Interview: Jim O'Connor

A former University of Arizona graduate student who studied under well-known floods geologist Vic Baker (CWU geologist Lisa Ely was a fellow Baker student at the time), Jim is part of the next wave of field geologists that have worked on unsolved mysteries in the Channeled Scablands. J Harlen Bretz started fieldwork on eastern Washington’s Ice Age Floods features in the 1920’s, Vic Baker and Richard Waitt began in the 1960’s, and Jim’s colleagues got their start in the 1980’s. In addition to Dr. O’Connor, Brian Atwater and Gerardo Benito have added rich detail to the timing, volume, and velocity of the floodwater that dramatically changed the appearance of eastern Washington.

Later in the interview, Jim discusses his landmark work on the Bonneville Flood – a result of Utah’s Lake Bonneville spilling over Red Rock Pass and surging into southern Idaho’s Snake River drainage. The floor of the Snake River Canyon and Hell’s Canyon is littered with Bonneville Flood deposits – and Jim’s experience mapping both in Idaho and eastern Washington allows him to carefully compare and contrast the deposits of both the Bonneville Flood and the Missoula Floods.