Author

Jack Kume

Date of Award

1958

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (BS)

Department

Geology

First Advisor

F. D. Holland Jr

Abstract

Clastic dikes are tabular bodies of clastic material transecting the structure and bedding of the enclosing rock. The dikes may be either straight and parallel or irregular, sinuous, or zigzag, and they may be either closely spaced or distantly spaced. The thickness of the dikes ranges from a mere film to 18 feet, but commonly, they are 2-3 feet thick. The dike material has invaded the containing rocks along a fissure either through a surface opening or a subsurface opening. The fissures have originated from earthquakes, folding, faulting, submarine slumping, or shrinage of the containing rock. Fissures are filled by sedimentation, injection, and replacement. Clastic dikes are significant for their association with ore bodies in certain areas, as a top and bottom criterion, as a record for seismic activity, and as geomorphic features.

A classification of clastic dikes is proposed based upon the mode and location of fissure filling. The dikes may be classified into two groups: dikes formed by the filling of an open surface fissure, and dikes formed by the filling of a subsurface fissure.

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