Cataclysmic late Pleistocene flooding from glacial Lake Missoula: A review

Abstract Late Wisconsin floods from glacial Lake Missoula occurred between approximately 16 and 12 ka BP. Many floods occurred; some were demonstrably cataclysmic. Early studies of Missoula flooding centered on the anomalous physiography of the Channeled Scabland, which J. Harlen Bretz hypothesized in 1923 to have developed during a debacle that he named ‘The Spokane Flood’. Among the ironies in the controversy over this hypothesis was a mistaken view of uniformitarianism held by Bretz's adversaries. After resolution of the scabland's origin by cataclysmic outburst flooding from glacial Lake Missoula, research since 1960 emphasized details of flood magnitudes, frequency, routing and number. Studies of flood hydraulics and other physical parameters need to utilize modern computerized procedures for flow modeling, lake-burst simulation, and sediment-transport analysis. Preliminary simulation models indicate the probability of multiple Late Wisconsin jokulhlaups from Lake Missoula, although these models predict a wide range of flood magnitudes. Major advances have been made in the study of low-energy, rhythmically bedded sediments that accumulated in flood slack-water areas. The ‘forty floods’ hypothesis postulates that each rhythmite represents the deposition in such slack-water areas of separate, distinct cataclysmic floods that can be traced from Lake Missoula to the vicinity of Portland, Oregon. However, the hypothesis has numerous unsubstantiated implications concerning flood magnitudes, sources, routing and sedimentation dynamics. There were multiple great Late Wisconsin floods in the Columbia River system of the northwestern United States. Studies of high-energy, high altitude flood deposits are necessary to evaluate the magnitudes of these floods. Improved geochronologic studies throughout the immense region impacted by the flooding will be required to properly evaluate flood frequency. The cataclysmic flood concept championed by J. Harlen Bretz continues to stimulate exciting and controversial research.

[1]  Arlen D. Feldman,et al.  Hec Models for Water Resources System Simulation: Theory and Experience , 1981 .

[2]  H. T. Smith,et al.  CHANNELED SCABLAND OF WASHINGTON: NEW DATA AND INTERPRETATIONS , 1956 .

[3]  R. Waitt,et al.  About Forty Last-Glacial Lake Missoula Jökulhlaups through Southern Washington , 1980, The Journal of Geology.

[4]  V. Baker.  Large-scale erosional and depositional features of the Channeled Scabland , 1978 .

[5]  D. J. Huntley,et al.  Thermoluminescence dating of sediments , 1982 .

[6]  W. H. Durum,et al.  World-wide runoff of dissolved solids. , 1960 .

[7]  S. C. Porter.  Late Wisconsin mountain glaciation in the western United States. , 1983 .

[8]  J. T. Pardee.  The Glacial Lake Missoula , 1910, The Journal of Geology.

[9]  R. N. Mack,et al.  Holocene Vegetational History of the Kootenai River Valley, Montana , 1983, Quaternary Research.

[10]  J. L. Glenn.  Late Quaternary sedimentation and geologic history of the North Willamette Valley, Oregon , 1965 .

[11]  R. Chambers.  Sedimentation in Glacial Lake Missoula , 1971 .

[12]  T. C. Chamberlin.  The Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses , 1931, The Journal of Geology.

[13]  R. Waitt.  Tens of successive, colossal Missoula floods at north and east margins of channeled scabland , 1983 .

[14]  G. M. Richmond.  GLACIATION OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS , 1965 .

[15]  Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin.  Studies for Students: The Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses , 1897, The Journal of Geology.

[16]  J. Bretz.  Glacial Drainage on the Columbia Plateau , 1923 .

[17]  I. S. Allison.  New Version of the Spokane Flood , 1933 .

[18]  P. Mehringer,et al.  The Age of Glacier Peak Tephra in West-Central Montana , 1984, Quaternary Research.

[19]  K. Petersen,et al.  Pollen Influx and Volcanic Ash , 1977, Science.

[20]  E. T. McKnight.  The Spokane Flood: A Discussion , 1927, The Journal of Geology.

[21]  R. D. Salisbury.  Glacial Work in the Western Mountains in 1901 , 1901, The Journal of geology.

[22]  Meyer Rubin,et al.  Age of the Last Major Scabland Flood of the Columbia Plateau in Eastern Washington , 1978, Quaternary Research.

[23]  R. N. Mack,et al.  Late Quaternary Pollen Record from Big Meadow, Pend Oreille County, Washington , 1978 .

[24]  V. Baker.  Catastrophic flooding : the origin of the Channeled Scabland , 1981 .

[25]  R. Waitt.  Periodic JöKulhlaups from Pleistocene Glacial Lake Missoula—New Evidence from Varved Sediment in Northern Idaho and Washington , 1984, Quaternary Research.

