David Alt

{{Infobox person

| name = David Alt

| image =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|09|17}}

| birth_place = St. Louis, Missouri, United States

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|04|26|1933|09|17}}

| death_place = Missoula, Montana, United States

| occupation = Author, geologist

}}

David Alt (September 17, 1933 – April 26, 2015) was an American geologist, teacher, writer, storyteller and author.{{Cite web |title=Memorials |url=https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/2015/11/memorials-2/ |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=www.jsg.utexas.edu |language=en}}

Career

Alt was the author of more than thirty books, including several titles in the Roadside Geology series published by Mountain Press.{{Cite web |last=Kris |date=2021-06-22 |title=David Alt |url=https://lewis-clark.org/contributors/david-alt/ |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=Discover Lewis & Clark |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Roadside Geology |url=https://mountain-press.com/collections/roadside-geology |access-date=2023-03-27 |website=Mountain Press |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Roadside Geology |url=https://mountain-press.com/collections/roadside-geology |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=Mountain Press |language=en}}

He earned his Ph.D. in 1961 from the University of Texas, and joined the Department of Geology at The University of Montana in Missoula, Montana in 1965.{{Cite web |title=ITEM 115-1011-R0502 |url=https://mus.edu/board/meetings/Archives/ITEM115-1011-R0502.htm |access-date=2023-03-27 |website=mus.edu}} He became professor Emeritus at The University of Montana in 2002.

He died on April 26, 2015, in Missoula.{{Cite web |title=Memorials |url=https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/2015/11/memorials-2/ |access-date=2023-03-27 |website=www.jsg.utexas.edu |language=en}}

Lake Missoula Floods

Alt helped to interpret and explain to a wide audience the cataclysmic glacial Missoula Floods through articles and his book Glacial Lake Missoula and Its Humongous Floods (Mountain Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0878424153}}).{{Cite web |last=Larson |first=Keely |date=2023-01-04 |title=How a vanished Ice Age lake shaped the past and present of Missoula, Montana |url=https://arstechnica.com/features/2023/01/how-a-vanished-ice-age-lake-shaped-the-past-and-present-of-missoula-montana/ |access-date=2023-03-27 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us}}{{Cite web |title=NOVA {{!}} Mystery of the Megaflood {{!}} Ice Age Lake |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/megaflood/lake.html |access-date=2023-03-27 |website=www.pbs.org}}{{Cite web |title=Explore Glacial Lake Missoula and the Catastrophic Ice Age Floods |url=https://hugefloods.com/LakeMissoula.html |access-date=2023-03-27 |website=hugefloods.com}}

References