The late Pleistocene (17 ka) Soldier Bar landslide and Big Creek Lake, Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, central Idaho, U.S.A.

Abstract

Geomorphic mapping coupled with optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating reveal the late Pleistocene history and geomorphic development of the narrow canyon of Big Creek, a major tributary to the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in central Idaho. The most prominent feature in the region is the Soldier Bar landslide, which consists of slumped and rotated blocks of Mesoproterozoic quartzite bedrock that slid northward from an arcuate headwall, damming both the east-flowing Big Creek and Goat Creek, a southdraining tributary. Water impounded behind the dam ultimately overtopped the deposit. Overflow laterally