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Clastic dike

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Vertical clastic dike, filled with coarse basaltic sand, cuts lighter-colored horizontal beds composed of finer grained material. Quarter for scale.

A clastic dike is a seam of sedimentary material that fills an open fracture in and cuts across sedimentary rock strata or layering in other rock types. Clastic dikes form rapidly by fluidized injection (mobilization of pressurized pore fluids) or passively by water, wind, and gravity (sediment swept into open cracks). Diagenesis may play a role in the formation of some dikes.[1] Clastic dikes are commonly vertical or near-vertical. Centimeter-scale widths are common, but thicknesses range from millimetres to metres. Length is usually many times width.

Clastic dikes are found in sedimentary basin deposits worldwide. Formal geologic reports of clastic dikes began to emerge in the early 19th century.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]

Terms synonymous with clastic dike include: clastic intrusion, sandstone dike, fissure fill, soft-sediment deformation, fluid escape structure, seismite, injectite, liquefaction feature, neptunian dike (passive fissure fills), paleoseismic indicator, pseudo ice wedge cast, sedimentary insertion, sheeted clastic dike, synsedimentary filling, tension fracture, hydraulic injection dike, and tempestite.

Environments of formation

Clastic dike environments include:

An incredible variety of dikes is found in the geologic record. However, clastic dikes are typically produced by seismic disturbance and liquefaction of high water content sediments. Examples of this type are many.[24][25][26] Clastic dikes are paleoseismic indicators in certain geologic settings.[27][28] Several qualitative, field-based systems have been developed to help distinguish seismites[29] from soft sediment deformation features [30][31] formed by non-seismic processes.[32][33][34][35][36][37][38]
Results from analytical modeling of clastic dike injection in soft rocks[39] indicate propagation occurred at a rate of approximately 4 to 65 m/s at driving pressures of 1-2 MPa. Emplacement duration (<2 s) is similar to the speed with which acoustic energy (pressure waves) moves through partially lithified sedimentary rock.
Red-colored clastic dikes injected downward into light-colored sediment beneath a debris flow. Black Dragon Wash, San Rafael Swell, Utah
Sandstone dikes formed by downward injection are found along Black Dragon wash upstream of the famous petroglyphs area, San Rafael Swell, Utah.
Clastic dike exposed on the east flank of the central peak of Upheaval Dome, Canyonlands, Utah. The sandstone dike was injected downsection from the White Rim Sandstone into the Organ Rock Shale during the earliest part of the impact crater excavation stage. The dike is made of cataclastically broken sand grains derived from the White Rim Sandstone. The slightly overturned Organ Rock beds dip steeply to the left and their tops face toward the right. The White Rim Sandstone, folded to vertical, lies just off the photo to the right. View is to the north. P.W. Huntoon Collection.
Sandstone dikes with cataclastically deformed sand grains, sourced in the Permian White Rim Sandstone, are found within Upheaval Dome, Canyonlands National Park, Utah,[40][41][42][43][44] at Roberts Rift,[45] and elsewhere.[46][47] Commonly, the fill is composed of angular grains, evidence that the injected material was lithified prior to impact and was crushed during injection into fractures (preexisting or impact-formed).
Clastic dike swarms associated with salt dome diapirism are reported from the Dead Sea region.[48][49]
  • Clastic dikes associated with glaciers -
Sand injection features are reported to have formed under heavy loads and confining pressures beneath grounding glacial ice.[50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]
  • Clastic dikes in resistant bedrock -
Though unusual, a significant number of reports describe sedimentary material intruding fractured crystalline bedrock, usually within fault zones. Some of the articles referenced here describe lithified clastic dikes.[64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73]
Cyclic stresses from large waves can cause wet sediments to fluidize, forming various types of soft sediment deformation features including clastic dikes.[74][75][76][77]

Clastic dikes in the Columbia Basin

Vertically sheeted clastic dike typical of those found in rhythmically bedded Missoula flood slackwater deposits of the Columbia Basin. Yellow field book for scale. Willow Creek Valley at Cecil, OR.

Tens of thousands of unusual clastic dikes (1 mm—350 cm wide, up to 50 m deep) penetrate sedimentary and bedrock units in the Columbia Basin of Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Their origin remains in question. The dikes may be related to loading by outburst floods. Other evidence suggests they are sediment-filled desiccation cracks (mudcracks). Some have suggested the dikes are ice wedge casts or features related to the melting of buried ice.[78] Earthquake shaking and liquefaction is invoked by others to explain the dikes (i.e., sand blows).

