“Everything there is to know about the Missouri River — almost.”

The Missouri River drains one sixth of the conterminous United States and is one of the world’s ‘Big Rivers.’  It holds clues to the climatic and tectonic history of the Western Interior.  It also defines processes bounding across the union of meandering and braiding.  Relatively little is known of this majestic river from direct study of its valley fill and floodplain deposits.  Over the span of decades of study, extensive mapping, and over 60 students in the field, we are finally unlocking some of the Quaternary secrets of the Missouri River.  The river reveals a complex history of incision and aggradation related to glacial cycles.  It shows the glacial forebulge had little to do with this incisional history, and is likely much farther south than thought.  Similarly, the Missouri River is the type example of a braided meandering river. …