Stop #26: Wave-cut Terrace
Location:
Columbia Falls; follow Station Road along the delta. Drive by—no specific stop, view from roadway.
N 44°40’13” W 67°39’17”
Geology:
Wave-cut Terrace: This prominent, 20-foot-high wave-cut bluff and terrace was formed when sea level briefly stabilized above 250 feet above the present level. Sea level then lowered rapidly, leaving a series of beach ridges, offshore bars and small erosional scarps. The Columbia Falls Delta formed along the same glacier edge, and at the same time, as the Pineo Ridge Delta. This terrace was cut into the Columbia Falls Delta at the same time and at this same sea level as the one on the seaward face of the Pineo Ridge Delta.
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