I'm finally climbing back into the saddle after a couple months of relative chaos -- changing jobs, moving across the country, and some traveling. And then yesterday, my second day in my office here at Virginia Tech, this happens. Thankfully, it was a false alarm. Personally, I think the authorities did the right thing by treating it as a credible threat. People on campus were alerted within 30 minutes of the report and they provided updates throughout the day. I have no problem with being extra cautious about this stuff.
Anyway, I've got a few posts I'm working up for next week, but to get back in the swing of things I wanted to post a photograph I took just a few days ago. This week's Friday Field Photo is out the window of a flight from Spokane, Washington to Portland, Oregon on Monday evening. (Please excuse the obstruction from the propeller and window, best I could do.)
The landscape in the eastern half of Washington state is characterized by areas of coarse-grained sediment, erosional scours, and exposed basalt outcrop mixed with 'islands' of soil-mantled hills. In the photo above note the teardrop-shaped 'island' of lighter-colored landscape (with the evidence of agricultural development). Surrounding this area is a soil-less, rocky landscape unfit for agriculture.
This area is smack in the middle of what's known as the Channeled Scablands and is the result of immense glacial outburst floods that occurred approximately 13,000 years ago. When I say immense, I mean immense. As lobes of the continental ice sheet left over from the last ice age were receding they dammed up drainage pathways creating glacial lakes. A lake known as Lake Missoula, which was as large as some of the Great Lakes, formed in northeastern Washington, northern Idaho, and northwestern Montana. Periodically, the ice dam would fail resulting in a catastrophic outburst and draining of the lake.
The waters charged westward within the modern-day Columbia River watershed carving canyons, moving house-sized boulders, stripping much of the landscape of the soil, and, in some places, depositing humongous river-like landforms.
Although I haven't had the chance to do the research and confirm, that 'island' in the photo above looks to be a remnant -- and area that was spared from these floods. Perhaps it is sitting just a bit higher than surrounding areas.
There is much to say, and much has been written, about the Channeled Scablands. Although I've known about the story of the Channeled Scablands for a while, this was the first time seeing the features in person. Like many, I'm captivated by this landscape. Stay tuned for more posts in the coming weeks.
Happy Friday!
