Articles for tag: ancient lake, Earth Science, geological history, paleoclimate, U.S. desert

The Ancient Lake That Disappeared Beneath the U.S. Desert

The Ancient Lake That Disappeared Beneath the U.S. Desert

Jan Otte

Imagine walking across the blazing sands of America’s southwestern deserts, completely unaware that beneath your feet lies evidence of a watery world that once thrived where now only sagebrush and sand remain. Yet this isn’t some fantastical tale. It’s the remarkable geological reality hidden beneath thousands of square miles of what we now call the ...

The Economics of Catastrophic Flooding

Could Megafloods Return to North America?

Jan Otte

The specter of truly catastrophic flooding has been haunting scientists across North America as our climate continues to shift in unprecedented ways. From California’s Central Valley turning into an inland sea to entire coastal communities in the Pacific Northwest being swallowed by rising waters, the question isn’t if megafloods will return, but when they’ll strike ...