Clastic Dikes: strange and interesting geologic features within Grand Staircase-Escalante NM, Utah

[@abulahab6528]

Excellent live presenter! Think about it: He taught the topic A~Z on location without notes, and without post-production edits.

[@shawnwillsey]

Hey thanks. Some sites do require some reading of literature and research to get the story straight in my head. Ultimately, I just like to find locations with a geologic story that can be shown and explained in ten minutes or less. Doing these as one take, on the fly, and unedited appeals to me as I am too busy with my teaching load and such to be a real KZbinr.

[@hunt4redoctober628]

I've just stumbled across this You tube channel and I find it fascinating. Being a 60 year old 'lapsed Geologist' from the UK, this is really getting my interest up again. Love it!

[@DJBoise]

You should also check out Nick Zentner KZbin channel.

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoy watching the existing videos plus new ones coming soon. Welcome aboard.

[@hunt4redoctober628]

@@shawnwillsey Thanks Shawn. I used to be a young Sedimentologist back in the mid 1980's, working in the oil industry for a few years but I kind of lost my way a bit and ended up in a career in Aerospace for 31 years. So it's fantastic now I am getting back to my routes, albeit a bit rusty!

[@stephengilchrist6595]

Agreed. Same situation, other than that I'm a 38 yo geotechnical engineer 🤣. This guy is straitforward and the geology is amazing, such classic signs of Uniformitarianism...

[@shawnwillsey]

@@stephengilchrist6595 Thanks for watching and learning with me. I enjoy sharing Earth's stories and processes with folks.

[@robotslug]

I'm really loving your channel Professor, you visit such beautiful places and explain whats going on very well. Easily consumable, always pushing my knowledge a bit further every video without being overly taxing but at the same time not too elementary. I'm a fan and I hope you make many more videos! Thanks.

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for the kind words. I really enjoy sharing these cool places and the Earth's amazing stories with folks. Look for more videos soon. I plan to launch at least one per week, sometimes more.

[@michaelcapeless3268]

This is all stuff that I just stare at while scratching my head. It's so interesting to hear an explanation that helps me to organize in my head what I observe in the natural world. Thanks very much, Shawn.

[@jaysilverheals4445]

there is a huge one 5 feet diameter that I discovered and they are doing a paper on it. also we just went up to a liquifaction area about 10 miles that clearly shows violent earthquakes in the horse spring formation during the extension. the area I am speaking of is the entire area east of las vegas. the sand/clastic dike is astonishing.

[@w4lauppe]

Great explanation on clastic dikes..you have great talent in explaining the nuts and bolts. Keep it up, can’t wait for the next topic.

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks and enjoy the videos.

[@AvanaVana]

Excellent video on a very interesting topic. Being that these are cross cutting Jurassic Entrada strata (~165-164 Ma), it seems likely that the seismic activity that caused these clastic dikes and the liquefication of the sediment in the first place was related to the contemporaneous Nevadan orogeny… The clastic dikes related to Ice Age floods in the Pacific Northwest are something quite interesting as well…there the host sediments were very unlithified. And on the other end of the spectrum you have something like the Neoproterozoic Tava sandstone injectites (here they are seismogenic, as is typical) that were able to fracture and intrude the Mesoproterozoic Pike’s Peak granite batholith. An overpressured fluid under all that rock can do remarkable things. So the host rock doesn’t always need to be unlithified, wet sediment.

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for your comments. Yes, clastic dikes are not something I knew much about and only reviewed a bit of the literature as it pertained to this site. I've since watched Skye Cooley's video with Nick on the clastic dikes in WA that apparently formed from the top down as sediment laden floodwaters filled fractures. Super interesting stuff!

[@Rachel.4644]

Fascinating! Thank you!

[@Udink]

Finally, a good explanation for these formations! They're all over the San Rafael Desert south of Green River, Utah, in the Entrada Sandstone--thousands of circular formations can be seen in the satellite imagery. There's sort of an explanation on the Wikipedia page for Kodachrome State Park (although it offers an alternate scenario), but your description of the process is much more layman-friendly.

[@shawnwillsey]

Hey. Thanks for your comments and watching. It was fun to do a little research to learn more about clastic dikes and then share with folks.

[@scott-qk8sm]

Just found your channel also, great content and attention to geological details, thank you!

[@shawnwillsey]

Welcome aboard. Enjoy the existing videos and look for new ones each week.

[@rlsmarine]

Thank you.

