Known Geologic Events at Mount Rainier
The purpose of this page is to list all known, dated gelogic events at Mount Rainier, including lahars, debris flows, large rockfalls, large avalanches, rockfalls, and other events. This list is currently being compiled, so if you find errors or a missing event, please
let Scott know.
Database ID#: 154
Date: Thursday, July 16, 2020
Location: Van Trump Creek
Glacier Name: Van Trump Glaciers
Drainage Basin: Van Trump Creek
Event Type: Other Hydrologic Event
Weather:
3 days in a row of warmish/clear skies after a long period of cool/cloudy weather. Previous day high temp @ Paradise: 66F.
Season: Dry
Notes:
**** THIS EVENT IS CURRENTLY BEING INVESTIGATED ****
Dispatch received a report from Yonit Yogev at around 8 am this morning about Van Trump Creek @ Christine Falls running high and dirty. Yonit has sent several photos to me, saved on network drive. I was already on my way into the park and went directly up to Upper Van Trump Hairpin and Christine Falls. I observed similar conditions to what she saw.
Van Trump Creek has a history of debris flow generation, with 5 distinct events between 2001 and 2008. In some events, debris flows have thrown large boulders over the road bridge and they have landed in the area where visitors take pictures of the waterfalls on the downstream side. VTC usually runs quite clear most of the year, with the exception being during extreme precipitation events. The system is primarily snow-melt-dominant but it does have a glacier source (Van Trump Glaciers). VT Glaciers are retreating dramatically and leaving behind vast stores of steep, unsorted, unstable sediment that can be prone to debris flows.
While this is a bit early for these events, there are two interesting pieces of evidence:
1) Around 04:26 UTC (9:26 PM), a short 1-minute seismic signal was recorded around the park, most strongly on the S-SW side of the park. This is consistent with the VTC source area.
2) Streamgage data at Longmire: usually stream stage decreases around 11 PM at this site but around 02:00 AM, both stream stage and turbidity increased. This is also consistent with the travel time for an event that occurred in point #1 in VTC.
Working hypothesis right now is that this is some sort of bank failure or slope instability somewhere between the snow line/glacier terminus down to somewhere above Christine Falls. This is quite an area with quite significant topography. The Comet Falls trail runs along a significant stretch of VTC and has at least two stream crossings.
Taylor and Robby are deploying a temporary probe to measure stream stage and temp on VTC near the confluence of the Nisqually. This would capture future events.
Estimated Velocity:
Estimated Peak Flow:
Estimated Volume:
References:
Data references:
Beason, S.R., 2012, Small glacial outburst flood occurs on Mount Rainier - October 27, 2012: Unpublished National Park Service Science Brief, 3 p.
Beason, S.R., et al., in prep, Glacial outburst floods and debris flows from the South Tahoma Glacier, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington: August and September, 2015: National Park Service Natural Resource Report NPS/MORA/NRR-2015/XXX.
Copeland, E.A., 2010, Recent periglacial debris flows from Mount Rainier, Washington: M.S. Thesis, Oregon State University, 125 p.
Copeland, E.A., P.M. Kennard, A.W. Nolin, S.T. Lanscaster and G.E. Grant, 2008, Initiation of recent debris flows on Mount Rainier, Washington: A climate warming signal? American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
Crandell, D.R., 1971, Postglacial lahars from Mt. Rainier volcano, Washington: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 677, 75 p.
Donovan, K.H.M, 2005, An investigation into the 2003 Van Trump Creek debris flow, Mt. Rainier, Washington, United States of America: BSc Geological Hazards Thesis, University of Portsmouth (UK), 58 p.
Driedger, C.L. and A.G. Fountain, 1989, Glacier outburst floods at Mout Rainier, Washington State, USA: Anals of Glaciology, Vol. 13, 5 p.
Hodge, S., 1972, The movement and basal conditions of the Nisqually Glacier, Mount Rainier: Ph.D Thesis, Univeristy of Washington, xxx p.
Legg, N.T., 2013, Debris flows in glaciated catchments: A case study on Mount Rainier, Washington: M.S. Thesis, Oregon State University, 162 p.
Legg, N.T., A.J. Meigs, G.E. Grant and P.M. Kennard, 2014, Debris flow initiation in proglacial gullies on Mount Rainier, Washington: Geomorphology, Vol. 226, p. 249-260.
Richardson D., 1968, Glacier outburst floods in the Pacific Northwest: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 600-D, D79-D86.
Samora, B., 1991, Chronology of flood events as noted in the superintendent's annual reports 1940-1991, Unpublished Internal Document, Mount Rainier National Park, WA, 13 p.
Scott, K.M., J.W. Vallance, and P.T. Pringle, 1995, Sedimentology, behavior, and hazards of debris flows at Mount Rainier, Washington: United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 1547, 56 p.
Vallance, J.W., C.L. Driedger and W.E. Scott, 2002, Diversion of meltwater from Kautz Glacier initiates small debris flows near Van Trump Park, Mount Rainier, Washington: Washington Geology, Vol. 30, No. 1/2, p. 17-19.
Vallance, J.W., M.L. Cunico and S.P. Schilling, 2003, Debris-flow hazards caused by hydrologic events at Mount Rainier, Washington: United States Geological Survey Open-File Report 2003-368, 4 p.
Walder, J.S. and C.L. Driedger, 1994, Geomorphic changed caused by outburst floods and debris flows at Mount Rainier, Washington, with emphasis on Tahoma Creek valley: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 93-4093, 100 p.
Walder, J.S. and C.L. Driedger, 1994, Rapid geomorphic change caused by glacial outburst floods and debris flows along Tahoma Creek, Mount Rainier, Washington, USA: Arctic and Alpine Research, Vol. 26, No. 4, p. 319-327.
Walder, J.S. and C.L. Driedger, 1995, Frequent outburst floods from South Tahoma Glacier, Mount Rainier, USA: relation to debris flows, meterological origin and implications for subglacial hydrology: Journal of Glaciology, Vol. 41, No. 137, 11 p.