Non-sedimentary Structures in the Drift

The unconsolidated sands and gravels of the drift with patterns of cross stratification can be explained as a product of a disintegration process. There are several non-sedimentary features associated with these sandy layers. Examples are the presence of lenses and balls of coarse material in fine sands, or lenses and balls of fine sand in coarse gravel layers. These are unlikely to have been produced in sedimentary environments, particularly when the sand balls have a distinct composition, or concentric structure, which points to concretionary processes. The drift also contains disintegrated boulders that could not have been transported to their positions, concretions, vertical pillars that may become eroded into hoodoos at the surface, and dikes.

Structures such the sand dike shown below are evidence against a sedimentary interpretation of the patterns of cross strata. This structure is called a "clastic dike" but that terminology implies an interpretation that the writer rejects. "Clastic" suggests that the material has been transported and deposited in streams. The so-called clastic dikes are usually attributed to injection of sand into a fissure from either above or below. That seems unlikely here, because of the unconsolidated nature of both the sand matrix and the dike contents. The sedimentary interpretation of patterns of cross stratification of the coarse material in the dike, usually attributed to deposition in fast currents, is the real root of the problem.

Dike of coarse sand and gravel in fine sand

The photo at left shows details of part of a clastic dike containing coarse sand with horizontal cross strata and pebbles. The dike is on the left, and the matrix of fine cross stratified sand on the right. All the sand in the photo is unconsolidated. Along the dike walls there are thin films of clay or silt sized material. The total width of the dike was about 0.5 m. The dike was observed in a gravel pit near Campbellville Ontario, about 2 km east of the Guelph line - Highway 401 intersection.

Problems with the conventional interpretation:

A fissure deep enough to contain the dike could not form in unconsolidated sand.
Conventional explanations of clastic dikes say build up of water pressure below and its sudden release during an earthquake forcefully injected fluids and sand into a fissure through the overlying rock. That would not work for the unconsolidated sandy material in this case because it is permeable and the high fluid pressures in underlying rocks would not occur.
If earthquakes are invoked for the formation of the fissure, the disturbance would destroy the patterns of stratification in the surrounding sand and gravel, yet those patterns in the sand remain intact and undisturbed.
There is no plausible mechanism for injection of material with a different texture from above or below.
Since they pinch and swell and walls are not parallel, the dikes are not explained merely by formation of a fissure that was infilled.
Patterns of cross strata in the coarse sandy material within the dike are thought to imply fast currents, but such currents would tend to erode the sand enclosing the dike, and there is no indication that has occurred.
Directional features around pebbles within the dike are absent, indicating no currents were involved.
Distinct layering of coarse material does not indicate a former sedimentary environment in the dike, as the presence of pebbles on a stream bed generates turbulence resulting in indistinct layers and directional features, such as current shadows and tails of sediment on the lee side of obstacles. Such directional features are absent.

Explanation as a non-sedimentary structure

The formation of vertical dikes containing stratified sand and gravel is a serious problem for conventional geology but they are easily explained by the writer's in situ disintegration interpretation. In the former environment of rapid removal of overburden by fast currents, the sediments were compacted and rock was lithified. At the surface the rock was disintegrated and converted to sand and gravel, with the patterns of cross stratification evident in sandy layers. This pattern records the progress of the front of alteration as it penetrated the rock. In the case of the dike illustrated above this process disintegrated the rock between two adjacent joints, forming the coarse stratified sand and gravel between the joints. Subsequently the surrounding rock was also disintegrated.

References

Peterson, G.L. 1968. Flow structures in sandstone dikes. Sedimentary Geology 2(3):177-190

Spencer, P.K., and Jaffee, M.A., 2002. Pre-Late Wisconsinan Glacial Outburst Floods in Southeastern Washington-The Indirect Record. Washington Geology, vol. 30, no. 1/2, July 2002
http://www.dnr.wa.gov/geology/pdf/1news02.pdf
Figure 5 in the above paper shows a compound clastic dike in the Touchet Beds. (See p. 10)

Cox, D.E. 1978. (Discussion) Re: Roth: Clastic Dikes (ORIGINS 4:53-55)
http://www.grisda.org/origins/05006.htm#Roth

Roth, A.A. 1992. Clastic dikes in the Kodachrome Basin. Origins 19(1):44-48.
http://www.grisda.org/origins/19044.htm

A rebuttal of the above paper is presented in:
Morton, G.R., 2002. Why Clastic Dykes Don't Indicate a Global Flood
http://home.entouch.net/dmd/clasdyke.htm

The Creation Concept | Controversy About the Glacial Theory

Non-sedimentary Structures in the Drift

Problems with the conventional interpretation:

Explanation as a non-sedimentary structure

See Also:

References