Der Neoglaziale Alsek See entstand zuletzt in der Kleinen Eiszeit mehrmals aus dem Lowell Lake.

Der Lowell Gletscher, ein 70 Kilometer langer Eisstrom in den St. Elias Mountains im kanadischen Yukon Territorium, bildete eine Talsperre, durch die der Alsek River aufgestaut wurde.

Plötzliche Brüche dieses Gletscher-Dammes in den Jahren 1725 und 1852 lösten riesige Flutwellen aus. Die Wasserwand, durchsetzt mit Geröll und Eis schoss talabwärts und riss alles mit sich, 200 km weit bis in den Pazifik. Die im unteren Alsek-Tal und in der Dry Bay lebenden Tlingit-Indianer und ihre Kultur wurden weitgehend ausgelöscht.

Überlieferter Augenzeugenbericht

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Emma Ellis erzählt die Geschichte ihrer Großmutter, Augenzeugin im Jahre 1852, damals 10 Jahre alt:

There was a flood all over. It was because my father's people (TlukwaxAdi) made fun of a seagull. They threw it in the fire. It was a young one and couldn't fly. They threw it in again. All its feathers burned off. They laughed at it. And then a great flood came. And there was no place to be safe. That glacier broke that used to go across the Alsek. The people tied their canoes to the "Whale's fin." That island at the mouth of Dry Bay, GAltcinuwu, used to be a whale, and the people tied their canoes to the part sticking up. But some of the young people untied their canoes too soon. A great wave came along, turned over the boats, and the young people were all flooded in the ocean. Only the old people were saved. It was when my father's mo ther was a little girl at Tinx kayani when it happened. When she'd grown up my grandma called her sons by all her uncles' names. Her uncles got drowned that time. When she talked about it, my grandma always cried. They lose lots of people that time.[1]

Literatur

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  • F. De Laguna: Under Mount Saint Elias, The History and culture of the Yakutat Tlingit, 1972.
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Einzelnachweise

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  1. F. De Laguna: Under Mount Saint Elias, The History and culture of the Yakutat Tlingit, 1972.

Kategorie:See in Nordamerika Kategorie:See in Kanada Kategorie:See in Yukon Kategorie:Alsek River Kategorie:Flusssystem Alsek River