Channeled Scabland
The Channeled Scablands are a relatively barren and soil-free landscape on the eastern side of the U.S. state of Washington that was scoured by a series of up to 40 cataclysmic floods over a 2,000-year period that were unleashed when a large glacial lake repeatedly drained. These cataclysmic Missoula Floods swept across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Plateau during the epoch, occurring about 15,000–13,000 years ago.
Geologist J Harlen Bretz coined the term "channeled scablands" in a series of papers written in the 1920s. The debate on the origin of the Scablands that ensued for four decades became one of the great controversies in the history of earth science. The Scablands are also important to planetary scientists as perhaps the best terrestrial analog of the Martian outflow channels.
Bretz conducted research and published many papers during the 1920s describing the Channeled Scablands. His theories of how they were formed required short but immense floods – 500 cubic miles (2,100 km3) – for which Bretz had no explanation. Bretz's theories met with vehement opposition from geologists of the day, who tried to explain the features with uniformitarian theories.
J.T. Pardee first suggested in 1925 to Bretz that the draining of a glacial lake could account for flows of the magnitude needed. Pardee continued his research over the next 30 years, collecting and analyzing evidence that eventually identified Lake Missoula as the source of the Missoula Floods and creator of the Channeled Scablands.
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