The silt-, sand-, and gravel-filled dikes in the Columbia Basin are primarily sourced in the Touchet Formation (or the Touchet-equivalent Willamette Silt) and intrude downward into older geologic units, including:

With phrasing typical of an early-century American geologist, Olaf P. Jenkins[97] provides one of the first descriptions of the features,

It appears, then, that in every case fissures formed and then fragmental materials are dropped, washed, or pressed into them, from above, below, or from the sides. This action has taken place in open fissures; under water in fissures on the bed of the sea or other bodies of water; and also far below the surface of the earth in consolidated rocks. The filling from below has come about by pressure of some sort, in some cases undoubtedly hydrostatic.

References

  1. ^ Richard J. Davies, R.J.; Huuse, M.; Hirst, P.; Cartwright, J.; Yang, Y., 2006, Giant clastic intrusions primed by silica diagenesis, Geology, 34, p. 917-920
  2. ^ Darwin, C., 1833-1834, Geological observations on the volcanic islands and parts of South America visited during the voyage of the H.M.S. “Beagle” (2nd Edition), p. 438
  3. ^ Hay, R., 1892, Sandstone dikes in northwestern Nebraska, GSA Bulletin, 3, p. 50-55
  4. ^ Case, E.C.; 1895, On the mud and sand dikes of the White River Miocene, Ithaca, N.Y., American Geologist, 24, p. 248-254
  5. ^ Cross, W., 1894, Intrusive sandstone dikes in granite, GSA Bulletin, 5, p. 225-230
  6. ^ Crosby, W.O., 1897, Sandstone dikes accompanying the great fault of Ute Pass, Colorado, Essex Institute Bulletin, 27, p. 113-147
  7. ^ Diller, J.S., 1890, Sandstone dikes, GSA Bulletin, 1, p. 411-442
  8. ^ Newsom, J.F., 1903, Clastic dikes, Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 14, p. 227-268
  9. ^ Ransome, F.L., 1900, A peculiar clastic dike near Ouray, Colorado, and its associated deposit of silver ore, Transactions of the American Institute of Mineralogical Engineers, 30, p. 227-236
  10. ^ Pavlow, A.P., 1896, On dikes of Oligocene sandstone in the Neocomian clasys of the District of Altyr, in Russia, The Geological Magazine, New series, v. iii, p. 49-53
  11. ^ Kirkby, J.W., 1860, On the occurrences of "sand pipes" in the magnesian limestones of Durham, The Geologist (London), p. 293-298, 329-336
  12. ^ Prestwich, J., 1855, On the origin of the sand and gravel pipes in the chalk of the London Tertiary district, Quarterly(?) Journal of the Geological Society of London, v. ii, p. 64-84
  13. ^ Strangeways, W.T.H.F., 1821, Dikes near Great Pulcovca near Saint Petersburg, Russia, Transactions of the Geological Society of London, v. V, p. 386, 407, 408 and Plates 25-28
  14. ^ Cuvier & Brongniart, 1822, Sandstone pipes near Paris, France (Description geognostiques des Environs de Paris), p. 76, 134, 141
  15. ^ Murchison, R.I., 1827, Quartz sandstone veins in grit near Kintradwell in Somersetshire, Transactions of the Geological Society of London, 2nd series, v. ii, p. 304
  16. ^ Murchison, R.I., 1829, On the coal-field of Brora in Sutherlandshire, and some other stratified deposits in the north of Scotland, Transactions of the Geological Society, Second Series, 2, p. 293-326
  17. ^ Strickland, H.E., 1838, Calcareous sandstone dikes in Triassic shale at Ethie in Rossshire, Transactions of the Geological Society of London, v. V, 2nd series, p. 599-600
  18. ^ Strickland, H.E., 1840, On some remarkable dikes of Calcareous Grit, at Ethie in Ross-shire, Transactions of the Geological Society, Second Series, 5, p. 599-600
  19. ^ Buckland, 1839, Transactions of the British Association for 1839, p. 76
  20. ^ Lyell, C., 1839, Sand pipes near Norwich, England, London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine, 3rd series, v. XV, p. 257
  21. ^ Several more c. 1850 references to dikes in Newsom (1903)
  22. ^ White, E.E., 1916, Analysis of slate and dike, Engineering & Mining Journal, v. 101, p. 433-434
  23. ^ Dana, J.D., 1849, Wide sandstone dikes in bluffs near Astoria, OR, p. 654-656 in Geology, Volume 10 of the U.S. Navy Exploring Expedition 1838-1842, under the command of Charles Wilkes, C. Sherman publisher, Philadelphia, 18 volume set
