A Partial Story of Glacial Lake Missoula and the Missoula Floods
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University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2002 Ice water land and time: A partial story of Glacial Lake Missoula and the Missoula floods Daniel Peter Berger The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Berger, Daniel Peter, "Ice water land and time: A partial story of Glacial Lake Missoula and the Missoula floods" (2002). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 7515. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/7515 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i m Maureen and Mike MANSFIELD LIBRARY Tlie University oIVIONTANA. f Permission is granted by the author to reproduce this material in its entirety, provided that this material is used for scholarly purposes and is properly cited in published works and reports. ** Please check "Yes" or "No" and provide signature Yes, I grant permission No, I do not grant permission______ Author’s Signature D ate______ 3/^ — Any copying for commercial purposes or financial gain may be undertaken only with the author's explicit consent. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ICE, WATER, LAND, AND TIME; A PARTIAL STORY OF GLACIAL LAKE MISSOULA AND THE MISSOULA FLOODS By Daniel Peter Berger B.A. Syracuse University, New York, 1996 presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science The University of Montana May, 2002 roved by lirperson Dean, Graduate School Gp - 3 - date Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: EP38316 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT Oiwartation Publishing UMI EP38316 Published by ProQuest LLC (2013). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Pro.Q^st ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 - 1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Berger, Daniel P. M.S. May 2002 Environmental Studies Ice, Water, Land, and Time: A Partial Story of Glacial Lake Missoula and the Missoula Floods. Director: Donald Snow^^^^^^^^g During the end of the last ice age, an ice dam in northern Idaho blocked the Clark Fork River creating Glacial Lake Missoula, which spanned from the Montana/Idaho border nearly 200 miles east to Drummond, Montana. When the dam burst, 500 cubic miles of water rushing at speeds of up to 65 miles an hour ripped across eastern Washington in three braided channels, rejoined at Walulla Gap on the Columbia River, then tore through the Columbia River Gorge to the Pacific Ocean. This lake. North America's largest freshwater inland sea, was said to have flooded and filled between 40 and 100 times, each break releasing up to ten times the current total flow of all of Earth's rivers. These cataclysmic floods scoured the soft, fleshy earth of eastern Washington right down to the bare basalt, creating the channeled scablands and dry coulees, including the 700-foot deep Grand Coulee. The phenomenon was unlike anything anyone has ever seen. The National Park Service has joined with the non-profit Ice Age Floods Institute and a host of local communities to display and interpret the lake and flood features, visible from Missoula, Montana to Portland, Oregon, in a proposedNational Ice Age Geologic Trail. In a study released in the fall of 2001, the Park Service proposed the four- state trail though Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, which would include spur trails, roadside kiosks, and visitor centers, to celebrate the events and to weave the story of the glacial lakes and their floods back into the lives of those living or visiting the Northwest. The trail is unique for the Park Service because it would acquire no new land but would instead work with local, state, and other national agencies and private landowners to manage interpretation and preservation of the lake and flood features. Today you can see the dramatic effects of the lake and the flood on the Clark Fork, Columbia, Snake and Yakima Rivers, on the channeled scablands in Oregon and Washington and in other places such as Mount Sentinel in Missoula and the Camas Prairie near Dixon, Montana. 11 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ice, Water, Land and Time: A Partial Story of Glacial Lake Missoula and the Missoula Floods Table of Contents; Abstract.........................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements.................................................................................. iv Prologue........................................................................................................ V Map 1........................................................................................................... vii Introduction................................................................................................. 1 The F loods...................................................................................................7 The Lake......................................................................................................46 A s Ice........................................................................... 62 Soil................................................................................................................ 76 Designation.................................................................................................86 Field Trip....................................................................................................100 A Plea......................................................................................................... 117 Bibliography..............................................................................................118 Map 2.........................................................................................................end ''All maps reprinted without permission. Ill Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgements I'd like to thank a number of people for helping me make this thesis possible. First, I'd like to thank my committee, Donald Snow, my chair, Sheri Venema and Marc Hendrix. Without their support and guidance, this would not have come together. Next I would like to thank the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Montana for giving me the creative leeway and academic support to pursue such a project. I'd also like to thank the Ron and Nancy Erickson Award, the Matthew Hansen Endowment, and the B.A. Dawson Endowment for their financial assistance. Special thanks to my friends who have supported me during my three years in graduate school, especially those fellow writers and photographers who have taken this long journey along with me. I couldn't have med it without them. And of course, extra thanks to my mother, to whom I owe the whole of my magnificent and wonderful life. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Prologue It is supposed that during the end of the last ice age, an ice dam in northern Idaho blocked the Clark Fork River in Montana creating glacial Lake Missoula, which spanned from the Montana/Idaho border nearly 200 miles east to Drummond, Montana. When the dam burst, 500 cubic miles of water rushing at speeds of up to 65 miles an hour ripped across eastern Washington in three braided channels, rejoined at Walulla Gap on the Columbia River, then tore through the Columbia River Gorge to the Pacific Ocean. This lake. North America's largest freshwater inland sea, was said to have flooded and filled between 40 and 100 times, each break releasing up to ten times the current total flow of all of Earth's rivers. These cataclysmic floods scoured the soft, fleshy earth of eastern Washington right down to the bare basalt, creating the channeled scablands and dry coulees, including the 700-foot deep Grand Coulee. The phenomenon was unlike anything anyone has seen since. The National Park Service has joined with the non-profit Ice Age Floods Institute and a host of local communities to display and interpret the lake and flood features, visible from Missoula, Montana to Portland, Oregon, in a proposedNational Ice Age Geologic Trail. In a study released in the fall of 2001, the Park Service proposed the four-state trail though Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, dude spur trails, roadside kiosks, and visitor