Ever since I saw the Nova presentation on the Channeled Scabland, the area has intrigued me. I'd like to share some links to articles I've found.
First, the video...PBS-Nova- Mystery of the Mega Flood. The person who uploaded it at YouTube has uploaded other educational videos :tiphat:
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/r1MNpYb5YCA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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The person who created this site has the best info that I've found so far. All of the links have good pictures of the interesting features of the scabland and surrounding areas.
http://hugefloods.com/Scablands.html
[snips]
The unflattering term ?scabland? sometimes is applied to rough or barren regions with little or no economic potential ? especially for agriculture. The esteemed analyst of the Columbia Basin scabland ?geologist J Harlen Bretz?used the term ?channeled scablands ? because he saw clear evidence that this strange landscape had been created by monster Ice Age Floods which had gouged channels through it. This distinguishes the Columbia Basin from tracts of scabland [or badlands] elsewhere, in which the topography normally results from the effects of massive long-term erosion.
BRETZ AND PARDEE ? SOLVING THE ICE AGE FLOODS MYSTERY
1923 Bretz concluded that the scablands were channels, and not valleys. [Hence his name the ?channeled scablands.?] The crazy network of channels, buttes, and canyons in the Columbia Basin could only have been a flood conduit. In addition, the only way these out-of-place ?erratic? boulders could have been moved hundreds of miles was to have floated there in rafts of glacial ice. For that to happen the water must have been deep, fast-flowing, and in immense volumes....he knew a flood had occurred, but didn?t know what could have caused it.
...His theory was denounced as ?preposterous? and ?incompetent?.
Among that Washington, D.C. audience (where he made his presentation) was Joseph T. Pardee, who apparently whispered to a friend: ?I know where Bretz?s flood came from.?
Full story: http://hugefloods.com/Mystery.html
Here's a short USGS paper:
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/geology/publications/inf/72-2/sec5.htm
First, the video...PBS-Nova- Mystery of the Mega Flood. The person who uploaded it at YouTube has uploaded other educational videos :tiphat:
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/r1MNpYb5YCA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
**********************
The person who created this site has the best info that I've found so far. All of the links have good pictures of the interesting features of the scabland and surrounding areas.
http://hugefloods.com/Scablands.html
[snips]
The unflattering term ?scabland? sometimes is applied to rough or barren regions with little or no economic potential ? especially for agriculture. The esteemed analyst of the Columbia Basin scabland ?geologist J Harlen Bretz?used the term ?channeled scablands ? because he saw clear evidence that this strange landscape had been created by monster Ice Age Floods which had gouged channels through it. This distinguishes the Columbia Basin from tracts of scabland [or badlands] elsewhere, in which the topography normally results from the effects of massive long-term erosion.
BRETZ AND PARDEE ? SOLVING THE ICE AGE FLOODS MYSTERY
1923 Bretz concluded that the scablands were channels, and not valleys. [Hence his name the ?channeled scablands.?] The crazy network of channels, buttes, and canyons in the Columbia Basin could only have been a flood conduit. In addition, the only way these out-of-place ?erratic? boulders could have been moved hundreds of miles was to have floated there in rafts of glacial ice. For that to happen the water must have been deep, fast-flowing, and in immense volumes....he knew a flood had occurred, but didn?t know what could have caused it.
...His theory was denounced as ?preposterous? and ?incompetent?.
Among that Washington, D.C. audience (where he made his presentation) was Joseph T. Pardee, who apparently whispered to a friend: ?I know where Bretz?s flood came from.?
Full story: http://hugefloods.com/Mystery.html
Here's a short USGS paper:
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/geology/publications/inf/72-2/sec5.htm