Huge Floods in the Pacific Northwest

From 2014: Nick Zentner & Tom Foster collaboration featuring stunning Foster photos and Zentner script. The Bonneville Flood, Missoula Floods, and Columbia River Basalt Flows are highlighted.

[@jefflantz9559]

If I'd met a teacher like you 40 years ago...I'd be doing what you're doing...thank you!

[@jefflantz9559]

@@debbylou5729 UH---, it was a thank you- go back under the bridge now please

[@Slide164]

Very cool!

[@erickrueger447]

You're the greatest, Nick, keep 'em coming!

[@greylance473]

The BEST instructor! My whole family has become your geological groupies! Thank you for giving us laymen understandable information. You rock!!!

[@tompeterson3774]

Now THAT is a recruiting video if I have ever seen one!

[@mariatheresa7095]

I love classic Nick. These are wonderful

[@Vickie-Bligh]

What an honor to Tom Foster's vision. Thanks for this, Nick.

[@tb4876]

I get a little thrill up my spine whenever Nick starts talking geology! lol...What a great teacher! Thanks Nick!

[@charliebartholomew1564]

so glad to see this again, thanks Nick and Tom Fosters friends for this movie

[@jamesdriscoll_tmp1515]

Great! Huge! Floods! Video!

[@marksinger3067]

All of you geology bloggers are much appreciated..You are inspiring many future rock heads...

[@Meditech509]

Absolutely love this format. Quick and to the point. Thanks Nick.

[@AndiFromOly]

Great watch thanks Nick.

[@7eVen.si62]

Nick ! You are the best! Thanx for this. 👍🙏

[@cobyiv]

I have well established career in architecture/construction but I recently found these original short-form videos you had made years back and I suddenly became OBSESSED with geology . Now I listen to your lectures as a weekend hobby . Thank you!

[@bearbait49]

Nick, you are a gift to geologists everywhere. Your video tours that pull together disparate outcrops and sweeping vistas are a treasure to those of us who have spent days crisscrossing the landscape often forgetting how what we just saw fits into the bigger picture. A toast from a Montana Geologist who spent time at Wazzu and with your series of coordinated studies is finding a new appreciation for Washington Geology. Well done kind sir.

[@reginebellefontaine4936]

Another magnificent video with clear explanations. Accessible, informative, and with beautiful photos.

[@Valkyrie801]

Professor Nick, Learning Pacific Northwest Geology from your presentations is like comfort food for the soul. 🙂

[@Sbwell5472]

Ditto for me and my husband in our late 60's now and our boys in their mid and late 30's. Have lived in Missoula and Coeur d'Alene area since 2001. We've all been following Randall Carlson and Graham Hancock for bout 10 years now. Love so learning about another open minded and passionate hearted geologists (Hancock honorary) perspectives on this subject with fearless/zero ego, objective perspectives. We all dearly hope you all may collaborate someday very soon. A Joe Rogan dream team symposium!

[@thomasprendergast6315]

Damn, Nick. You are good. I love your stuff, and I am just a dilettante. Keep em coming, please!

[@spudgn]

Always a good watch. Thanks Nick.

[@taylorblackstock5329]

WOW! Thank you from Vancouver Island!

[@richryan6326]

Thank you. Lived in the basin many years ago. was curious about the geology but didn't know who to ask locally

[@arnarninson4413]

A big Shout out from a residence of the Moses Coulee!!👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@GeologyNick]

Arn, would you please email me? [e-mail]

[@DixieDoodles]

Professor Zentner, you have really upped your game. I was going to listen and work but I was captivated and impressed with this video. It is interesting, has Beautiful graphics and is very clearly explained.

[@georgegrader9038]

That's right. That's amazing! Well said Nick. I brought students to that outcrop once. Mind blowing.

[@okiejammer2736]

Wowww. I keep saying Wowww... 2nd time watching this. Thank you.

