The California flood of 1605 was a massive flood that submerged large portions of present-day California (once known as Alta California). The megaflood was a result of sustained major rain storms across the region, enhanced by an unusually powerful atmospheric river.[1] The flooding affected the indigenous peoples of California, in pre-industrial advancement populations.
In addition to this event, geologic evidence indicates that other "megafloods" occurred in the California region in the following years A.D.: 212, 440, 603, 1029, c. 1300, 1418, 1750, 1810, and 1861–62.[2][1]United States Geological Survey sediment research revealed that the 1605 flood deposited a layer of silt two inches thick at the Santa Barbara basin, indicating that it was the worst flood event of the past 2,000 years, being at least 50% more powerful than any of the others recorded based on geological evidence.[1] The United States Geological Survey has developed a hypothetical scenario, known as the "ARkStorm", that would occur should a similar event occur in modern-day California.[3][4]
Schimmelmann, Arndt; Zhao, Meixun; Harvey, Colin C; Lange, Carina B (2017), "A Large California Flood and Correlative Global Climatic Events 400 Years Ago", Quaternary Research, 49: 51–61, doi:10.1006/qres.1997.1937
