Ice Age Floods Explorer

Mammoth Undertaking for Cheney Students

In the early 1990s, second-graders in Mrs. Sara Jane Aebly's class at Windsor Elementary School discovered that Washington State did not have an official state fossil. Encouraged by their teacher,…

Granite Boulder in the Scablands: Mountain Top or Glacial Erratic?

By Justin Luppens

Due to the ice age floods, when a large granitic rock is found near the Spokane Airport it can be hard to determine if it is an old mountain top surrounded by younger geological features or rafted in…

The Joso High Bridge

By Josh M Bliesner

Around 1910 when construction began on this massive span, it was still the golden age of railroads. The Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company planned a new track between Portland, Oregon,…

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History of Starbuck

By Miranda Caudill

Starbuck is a small town of only 129 residents located in southeastern Washington near the Snake River. It has a warm climate and mild winters. The Snake River, Tucannon River, and surrounding land make the area ideal for farming and ranching. One…

The Ancient War Scars of Hooknose Mountain

By Connor Stark

Do you ever get self-conscious about your nose? What if your nose looked so weird that people named you after it? That’s what the early people of what is now known as the northern Pend Oreille County area did to a mountain. While the adjacent…

Rings in the Basalt – The Mysterious Origins of the Odessa Craters

By Emma Bowden

The Odessa Craters are a series of ring-like structures within the Columbia River Basalt that are scattered throughout the channeled scablands in Eastern Washington. There are over 100 ring-structures located North and East of Odessa, each one being…

You wouldn’t want these pillows on your bed:

By Rosilee Beretta

Deep Creek Canyon is a hidden gem of Spokane County that is located in Riverside State park. It is the remnants of ancient basaltic lava flows that have been carved out by cataclysmic glacial floods. The valley holds a bounty of discovery through its…

The Starbuck Sand Flower

By Rachel Hill

At first glance it may not appear that the remote farming town of Starbuck, Washington, contains much geology. However, the unique slackwater deposits of the Tucannon Valley are perfectly exposed on the western side of town. The most notable feature…

The Black Basaltic Rock at Palouse Falls

By M. Christopher Jenkins

Standing at the overlook of Palouse Falls, visitors can see that the basaltic rocks that make up the canyon have some sort of story to tell. These black rocks are part of the continental flood basalt province known as the Columbia River Basalt Group…

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Ice Age Floods Explorer

Ice Age Floods Explorer is a web and mobile platform for telling stories of the Missoula Floods and is an ongoing endevour focusing on student research. Ice Age Floods Explorer is a project of the Public History program and Department of Geology at Eastern Washington University. Most of the stories were created by EWU students. Co-editors are Drs. Chad Pritchard, Larry Cebula, and Paul Lindholdt from Eastern Washington University. Dr. Chad Pritchard is an Assistant Professor in the Geology Department. Dr. Larry Cebula is Editor of Spokane Historical. He is a Professor of History at Eastern Washington University and the Assistant Digital Archivist for the State of Washington. Dr. Paul Lindholdt is a Professor or English. Assistant Edit... Read more About Us