[@fairhall001]

I am planning a trip to America to visit family in Washington state in a couple of years from now. These videos are giving me an appetite for what to consume while I am there. I am excited and will be able to interpret what I am looking at when I look out at the valleys and plains from a more educated point of view. Thanks in advance.

[@nobodysbaby5048]

You're going to have such a good time.

[@devinoneill5814]

His incredible talent to explain complex research data about our earth's past in an elegant way is simply amazing! His passion is contagious. I wish we had more professors like him!

[@richardallen6432]

Excellent presentation of how Eastern Washington and Southern Idaho Geology was formed over the years.

[@lewismooney3941]

Love dorking out on these!

[@kyleroth1025]

Thank you Professor Zentner

[@Taskerofpuppets]

Outstanding Nick! Was just in the Channel Scablands last week and checked HU Ranch Coulee and Palouse Falls during sunset. Beautiful, dramatic and breathtaking. Thank you for extending my knowledge on one of my favourite subject matters... PNW Geology!! I LOVE it all and can’t get enough of it. Cheers

[@rapauli]

Wonderfully understandible. Thank you.

[@johnplong3644]

As I started to look at the video ,I could not stop thinking of Tom Foster. He did amazing work It is bittersweet looking at this

[@maxmac7845]

The scale of the floods is mind boggling.

[@hamaljay]

I spend a lot of time walking around the forests and mountains of Washington State,and as I walk around I look for all the things you have explained, you've been one of my favorite guides/ teacher. Thanks for sharing.

[@Phoenix-ej2sh]

I'm from back east originally. I'm used to thinking in terms of 600-300 mya sedimentary rocks, limestone, etc. I moved to Oregon in 2014 and continue to be both amazed and terrified at the majesty and power of the geology out here. It's absolutely awe inspiring.

[@alanmarston8612]

Good job. Filling in the information that we needed.

[@williamlloyd3769]

Learned a few new things that I will look out for the next time I travel through this area. Fantastic!

[@noeraldinkabam]

Two days in a row. You’re always welcome in Friesland, Nick. Thanks.

[@janicem4382]

I had a teacher like you, first year of university. Unfortunately he died early, I think of him once in a while with great affection and renew my respect for those like yourself who have this amazing gift of teaching.

[@s_m_v]

Years ago I read a book about Glacial Lake Missoula. Afterwards I was able to fly over the scablands in a Cessna 182. Was pretty neat to see it all from the air.

[@grafzepplin5944]

Top notch presentation!

[@riharikaa809]

Appreciated your explanations of natural events. From New Zealand, well done.

[@Phdintheory]

I would absolutely love to hear a collaboration between you and Mr. Randall Carlson. The two of you together would turn the acedemic mainstream upside down. It would be AWESOME!

[@gordongadbois1179]

GNEISS VIDEO NICK

[@mikesherman6300]

so many answers, yet so many questions....... Nick, you have always done an awesome job....... thank you for your tireless service

[@donnacsuti4980]

Thanks Nick great maps and photos very informative

[@myrachurchman5013]

Thank you for the Nick fix...just in time. Hopefully I'll make it to the next one😉

[@AsgharAli-dz4nq]

Thanks, Nick, for all these amazing presentations. You are simply a blessing

[@James-pq5pi]

Nick, how could it be WARM enough for meltwater to fill Glacial Lake Missoula while simultaneously COLD enough to maintain the Purcell Trench Lobe? Also, how could the lobe of a glacier, cracked, filled with fissures a lubricated by melt waters hold back a lake the size of Glacial Lake Missoula? I ask this having personally observed the incredible strand lines of Glacial Lake Missoula looming thousands of feet above the University of Montana in Missoula. Thanks for all the INCREDIBLE content you create!

[@hotrodsarecool]

I just Laughed when Randal Carlton acted like he was the first to discover this a couple years ago. Its been common knowledge for 100 years as you point out. Thanks for sharing

[@briankel]

Randall Carlson?

[@g.scottbroemeling1699]

thank you professor! love your videos! very educational

[@sidbemus4625]

Holy Cow Nick. You are psychic.Thank you.

