P-04 Potential Indicators of Catastrophic Flooding in Chinle Valley

Buller Hallway

The Chinle Valley project is an ongoing study of potential indicators of previously unidentified catastrophic flooding in Chinle Arizona. These potential indicators include: the presence of scoured bedrock channels in several locations, erratic quartzite and granodiorite boulders (the largest of which is approximately 20 tons) resting on top of the alluvium, and a large number of streamlined mesas (interdunal deposits) whose shape and orientation could be partly due to aquatic sculpting. The combination of these data hold good potential toward forming a hypothesis of previously unidentified catastrophic flooding in Chinle Arizona.