Hill
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Reged: 10/31/04
Posts: 8873
Loc: Los Angeles
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Strange terms and even stranger geology. Find more about it in the links below.
The placemarks have been significantly modified and expanded since this post first appeared. That placemark folder is now attached to the "Channeled Scablands Update" post .
Quote:
The Channeled Scablands are unique geological erosion features in the U.S. state of Washington. They were created by cataclysmic flooding of the Columbia River Plateau during the Pleistocene epoch. Geologist J Harlan Bretz coined the term in a series of papers in the 1920's. Debate over the origin of the Scablands raged for forty years and is one of the great battles in the history of geologists.
from Wikipedia
Find out all about such strangely named features here.
mp071506
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Edited by Hill (06/20/07 10:16 PM)
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slimypants
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Reged: 10/27/03
Posts: 35
Loc: Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
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Fascinating stuff. The US has some truly dramatic geology. I downloaded a diagram of the spokane floods and managed to match it up pretty well. It might help to visualise whats going on.
EDIT: This overlay no longer works.
Edited by Hill (08/21/07 12:37 PM)
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Hill
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Reged: 10/31/04
Posts: 8873
Loc: Los Angeles
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Quote:
"It was the biggest flood in the world for which there is geological evidence...It was so vast a geological event that the mind of man could only conceive of it but could not prove it until photographs could be taken from Earth satellites."
Norman Maclean
The PBS program NOVA aired Mystery of the Megaflood , a program about the formation of the channeled scablands and related phenomena.
Quote:
With room to spare, two Empire State Buildings could have stood one atop the other against Glacial Lake Missoula's ice dam, which experts believe reached as high as 2,000 feet above water (and perhaps another 1,500 feet below).
Click here for a preview of the program.
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"Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end" Stephen Hawking (quoting Woody Allen)
"There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower." Richard Feynman
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Edited by Hill (08/21/07 12:37 PM)
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Noisette
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Reged: 01/14/06
Posts: 5978
Loc: Belgium
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I only just discovered this through a series of links in other posts, fascinating stuff. In fact Wikipedia have changed the address of the overlay posted by geochicago, so here is a corrected version.
Missoula Floods (Wikipedia)
Mods: geochicago hasn't been around for a while, so if you want to edit the original post and delete this, that's fine.
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Forum "Do"s and "Don't"s - How to add a placemark - How to use folders to group your placemarks - How to add paragraphs to your placemarks - How to add pictures to your placemarks and posts - How to make your post more interesting - Useful tools
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Hill
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Reged: 10/31/04
Posts: 8873
Loc: Los Angeles
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There is a really amazing amount of material available on the web about the Channeled Scablands and the reason for their origins, the Glacial Lake Missoula Floods. When I first posted about the Scablands, resolution was not too high. Resolution is now much better, so I have updated the information by trying to find the locations marked by the map in the original post. The map and many of the placemarks and locations are from the PBS NOVA website. I have quoted their descriptions and used their pictures in many of my placemarks (numbered 1-14) I have then tried to match the descriptions with Google Earth imagery. Other sources for further understanding of the Missoula Floods are 1) www.kidscosmos.org and this site developed by Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay.
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"Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end" Stephen Hawking (quoting Woody Allen)
"There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower." Richard Feynman
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Edited by Hill (07/26/08 10:59 PM)
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mspelto
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Reged: 12/11/06
Posts: 203
Loc: Massachusetts
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In the Flathead Valley how do you distinguish the old shorelines. I see examples of horizontal strata too.
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Hill
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Reged: 10/31/04
Posts: 8873
Loc: Los Angeles
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I noticed the horizontal strata too. So I chose areas where the "shorelines" did not seem to be associated with outcrops. And I chose several where the outcrops are oriented differently from the shoreline occurrences. I can't be positive of my choices, and there may be better examples in the valley I didn't find. The only way to be positive is to get out there and walk the hills with a pick. Those studying the area are sure the shorelines exist.
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mspelto
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Reged: 12/11/06
Posts: 203
Loc: Massachusetts
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Hill-Can you use the path feature to better highlight a shoreline around sections of this basin, or are there too few reference points. The ripples are fascinating. I added a couple of USGS overlays to show where they seem to begin. Hydrologically the start and endpoints are of interest to explain.
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Hill
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Reged: 10/31/04
Posts: 8873
Loc: Los Angeles
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It now appears that the processes that made England into an island were the same as those that formed the Channeled Scablands. This post by danescombe describes the process.
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Translate text
"Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end" Stephen Hawking (quoting Woody Allen)
"There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower." Richard Feynman
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Hill
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Reged: 10/31/04
Posts: 8873
Loc: Los Angeles
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Quote:
Can you use the path feature to better highlight a shoreline around sections of this basin, or are there too few reference points.
I haven't been able to find enough reference points to make a reliable shoreline. Maybe by creating a polygon and extending it upward based upon the placemarked shorelines, you could create a likely shoreline. A project worth contemplating 
Quote:
The ripples are fascinating. I added a couple of USGS overlays to show where they seem to begin. Hydrologically the start and endpoints are of interest to explain.
I used NASA WorldWind and it's ability to exaggerate topography to a greater degree than GE and took some screen captures.
Looking upstream (North) you can see that the ripples start as the water exits the valley to the north and enters the Camas Prairie Basin.
Looking South, you can see that the water had to create another lake here as its progress into the valley beyond was restricted by another pass. Perhaps the initial filling of the temporary lake caused the ripples. As the lake filled and the water got deeper the ripple-forming process halted.
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Hill
Master Guide
Reged: 10/31/04
Posts: 8873
Loc: Los Angeles
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Just added: A link to a site with more pictures of glacial features resulting from the Missoula Floods.
Note:
Quote:
Google Earth KML Files are available to Groundspeak Premium Members only.
So you'll have to use the Google Map view.
In the "Search for..." section you can access a large version by choosing Google Maps
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Translate text
"Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end" Stephen Hawking (quoting Woody Allen)
"There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower." Richard Feynman
Iraq war and occupation costs
Edited by Hill (08/22/08 10:52 AM)
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cmflyer
Tourist
Reged: 06/27/07
Posts: 5
Loc: Montana
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The highest filling of Lake Missoula was around 4200 feet MSL. I guess you would need some tool that allows access to the digital relief data in GE. An overlay of Lake Missoula at its deepest would be a great addition.
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c. messerman
Missoula, MT
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mspelto
Tourist
Reged: 12/11/06
Posts: 203
Loc: Massachusetts
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The wavelenght of the ripples is determined by the velocity of the water. Such large ripples will need very strong flow not compatible with occurring during lake formation. But their preservation would suggest an abrupt end to the process via short term lake formation. I wonder if the ripples are mantled by a lake sediment layer.
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lidsail
Tourist
Reged: 07/18/08
Posts: 2
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The drive East to Flathead Lake along 28 is interesting, very sandy washed out area in the vicinity of
47°49'15.60"N 114°25'4.40"W. It looks like a riverbed as though the last of the water drained out of the overflowing Lake.
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