Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T03:07:32.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Outburst Floods from Glacial Lake Missoula

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

G. K. C. Clarke ,
W. H. Mathews  and
R. T. Pack
G. K. C. Clarke
Affiliation:
Department of Geophysics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1W5, Canada
W. H. Mathews
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1W5, Canada
R. T. Pack
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1W5, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Pleistocene outburst floods from glacial Lake Missoula, known as the “Spokane Floods”, released as much as 2184 km3 of water and produced the greatest known floods of the geologic past. A computer simulation model for these floods that is based on physical equations governing the enlargement by water flow of the tunnel penetrating the ice dam is described. The predicted maximum flood discharge lies in the range 2.74 × 106−13.7 × 106 m3 sec−1, lending independent glaciological support to paleohydrologic estimates of maximum discharge.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , November 1984 , pp. 289 - 299
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anon. (1978). Hydrologic Atlas of Canada Fisheries and Environment Canada Ottawa Anon.Google Scholar
Baker, V.N. (1973). Paleohydrology and sedimentology of Lake Missoula Flooding in eastern Washington Geological Society of America, Special Paper 114 Google Scholar
Bird, R.B. Stewart, W.E. Lightfoot, E.N. (1960). Transport Phenomena Wiley New York Google Scholar
Bretz, J.H. (1926). The Spokane flood beyond the channeled scablands Journal of Geology 33 97 115; 236–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, G.K.C. (1982). Glacier outburst floods from “Hazard Lake”, Yukon Territory, and the problem of flood magnitude prediction Journal of Glaciology 28 3 21 Google Scholar
Clarke, G.K.C. Mathews, W.H. (1981). Estimates of the magnitude of glacier outburst floods from Lake Donjek, Yukon Territory, Canada Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 18 1452 1463 Google Scholar
Clarke, G.K.C. Waldron, D.A. (1984). Simulation of the August 1979 sudden discharge of glacier-dammed Flood Lake, British Columbia Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 21 502 504 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glen, J.W. (1955). The creep of polycrystalline ice Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A 228 519 538 Google Scholar
Hutchinson, G.E. (1975). A Treatise on Limnology Vol. 1 Wiley New York Google Scholar
Mathews, W.H. (1973). Record of two jökulhlaups International Association of Scientific Hydrology Publication No. 95 99 110 Google Scholar
McAdams, W.H. 3rd ed. (1954). Heat Transmission McGraw-Hill New York Google Scholar
Nye, J.F. (1976). Water flow in glaciers: Jökulhlaups, tunnels and veins Journal of Glaciology 17 181 207 Google Scholar
Pardee, J.T. (1942). Unusual currents in Glacial Lake Missoula, Montana Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 53 1569 1600 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paterson, W.S.B. 2nd ed. (1981). The Physics of Glaciers Pergamon Oxford Google Scholar
Rist, S. (1973). Jökulhlaupaannall 1971, 1972 og 1973 Jökull 23 55 60 Google Scholar
Schlichting, H. 7th ed. (1979). Boundary-Layer Theory McGraw-Hill New York Google Scholar
Spring, U. Hutter, K. (1981). Numerical studies of jökulhlaups Cold Regions Science and Technology 4 227 244 Google Scholar
Spring, U. Hutter, K. (1982). Conduit flow of a fluid through its solid phase and its application to intraglacial channel flow International Journal of Engineering Science 20 327 363 Google Scholar
Waitt, R.B. Jr. (1984). Periodic jökulhlaups from Pleistocene glacial Lake Missoula—New evidence from varved sediment in northern Idaho and Washington Quaternary Research 22 46 58 Google Scholar