Professor Mathews, outburst floods, and other glaciological disasters

Misfortunes befalling the Granduc mining operation near Stewart, British Columbia, stimulated Professor Mathews' influential scientific contributions on subglacial hydrology. A series of violent floods from glacier-dammed Summit Lake menaced the transportation corridor between the Granduc ore c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
Main Author: Clarke, Garry K. C.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1986
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e86-088
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e86-088
Description
Summary:Misfortunes befalling the Granduc mining operation near Stewart, British Columbia, stimulated Professor Mathews' influential scientific contributions on subglacial hydrology. A series of violent floods from glacier-dammed Summit Lake menaced the transportation corridor between the Granduc ore concentrator and a tidewater dock at Hyder, Alaska. This unusual problem motivated the research of Mathews and later of Gilbert, who together laid the foundation for a greater understanding of the physics of outburst floods. The physical model that evolved from their research can be used to predict outburst flood magnitude and to cast light on the hydrology of ancient floods such as those from glacial Lake Missoula.