[@AlyxGlide]

production value 📈‼️❣️

[@ionizer24]

Thanks for your commitment to producing informative and entertaining videos!

[@Anne5440_]

Strange coincidence, Tuesday we were driving from wenatchee to Spokane. Going through the basin and of course looking at the flood geology I thought when I get home on Wednesday I need to start reading in my new geology books about the ice age floods. My goal to prepare for Nick's up coming coverage of this topic. Low and behold, 2 videos since I got home from Nick on the ice age floods!

[@harrisedgar]

Wonderful..!! Thank you..!!

[@gokickrocks]

i bet the internet would love to hear a discussion with you and Randall Carlson about these floods...

[@briankel]

Yes Yes Yes!!! I would love to watch them hash out what caused this event. Randall is willing to debate, is Nick willing to?

[@reidflemingworldstoughestm1394]

14:53 The size of that gravel bar raises the hair on my neck.

[@richardlawton1023]

Thanks Mick well done.

[@3Mores]

Could it be that the comets of the Younger-Dryas period melted the glaciers at a spectacular pace to create these amazing landscapes?

[@victor-th4qs]

Thank you Professor.

[@brianlhughes]

In Google Maps bring up Loomis WA, switch to terrain mode and follow the path of the Similkameen River out of Canada, 6 separate canyons paths carved to the Okanogan river, 2 near Conconully, at Fish lake going east, a huge flow past Loomis through both Spectacle Lake and Horse Spring Coulee out past Aeneas Lake, the current path through Nighthawk and another path into Osoyoos Lake. I'd like to know which path the river took before the ice age? It must have been under the ice for the duration of the ice age but I imagine it had it's share of floods during the melting stage.

[@brianlhughes]

oops better add a path through Ollala in BC. I have another question, which carved the canyon paths, the ice or the water under the ice? Combination of both i suppose.

[@jayolson578]

Two videos in two days👍🏻👍🏻

[@sandythixton4611]

Wonderful video, so clearly presented and captivating. The impact of floods upon Oregon's Willamette Valley would be another interesting addition to the story. I live not too far from Irish Bend on the Willamette in Benton County where the east shore embankments exhibit layers left behind by the floods.

[@xlr8tedzoom]

Binge watching again. You've been missed and I'm glad you are back!

[@bohdesimone9752]

👋👍

[@DanFarrar]

One of the very first videos I saw before becoming a Zentner fanboy 🤓 Big thanks Nick! Appreciate you

[@fairyprincess911]

Great lecture voice. I mean that very sincerely. Makes listening so easy.😻

[@gordonormiston3233]

Amazing landscapes, so unlike anywhere else especially here in The U K.

[@davidpnewton]

Not true. There are absolutely spectacular glacial outburst flood landscapes in the UK. The gap the M40 goes through just north east of the edge of the Cotswolds in Warwickshire was carved due to an outburst flood. However the real doozy when it comes to an outburst flood feature in the UK? The Straits of Dover.

[@thetangieman3426]

Well presented Sir.

[@lindakay9552]

This is the perfect subject for me right now! I live in Wenatchee. For the last 2 months, I've been living right below Ohme Garden, right on the river. Spent a lot of time out Swakane Canyon, up Burch Mtn, and in everywhere between Wenatchee, Monitor, Cashmere, Leavenworth, Plain, and Lake Wenatchee. I've been watching Nick's videos for ages. But this massive basalt flow has really been astounding me lately. It really hit me hard when I realized that every single bit of vegetation on the north side of Hwy 2, from Wenatchee, all the way to lake Wenatchee, is only skin deep. I started to notice that there are countless areas where you can see the basalt clearly exposed, and you go a bit further, and then there's green everywhere. It dawned on me all that rock had to be volcanic and flood caused. But haven't been able to figure out the the exact process. This video is such an illuminating discussion. Thank you, Professor!

