{"id":403,"date":"2008-08-02T18:11:45","date_gmt":"2008-08-02T22:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/judykat.com\/ken\/?p=403"},"modified":"2008-08-02T18:11:45","modified_gmt":"2008-08-02T22:11:45","slug":"the-channeled-scablands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/judykat.com\/ken-judy\/the-channeled-scablands\/","title":{"rendered":"The channeled scablands"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"channeled_scabland.png\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By 1920, earth scientists had come to embrace a theory of Uniformitarianism<\/a>, a world shaped by slow, inexorable forces observable in the present day.<\/p>\n

Uniformitarianism fit the evidence of the time and served to separate Geology from Bible scholarship. Glaciers and plate tectonics not God’s miraculous, scourging hand.<\/p>\n

The channeled scablands in Eastern Washington State are hard-rock canyons cut by non-existent rivers, alkaline lakes, and house sized boulders scattered on flat plains. <\/p>\n

Based on evidence gathered from this terrain, Geologist J. Harlen Bretz<\/a> came to believe the channeled scablands were, in fact, formed by a catastrophic flood. <\/p>\n

The scientific establishment refused Bretz’s claim. Still, over decades, he continued to teach. He continued to champion his work. <\/p>\n

Within his lifetime, Bretz’s theory gained wide support based on corroborating evidence of a 2,000 foot deep prehistoric lake over what is now Missoula, Montana<\/a> and research into ice dams and hydrodynamics.<\/p>\n

The channeled scablands were carved out by massive, rapid floods. 500 cubic miles of water traveling 30 to 50 miles an hour draining a lake half the size of Lake Michigan in days. <\/p>\n

Recent evidence bridges uniformitarian and catastrophist world views. The scabland floods cycled over thousands of years. Glacial movement would re-establish the ice dam, a new lake would form, water would reach critical height, the dam would shatter.<\/p>\n

The origin story of a landscape I’ve loved since childhood from father-son fishing trips, solitary hikes, college road trips and vacations with my wife and daughter, is awe inspiring.<\/p>\n

The path to understanding that origin story is both hopeful and cautionary. Science lived up to its ideals though it took the passing of a generation of scientists to get there.<\/p>\n

Once an idea hardens into a belief, a belief that supports a deeply held world view, even people dedicated to reasoned debate have trouble hearing evidence to the contrary. <\/p>\n

Natural and human events prove unsettlingly complicated. In response, we humans can turn even our most enlightening ideas into weapons of ignorance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By 1920, earth scientists had come to embrace a theory of Uniformitarianism, a world shaped by slow, inexorable forces observable in the present day. Uniformitarianism fit the evidence of the time and served to separate Geology from Bible scholarship. Glaciers … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[557,59,556,555,554,201,60],"class_list":["post-403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal","tag-geologist","tag-ideas","tag-lake-michigan","tag-michigan","tag-missoula","tag-montana","tag-science"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t