About Cataclysms on the Columbia: The Great Missoula Floods
Presented by: Scott Burns, Professor of Geology, Portland State University
Co-sponsored by: Centralia College, Centralia Library
Have you ever wondered how the Columbia River Basin has such a unique, varied and dynamic landscape? From scablands and dry channels in eastern Washington, to dramatic waterfalls on the Oregon side of the Columbia River, the region is a geologic wonderland. At the next Old St. Francis History Pub, journey with Scott Burns, Professor of Geology at Portland State University to the Pacific Northwest's past by learning about the last ice age floods that dramatically carved out and changed the Columbia River Gorge landscape over 10,000 years ago. These dramatic floods caused by the repeated breaking of an ice dam on glacial Lake Missoula in western Montana created the landscapes we know today including the scabland buttes, dry falls and dried river channels.
About the Speaker:
Scott Burns is a Professor of Geology at Portland State University where he has taught for 27 years out of his 47-year teaching career. Dr. Burns specializes in environmental and engineering geology, geomorphology, soils, and Quaternary geology. He has authored over 90 publications and has had over 25 research grants. His first book, Environmental, Groundwater and Engineering Geology: Applications from Oregon came out in January of 1998. Another book, Cataclysms on the Columbia, the Great Missoula Floods was published in October of 2009.
