Clark Fork Valley

When it burst through the ice dam and exploded downstream, the waters of Glacial Lake Missoula ran at a rate of 10 times the combined flow of all of the current rivers in the world! The fast draining waters left many features similar to features seen along creeks and rivers today, but on an exagerated scale. In the center of this photo is a sand and gravel bar such as you might see at the junction of a creek and river today... but this one is several hundred feet wide, and high above the valley floor.

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