Historic Himalayan Ice Dams Created Huge Lakes, Mammoth Floods

Science Daily ^ | Dec. 27, 2004

[jimtorr]

Thanks for the link. Even though I grew up in the Willamette Valley and lived there for 28 years, I never realized that the floods even inundated that large valley.

Perhaps the floods were largely responsible for the deep alluvial deposits? I’ve never understood how the Willamette River and tributaries, primarily the MacKenzie and Santiam, could have put down so much.

[steelyourfaith]

~~Anthropogenic Global Warming ™~~

[Berosus]

Medieval Minimum? Here’s what I said about that climate on my website:

It is possible for scientists to calculate approximate temperatures before 1900 by using secondary sources, like tree-ring data, the ratio of oxygen isotopes preserved in old ice (O16 vs. O18), the types of algae skeletons found on the ocean floor, and so on. By doing that, we have discovered that temperatures have gone up and down constantly within historical times. For five extended periods in the past three thousand years, the world was warmer than it is today. Therefore, the famous “hockey stick” graph that shows world temperatures suddenly rising in the twentieth century is dishonest.

The best-known of the warm times mentioned in the previous paragraph is the “Medieval Warming Period,” which lasted from 800 to 1100 A.D. It helped end the Dark Ages, and allowed the Vikings to raid and conquer much of the world beyond Scandinavia. It also made Greenland just “green” enough for some Vikings to colonize it. Note that the Greenland colony failed when the “Little Ice Age” arrived (1300-1700), and only Eskimos could live on that huge island until the Little Ice Age ended. And in 2005, a medieval silver mine was discovered in Europe (I didn’t hear exactly where, so I’m guessing it’s in the Alps), when the glacier on top of it melted. The mining tools were carefully arranged inside, leading us to believe that the miners went home for the winter, expecting to come back and do some more digging next year. I can just imagine some guy named Ulrich telling the other miners on the last day, “This is my pick, don’t none of you forget it!” Instead, the ice and snow covering the mine didn’t melt when spring arrived, forcing the miners to seek new jobs. Does this mean that for the past 700+ years, Europe’s climate was colder than it should be?

If your answer to the above question is “yes,” then recent warming may be nothing more than a recovery from the Little Ice Age. This is why one scientist who blames global warming on humans has reportedly said, “We have to get rid of the Medieval Warming Period.”

From http://xenohistorian.faithweb.com/holybook/articles/warming.html

[Publius6961]

Lake Missoula BUMP!

[Publius6961]

Here you go.
Check this out! Great place to start. Get ready for hours of education.

Ice Age Floods Institute

[BIGLOOK]

The Medieval Minimum was a short period before the Medieval Warming Period, c. 700 a.d.

I did a search and got an AGU meeting report that mentions it....but couldn't get a link and can't copy the article by Yau. Seems to be blocked.

However this is my inquiry/search number.

Search Results Cite abstracts as Eos Trans. AGU, 83(47), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract xxxxx-xx, 2002 Your query was: "PP71C-01"

I went back there this morning and found it again.....and was surprised to find my post to you immediately below the link to the AGU article. Just Google 'Medieval Minimum' and find it easily.

[george76]

Thanks.

Is this the one ?

Sorry for the length.

http://www.agu.org/cgi-bin/SFgate/SFgate?language=English&verbose=0&listenv=table&application=fm02&convert=&converthl=&refinequery=&formintern=&formextern=&transquery=%22PP71C-01%22&_lines=&multiple=0&descriptor=%2fdata%2fepubs%2fwais%2findexes%2ffm02%2ffm02%7c358%7c4782%7cSolar%20Variability%20and%20Climate%20Change%20in%20the%20Last%202000%20Years%7cHTML%7clocalhost:0%7c%2fdata%2fepubs%2fwais%2findexes%2ffm02%2ffm02%7c18102705%2018107487%20%2fdata2%2fepubs%2fwais%2fdata%2ffm02%2ffm02.txt

[george76]

This may be better.

[BIGLOOK]

That's it, George. Aren't the last comments enlightening as to the folly of the Global Warming crowd.

Well back to the original subject. The relatively short medieval minimum may have had a role in the formation of ice dams trapping water in lakes at high altitudes. Unlike glaciation from snowfall. they remained liquid, building up pressure until something had to give.

[george76]

I remember several examples of huge lakes behind ice, lava, and / or earthen dams that later released huge amounts of water.

These dams apparently lasted centuries before failing.

The GW crowd is crazy...

[BIGLOOK]

Think human dam management. They can last centuries too with upkeep and water level control. But somewhere down the line there will be a climatic change or weather event that will challenge even the best damn dam.

We had an earthen work dam leftover from the sugar plantations burst on Kauai during a very heavy rain storm. It missed maintenance for a few years and killed 17. The natural dams you speak of are researched for the sake of science but never maintained.

I don't care where anyone chooses to live and they can live wherever for long periods safely....but eventually we're all in harm's way.

[John O]

“Mammoth Floods”

Sounds pretty hairy!

I thought mammoths moved in herds. Now they tell me it's floods. Would someone please make up their minds!