“
The Washington state scablands were also created in a short time at the end
of the last ice age when an enormous volume of water broke through an ice dam.
“
In case you’ve not seen it...
PBS’s “NOVA” had a great episode on the creation of The Scablands.
It was very interesting (IIRC) how it was explained that supercooled
water, blasting through small cracks in an ice-dam can still create
enough friction/heat to cause the ice-dam to fail.
Also, the moment in which one academician realized he knew how the
scablands formed was great. Definitely a “eureka” moment.
Website for the episode:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/megaflood/scablands.html
I remember visiting there as a kid in the 60’s. They called one area the dry falls and the story presented was that there had been a water fall there with a volume greater than Niagara. So the idea that vast amounts of water had flowed through there is not a new one.