In geology, catastrophism is the theory that the Earth has largely been shaped by sudden, short-lived, violent events, possibly worldwide in scope. This contrasts with uniformitarianism, according to which slow incremental changes, such as erosion, brought about all the Earth's geological features. The proponents of uniformitarianism held that the present was "the key to the past", and that all geological processes throughout the past resembled those that can be observed today. Since the 19th-century disputes between catastrophists and uniformitarians, a more inclusive and integrated view of geologic events has developed, in which the scientific consensus accepts that some catastrophic events occurred in the geologic past, but regards these as explicable as extreme examples of natural processes which can occur.
The Missoula floods were cataclysmic glacial lake outburst floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the last ice age. These floods were the result of periodic sudden ruptures of the ice dam on the Clark Fork River that created Glacial Lake Missoula. After each ice dam rupture, the waters of the lake would rush down the Clark Fork and the Columbia River, flooding much of eastern Washington and the Willamette Valley in western Oregon. After the lake drained, the ice would reform, creating Glacial Lake Missoula again.
The Channeled Scablands are a relatively barren and soil-free region of interconnected relict and dry flood channels, coulees and cataracts eroded into Palouse loess and the typically flat-lying basalt flows that remain after cataclysmic floods within the southeastern part of Washington state. The Channeled Scablands were scoured by more than 40 cataclysmic floods during the Last Glacial Maximum and innumerable older cataclysmic floods over the last two million years. These floods were periodically unleashed whenever a large glacial lake broke through its ice dam and swept across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Plateau during the Pleistocene epoch. The last of the cataclysmic floods occurred between 18,200 and 14,000 years ago.
J Harlen Bretz was an American geologist, best known for his research that led to the acceptance of the Missoula Floods and for his work on caves.
Temple Hoyne Buell was an American architect, real estate developer and entrepreneur namesake of the Buell Theatre in Denver Center Complex, Buell & Company, and the Temple Buell Foundation.
Drumheller Channels National Natural Landmark showcases the Drumheller Channels, which are the most significant example in the Columbia Plateau of basalt butte-and-basin Channeled Scablands. This National Natural Landmark is an extensively eroded landscape, located in south central Washington state characterized by hundreds of isolated, steep-sided hills (buttes) surrounded by a braided network of numerous channels, all but one of which are currently dry. It is a classic example of the tremendous erosive powers of extremely large floods such as those that reformed the Columbia Plateau volcanic terrain during the late Pleistocene glacial Missoula Floods.
John Lewis Bretz was an American lawyer and politician who served two terms as a U.S. Representative from Indiana from 1891 to 1895.
Bretzville is an unincorporated community in Jackson Township, Dubois County, in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Bretx is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.
Bretz Mill is an unincorporated community in Fresno County, California. It lies at an elevation of 3274 feet.
Ockenden is an unincorporated community in Fresno County, California. It is located 1.25 miles (2.0 km) south of Shaver Lake Heights, at an elevation of 5568 feet.
Portsmouth Raceway Park is a three-eights mile dirt track located approximately 1 mile west of Portsmouth, Ohio. The track was built in 1990 by Owner/Operator Boone Coleman. The track hosts weekly racing events throughout the summer months, including the classes, Late Model, Modified, Limited Late Model, and Bomber. In 2009 the track hosted its first televised event, The "Big Red Book" River Days Rumble, featuring the Lucas Oil Late Model Series. The series made two appearances at the track in 2010, featuring one televised event, the two day "Pepsi 75 – River Days Rumble" paying $20,000 to the winner. In 2012 the 'crown jewel' racing event, The Dirt Track World Championship, was hosted at the speedway. The race, the thirty-second annual running of the event, paid $50,000 to the winner and was televised on the SPEED Network and sanctioned by the Lucas Oil Late Model Series. The announcement was made during the D.T.W.C. weekend that the thirty-third annual hosting of the event would also take place at the speedway under Lucas Oil series sanction. The DTWC now pays $100,000 to win and Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, IL is the defending champion (2019).
Gregory Bretz is an American snowboarder who has competed since 2004. His first and to date only World Cup victory was in Canada in the halfpipe event in 2008.
The Hartford Hawks baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball program of the University of Hartford, located in West Hartford, Connecticut. The program is a member of the NCAA Division III Conference of New England. The program had been a member of the NCAA Division I America East Conference from 1985 to 2022. It has played home games at Fiondella Field since the venue opened at the start of the 2006 season.
George Henry Bretz, later Brett, was a Canadian lacrosse player who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. In 1904 he was member of the Shamrock Lacrosse Team which won the gold medal in the lacrosse tournament.
George M. Bretz (1842–1895) was an American photographer who is best known for his photographs of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Coal Region and its coal miners.
Bretz is an unincorporated community in Preston County, West Virginia, United States.
Bretz is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Jim Bretz is an American baseball scout and former college baseball coach. He is the Northeast Scouting Director for the Detroit Tigers and was previously the head coach of UNC Asheville (1991–1994) and Hartford (1995–1997).
