Coulee - Types and Examples

Types and Examples

1. The dry, braided channels formed by glacial drainage of the Scablands of eastern Washington, such as Grand Coulee and Moses Coulee.
2. The furrowed moraines channeling rain runoff in the area east of the Coteau du Missouri in the western United States and western Canada at the base of the Rocky Mountains.
3. In the western United States, tongue-like protrusions of solidified lava, forming a sort of canyon.
4. In Wisconsin, it is applied to smaller sometimes intermittent tributary streams in the watershed of the Upper Mississippi River, north of the Wisconsin River and as far up as the Saint Croix River. These valleys tend to have high, steep walls. "Hollow" is used as a synonym, often for the smallest of such valleys. The term is also applied to the greater La Crosse, Wisconsin metropolitan area, rather much like "Twin Cities" is applied to Minneapolis-Saint Paul. The term has also been incorrectly applied to the whole of the Driftless Area, when in fact the Coulee Region excludes portions of the Driftless, while including portions which are outside of it.

In some parts of Louisiana coulees are not concreted but rather sheer sided large ditches that collect smaller ditch runoff.