Missoula floods

E95487

The Missoula floods were a series of cataclysmic Ice Age glacial outburst floods that repeatedly swept across the Pacific Northwest, dramatically reshaping the landscape of what is now Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.

All labels observed (7)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf cataclysmic flood event
glacial lake outburst flood
paleoflood
alsoKnownAs Bretz floods
linked to: Missoula floods

Missoula Flood
linked to: Missoula floods

Spokane Floods
linked to: Missoula floods
associatedWith Cordilleran Ice Sheet
Glacial Lake Columbia
Lake Lewis
cause failure of the ice dam of Glacial Lake Missoula
repeated ice-dam collapses on the Clark Fork River
created coulees
dry falls
giant current ripples
hanging valleys
large gravel bars
pothole cataracts
deposited erratic boulders transported on icebergs
thick layers of silt in the Willamette Valley
endTime approximately 13,000 years ago
evidenceFoundIn Columbia River Gorge
eastern Washington
northern Idaho
western Montana
hasOrigin Clark Fork River valley
Glacial Lake Missoula
linked to: Lake Missoula basin
influenced regional drainage patterns of the Columbia River system
soil distribution in eastern Washington and Oregon
maximumDischarge on the order of 10 million cubic meters per second
maximumLakeDepth over 600 meters at the ice dam
maximumLakeVolume approximately 2,100 cubic kilometers
partOf Quaternary glacial history of North America
recognizedAs one of the largest known freshwater floods on Earth
recurrence dozens of separate flood events
possibly more than 40 major floods
reshaped Channeled Scablands
Columbia River Gorge
Snake River Plain features
Spokane River valley
linked to: Spokane River

Willamette Valley
startTime approximately 18,000 years ago
studiedBy J Harlen Bretz
timePeriod Late Wisconsin glaciation
Pleistocene epoch
tookPlaceIn Idaho
Montana
Oregon
Pacific Northwest
United States
Washington (state)
linked to: Washington

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (12)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Columbia Plateau erodedBy Missoula floods
Columbia National Wildlife Refuge formedByGeologicalProcess Missoula Floods
linked to: Missoula floods
Missoula floods alsoKnownAs Missoula Flood
linked to: Missoula floods
Missoula floods alsoKnownAs Spokane Floods
linked to: Missoula floods
Missoula floods alsoKnownAs Bretz floods
linked to: Missoula floods
Channeled Scablands formedBy Missoula Floods
linked to: Missoula floods
Channeled Scablands formedBy Ice Age floods
linked to: Missoula floods
Channeled Scablands associatedWith Spokane Floods
linked to: Missoula floods
Snake River Canyon formedByProcess catastrophic Pleistocene flooding (Bonneville Flood)
linked to: Missoula floods
Lake Missoula basin responsibleFor Missoula Floods
linked to: Missoula floods
Lake Missoula basin associatedWith Missoula Floods
linked to: Missoula floods
Lake Missoula basin erodedBy Missoula Floods
linked to: Missoula floods