At This Rate, Paulina Falls Might Wear Itself Out
Posted by: 
Volcanoguy
N 43° 42.725 W 121° 16.951
10T E 638362 N 4841328
Sign about Paulina Creek Falls on Paulina Creek below Paulina Lake.
Waymark Code: WM70M6
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 08/15/2009
Views: 6
Marker Name: At This Rate, Paulina Falls Might Wear Itself Out
Marker Text: A tremendous, destructive flood once gnawed its way down Paulian Creek. Geologists speculate that about 2000 years ago Paulina Falls was 200 feet down-stream. Not very far except moving those tons and tons of solid rock-probably took just a few hours
Right now water tumbles over the falls at 20 cu ft/sec (0.57 cu m/sec). But water flow rocketed to 10,000 cu ft/sec (280 cu m/sec) during the flood. That’s 500 times more water and enough power to erode solid rock, snap trees off their roots and toss elephant-sized boulders miles downstream.
What caused the flood(s)?
Did a nuee adent (glowing cloud) of hot ash and rock from a volcanic eruption roar into Paulina Lake and create a tsunami? Or did flowing water simply erode the outlet down to a layer of soft volcanic ash that failed-like an earthen dam might wash out? Either or a combination of both is a good answer.
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