[@malcolmanon4762]

I always had a interest in geology - as I grew up in the Lake District in the UK, which has a n interesting geological history - but until I came across Nicks Backyard Lectures during the pandemic, it was nothing more than that - so thank you Nick for all the work you've done on this.

[@michaelkeogh1427]

Very informative, thank you for the pics and information.

[@jeffmyers7062]

this is a great video to share with other hikers !

[@nuvostef]

I became interested in geology just a decade or so ago when going through the Colorado National Monument, and while I’m but a rank amateur, I love the subject. Your lectures fascinate me and teach me volumes, so I thank you for that. 😊🌹

[@frankmoreau8847]

Great video Nick. Having done a simple 10 minute video, I can somewhat appreciate the work it takes to produce and edit these videos. Masterfully done and very educational.

[@robertingliskennedy]

great style, sublime video

[@robillardjosh]

Fascinating stuff. Thanks for this.

[@Welldone827]

What a great video!!!! Well done!!!! Congratulations...... Sydney Australia

[@CameronMassie]

Your videos are world class 🌎 keep up the great work!

[@cwiggy34]

Ty ty for finally going to Lewiston Idaho.

[@felipericketts]

What you describe is so amazing! Impressive how these events can be discerned from the deposits that are left behind. Thanks for telling these remarkable stories!

[@kidchalleen4250]

We have more recently gotten confirmation that there was a GLOF 1100k years ago in the Atiplano of the Andes, which mostly destroyed a civilization (tiwanaku) it was a mystery for a long time (mainly because Bolivia doesn't have a GIS), not only strange geological formations. The work done on the Missoula, Bonneville, and Agassiz and geographical atifacts in Washington/ Oregon was used to help seal the arguement. It was called Lake Tuaca, and seems to have been part of a larger former lake. When it burst a whole ancient megalithic civilization was is it's way...luckily it was far far less that the Glacial Lake Missoula, which is still considered to be the biggest GLOF recorded. Thanks for reposting this!

[@jerylarcher6487]

Professor, I would like to know your thoughts as to why the Missoula flood took a northward path along what is now Pend Oreille River instead of south through the Purcell trench into Spokane and down the Spokane River drainage to the Columbia. Perhaps both scenarios are possible?

[@SirchiefAlot]

Best video on this topic

[@jeffbybee5207]

Two notes a retired u of utah put out a three video hypothesis that the flood was prompted by an earthquake in Salt Lake city and caused a landslide, the Gilbert trench, and a tsunami the breached the Redrock pass alluvial sediments. Second a question lake masoula was 2150 foot at the ice plug thus the ice dam would need to be 2388 high to balance the pressure and keep the water from floating the ice out of the way. An importian point I've not heard emphasized is that the glacier forced its way up 110 foot high slope 10 miles up the clarks fork River valley creating a compacted ice plug. Instead of a fractured ac cervased one where I glacier moving down hill under the pull of gravity may create a lake blocking a side canyon. My question is what is the pressure needed per square foot to push ice up a valley 10 miles. I know ice behaves plasticly 50 feet below the surface but do not know the friction in the ice. How deep did the ice over lake pen oriel have to be to create this pressure? Would the glacier specialist in you department know this and could someone ask her please? Thank you mr Zentner for years on entertainment and education!

[@johnnash5118]

Very interesting; does your ice height math include the 1,500’+ lateral moraines of unsorted gravels? My estimate of the size is from the 700-900’ lateral moraine at Wallowa Lake, which is x-orders of magnitude smaller than the Purcell Trench, so my 2x estimate is probably grossly understated.

