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The Road Out Of Moses Coulee, Channeled Scablands, Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail

Highway 2 in Washingiton state leading along the canyon floor of Moses Coulee and uphill in the Channeled Scablands along the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail
Rebecca Latson
Monday, July 11, 2022

"At the time of one of the first floods to be released from Glacial Lake Missoula, the Okanogan Lobe of the continental ice sheet had spread across the Columbia Valley and onto the Columbia Plateau to a position about 24 kilometers (14 miles) north of the site and so had caused the diversion of the glacial Columbia River into the former channel of Moses Coulee. When the outburst flood occurred, violently erosive torrents rushing down the Columbia River drainage were diverted into the Moses Coulee channel, causing in a single flood event the formation of a long, deep coulee second only to the Grand Coulee in size."

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