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Age and origin of the sedimentary dikes of the Pipe Creek Junior (Silurian) Reef, Grant County, Indiana

Sedimentary dikes at the Pipe Creek Junior Quarry were found to fill fractures formed by compaction and rotation of the reef flank beds and by regional stresses of less certain origin. A sequence of fracturing events has been established as well as a sequence for the emplacement of dike materials. Most of the carbonate dikes are found to be of Cayugan (Silurian) age, although some of the las carbonates are shown to be of Devonian age due to the presence of rounded detrital quartz grains within them. All of the quartz arenite dikes are found to be of Devonian age and are divided into two major groups: older white arenites and younger brown arenites. The two types of arenties have different characteristics and were deposited under different conditions.The arenites of Pipe Creek Junior Quarry were found to be similar to the arenites of the Bluffton Quarry which are also fracture fillings in Silurian reef rock. Other Devonian sand bodies are compared to the fracture filling and, although they are not identical, they show a similarity in materials and a pattern of environment and deposition that point to a northwestern source for all of the rounded quartz studied in this work. Environmental analysis of the quartz grains indicates a litoral mode of transport and sorting for most of the samples with an ecolian mode present in the sands outside the reef area and as a minor component for some of the younger sands within the reef area.A map of the glaciated quarry surface has been prepared for the purposes of this work and to preserve relationships that are constantly being removed by quarrying of the reef flank beds.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/182953
Date03 June 2011
CreatorsBurns, Danny E.
ContributorsRoepke, Harlan H.
Source SetsBall State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Formatxii, 141 leaves : ill ; 28 cm.
SourceVirtual Press
Coveragen-us---

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