[@jeffbybee5207]

@@johnnash5118 the bottom of the clarks fork valley was scowered close to bare bedrock with each flood. The glacier ice driving up the the valley I would not think would have much glacial till to pile up as a morane. My understanding is that terminal moranes pile up as the ice acting like a conveyor belt melting year after year drops sand gravel and boulders. Also if it melts back and surges forward again could bulldoze dropped till to built a dam that holds the lake. In clarks fork however the depth of the water is measured from the high strand marks down to bare rock. I got the max depth of 2150 feet from wickipedia. When I ran the calculations a couple of years ago my memory was the water at 2200 feet deep, but sticking with the 2150 foot figure the presence of 50 or 100 feet of loose glacial till the water in it would still be under the pressure of the water with the surface 4200 feet above sea level. You have me thinking however that water flow through glacial till might have been a source of failure of the ice dam, something to think on but however still pressure at 2150 feet is around 910 iirc though I may be off but the weight of oicemust equal the weight of water to keep the ice dam from being floated out of the way . Also I should note that I used the re of thumb formula that says 9 /10th of an iceberg is under water so devide height of water by 9 and times result by 10. A more accurate number for the pressure is to times 2150 cubic feet of water by 62 pounds per cubic feet to get pounds per square foot of pressure devided by 144 square inches. Also I belive I have read glacial ice weighs 57 pound per cubic foot so the weight of 2150 times 62 devided by 57 should give minium depth of ice to hold back the waters of the lake

[@jeffbybee5207]

Thankyou

[@jeffbybee5207]

@@johnnash5118 thankyou for causing me to read about Wallowa lake. I just ran the numbers I mentioned above and it came to 2338 feet of ice to balance the 2150 feet of water somewhat less than the 2388 feet the 9/10 rule of thumb would indicate though I wonder if the 57 pounds per cubic foot is rounded up from a 56. Something number?

[@jeffbybee5207]

@@johnnash5118 there is some evidence of flow of water over the Ridgeline of the north end of the bitterroots south of Lake pend oriel. As another source of the failure of the iceplug. Also as the glacier flows downhill it would press less hard on the rocks at the edge of the valley that create the latterial moraine also iirc that a lot of that material might have fallen on top of the ice from the valley sides but in the clarks fork with the ice pushing uphill and the force of the water from the last flood mostly cleaning out any alluvial material do not think there would be much loose material to form moraine lateral or terminal

[@TJWelsh]

There were impressive round boulders deposited near Wilsonville, OR. Some of these were uncovered during the mass excavation of the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility project in 2000.

[@erikpeterson25]

Fascinating geologic history 👍

[@cindysmith6833]

Wow , fantastic knowledge,thank you for sharing

[@pookiedust2517]

Good morning Nick from sunny England thankyou for another fab video, love your work, have an awesome day.

[@garymcmullin2292]

absolutely awesome presentation Professor! You are a dynamo of exciting, informative geologic discussions, this video is really well done, raised the bar of your achievements considerably sir!

[@RoxnDox]

Great to see a new video out! I really like how you tied the three events together in this one. Bravo!

[@richardharrison8493]

I live near the Roanoke River in north carolina, which is home to Kerr , lake gaston and Roanoke rapids dams. Amazes me how many people live here and never knew how round goose egg rocks got buried in red soil , rolled under glaciers ten thousand or so years ago .

[@donnacsuti4980]

This makes me wonder about the almost round granit rocks we find in the canyons and valleys of Sierra Nevada rivers. Could they be due to glaciers. then melting followed by rushing flooding?

[@lindaorr1805]

Always luv your presentation. Wish I had you when I was in academy

[@fallinginthed33p]

This has to be the best video around that explains the landforms associated with the Missoula and Bonneville floods. It would be nice to see an animation showing how a typical Missoula flood progressed from ice dam failure to the water reaching the ocean.

[@skateboardingjesus4006]

I've always had a big interest in geography and geology. Cascadia and the scab-lands were always intriguing to me and I was impressed by your videos which I found about a decade back. Keep them coming, from an Irish admirer.👍

[@sharonwhiteley6510]

Wow, the episodes seem to go by so quickly

[@sdmike1141]

Nicely put together!! Thanks Nick.

[@celicalostandfound973]

Nick, what are your thoughts on the Younger Dryas Impact theory, the Carolina Bays and that having a possible connection to the Channeled Scablands?

[@briankel]

I am curious as to his answer as IMO it has everything to do with it.