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Thanks Gene!

Gene Kiver provided our June program ...
"Ice Age Floods and the Cheney Area Story".

A nice-sized crowd turned out on a glorious early summer evening in CWU's Hebeler Hall for the June lecture. 69 people attended EWU geologist Gene Kiver's "Ice Age Floods and the Cheney Area" lecture.


Gene spent decades mapping in northeast Washington - and it showed. His presentation was packed with new information about the flood paths in the Spokane area.

We are grateful to Gene for his visit - and are pleased that his lecture was videotaped for broadcast on KCWU-TV.






Rock hammer






Thanks to all who attended our April program. Tom Ring's presentation on Yakima Basin hydrogeology talk "The Secret Life of Water in the Yakima Basin". 84 folks in the seats. Tom covered it all - geology basics for central Washington, surface and groundwater interaction in the Yakima Basin, human impact over the past 150 years, planning for the future, etc. Thanks Tom!



Ellensburg Chapter
of the Ice Age Floods Institute

Dry Falls.
-Dry Falls-
Howdy Ellensburg IAFI'ers -

Great day yesterday (6/7/09) up in the Lower Grand Coulee with Coulee City native Karl Lillquist. We enjoyed a light breeze and mostly cloudy skies as we studied the Ephrata fan, Dry Falls, and a number of interesting features within the Lower Grand Coulee. 26 participants joined us for a full day of Ice Age Floods. Plus we celebrated a Tuck Forsythe birthday with brownies at Dry Falls!

Thanks to all for an enjoyable school year. Lectures this past October, December, February, April, and June. Trips to Cooper Lake, Ancient Lakes, Drumheller Channels, and Dry Falls were sprinkled between the lectures.

See you in the fall!

Dry Falls field trip.
Photos from Dry Falls field trip by Nick Zentner

Click to open recent Dry Falls Trip Report.

Dry Falls Field Trip.

-Field Trip Recap Spring 2009-


Thanks to the 53 Ellensburg Ice Age Floods folks who joined us yesterday on our Drumheller Channels field trip. Sunday, April 19, 2009. 75 degrees and no wind! It was a very pleasant afternoon. Karl Lillquist (CWU Geography) was in command of this trip - from start to finish. Below are photos from our three field stops. Photo 1: our perch on the Frenchman Hills looking northeast into flood country. Photo 2: our short hike into a sand dune field near Potholes Reservoir. Photo 3: the Drumheller Channels before a longer hike on the Frog Lake trail. Plenty of sun and exercise on a Sunday afternoon. Join us next time!

Ellensburg Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute. Field trip to Drumheller Channels.
J Harlen Bretz described the Drumheller Channels as "... a marvelous region of scabland buttes and knobs, canyoned channels, rock basins interrelated in a complex unparalleled elsewhere, even in the scablands."

Drumheller Channels Ice Age Floods

A new year means perhaps renewing (or joining for the first time) your Ice Age Floods Institute membership. You can visit this link for more information: IAFI Membership Form

We are grateful for 2008 membership money that has come our way (the Ellensburg Chapter gets half of your membership dollars). Thanks to all who were 2008 members. Treasurers Tuck and Kay Forsythe report that we have roughly $1000 in our Yakima Federal Savings account. We will continue to pay travel costs for our speakers - and perhaps use some money in 2009 for special field trips.

As always, we welcome all who have interest in the Ice Age Floods. Membership is not required! However, if you would like to help support our activities with this local chapter of the IAFI, we would be appreciative.


See you in early June for our next lecture...

Chapter meetings are held in Hebeler Hall room 121 (Click for map)
Photos from Potholes Coulee field trip: Potholes Coulee (November 2008)


The Ellensburg Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute offers evening lectures to the general public in CWU’s Hebeler Hall on the first Wednesday of every other month. In addition, Sunday afternoon field trips are offered to local areas of geologic distinction. The lectures and field trips are attended by a diverse group of people who share a common love for the natural history of central Washington. Rock hounds, bankers, teachers, mechanics, farmers, students, business owners, families, retired folks, etc. enthusiastically support the chapter – which began in February of 2007.

The Ellensburg Chapter emphasizes informality, optional membership dues, and a hearty welcome to anyone interested in the dramatic story of the Ice Age Floods and other geologic tales of central Washington.

Image by Stev Ominski

April 2009 Drumheller Channels Field Trip
Karl Lillquist (CWU)

April 2009 The Secret Life of Water in the Yakima Basin
Tom Ring (Yakama Nation)

February 2009 Landform Change in Kittitas County
Marty Kaatz (CWU Emeritus)

December 2008 Floods, Floods and Megafloods! Geologic and Climatic Signatures of Paleofloods in the Western U.S.
Lisa Ely (CWU)

November 2008
Potholes Coulee Field Trip
Nick Zentner (CWU)
Potholes Coulee field trip
Potholes Coulee

October 2008 Landscapes of Eastern Washington
Don Ringe (CWU Emeritus)

August 2008
Cooper Lake Field Trip
Karl Lillquist (CWU) and Jack Powell (DNR)
Cooper Lake field trip
Cooper Lake field trip

August 2008
History of CWU Geology Dept. and the Ellensburg Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute.
Nick Zentner (CWU)

June 2008 An Iceberg Graveyard: Ice Age Flood Deposits of the Vantage Area.
Ryan Karlson (WA State Parks)

