Pat Cabbage

The Channeled Scabland is located in eastern and central Washington. It was recently hypothesized that the floodwaters which formed the Channeled Scabland did not emanate solely from glacial Lake Missoula, but rather many flood pulses may have originated from beneath the Cordilleran ice sheet in adjacent British Columbia, Canada. The goal of this project is to use an integrative approach utilizing detrital zircon geochronology, Sm-Nd geochronology, and sedimentologic and stratigraphic evidences to constrain the source(s) of the floodwaters.

This project is designed to determine the ages of detrital zircons within flood deposits of the northern Channeled Scabland, to determine their provenance and constrain the source(s) of floodwaters that formed this unique landscape. Comparison of Sm-Nd isotopic analysis of shales coeval with flood deposits, with Sm-Nd isotopic analyses of potential source areas, will further constrain the sediment's provenance. In addition, paleocurrent measurements in the flood deposits (e.g., cross-bedding, ripple marks, and abundant flame structures) will be recorded, which will allow for a better understanding of floodwater dynamics. Constraining the source(s) of the floodwaters which formed the Channeled Scabland may provide a better understanding of Cordilleran Ice Sheet dynamics, as well as provide a better understanding of the Recent geologic history of the eastern-central Washington.

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