Changing Late Holocene Flooding Frequencies on the Columbia River, Washington

Abstract

Data from prehistoric fluvial deposits can be used to extend the flood history of a river valley beyond historical records, thus increasing our understanding of variability in large, low-frequency flood events and providing a valuable means for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. We have applied this form of analysis to fluvial deposits from an archaeological site on the upper Columbia River in the state of Washington dating from 120 A.D.∗ to 1948 A.D. It was our expectation that, had flood frequencies remained constant, sedimentation event frequency would conform to an exponential function derived from the Wolman and Leopold model of vertical floodplain accretion. Our findings deviate from this model, showing that flood frequencies comparable to those of the twentieth century existed prior to 1020 A.D.∗ and after 1390 A.D.∗ Large floods were three to four times more common during the intervening centuries. On the basis of field evidence, we can rule out changing channel geometry, leaving climatic conditions as the most probable factors controlling this variation in flood frequency.