[26]  Water Flow in Glaciers: Jökulhlaups, Tunnels and Veins , 1976 .

[27]  R. Fryxell.  Mazama and Glacier Peak Volcanic Ash Layers: Relative Ages , 1965, Science.

[28]  W. E. Scott,et al.  Reinterpretation of the Exposed Record of the Last two Cycles of Lake Bonneville, Western United States , 1983, Quaternary Research.

[29]  R. C. Bunker.  Evidence of Multiple Late-Wisconsin Floods from Glacial Lake Missoula in Badger Coulee, Washington , 1982, Quaternary Research.

[30]  J. T. Pardee.  Unusual currents in Glacial Lake Missoula, Montana , 1942 .

[31]  J. Bretz.  The Late Pleistocene Submergence in the Columbia Valley of Oregon and Washington , 1919, The Journal of Geology.

[32]  P. C. Patton,et al.  New evidence for pre-Wisconsin flooding in the channeled scabland of eastern Washington , 1978 .

[33]  B. F. Atwater.  Periodic floods from glacial Lake Missoula into the Sanpoil arm of glacial Lake Columbia, northeastern Washington , 1984 .

[34]  R. Fulton,et al.  Late Pleistocene stratigraphy of south-central British Columbia , 1978 .

[35]  J. Bretz,et al.  The Spokane Flood beyond the Channeled Scablands , 1925, The Journal of Geology.

[36]  J. Bretz.  The Lake Missoula Floods and the Channeled Scabland , 1969, The Journal of Geology.

[37]  Valley Deposits Immediately East of the Channeled Scabland of Washington. II , 1929, The Journal of Geology.

[38]  V. Baker.  Paleohydrology and sedimentology of Lake Missoula flooding in eastern Washington , 1973 .

[39]  S. C. Porter.  Glacier Peak Tephra in the North Cascade Range, Washington: Stratigraphy, Distribution, and Relationship to Late-Glacial Events , 1978, Quaternary Research.

[40]  J. Bretz.  The Channeled Scabland of Eastern Washington , 1928 .

[41]  D. Trimble.  Geology of Portland, Oregon, and adjacent areas , 1963 .

[42]  V. Baker.  The Spokane Flood Controversy and the Martian Outflow Channels , 1978, Science.

[43]  J. Bretz.  The Dalles Type of River Channel , 1924, The Journal of Geology.

[44]  R. F. Flint.  Origin of the Cheney-Palouse scabland tract, Washington , 1938 .

[45]  J. Clague,et al.  Advance of the Late Wisconsin Cordilleran Ice Sheet in Southern British Columbia Since 22,000 Yr B.P. , 1980, Quaternary Research.

[46]  G. Clarke,et al.  Outburst Floods from Glacial Lake Missoula , 1984, Quaternary Research.

[47]  Peter C. Patton,et al.  Paleohydrology of southwestern Texas , 1982 .

[48]  R. N. Mack,et al.  Late Quaternary Vegetation History at Waits Lake, Colville River Valley, Washington , 1978, Botanical Gazette.

[49]  P. L. Weis,et al.  THE CORDILLERAN ICE SHEET OF THE NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAINS, AND RELATED QUATERNARY HISTORY OF THE COLUMBIA PLATEAU , 1965 .

[50]  J. Bretz.  The Channeled Scablands of the Columbia Plateau , 1923, The Journal of Geology.

[51]  J. Boothroyd,et al.  Deposition of climbing‐ripple beds: a flume simulation , 1982 .

[52]  J. Bretz.  Valley Deposits Immediately West of the Channeled Scabland , 1930, The Journal of Geology.

[53]  P. C. Patton,et al.  Origin of the Cheney-Palouse Scabland tract , 1978 .

[54]  S. Gould.  Is uniformitarianism necessary , 1965 .

[55]  G. A. Fowler,et al.  Deep-Sea Gravel from Cascadia Channel , 1970, The Journal of Geology.

[56]  P. C. Patton,et al.  Slack-Water Deposits: A Geomorphic Technique for the Interpretation of Fluvial Paleohydrology , 1982 .

[57]  H. Malde,et al.  The catastrophic late Pleistocene Bonneville flood in the Snake River Plain, Idaho , 1968 .

[58]  Nelson Goodman,et al.  Uniformity and Simplicity , 1967 .

[59]  M. Hubbert.  Critique of the Principle of Uniformity , 1967 .

[60]  V. Baker.  Paleohydraulics and hydrodynamics of Scabland floods , 1978 .

[61]  R. Thorson.  Ice-Sheet Glaciation of the Puget Lowland, Washington, during the Vashon Stade (Late Pleistocene) , 1980, Quaternary Research.