The Flat Terraces Along This Channel Were Created by Catastrophic Flood Events.

The flat terraces visible along the sides of this channel are not random geological features. Randall identifies them as the product of a specific and well understood flood sequence - one he has observed in natural coulee formations where major floods have cut through landscapes and left their signature in the sediment record. The process he describes is precise. A major flood event deepens the channel, entraining large volumes of sediment as it moves. As the water begins to decline - particularly in the case of a flash flood or outburst flood - it loses competency and can no longer carry that sediment load. The material drops and creates a flat sedimentary layer. Subsequent flows then incise into that layer before it fully consolidates, leaving the flat shelf visible along the channel walls today.

The question Randall raises is a measured one. The morphology here is sufficiently consistent with that formation process to make it worth examining closely. The flat terraces, the channel geometry, and the sediment layering are all pointing toward the same sequence of events - and that sequence, wherever Randall has encountered it, has consistently indicated the presence of catastrophic water flows operating at a scale that gradual erosion alone cannot produce.

Join Randall for his upcoming Finger Lakes Tour, Aug 30 Sep 5, 2026