Tagged Locations:

Glacial Lake Agassiz Beaches: Beaches near the GF Air Base.   Beaches basically account for all natural linear features running southeast to northwest in the Red River Valley. In Canada the beach direction may be variable. It should be noted that there are often multiple beaches in the Northern Red River Valley that correlate to a single beach in the Southern Valley. This has been attributed to rapid uplift taking place as the glacial ice receded. Presentation I did for a class on the topic. Presentation I did for class on the Beaches of Glacial Lake Agassiz (Worth a look)

If you want to know more try

Brevik, Eric C., 1994, Isostatic rebound in the Lake Agassiz Basin since the late Wisconsinan: MS Thesis, University of North Dakota

I had to make a digital copy of this so I might as well make it available.  I don’t think it is copyrighted.  Let me know if you think it is.

Southern Spillway: One of several catastrophic outflow points of Lake Agassiz. Note: The outflow points change overtime depending on the level of the lake and ice conditions farther north. & Large Scale braded stream cause by the one of the lake Agassiz floods.

Other Points of interest:

Pembina Escarpment: The Pembina Escarpment marks the edges of the prehistoric Red River Valley (pre glaciation) Note:  Try to have your Eye alt around 20000 ft. To my knowledge there is no documentation on the joints in the Pierre formation in this region. (I looked) It could make a really good senior project for someone at UND or NDSU.

Logical Devils Lake Outlet Locations: I lived in the Devils Lake area so I still keep track of the area.

Dahlen Esker:  Grand Forks County If you are looking for more information on Eskers try: https://www.dmr.nd.gov/ndgs/ndnotes/Eskers/Eskers.asp

http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/nd_geology/nd_glacial/esker1.htm

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1. It flows north which makes the river prone to ice dams. If the answer isn’t obvious from that statement simply think about spring warming trends in the northern states especially North Dakota and Minnesota. The thaw can come weeks earlier in the southern Red River Valley compared to the Northern. Large amounts of water moving North forces itself under the still frozen ice which causes rapid breakup. Large amounts of free floating ice bond together and forum ice jams which forces the river out of its banks.

2. Farm drainage causes the river flooding to be worse because the water is able to get to the river rapidly rather than dissipating over a longer period of time.

3. Climate change and cyclical climate change. As most people know the whole region in and around the Red River basin experience cyclical changes in precipitation. From about 1993 on we have been in a wet cycle and will continue to be for several more years. (Yes, there can be dry years within the wet cycle.)

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