[@charliewatts6895]

Such a beautiful rock formation. Really enjoyed the video.

[@digdug1577]

wow another great video Loved it never heard of a clastic dike. it's like a earthquake induced liquefaction artesian well that lithifies after the event. lol. or something like that. I'm in armchair geologist with a little background and this is just the type of channel I've been looking for. gets me so excited. thank you keep up the good work.

[@shawnwillsey]

You got it. Thanks for the kind words.

[@kdkdkfkkdkfl2607]

Gracias por Compartir. Saludos desde Venezuela.

[@skyecooleyartwork]

Great shots of clastic pipes! Similar structures in Kodachrome Basin (Hornbacher, 1984), which you probably know about. Interesting that they are cylindrical not tabular. And the fills are not vertically sheeted, but massive. Is that a thin, light-colored outer wall? Bleached at the contact or maybe a grainsize change (silt skin)? Come out to Eastern Washington sometime and check out the sheeted, downward-intruded dikes there with me (composite injectites). Also, the bleached features (white cracks, blobs, horizontal stringers, etc.) in the red mudstone have been reduced, maybe by salty water(?). Thanks for the videos!

[@shawnwillsey]

Hi Skye! I've taken more of an interest in these after visiting here and watching your video with Nick. There are more in the Paria River area but I only visited this site as I had a full day of driving ahead of me but as far as I could tell, these were not sheeted like the ones you studied in Eastern WA. Yes, a thin lighter color along contact with wall rock. I believe it was bleached similar to the blobs and such I hypothesized about in video. The reduction of iron idea is a good one. I am sure someone would know more. I will be at the TRGS meeting in Wenatchee so hope to meet you there.

[@churlburt8485]

@@shawnwillsey Skye and Nick, plus several USGA geologists has visited the Granger Clay Pits, set up a visit with the guys and we will go looking. Always appreciate visiters. Gpa Carl

[@eatcommies1375]

Awesome channel, as I ride my adv motorcycle through Co & Ut, geology has been more & more fascinating to me, Subscribed 👍

[@shawnwillsey]

Welcome aboard!

[@eatcommies1375]

@@shawnwillsey Thank You, Rode to Climax mine near Leadville today, interesting area for rock hunting…

[@Spaceart707]

I was just studying this topic from my book & you tube recommended me this video. How come you tube knew what was I just studying 😮 Such a coincidence!

[@jamessmelcer616]

Good show Shawn, thank you sharing your knowledge with us all. Keep up the great work and stay safe. I wish I could have had a teacher like you a long time ago. Thanks again brother. Jim

[@shawnwillsey]

You bet. Thank you for your kind comments. Look for more new videos soon.

[@solodad7999]

I've seen these dies and wondered about them. Thanks

[@HiwasseeRiver]

That is a neat feature - The New Madrid earthquake in the Mississippi valley had lots of liquefaction blows and the 2002 Denali earthquake had a limited amount of liquefaction too. It's interesting to see what those become over time.

[@dancooper8551]

Your videos are exceptional Shawn! I’ve watched every one you posted. Any chance you could convince CSI to let you videotape your lectures and put them online?

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks for the kind words Dan. I can check on the lecture question but in the meantime, I have a few longer "lecture" type presentations here and have plans for more. Let me know if there is a topic you are particularly interested in.

[@minh1197]

great video. thank you so much

[@jackripleymaddiero]

Thanks you explain things so well! 😊

[@shawnwillsey]

Thank you!

[@Ontario_Rockhound]

Awesome video!

[@shawnwillsey]

Thanks!

[@davidk7324]

Excellent, thanks--

[@muzikhed]

Interesting. I wonder what mineral those white lines might be also wonder why the mud/sandstone is red. Is it perhaps because it is sedimentary material having eroded out of previous earlier formed land/mountains ??

[@shawnwillsey]

The red is due to oxidation of iron, a mineral called hematite which often forms the cement that glues the sediment grains together.

[@stereomonologue]

@@shawnwillsey why is there so much oxidized iron on and around the Colorado plateau? (at least there are a lot of red rocks there)

[@shawnwillsey]

@@stereomonologue Hmm. Good question and one I've never pondered before. I suppose because the Colorado Plateau region was a low area for such a long time where sediments accumulated from highlands elsewhere. These highlands contained rocks with sufficient iron (a common element in many minerals and rocks). Despite the red color, most of the rock is quartz or other minerals but the iron oxides impart the color which is so vibrant and conspicuous.

