New video posted - "HUGEfloods in the Pacific Northwest". Click arrow to play.

  Video describes Columbia River Basalts, Ice Age Floods from Lake Missoula and Lake Bonneville and includes many photos and maps. Thanks for watching!

 More videos will be posted in the next few weeks. To stay in touch subscribe to channel by clicking YouTube button below:

  We shot the new video at Hells Gate State Park just a few miles south of Lewiston, Idaho at the mouth of Hells Canyon. Nick and I both enjoyed visiting with Charlie Chase, ranger at Hells Gate. Most visitors to the park are focused on local Native Americans and Lewis and Clark. Great place for that! ... but ... if you're also interested in the Ice Age Floods story and catch up with Charlie, he can fill you in on plenty of details. Chase has been on the trail of the floods for years. A photo of Charlie appears on the cover of the 2001 "Ice Age Floods Study of Alternatives".

Charlie Chase - 2001

Nick at Tammany Bar

  Nick and I decided that a location within the Tammany Bar flood deposits would be a great place to try and tell the story of the Columbia River Basalts, Missoula Floods and the Bonneville Flood. This place is amazing! Lake Missoula deposits stacked on top of Bonneville material.

Temporary Lake Lewis

  Map shows water from the northeast (Glacial Lake Missoula) flowing into the Columbia Basin and backing up behind the constriction at Wallula Gap near Pasco, WA.

Detail of backflooding to Lewiston area.

Key players that unraveled Ice Age Floods field evidence.

  Also need to mention Steve Reidel. Steve deserves a ton of credit for his work sorting out the Columbia River Basalt flows and sharing information with the public.

   

Blue shirt and orange pack in Hawaii

  Early in the show Nick talks about the Columbia River Basalts. In addition to Pacific Northwest photos, we used a little footage and a photo from our 2013 trip to Hawaii. Photo above shows Nick standing on a recent lava flow with steam rising as lava enters the Pacific Ocean in the distance. If you make it to the end of the video, you'll see Nick stirring molten lava with his rock hammer.

Not the same one he dropped down the crack in this BLOOPER.

  At the point in the video where Nick talks about the thickest Columbia River Basalt accumulation at Pasco, Washington ... I was at a loss for which photo to use! I live in Pasco and the basalt is buried. I ended up inserting a photo of the Hanford Reach, with a caption to identify the Ringold Formation.

  I just purchased Ellen Morris Bishop's new book "Living with Thunder".

 Ellen describes the Pasco scene:

  If you've ever strolled across the rippled black slopes of Kilauea, or explored the once-molten surface of Craters of the Moon, then you have an inkling of what Pasco, Washington might have looked like 15 million years ago. Long before Kennewick Man, Columbian mammoths, or Ice Age Floods, the Columbia Basin was a flat, desolate, dark expanse from horizon to horizon.

I recommend this book!

  Hanford Reach Interpretive Center - view from Pasco

 Wish I could have found a way to insert a photo of the new Hanford Reach Interpretive Center in the video. The building is amazing. Their wildlife displays and Hanford site material is well done. Seems like the geology exhibits are not quite finished but this should be a great place to learn about the Columbia River Basalts, Ringold Formation and the Ice Age Floods down the road. They also plan to include the story of local agriculture.

Hanford Reach Interpretive Center exhibits

Tom Tabbert

  Here's a photo I took over the shoulder of our friend Tom Tabbert. He helps us out with the aerial clips used in the 2 Minute Geology series. This shot shows Tom flying east above the Clark Fork River near the Idaho/Montana border. In the video we used a similar shot ... wanted to make it clear that all the water from Glacial Lake Missoula flowed through this channel.

Great videos on Tom's YouTube Channel

Purcell Trench

 Guess I'll also add this shot. View north into the Purcell Trench while flying over Lake Pend Oreille. The huge lobe of ice that blocked the Clark Fork River creating Glacial Lake Missoula filled this trench. 

Swallows Rock

Charlie and the rest of the park staff have a nice view of Swallows Rock across the Snake River. Swallows Rock basalt from Pomona and Elephant Mountain flows.

Tuning up the script!