June 2008
Table Mountain Field Trip
Karl Lillquist (CWU) and Jack Powell (DNR)
Table Mountain Field Trip
Table Mountain
Photo by Nick Zentner

April 2008
Fire, Ice, & Floods: Iceland as a Contemporary Analog for Columbia Plateau Landscapes.
Karl Lillquist (CWU)

April 2008
Crab Creek Field Trip
Nick Zentner (CWU) and Karl Lillquist (CWU)
Sentinel Gap Erratic, Crab Creek field trip.
Sentinel Gap Erratic

Fegruary 2008
The Geologic Evolution of the Columbia River System.
Steve Reidel (WSU)

December 2007
Ice Age Floods Features Wenatchee and Moses Coulee.
Brent Cunderla (BLM)

October 2007
Excavations at the Wenas Creek Mammoth Site.
Patrick Lubinski (CWU)

April 2007
Yakima Canyon Field Trip
Nick Zentner (CWU) Jack Powell (DNR)
Nick Zentner describes Yakima Canyon Geology
Nick Zentner describes Yakima Canyon geology

June 2007
"Geology Exposed by the Ice Age Floods"
Jack Powell (DNR)

April 2007
Vantage and Frenchman Springs Coulee Field Trip
Jack Powell (DNR) and Karl Lillquist (CWU)
Jack Powell explains Frenchman Springs Coulee basalt.
Jack Powell explains Frenchman Springs Coulee basalt

April 2007
Exploring the Ice Age Floods
Bruce Bjornstad (PNNL)

February 2007
NW geology and the Glacial Lake Missoula floods.
Tom Foster (TCF), Nick Zentner (CWU) and Karl Lillquist (CWU)

Ellensburg, Washington sits at a geological crossroads – making it a perfect place to study an intoxicating variety of geology and physical geography. Within an hour’s drive from the CWU campus, students of all ages can learn hands-on lessons of the Columbia River Basalts, Cascades volcanism, Ice Age Floods landforms, plant fossils of the tropical Eocene, Ellensburg blue agates, the Yakima Fold Belt, among other local wonders.

Amazing geology surrounds Ellensburg

Clockwise from the Davidson tower:
  • West Bar giant current ripples-On display downstream from Wenatchee along the Columbia River, these photogenic ripples are well-known among Ice Age Floods experts around the world.
  • Ginkgo State Park-15 million-year-old petrified logs sit on basalt cliffs overlooking the Columbia River near the town of Vantage.
  • Columbia River Basalt-More than 300 basaltic lava flows flooded the Pacific Northwest time after time 7-15 million years ago - burying forests, changing river courses, and loading the crust of the region.
  • St. Helens-Awakening famously on May morning in 1980, the mountain woke again in 2004 building an impressive lava dome tucked inside its crater.
  • Rainier-Many geologists are concerned about Mt. Rainier-related natural hazards that threaten residents of the Puget Sound. Will there be volcanic mudflows flowing down river valleys in our lifetime?
  • Lahars (volcanic mudflows)-of the Ellensburg Formation perch above the Sunset Highway west of Ellensburg near the village of Thorp. Geologists continue to debate which extinct volcano is responsible for these deposits.
  • Central Cascades alpine peaks.(photo shows summit of Mt. Stuart)-93 million-year-old granodiorite dominates the geology of Mount Stuart - one of many peaks of the Central Cascades. Granodiorite forms when magma solidifies underground beneath volcanoes. So what happened to the volcano?

Yakima River Canyon
South of Ellensburg, the Yakima River has maintained its meandering course as the surrounding land uplifted and folded.

Karl Lillquist describes Columbia River Basalt and the Ice Age Floods in Frenchman Coulee.
 The Columbia River Basalt Group, Ice Age Floods and Channeled Scablands are explained by Ellensburg Chapter Vice President Karl Lillquist. With classroom locations such as Frenchman Coulee (left), the material covered during brief field trip lectures is easily understood.


Ellensburg IAFI Chapter President
Hosts Geology Program

"Central Rocks", a geology talk show hosted by CWU Geologist Nick Zentner, has been in production since October of 2006. Broadcast in central Washington on KCWU-TV, the show regularly features faculty and staff at the Department of Geological Sciences at Central Washington University. Special episodes have featured visits from noteworthy regional geologists including Ice Age Floods author Bruce Bjornstad, Tsunami expert Brian Atwater, and Mount Rainier geologist Tom Sisson.

NEW!!! ...Click to visit the "Central Rocks" page. Fifteen shows are available for viewing online.

Nick Zentner interviews geologist/author Bruce Bjornstad.
Nick Zentner interviews geologist/author Bruce Bjornstad
(Click to open show featuring Bruce Bjornstad).


Ice Age Floods Institute Speakers
Ellensburg Chapter members interact with professionals of various specialties during field trips. A few shown above ... Zentner, Powell, Bjornstad (geologists) - Lillquist (geographer) - Mattocks (Ornithologist) - Smith (Archaeologist).



Ellensburg Ice Age Floods Institute members launch canoes and kayaks to explore Cooper Lake during a recent field trip.

Ellensburg Chapter members (and anyone else that wanted to tag along), launch watercraft to explore the Cooper Lake area. Field trip leaders Karl Lillquist (CWU) and Jack Powell (DNR) described general geology of the eastcentral Cascades, the glacial origins of the lake, impacts of global warming on present glaciers upstream of the lake, and recent modification of the lake by fire, flood, debris flow, and avalanche.



All photos by Tom Foster unless otherwise noted.

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