Kautz Creek

Kautz Creek is a tributary of the Nisqually River, flowing from the Kautz Glacier, with its watershed in the Mount Rainier National Park of Washington. It drains southwest from Mount Rainier for about 6 miles (9.7 km) before it joins the Nisqually River near Mount Rainier Highway. It is notable for being a severe flooding hazard due to the volume of summer glacier melt and its frequently changing course. The 400-foot (120 m) Kautz Creek Falls on the headwaters of the creek was formed by the retreat of the Kautz Glacier in the past 50 years.[1]

Kautz Creek
Kautz Creek in Mount Rainier National Park, photographed in 2006.
Location
CountryUnited States
StateWashington
National parksMount Rainier National Park
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationKautz Glacier, Mount Rainier
MouthNisqually River
Length6 mi (9.7 km)
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • rightPyramid Creek, Pearl Creek

Kautz Creek was named after A. V. Kautz, an army officer and mountain climber.[2]

Hydrology

The channel of Kautz Creek is very steep and narrow, because it has eroded through the relatively soft material that the lahars and mudflows have deposited. The creek flows in a trench that is 100 to 200 feet (30 to 61 m) wide and up to 75 feet (23 m) deep, and its course often changes during floods.

Lahars

The creek is notorious for its history of severe floods and mudflows. On October 2 and 3, 1947, heavy rains triggered a jökulhaup (glacial lake outburst flood) from the Kautz Glacier- the largest flood after the establishment of the park. The flood (similar to a volcanic lahar) moved 40,000,000 cubic metres (1.4×109 cu ft) of earth and boulders of up to 13 feet (4.0 m) in diameter for 6 miles (9.7 km). It buried the Nisqually-Longmire Road under 30 feet (9.1 m) of debris, and carved a canyon 300 feet (91 m) deep. Other large debris flows have occurred in the Kautz Creek watershed in 1961, 1985, and 1986, with small debris flows occurring more frequently.[3] The creek also jumped its banks in November 2006, destroying parts of the Kautz Creek Trail.

References
  1. "Kautz Creek Falls at Waterfalls Northwest". Retrieved 2009-03-09.
  2. Meany, Edmond S. (1923). Origin of Washington geographic names. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 127.
  3. "USGS Study of Postglacial Lahars from Mount Rainier". Retrieved 2009-03-09.

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