  24. ^ G. Neef, A clastic dike-sill assemblage in late Miocene (c. 6 Ma) strata, Annedale, Northern Wairarapa, New Zealand, 1991, New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics, Vol. 34: 87—91 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-07-29. Retrieved 2007-03-06. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  25. ^ Peterson, C.D., 1997, Coseismic paleoliquefaction evidence in the central Cascadia margin, USA, Oregon Geology, 59, p. 51-74
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  30. ^ Mills, P.C., 1983, Genesis and diagnostic value of soft-sediment deformation structures – a review, Sedimentary Geology, 35, p. 83-104
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  33. ^ Guiraud and Plaziet, 1993
  34. ^ Obermeier, S.F., 1996b, Use of liquefaction-induced features for paleoseismic analysis - an overview of how seismic liquefaction features can be distinguished from other features and how their regional distribution and properties of source sediment can be used to infer the location and strength of Holocene paleo-earthquakes, Engineering Geology, 44, p. 1-46
  35. ^ Greb, S.F.; Ettensohn, F.R.; Obermeier, S.F., 2002, Developing a classification scheme for seismites, GSA North-central & Southeastern Section Annual Meeting Abstracts with Programs
  36. ^ Wheeler, R.L., 2002, Distinguishing seismic from nonseismic soft-sediment structures: Criteria from seismic-hazard analysis, in Ettensohn, F.R.; Rast, N.; Brett, C.E. (editors), Ancient Seismites, GSA Special Paper, 359, p. 1-11
  37. ^ Obermeier, S.F.; Olson, S.M.; Green, R.A., 2005, Field occurrences of liquefaction-induced features: a primer for engineering geologic analysis of paleoseismic shaking, Engineering Geology, 76, p. 209-234
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  39. ^ Levi, T.; Weinberger, R.; Eyal, Y., in press 2010, A coupled fluid-fracture approach to propagation of clastic dikes during earthquakes, Tectonophysics
  40. ^ Mashchak, M.S.; Ezersky, V.A., 1980, Clastic dikes of the Kara Crater Pai Khoi, Lunar and Planetary Sciences, 11, p. 680-682
  41. ^ Mashchak, M.S.; Ezersky, V.A., 1982, Clastic dikes in the impactites and allogenic breccias of the Kara astrobleme (northeast slope of the Pai-Khoi Range) (article in Russian), Lithology and Economic Minerals, 1, p. 130-136
  42. ^ Sturkell, E.F.F.; Ormo, J., 1997, Impact-related clastic injections in the marine Ordovician Lockne impact structure, central Sweden, Sedimentology, 44, p. 793-804
  43. ^ Huntoon, P.W., 2000, Upheaval Dome, Canyonlands, Utah: Strain indicators that reveal an impact origin, in Sprinkel, D.A.; Chidsey, T.C.; Anderson, P.B. (editors), Geology of Utah's Parks and Monuments, Utah Geological Association Publication, 28, p. 1-10, revised 2002: http://www.utahgeology.org/Topical_papers_2003_UGA28.htm
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  45. ^ Huntoon, P.W.; Shoemaker, E.M., 1995, Roberts Rift, Canyonlands, Utah, A natural hydraulic fracture caused by comet or asteroid, Ground Water, 33, p. 561-569
  46. ^ Wittmann, A.; Kenkamnn, T.; Schmitt, R.T.; Hecht, L.; Stöffler, D., 2004, Impact-related dike breccia lithologies in the ICDP drill core Yaxcopoil-1, Chicxulub impact structure, Mexico, Meteorics & Planetary Science, 39, p. 931-954
  47. ^ Hudgins, J.A.; Spray, J.G., 2006, Lunar impact-fluidized dikes: Evidence from Apollo 17 Station 7, Taurus-Littrow Valley, Lunar and Planetary Science, 37, p. 1176
  48. ^ Marco, S.; Weinberger, R.; Agnon, A., 2002, Radial clastic dykes formed by a salt diapir in the Dead Sea Rift, Israel, Terra Nova, 14, p. 288-294
  49. ^ Levi et al., 2006, Earthquake-induced clastic dikes detected by anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility, Geology, 34, p. 69–72
  50. ^ Kruger, F.C., 1938, A clastic dike of glacial origin, American Journal of Science, 5, p. 305-307
  51. ^ Goldthwait, J.W.; Goldthwait, L.; Goldthwait, R.P., 1951, Geology of New Hampshire, Part 1: Surficial Geology, New Hampshire State Planning and Development Commission, 44 pgs.
  52. ^ Amark, M., 1986, Clastic dikes formed beneath an active glacier, Geologiska Föreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar, 108, p. 13–20
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