It took decades for the scientific community to accept the flood theory in the scablands. We can’t destroy our economy based on the all the scientists argument which is not true anyway. On who came up with the original flood theory it was not a geologist. The geologist in the OP was the one who ultimately latched onto it and pushed the flood hypothesis. I’ll look for the original guy when I get time. Interesting story really.
As a follow up a quick search found the guy I was talking about that first postulated the flood hypothesis. Interesting story in depth but I’m not sure if I read it online or in a book. Might not be easy to find “in 1882 Lieutenant T.W. Symons (who lead a team of topographers into the region) proposed that the Columbia River changed direction in a remote past, blocked by a large dam of ice” https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/from-flood-myth-to-martian-megafloods/
Thank you, that was an interesting read. It seems that while while Lieutenant Symons proposed the hypothesis, the mechanism he proposed did not adequately explain it: "The main criticism focused on the hypothetical short interval involved in the formation of the scablands and the estimated amount of water required, not explainable by the proposed mechanisms." It took scientists researching the problem to figure out the proper mechanism.
Actually one scientists figured out the proper mechanism and he was mocked and ridiculed by "all the scientists" for decades who were rigid in their thinking and resisted new information which threatened the accepted group think on the scablands which is exactly what happens to any scientists now that dares question the group think of AGW.
I seem to recall seeing an American TV series called Flash Gordon when I was very young that we’d get in Ireland at the cinema matinee before the main feature. Didn’t he have a Ray Gun? I seem to remember a Flash Gordon Ray Gun toy.
Sorry, it is called Geology. That is the study of the earth and how it formed. Paleontology is the study of ancient life. The study of Glacial Lake Missoula is geology, not paleontology. Unless you are studying the animals that lived in that lake.
This is not all that unusual, especially when a new hypothesis is contrary to prior beliefs. But it has to be changed with multiple new layers of evidence and analysis. I remember in the 1970s when the first geologists were starting to hypothesize that Yellowstone sits inside of a giant caldera. Most geologists at the time rejected that, but many continued to keep digging and do more and more research. In the late 1970s, I remember one trip to both Bruneau-Jarbridge and McDermitt, which is now recognized as the oldest known remnant of what is now known as the "Yellowstone Hotspot", and it is a supervolcano that has appeared over and over again for over 16 million years. And that the entire Snake River Plain is now known to be remnants of the movement of the crust over that hotspot. Something unthinkable prior to the 1970s, finally being taken seriously by the 1980s, and widely accepted by the 1990s. However, that does not mean the prior belief was "wrong", as much as made with incomplete data. As more data was collected and analyzed (and combined with even more research not directly connected by applicable) then you get a more complete picture. Heck, I am old enough to remember when Plate Tectonics was still a new and radical hypothesis, and many were still questioning it into the 1970s. My wife's late uncle was a paleontologist who first made his name in the field by comparing the fossils of turtles in Africa and South America, and proved that fossils from Africa and South America were of the same species, proving both Continental Drift and that the 2 continents were once joined. In science, beliefs are considered to be "corrected", which is not the same as saying what was believed before was wrong. It was simply the best that could be done based on old information. Heck, even the concept of an "ice age" was only accepted by the early 1900s. Almost 60 years after the theory was first written down.
And it is not only Lake Missoula. Yet another of the floods came around 14.5kya, when Lake Bonneville broke through a natural rock and dirt dam (likely a glacial moraine) and flooded down the Snake River into the Columbia. And this is actually the flood that is believed to have created the scablands. It is estimated that the flood was 3 times the volume of the Amazon river, and lasted for over a year. The entire region there is very similar to the Washington Scablands. And the rounded boulders are often locally called "petrified watermelons". They dot the landscape all over, an enigmatic leftover as they literally are scattered across huge areas of the plain, sitting on the surface with no logical reason to have been left in those locations in that manner. Until the "discovery" of Lake Bonneville. These signs used to dot the Snake River Plain, put in place by a regional gas station chain, similar to the old "Burma Shave" signs. It is because of those signs that in 1955 a geologist applied the name "Melon Gravel" to these and other such deposits, left by flood and not glacial activity. I used to hunt fossils along the ancient shored of Lake BOnneville, it has a fascinating history. And part of it is still there today. We call it the "Great Salt Lake".
All the scientists have been wrong many many times. The purpose of the scientific method is to investigate theories and attempt to prove or disprove them. Theories are disproved often and many times in some cases. Observe, explain, test the explanations, find the truth. It is the normal way things work in science. Thanks for providing yet another example.
Youtube has many wonderful lectures and field trips by geologists about this very subject, I have watched many of them myself. Its a fascinating topic. All one has to do is look at the former shorelines of the once enormous Lake Missoula high above Missoula to see the proof. I was recently at Lake Pyramid near Reno. It too was once much higher then the current lake level, it is easy to see the former edges of the lake over time in the surrounding hills and plains. Randal Carson is a bit of an enigma to me. While he understands the Scablands very well, his explanations seem a bit off to me. He also believes that man made it to the East Coast from Portugal during one of the ice ages based solely upon a very controversial type of spear head found on the East Coast. He is not a recognized expert but he is highly entertaining.
