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

Whitmore and Strom ◀ Angular K-feldspars in ancient sandstones ▶ 2018 ICC 647 Formation Location and (conventional age) Selected references and author(s) who made eolian identification (*) General description and notes about the formation Aztec Sandstone California, Nevada (Triassic) Barca 1960*; Baker et al. 1936*; McKee and Bigarella 1979*; Wilson and Stewart 1967* Correlative with Navajo Sandstone of Utah. Wilson and Stewart describe as follows (1936, p. 19): “The Navajo or Aztec consists of moderate-orange-pink, yellowish-gray and light-brown fine-grained to very fine grained well-sorted sandstone, typically composed of large wedge-planar sets of high-angle medium- to large-scale cross-laminae.” Barca (1960) reports it as 1975 ft. (602 m) thick and identifies it as “eolian.” Baker et al. (1936) report a thickness of at least 2100 ft. (640 m) in the Goodsprings Quadrangle (the eroded top of the section is missing). McKee and Bigarella (1979, p. 209) report a thickness of up to 900 m in California. Casper Sandstone Wyoming (Pennsylvanian and Permian) Knight 1929; McKee and Bigarella 1979*; Steidtmann 1974* McKee and Bigarella (1979) use this as one of their examples of “ancient sandstones considered to be eolian,” although they concede that its identification as such has been difficult to determine. They state (p. 221): “The cross-stratified sandstone of the Casper is fine grained and well sorted” and that the formation has a maximum thickness of about 700 ft. (200 m) thick. Knight (1929) believed the sandstone could only be explained by aqueous processes. Cedar Mesa Sandstone Utah (Permian) Baars 1979; Mack 1977; Mountney and Jagger 2004* This southeastern Utah sandstone is about 1280 m thick and consists of a variety of facies including cross-bedded sandstones, redbeds and mudstones. Baars (1979) and also Mack (1977) believed much of the sandstone was marine based on type and orientation of cross-strata, marine fossils and ripples. Mountney and Jagger (2004) thought that it was primarily eolian based on cross-bed spatial variation and architecture. They supposed it was deposited in a wet eolian system with a fluctuating water table and occasional fluvial flooding. They give considerable data on cross-bed dips, many averaging about 20°. Coconino Sandstone Arizona, Nevada, California (Permian) Baars 1961*; Baltz 1982; Blakey and Knepp 1989; McKee and Bigarella 1979*; Middleton et al. 2003*, Whitmore et al. 2014; Whitmore and Garner 2018 (this volume) Whitmore et al. (2014) report that it is a nearly pure, subrounded to subangular, fine grained quartz sandstone that is poorly to moderately sorted. It contains occasional dolomite beds, clasts, ooids, cement and rhombs. Its greatest thickness is in the Pine area where it approaches 300 m. Baltz (1982) reports 27-177 m thick beds in the Arica mountains of California. The Glorieta Sandstone of New Mexico is a direct stratigraphic equivalent of the Coconino Sandstone (Baars 1961). The Schnebley Hill Formation and the DeChelly Sandstone mostly lie stratigraphically below the Coconino; the upper parts interfinger with the Coconino (Blakey and Knepp 1989). The White Rim Sandstone of Utah probably is stratigraphically equivalent with the upper part of the Coconino (Blakey and Knepp 1989). Corrie Sandstone Scotland (Permian) Clemmensen and Abrahamsen 1983*; Gregory 1915*; Piper 1970* The Lower Permian Corrie Sandstone of the Isle of Arran in southwestern Scotland is at least 700 m thick (Clemmensen andAbrahamsen 1983). Piper (1970) described the sandstones in the type section at Corrie, Scotland as medium-grained, very well-sorted, rounded and with frosted grains. The Corrie Sandstone has long been regarded as eolian in origin (Gregory 1915) and more recent workers have agreed with this assessment. Clemmensen and Abrahamsen (1983) proposed that the sandstone was deposited as part of a small erg system bounded to the northwest by alluvial fans. Dawlish Sandstone England (Permian) Clemmensen et al. 1994*; Laming 1966*; Newell 2001* The Dawlish Sandstone (Upper Permian) comprises a series of sandstones and conglomerates exposed along the Devon coast of southwest England interpreted by Clemmensen et al. (1994) as units produced by alternating arid-humid climatic fluctuations. Much of the formation, especially the lower part, is characterized by cross-bedded units with foresets dipping at angles up to 33° (Laming 1966). Newell (2001) interpreted cross-bedded facies as eolian dune deposits and tabular facies as eolian sand sheets. APPENDIX I. Sandstones, location, references and general notes about sandstone formations referred to in this paper. Paul Garner was a significant contributor to the data in this table.