Channeled Scablands

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The evidence of the immense floods from Lake Missoula is clearly visible in the region known as the "Channeled Scablands", shown in the image above. The drainage pattern is distinct and indicative of the forces that caused it. However, the origin of the "Channeled Scablands" was a geological controversy for many years, due to the reluctance of the geological community to accept a "catastrophic" explanation for the origin of the erosive features in this region. Geologist J Harlen Bretz (he didn't use a period after the "J") argued persuasively for this explanation of the geology in the "Channeled Scabland" region. The last piece of the puzzle, which convinced numerous geologists, was the discovery of the many shorelines of ancient Lake Missoula.

In an interesting twist, NASA scientists have used the geology of the "Channeled Scablands" to understand many of the erosive geological features observed on Mars.