tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19032021.post4811336879819738909..comments2024-03-22T06:40:33.409-07:00Comments on Earthly Musings - My Travel and Geology Blog: Research Suggests Huge Paleo-Floods On The Colorado River - What Does It Mean For Glen Canyon Dam?Wayne Ranneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15571579037328414935noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19032021.post-82528155946605690272019-11-11T10:25:42.835-07:002019-11-11T10:25:42.835-07:00oops, I meant 210,000 cfs for 1884. A significant...oops, I meant 210,000 cfs for 1884. A significant revision from what O'Connor and others published for the deposits in axe handle cove.Joe Hazelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05038484955301201232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19032021.post-16449811524095215802019-11-11T10:22:57.269-07:002019-11-11T10:22:57.269-07:00Topping showed the 1884 flood at Lees ferry was li...Topping showed the 1884 flood at Lees ferry was likely closer to 250,000 cfs and 1921 was 170,000. <br />https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/pp1677/<br /><br />But what does that mean for the dam. with so many upstream diversions probably not much? Theoretically the dam can bypass 250,000 cfs although as we know 90,000 cfs didn't play out too well in 1983. Joe Hazelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05038484955301201232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19032021.post-67549122047928956342014-06-21T23:12:14.640-07:002014-06-21T23:12:14.640-07:00When I was a guide at Hoover Dam in the mid 90'...When I was a guide at Hoover Dam in the mid 90's all of what you write about was both well known and scarcely acknowledged. Glen Canyon has long been thought the more fragile of the two "mightiest" dams on the river, but if one went down from a megaflood, there would be a chain reaction downstream all the way to the Gulf of California. People will say in defense that there is ample capacity in this drought behind both dams, a drought that may be with us a long time. But megafloods are not inconsistent with droughts. As you point out, an atmospheric river dumping on a snowpack will do the job. Rivers move sediment with a force proportional to the cube of their velocity, so as the water rises in a reservoir a good portion of the volume beneath it will be sediment, flowing in without the impediment of higher water reaching further upstream. For Hoover Dam, the level at which sediment would clog the intakes is pretty low. Hoover is built to last a lot longer as a monument to shortsightedness than as a functional installation. There are no lessons learned, there are only generations that die off so that new generations can make their own mistakes.The Visualizerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08392965459668379378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19032021.post-47916936653711309682014-06-21T09:13:26.837-07:002014-06-21T09:13:26.837-07:00This is definitely food for thought. Our beloved C...This is definitely food for thought. Our beloved Colorado River continually reminds us that we are not in control. Excellent post Wayne. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00492666852253300160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19032021.post-38783597772020226142014-06-20T08:26:04.318-07:002014-06-20T08:26:04.318-07:00Hi Wayne: The event that created Grand Falls on th...Hi Wayne: The event that created Grand Falls on the LCR is a small-scale example of what could happen with one of the dams on the CR. Once the reservoir behind the lava dam at Grand Falls completely silted in, water found it s way around the dam and voila, we have Grand Falls. Of course if something like this were to happen on the CR at Glen Canyon Dam creating a falls around the dam might eventually result in destruction of the dam. What a mess that would be!!<br /><br />DuffWendell Duffield aka Duffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506241127251749954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19032021.post-8059919110101210332014-06-20T07:34:28.157-07:002014-06-20T07:34:28.157-07:00Awesome commentary, Wayne!Awesome commentary, Wayne!John Parsonshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18110501414573322917noreply@blogger.com