Relive Important Archive Articles

Geologists have been investigating a potential cycle in geological events for a long time. A recent analysis on the ages of 89 well-understood geological events from the past 260 million years show a catastrophic 27.5 million year pulse in eight clusters of world-changing geologic events over geologically small timespans. This pulse of clustered geological events – including volcanic activity, mass extinctions, plate reorganizations, and sea level rises – is incredibly slow, a 27.5-million-year cycle of catastrophic ebbs and flows. As you can see from the graph, some of those times were tough – with over eight of such world-changing events clustering together over geologically small timespans, forming the catastrophic ‘pulse’. “These events include times of marine and non-marine extinctions, major ocean-anoxic events, continental flood-basalt eruptions, sea-level fluctuations, global pulses of intraplate magmatism, and times of changes in seafloor-spreading rates and plate reorganizations,” the team writes in their paper. These cyclic pulses of tectonics and climate change may be the result of geophysical processes related to the dynamics of plate tectonics and mantle plumes, or might alternatively be paced by astronomical cycles associated with the Earth’s motions in the Solar System and the Galaxy. Luckily for us, the research suggests we have another 20 million years before the next ‘pulse’. 

The Washington Geological Survey (WGS) has released 50 high-resolution lidar-derived images of the State’s geology and geomorphology through the Washington State DNR’s Flickr page. The images are available in 16:9 format (7,200 x 4,050 pixels) and 4:3 format (7,200 x 5,400 pixels). Ten of the images are new (see below) and 40 of them were previously available as screen wallpaper (at a lower resolution). Additionally, WGS has released several full-resolution lidar image series that reveal the State’s geology. These images are great for earth science presentations, learning about lidar, and for using as digital wallpaper. They are also large enough to support large-format printing. Here are direct links to the image galleries:  

Do you ever hear the Led Zepplin song “Kashmir”  in your head when contemplating the Ice Age Floods? “I am a traveler of both time and space. To be where I have been” –Robert Plant, Led Zepplin’s Kashmir My 11-year old daughter and I are on a 5-day, 4-night raft trip on the Lower Salmon river and we are having the time of our lives!   Sun, sand, water, lovely food, games and some of the finest nicest Eastern Oregonians we have ever met. One of the guides is a sensitive and strapping young man who is a student at U of Oregon. He’s both an English major and a Geology major. What do you with that? You write about the soul of the earth, true love and adventure, river stories, deep thoughts that cross scientific paradigms. I see him becoming a teacher someday, maybe a science teacher like his Dad. And he’s a kayaker like me. What is so amazing about the Eastern Oregon guides is their familiarity with, connection to, and love of the river and land. They don’t fight traffic or get on the morning commute treadmill every day. There are no stoplights in the whole of Wallowa County, and the only food franchise is a Subway sandwich shop, no Costco or Walmart. Sure, they have school and work, but they are connected to and love the land they live on in deeper ways that us city folks miss. They are here to tell us about the land. They are guides. The 4th day on the river we pass a group of pillar-like rocks with beautiful symmetry.  “That’s columnar basalt” my guide says, “The geologist who figured out the floods and travelled around these parts was J Harlan Bretz”.  “J Harlan Bretz” I repeat, carefully, committing to memory. When I returned home to talk to my friend (who was a geology major at Wesleyan) about the trip, she replies “’J Harlan Bretz,’ Oh yes, I have all his books!” An Amazon search and I begin by reading a biography of J Harlan Bretz, “Bretz’s Flood” by John Soennichsen- (some guy from Eastern Washington… hmmm). And guess what: It’s so well-written, I can’t put it down!  I am enthralled cover-to-cover with the character of J Harlan Bretz, his teaching method of taking students to the field (and floating them downstream on large Sequoia logs, upon occasion), his love of life, the serendipity of his study of the USGS Quincy Basin topo map when it first published, many summers spent driving around and measuring the Channeled Scablands,  presenting his field evidence and theories at the Cosmos Club in Washington DC, and most of all his ability to KNOW he was RIGHT when all his colleagues scoffed and dismissed his theories.  Now THAT man was a pillar of strength. Perhaps like a column of basalt? If he were alive today, Harlan Bretz could stand up to money-motivated physicians – the bad kind, nepotism in the school district, gossipers and bullies, and other types of corruption, all of which I have had to do to defend my younger child against since. J Harlan Bretz helped me to do this. He was a GREAT man! “All I see turns to brown.. And fills my eyes with sand as I try not see the wasted land” – Kashmir by Led Zepplin What was it about those floods, biblical in nature, that left behind a story of such jaw-dropping inspiration? Who are these people who live in Eastern Oregon and Washington and are so inspired by the landscapes there they are called to find new ways to study it, publish, write fantastic biographies? I continued my search to find other scholars of the Ice Age Floods, and that led me next to Nick Zentner and Bruce Bjornstadt. To be continued…