Today's idle clicking through Wikipedia...

[lethargic_man]

...introduced me, as I am introducing you now, to the Missoula Floods, a series of cataclysmic floods resulting from the periodic rupture of the ice dam at the end of the glacial Lake Missoula in Washington State during the Ice Age. The ice dam regularly gave way because (to simplify slightly) as water built up behind the dam, the increased pressure at the foot of the dam lowered the water's freezing point, melting the dam. The result was Dry Falls (satellite view), the largest known waterfall ever, ten times the size of Niagara, and a peak flow of the floods of 80 mph. Woo!

Comments

Badlands

[bluepork.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I remember telling you about this recently. I found out about because I caught a program about the top 10 earthquakes ever, or something. The eddies caused by all that water violently draining eroded massive 80ft holes in the ground, which are still there. Its in an area known as the Badlands.

Also on the program was a ridge, about 15ft high, which runs across much of Norway. The higher part of the ground used to be under ice, and when the ice retreated it apparently bounced up like a sponge. I can't remember where the evidence lies for this happening in one movement though.