[@stereomonologue]

@@shawnwillsey Alright, thanks!

[@mercermouth7571]

"High water table" might be an understatement... ;)

[@prosodiclearning]

Cheers from N.Z !

[@Josh-Hunt]

Another good one!

[@xyzct]

5:11 ... The veritical lines are dewatering pillars. 5:22 ... The rounded features are load casts.

[@greenmanofkent]

And textbook examples of load casts they are. I remember many years ago our structural geology professor emphasizing how they could be used to determine "younging". I miss those long-ago days of his field trips; these videos are the next best thing.

[@JockDoubleday]

I love the concrete sectioning of the Ancients. #TerraformingofTerra

[@eighthgate1420]

I wonder if Native American blankets are designed after The layering of the rock?

[@nachoperez6409]

Awesome

[@jagers4xford471]

New Madrid had many of these sand blows during the 1811-1812 earthquake

[@stephanieparker1250]

That thumb nail photo 😅🤗🤗🤗

[@umvhu]

So were the mud layers solidified into rock when the dykes were formed or were they stll soft?

[@shawnwillsey]

The mud had to be at least somewhat solidified to contain the pressure of the rising fluidizes sand slurry. Great question.

[@churlburt8485]

good question. If it is coming up being soft would really help. The Eastern Wa ones, IMHO, are fractures that develop and then filled from the top.

[@hiitsrudd8567]

Cool

[@erijqudus6654]

No disrespect Professor, but I am wondering about many vertical fractures in this outcrop, is it not possible that the dike (???) material has percolated downward from the overlying beds? But then again you may be correct, only a petrographic analysis of this secondary structure can provide the vital clue, I am positive you have done that.

[@shawnwillsey]

The dikes terminate upwards so seem to be sourced from below.

[@erijaqrab5480]

@@shawnwillsey Sir, you are correct, I was just looking at the other possibilities. As a scientist we do not validate the accepted Norms, we always challenge and question what is "beyond the obvious". EQ.

[@tommoritz6659]

So these are more columnar vs. planar as you see in igneous dikes?

[@shawnwillsey]

Yes, these clastic dikes are more columnar as opposed to igneous dikes which are tabular or planar.

[@Laura-i2g1j]

❤❤❤

[@lauram9478]

❤

[@Anne5440_]

Then can clastic dikes be evidence of liquefaction during an earthquake? I find the layering there very interesting.

[@shawnwillsey]

Yes, this is one way they may form.

[@jeffrysmith8200]

A lot of the smaller features look like bioturbation to me but hard to tell from just the video.

[@sense6919]

Neptunian dike?

[@amtb70x7anunkwn9]

Q:Could it be a form of PETRIFIED WOOD? Possibly caused by a sudden ice age event? 🧐🤔

[@ats-3693]

It's a dike made of clastic sediments

[@shawnwillsey]

It's definitely not fossilized wood. It's made of coarse sand and pebbles, not mineralized material carried in solution.

[@leonardmasano312]

Those layers formed by mud look like we're formed during a short span of time. Is that one of the global flood phenomenon?

[@Roylamx]

Leonard Masano; A world-wide flood some 5,000 years ago is still very much a taboo topic in mainstream geology, but the truth is easily seen all around us.

[@ats-3693]

@@Roylamx LOL its not taboo, just bullshit

[@ats-3693]

There is no such thing as the global flood phenomenon, you're maybe thinking of the global flood myth?

[@leonardmasano312]

@@ats-3693 Where is the proof that the layers were formed slowly each over thousands of years? It can also be considered a myth. Just because people who reject the Bible have decided so doesn't make it truth. Most evidences of materialistic age can be and have disputed. So taken it easy and learn from the other perspective.

[@ats-3693]

@@leonardmasano312 the only people who dispute reality are brainwashed religious nuts who think that the fictitious beings from a Middle Eastern book of myths and fables are real. Lol people who reject the bible, you mean normal rational people? Most evidences of age have been disputed lol, yeah but only by you lunatics that nobody actually takes seriously. Take a guess why no mining company has young earth creationist Christian geologists working for them? You ask where is the proof that sediments are layed down over millions of years when all you have to do is look into and you will see how this is known, its not even that complicated, but nooo you wouldn't dare, you might see something that shows you have spent you entire life thinking like a child.

[@deborahellenberger7153]

Fascinating. Thank you so much.

[@shawnwillsey]

You bet. Thanks for watching and learning with me.