Spring lecture and field trip...

to examine the "Cheney-Palouse Scabland Tract - Top to Bottom" will be held this coming Thursday and Saturday, hosted by the Ice Age Floods Institute (IAFI):

The free lecture on Thursday, 28 April, will be presented at 7 pm, Science Building, Room 135, Eastern Washington University, Cheney.  Dr. Gene Kiver, Professor Emeritus, EWU Geology, will provide an overview of the Cheney-Palouse Scabland channel system from its beginning south of the West Plains of Spokane to its terminus south of Palouse Falls at the confluence of the Palouse and Snake Rivers. Important geologic concepts that help understand the evolution of the Channeled Scabland include generation of nickpoints (cataracts, now dry falls), development of canyons or coulees produced by cataract retreat, and long-term deepening and stripping of the rock layers producing different landforms as erosion continues will be discussed. 

The associated field trip on Saturday, 30 April, is led by Gene Kiver, Bruce Bjornstad, and Lloyd Stoess. The field excursion will start in Cheney at 8 am near the upper end of the Cheney-Palouse Scabland Tract and progress southward to Rock Lake and to the Palouse River valley. From there we will travel west across the Rock Creek and Cow Creek Coulees to Benge and south to Hooper, Washtucna, and Palouse Falls where the Cheney-Palouse Scabland Tract ends at the Snake River. We’ll see examples of cataract canyons, dry falls, basalt buttes and mesas, streamlined- and scarped- loess islands, and divide crossings caused by the monstrous Missoula Floods. The return trip will follow the west edge of the Cheney Palouse Scabland Tract, concluding at 6 pm. Registration is required and you can find details in the registration and liability forms. More information: Melanie Bell; (509) 954-4242.

For other related activities, consult the IAFI events calendar.