How long did it take lake Missoula to drain?

It is estimated that the maximum rate of flow was equal to 386 million cubic feet per second. At that rate, the lake probably drained in a few days.

What was the greatest area of lake Missoula?

about 3,000 square miles
The water that was impounded behind the dam filled the tributary valleys for many miles to the east. At its highest level Glacial Lake Missoula covered an area of about 3,000 square miles and contained an estimated 500 cubic miles of water—half the volume of present day Lake Michigan.

Where did the Missoula Floods start?

About 15,000 years ago, in the waning millennia of the Ice Age, a vast lake known as Glacial Lake Missoula suddenly burst through the ice dam that plugged it at one end.

Where was the Glacial Lake Missoula ice dam?

Idaho panhandle
Glacial Lake Missoula: At the end of the last Ice Age, a finger of the Cordilleran ice sheet crept southward into the Idaho panhandle, forming a large ice dam that blocked the mouth of the Clark Fork River, creating a massive lake 2,000 feet deep and containing more than 500 cubic miles of water.

Why did Glacial Lake Missoula drain so rapidly?

These floods were the result of periodic sudden ruptures of the ice dam on the Clark Fork River that created Glacial Lake Missoula. After each ice dam rupture, the waters of the lake would rush down the Clark Fork and the Columbia River, flooding much of eastern Washington and the Willamette Valley in western Oregon.

Does lake Missoula still exist?

​​The ice dam was over 2000 feet tall. Glacial Lake Missoula was as big as Lakes Erie and Ontario combined. Car-sized boulders embedded in ice floated some 500 miles; they can still be seen today!

What happened to Glacial Lake Missoula at the end of the last ice age?

The Missoula floods (also known as the Spokane floods or the Bretz floods or Bretz’s floods) were cataclysmic glacial lake outburst floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the last ice age. …

What was the worst flood on Earth?

The largest known meteorological flood—one caused by rainfall, as in the current Mississippi River flood—happened in 1953, when the Amazon River overflowed.

Who is to blame for the Johnstown flood?

To the residents of Johnstown and many people across the nation, blame lay clearly with Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick and the other wealthy and prominent Pittsburgh businessmen who as members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club owned the dam, and thus were responsible for its collapse.

Could the Missoula floods happen again?

Could huge floods on this scale happen again? Although global warming may now be a serious concern, it is likely that long-term climate cycles will cause large ice sheets to return at some time in the distant future, and cataclysmic outburst floods will probably recur in this region.