The Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism (2018)

neous soft sediment deformation whereby cross-beds become de- formed by strong currents into a series of parabolas that lie on their sides (opening downcurrent). The tops of the cross-beds become folded over by strong currents in the water column immediately above the cross-beds. We have found these types of folds in the Sedona area (and a few other places). It is impossible for these features to form in dry sand, damp sand, or even water-saturat- ed sand (by slumping or groundwater movement). The field rela- tionships of the folds show they were formed during the process of the deposition of the cross-beds. There is a wealth of literature documenting how these folds form in laboratory settings, as well as in fluvial and other subaqueous environments. These features can only form by strong, underwater currents and some liquefac- tion mechanism, demonstrating subaqueous conditions whenever they are found. Some of the folds have been traced for over 400 m along ridge tops. The thickest deformation is about 5-7 m thick which can be traced over 50 m. Slumped eolian dunes do not have these characteristics. The folds strongly imply that the Coconino was deposited by strong, subaqueous currents, such as those found depositing sand waves. Flat beds can occur in modern eolian environments, but they are usually local in extent, have coarse grain sizes and are notoriously poorly sorted. We have found extensive (and relatively thick) flat beds in the Coconino Sandstone which display sorting patterns not much different than the cross-bedded portions of the Coconino. The flat beds do not have the characteristics of interdunal deposits. Sometimes the flat beds occur in association with parabolic recumbent folds (either directly above or below the folds) which may indicate subaqueous flow regime changes which could cause both the folding and the flat beds. The cross-bed foresets in the Coconino Sandstone appear to be dominated by wide avalanche deposits. In eolian settings, these deposits are separated by grainfall and sometimes translatent ripple strata. In subaqueous sand waves, the foresets are completely dominated by avalanche deposits, as in the Coconino. The avalanche deposits in the Coconino are tabular in shape (wide, long and relatively thick). Avalanche deposits in eolian settings are tongue-shaped (long, thick, and not very wide, with an arc-like cross-section). Sand waves produce tabular avalanche deposits when currents are flowing quickly and are carrying high loads. The avalanche deposits of the Coconino better match subaqueous conditions. Graded and thinly laminated beds can form in both eolian and subaqueous settings. They occur as layers of exceptionally fine grains below coarser grains. In eolian settings they are often formed by the migration of climbing translatent ripples. In subaqueous settings they can form as the result of bursts and sweeps during upper flow regime conditions. Graded laminae can also form as the result of spontaneous grain segregation during exceptionally high rates of sedimentation. In outcrop and in thin section, one can only tell with certainty that the beds are graded, not if they are normally or reversely graded. Bounding surfaces can be traced along the canyon walls in the Grand Canyon for kilometers. In modern eolian dunes it is difficult to imagine how bounding surfaces like this could develop. Large, extensive bounding surfaces have been found via seismic work on subaqueous sand waves, although it remains to be seen if they are as extensive as those found in the Coconino. Cross-beds approaching the bounding surfaces in the Coconino often do so abruptly, or with only a slight curve and thinning near the bottom of the cross- bed set. This style has not been found very often in modern eolian deposits (White Sands, New Mexico was the only place we have observed it, but these gypsum sands seem to behave somewhat differently than the more typical quartz sands). Cross-beds in sand waves are known to have these kinds of characteristics. Modern eolian dunes have topset, foreset and bottomset beds. These types of beds are often found in bulldozer transects of modern dunes (McKee 1966; McKee and Bigarella 1979b; McKee and Tibbitts 1964). However, in the Coconino, these types of deposits are virtually unknown. It is typical for sand wave deposits to have no topset beds, mostly foreset beds and short (or no) bottomset beds. The internal structure of modern dunes (viewed by bulldozer transects) is characterized by varying dips (angle and direction), many sweeping bounding surfaces and shorter cross-bed sets. On the other hand, the Coconino is characterized by fairly uniform cross-bed dips and directions without the variation often seen in modern eolian settings. The Coconino has a very similar bedding style to some known sand wave deposits like the Folkestone Formation (Lower Greensand, Aptian-Albian) of southeast England (Allen and Narayan 1964; Narayan 1971). Current lineation has been observed to form only in subaqueous settings. It has been seen to develop in both experimental and actualistic settings, resulting from fast-flowing currents. It is unknown from eolian settings. Sand waves would provide the necessary conditions for current lineation to develop. Features similar to “raindrop” prints have been found in the Coconino. Often when “raindrop” prints are found they occur in zones parallel to dip and some penetrate the beds up to 1 cm. They are often found with current lineation, which may indicate the two features are related. At present we have a hypothesis that the “raindrop pits” are gas or water escape features related to current lineation vortices. In a number of circumstances we have found so-called “wind ripples” associated with current lineation in the Coconino. The ripples are often fairly symmetrical, unlike asymmetrical ripples that are caused from directional wind in eolian settings (although the ripples are rather flat and symmetry/asymmetry is difficult to determine). Current lineation is caused by parallel vortices that travel in the same direction as the overall water current. The ripples may therefore be due to parallel vortices and not wind at all. Thus current lineation, “raindrop” prints and “wind” ripples may all be related and explained by fast-moving water (parallel vortices) along the lee face of a sand wave. CONCLUSION The present authors and their colleagues have completed a widespread study of the Coconino Sandstone and other related formations from the United States and the United Kingdom. The study included literature research, outcrop visits, sample collection, petrographic work, stratigraphic correlations, and studies of modern sand waves and eolian dunes over the past twenty years. Much of our work has been published in both conventional and creationist outlets which include scientific meeting presentations, abstracts and full-length journal articles. The study is important because sandstones with large cross-beds, like the Coconino, are often assumed to be eolian without any further consideration. Whitmore and Garner ◀ The Coconino Sandstone ▶ 2018 ICC 620