Amara and Outing Coordinator Gene Wing of the Lower Grand Coulee Chapter for an exciting outing exploring the Lower Grand Coulee area. We will leave the Senior Center at 10am and drive South to the famous “Monster Rock” and the “Ephrata Fan area”, Next we head North to the Lake Lenore area to see the Lenore Lake Monocline rocks and the Great Blade, and then we head North and do a short hike into the Deep Lake Potholes within Sun Lakes State Park and end the outing at the Dry Falls Visitor Center.
Meeting Place: Soap Lake Senior Center, located at 121 2nd Ave SE, Soap Lake, WA 98851
Date: Saturday November 9, 2024
Start time: 10:00am
More information: Contact Denis Felton
Discover Pass is required

Cheney-Spokane Chapter Fishtrap Lake Scablands Hike
2024-10-26 10:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Fishtrap Lake South Loop
Fishtrap Lake, Washington (BLM Photo)

Come join us for a 5-mile hike to explore the Ice Age floods features in the Fishtrap Lake area east of Sprague, WA!
The Cheney-Spokane Chapter of the IAFI is scheduling a hike at the south loop trailhead of Fishtrap Lake on Saturday, October 26th . The hike will start at 10:00 a.m. The hike will be led by Don Chadbourne, geologist and board member of the Cheney-Spokane Chapter. You will meet the leader at the trailhead.
Description of Fishtrap Lake Hike
The hike will begin and end at the south trailhead at Fishtrap Lake. The hike will follow the south loop trail, with a total length of about 5.5 miles. The trail is mostly single track over dirt and rock, with an elevation gain and loss of about 500 feet. The hike will provide an intimate view of the channeled scablands that were carved out by the ice age floods. Features will include pothole lakes, rock benches, mima mounds, kolks, and streamlined and scarped Palouse hills. The hike will also provide wide open views of Fishtrap Lake and the surrounding country. This hike is included in On the Trail of the Ice Age Floods – Northern Reaches, by Bjornstad & Kiver. However, we will be following trails that were constructed after the book was published.
Directions to the trailhead
From I-90 take Exit 254 and proceed south 3.6 miles on the Sprague Highway. Turn left (east) on Miller Ranch Road and proceed 0.2 miles to the “T” at the Miller Ranch house. Turn right(south) and drive 0.8 miles to the trailhead parking lot. There is a vault toilet at the parking lot. (Google Maps Link: https://goo.gl/maps/9Zz7nwdwziMzHYh69 map coordinates: 47.33381100925525, -117.863529217959)
Sign up for the hike on the iafi.org events website. The hike will be limited to 20 hikers.
Items to bring with you: appropriate shoes, day pack, water, snacks, appropriate clothing for changes in the weather, sun protection, emergency items, camera and binoculars. Walking poles will be helpful. The hike is free; however, donations for support of Chapter activities will be accepted. For addition questions contact Don at 509-891-5875.
A signed liability release form is required for each hiker. If you are able, please download the form and print a copy for each member of your group. Sign the form and bring it to the trailhead. (We will have extra copies on hand at the trailhead.)

"Mega-Floods" - Presentation by Bill Burgel
2024-10-24 18:45 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Tualatin Heritage Center, 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR, 97062, United States
Bill Burgel
In a field of geological investigation first identified and then pioneered by J Harlen Bretz, JT Pardee and Vic Baker, Mega-Floods have been recognized throughout the world and on the planet Mars. These catastrophic floods are quite capable of sculpting the landscape wherever they occur with disastrous consequences.
Can they happen today? What are some notable historic examples? Is Noah’s Flood one of these events? How are they different from Mega-Tsunamis that are also found around the globe? Bill will answer these questions and more at the October 24th meeting of the Lower Columbia Chapter of the Ice Age Institute.
Thursday, October 24, 2024, In Person 6:45PM PDT
at the Tualatin Heritage Center, 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, OR 97062
ALSO Simultaneous Live ZOOM from THC if you cannot attend the THC meeting in-person.
Click for Zoom meeting, Meeting ID: 869 4651 3479 Passcode: [REDACTED]
For more information contact: LowerColumbia@iafi.org

Earth Science Week
2024-10-13 - 2024-10-19 | OR
Earth Sciences significantly influence our homes, products, roads and transportation, offering vital insights into Earth’s materials and dynamic changes impacting our lives. The focus of the weeklong event is to highlight the widespread influence of geosciences across disciplines and the humanities. Recognizing these connections allows individuals to appreciate how geoscience relates to their interests, communities and future pursuits.

Earth Science Week Webinars
The American Geosciences Institute will celebrate this year’s theme, “Earth Science Everywhere” by hosting five webinars during Earth Science Week (October 13-19, 2024). Sign up here to receive the links to this year’s ESW webinars. In the meantime, watch recordings from prior Earth Science Week webinars.
Monday, October 14 – Views from Above and Below: Supporting Sustainability with Earth Observations
Tuesday, October 15 – Plastics in the Environment and Human Health
Wednesday, October 16 – Impact Craters and Geologic Mapping on the Earth and Moon
Thursday, October 17 – Earth Science at the Poles
Friday, October 18 – Common Ground: Healing Our Soil, Feeding the Future
Register Here
Earth Science Week Contests
Be part of Earth Science Week’s legacy of creativity. For Earth Science Week, the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is sponsoring four contests focusing on the theme of this year’s celebration, “Earth Science Everywhere.” Unleash your talents and passion for earth sciences and enter the 2024 contests today! Whether you’re a budding photographer, an aspiring filmmaker, a visual artist, or a reflective writer, we have a platform for you to showcase your talents.

The Rush to Oregon Territory
2024-10-08 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | 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, October 8 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 Dr. E.F. Cater, Director of the Douglas County Museum in Waterville. Dr. Cater will explore “The Rush to Oregon Territory,” how the twisting and turning of 19th-century society crossed up with the Ice Age Floods.
An odd happenstance occurred when a delegation of Salish men from the Walla Walla area traveled to St. Louis. They sought out their old friend, General William Clark, with an unusual question. This little spark caused a rush to Oregon Territory for reasons different than what Manifest Destiny has led us to believe.
And the stirring of this pot brought the discovery of fantastic geological features like Grand Coulee. Join us as we take a look at Western Expansion.
The program is free and open to the public.
[Illustration: Lewis and Clark on the Trail 1804, by Michael J. Deas]

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 | OR
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 (America/Los_Angeles) | 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 (America/Los_Angeles) | 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 (America/Los_Angeles) | 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 (America/Los_Angeles) | OR
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 (America/Los_Angeles) | 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 (America/Los_Angeles) | 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 (America/Los_Angeles) | 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.
