Education resources

Read the flood in the landscape.

These live tools support observation, comparison, evidence-based argument, and primary-source work. Start with the map, then move between the terrain and the records that explain it.

Open the interactive map

Use what is live

Six ways into the evidence.

Interactive map

Compare flood extent, topography, sites, erratics, field observations, and 360 routes in one geographic view.

Explore the map → 360 trails

Walk 77 published Terrain360 routes containing 34,561 scenes across the flood corridor.

Browse the trails → Geological sites

Use 103 documented stops to identify coulees, cataracts, bars, lakes, and other flood features.

Browse sites → Ice-rafted erratics

Compare 400 boulders by location, elevation, lithology, and survey provenance.

Open the catalog → Field notes

Search 1,858 early survey records and connect short observations to their modern landscape.

Read primary records → Flood chronology

Read how cosmogenic dating refined the timing and sequence of the largest Missoula Floods.

Open the research page →

Inquiry sequence

Build an explanation from multiple records.

The same workflow scales from a short classroom exercise to an undergraduate research prompt. Students should distinguish observations in the catalog from interpretations in source text.

Choose a site on the map and describe the visible landform without first reading its interpretation.

Open the nearest 360 trail. Record what the ground-level route reveals that a topographic map does not.

Find nearby erratics or historical notes. Separate measured facts, such as elevation and lithology, from later conclusions.

Use the combined evidence to argue for water direction, minimum depth, or the process that formed the feature.

Example investigation

Can a boulder mark flood depth?

Plot a group of Willamette Valley erratics by elevation. Ask what their positions establish, what assumptions are required, and what other evidence would strengthen the claim.

Data

Location, elevation, dimensions, and lithology from the erratic catalog.

Map

Relative position within the mapped flood extent and modern valley.

Claim

A defensible minimum water level, with uncertainty stated explicitly.

Source practice

Credit the underlying work.

This is an independent Terrain360 guide assembled from multiple sources. Each record should be cited using the source and catalog details shown on its page. Follow external links for the authoritative publication or agency record, and do not treat this site as an official NPS or IAFI publication.

Read the data method