Missoula floods

E95487

cataclysmic flood event glacial lake outburst flood paleoflood

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.

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All labels observed (7)

Label	Occurrences
Missoula Floods	5
Spokane Floods	2
Bretz floods	1
Ice Age floods	1
Missoula Flood	1
Missoula floods canonical	1
catastrophic Pleistocene flooding (Bonneville Flood)	1

Statements (50)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	cataclysmic flood event ⓘ glacial lake outburst flood ⓘ paleoflood ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	Missoula floods ⓘ surface form: Bretz floods Missoula floods ⓘ surface form: Missoula Flood Missoula floods ⓘ surface form: Spokane 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 National Scenic Area ⓘ surface form: Columbia River Gorge eastern Washington ⓘ northern Idaho ⓘ western Montana ⓘ
hasOrigin	Clark Fork River and Bitterroot River ⓘ surface form: Clark Fork River valley Lake Missoula basin ⓘ surface form: Glacial Lake Missoula
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	Cenozoic glaciations ⓘ surface form: 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 National Scenic Area ⓘ surface form: Columbia River Gorge Snake River Plain features ⓘ Spokane River ⓘ surface form: Spokane River valley Willamette Valley ⓘ
startTime	approximately 18,000 years ago ⓘ
studiedBy	J Harlen Bretz ⓘ
timePeriod	Wisconsin glaciation ⓘ surface form: Late Wisconsin glaciation Pleistocene epoch ⓘ
tookPlaceIn	Idaho ⓘ Montana ⓘ Oregon ⓘ Pacific Northwest ⓘ United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States Washington ⓘ surface form: Washington (state)

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 ⓘ

this entity surface form: Missoula Floods

Missoula floods → alsoKnownAs → Missoula floods ⓘ

this entity surface form: Missoula Flood

Missoula floods → alsoKnownAs → Missoula floods ⓘ

this entity surface form: Spokane Floods

Missoula floods → alsoKnownAs → Missoula floods ⓘ

this entity surface form: Bretz floods

Channeled Scablands → formedBy → Missoula floods ⓘ

this entity surface form: Missoula Floods

Channeled Scablands → formedBy → Missoula floods ⓘ

this entity surface form: Ice Age floods

Channeled Scablands → associatedWith → Missoula floods ⓘ

this entity surface form: Spokane Floods

Snake River Canyon → formedByProcess → Missoula floods ⓘ

this entity surface form: catastrophic Pleistocene flooding (Bonneville Flood)

Lake Missoula basin → responsibleFor → Missoula floods ⓘ

this entity surface form: Missoula Floods

Lake Missoula basin → associatedWith → Missoula floods ⓘ

this entity surface form: Missoula Floods

Lake Missoula basin → erodedBy → Missoula floods ⓘ

this entity surface form: Missoula Floods