Kevin Pogue and Ron Urban, involved in recent "Ice-Age Floods and the Terroir of the Walla Walla Valley" spring field trip

Kevin Pogue, professor of geology, and Ron Urban, registrar, both were involved in the recent Ice-Age Floods Institute's “Ice-Age Floods and the Terroir of the Walla Walla Valley” spring field trip on Saturday, April 20. Prof. Pogue described the area's early geological and climatological features that produced a very favorable grape-growing environment, and Urban assisted in organizing the excursion. A busload of 42 IAFI members learned about the special soil features of the Walla Walla valley region that were formed during the enormous outburst floods that scoured eastern Washington during the end of the last ice-age, about 13 thousand years ago. Collectively known as a terroir, the valley's soils and specific climatological and meteorological patterns especially favor the Walla Walla region's premium wine industry, and would not have been possible without the humongous floods that battered and inundated the area – some involving 500 cubic miles of water.