Formation of Mima mounds: A seismic hypothesis

Mima mounds approximately 2.5 to 15 m in diameter and up to 3 m high occur on the ground surfaces at Mina Prairie, south of Olympia, Washington, in the Channeled Scabland of eastern Washington, and at many other locations in the United States and around the world. Small-scale Mima mounds can be produced experimentally by subjecting a plywood board covered with a thin veneer of loess to impacts that produce vibrations in the board. Experimentally produced mounds have characteristics that are nearly identical to those found in the field. This suggests that most Mima mounds formed as the result of seismic activity in conjunction with unconsolidated fine sediments on a relatively rigid planar substratum.