why is this forum so dead?

[owneratUMR]

Originally Posted by SamAntone

Speaking of geologic libraries, there's a shelf around the Salt Lake valley and some adjacent places that were once the beaches of Lake Bonneville. In fact, you can see two, maybe three of these shelves where the lake endured long periods of time without change. The upper shelf is hundreds of feet above the valley floor.

Although I'm not a geologist, the subject is interesting to me. I don't know why, but geologic disasters fascinate me. I wish I could be near one, without fear of my life, when it happens. One example of a geo. disaster is the shrinkage of Lake Bonneville:

Supposedly, the Bear River added sufficient height to the lake to cause it to spill over the Red Rock Pass in Southern Idaho. This seems to have happened about 15,000 years ago. Once the flow of water began to spill over, the erosion of so much water quickly cut out a larger breach, and then the break-through of water was catastrophic. The flood along the Snake River reach a level of 400 feet (or am I thinking of the flood from glacial Lake Missoula?).

Some experts agree that water escaped through the Red Rock Pass at one-third cubic miles per hour (15 million cubic feet per second).

Lake Missoula's pre-historic catastrophe, affecting northern Idaho, Washington and Oregon, caused far more destruction than did Lake Bonneville's flood. Lake Missoula was being held back by a natural ice dam, which when it failed, 500 cubic miles of water were suddenly released, escaping at about 9.5 cubic miles per hour--30 times greater than Bonneville's.

This is all very very interesting. Did you get this info from books that I can read. I too enjoy ancient history: earth or people. How can this still be called a "so dead forum"?
:

[SamAntone]

Originally Posted by owneratUMR

This is all very very interesting. Did you get this info from books that I can read. I too enjoy ancient history: earth or people. How can this still be called a "so dead forum"?
:

I once edited a book about the Great Salt Lake, which included its history. I forget the name, but it was published by Horizon Publishers, which is now a part of Cedar Fort Publishing in Springville, Utah.

Also, recently, I watched a special on PBS (was it NOVA?) about disastrous floods. It made me aware, for the first time, of Lake Missoula's history. I'll bet a letter to the NOVA people will get you the videos they made on all related subjects.

Recently, I went to Google and typed in "lake bonneville" and "flood" and got info not only about Bonneville, but they threw in this piece about Lake Missoula, too.

Anyone who lives in the Salt Lake Valley--and neighboring valleys--can see the benches, or prehistoric beaches I spoke of. Someone told me that people used to find sea shells on those benches, but I think they're all gone, now.

[cottonwood2420]

Originally Posted by SamAntone

I once edited a book about the Great Salt Lake, which included its history. I forget the name, but it was published by Horizon Publishers, which is now a part of Cedar Fort Publishing in Springville, Utah.

Also, recently, I watched a special on PBS (was it NOVA?) about disastrous floods. It made me aware, for the first time, of Lake Missoula's history. I'll bet a letter to the NOVA people will get you the videos they made on all related subjects.

Recently, I went to Google and typed in "lake bonneville" and "flood" and got info not only about Bonneville, but they threw in this piece about Lake Missoula, too.

Anyone who lives in the Salt Lake Valley--and neighboring valleys--can see the benches, or prehistoric beaches I spoke of. Someone told me that people used to find sea shells on those benches, but I think they're all gone, now.

Interesting.

[SamAntone]

The interesting thing about the Missoula flood is what it "made" in its short life span. Geologists found strange earthen structures in Idaho--maybe further west--that didn't exist during a particular time in history, then suddenly they were there. It took them a while to link the creation of those structures (or the whittling down of them) to the Missoula flood, whose corrosive power was extremely high because of the speed and pressure of vast amounts of water. Not only did the water cut away some material, but the debris the water was carrying with it also did a lot of destruction and carving.

[SamAntone]

The unusual formations I talked about in my last post were large potholes in the bedrock. Some holes are over a 100 feet wide and almost as deep. These can be found somewhere in Washington State (Go to Nova to get info). They were made during the raging floodwaters from glacial Lake Missoula, and maybe other sources of floodwater, by underwater vortexes. When two large bodies of rushing water meet, they can form a whirlpool--not of air, but of swirling water and debris--like an underwater tornado. These are called kolks. Kolks can also be formed by deep, fast-moving water rushing over rock formations. The end of the ice age was marked by a lot of water melting, ice dams failing, and so on, providing many opportunities for the creation of kolks.