Pre-and post-Missoula flood geomorphology of the Pre-Holocene ancestral Columbia River Valley in the Portland forearc basin, Oregon and Washington, USA

Geomorphic landscape development in the pre-Holocene ancestral Columbia River Valley (1-5 km width) in the Portland forearc basin (~ 50 km length) is established from depositional sequences, which pre-date and post-date the glacial Lake Missoula floods. The sequences are observed from selected borehole logs (150 in number) and intact terrace soil profiles (56 in number) in backhoe trenches. Four sequences are widespread, including (1) a vertically aggraded Pleistocene alluvial plain, (2) a steep sided valley that is incised (125-150 m) into the Pleistocene gravel plain, (3) Missoula flood terraces (19-13 ka) abandoned on the sides of the ancestral valley, and (4) Holocene flooding surfaces (11-8 ka) buried at 70-30 m depth in the axial Columbia River Valley. Weathering rims and cementation are used for relative dating of incised Pleistocene gravel units. Soil development on the abandoned Missoula flood terraces is directly related to terrace deposit lithology, including thin Bw horizons in gravel, irregular podzols in sand, and multiple Bw horizons in thicker loess-capping layers. Radiocarbon dating of sand and mud alluvium in the submerged axial valley ties Holocene flooding surfaces to a local sea level curve and establishes Holocene sedimentation rates of 1.5 cm year− 1 during 11-9 ka and 0.3 cm year− 1 during 9-0 ka. The sequences of Pleistocene gravel aggradation, river valley incision, cataclysmic Missoula flooding, and Holocene submergence yield complex geomorphic landscapes in the ancestral lower Columbia River Valley.

Research highlights► This paper details the sequence of geomorphic landscape development of the ancestral Columbia River in the Portland Basin. ► Landscape development proceeded from Pleistocene alluvial plain to late Pleistocene valley incision to cataclysmic flooding to Holocene valley submergence. ► The subsurface record of changing landscapes is important to geoengineering, groundwater hydrology, archeology, and environmental impacts.