Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
these stories relate ancestral tales of dramatic disasters, or attempt to explain puzzling fea-
tures of the local environment, or both?
Map of glacial Lake Agassiz showing its maximum extent and outlet directions for various mega-floods during deglaci-
ation.
An intriguing Ojibwa (Chippewa) legend from around Lake Superior tells of a devast-
ating flood at the beginning of time when a great snow fell one September. A bag con-
tained the sun's heat until a mouse nibbled a hole in it. Spilled warmth instantly melted all
the snow, producing a huge flood that rose above the tops of the highest pines. Everyone
drowned except for an old man who drifted about in his canoe rescuing animals. It doesn't
take much imagination to see this as the story of an ice dam failure.
Stories about ice dam failures also come from Northern Europe. Nordic mythology tells
of how a kingdom of ice, ruled by an ice giant, once covered Scandinavia. When the Norse
