Cylindrical Pillars
 Are
these rocks
sedimentary?
Conventional geology says patterns of stratification in
sandstones are invariably sedimentary. Vertical pillars in the Potsdam
Sandstone [Cambrian] near Kingston, Ontario are an enigma for
conventional geologic theory; they transect the horizontal strata so
the assumed sedimentary origin of patterns of cross strata seems
flawed. An alternative explanation for patterns of
cross stratification in sandstone is that these patterns may have
formed
due to a crystallization process, that produced sand in successive
layers.
According to this theory, the material which crystallized, forming sand
or sandstones, was probably hydrous amorphous silica. Hematite coatings
on quartz sand grains may have formed by exsolution. This process, of
course, is not observed occurring anywhere in nature today, but may
have operated in the past, in former conditions, as pressure was
released due to erosion of overburden caused by rapid currents
generated by differential crustal
uplifts as the flood waters retreated from the land. The currents
flowed
away from centers of uplift. According to this theory, the vertical
pillars
were formed as the crystallization penetrated downwards in small areas;
the
adjacent rock was subsequently altered by the same process, generating
patterns
of cross strata from the top down.
Another
picture shows concentric color banding in the enclosing sandstone,
and within the cylinder. [Image 12 kbytes]
Discussion
by Andrew MacRae.
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 How could potholes
have been formed in the sides of steep cliff faces? Can vortices in
streams drill down into hard rocks, and form spiral-shaped potholes?
What about potholes that intersect - how could the currents of the
hypothetical vortices circulate, if a wall of the pothole was
missing?
Conventional uniformitarian theory, that claims eddys in
streams drilled deep holes into hard rocks of stream beds or vibrated
"grinding
stones" at the bottom of depressions in the rock, that gradually wore
deep
vertical holes into the bedrock, does not account for these features of
potholes, but they are easily explained by a theory of in situ
disintegration that occurred in small, round areas, and progressed
vertically downwards towards
regions of higher pressure. This may have occurred in former
catastrophic conditions, but is not occurring anywhere today. The
process penetrated downwards,
forming vertical cylindrical holes filled with the disintegration
product,
usually sand and pebbles, which are rounded due to concretionary
development.
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Pillars in Drift Gravel
 In the drift gravel of
Southern Ontario and elsewhere, cylindrical structures are sometimes
seen exposed in gravel pits. One of these cylindrical structures is
exposed at the top of the gravel in the photo above. The structures
resemble potholes in shape; they occur in clusters like potholes; they
have about the same variety of sizes as potholes; some show concentric
internal structure in the arrangement of pebbles. The presence of cross
stratification has been reported in some. These cylindrical structures
seem to indicate that the drift gravel was not deposited by ice sheets,
or in streams flowing away from ice when it melted, but has a
non-sedimentary origin; it can be explained as the product of an in
situ disintegration of bedrock during the elevation of the
continents at the end of the flood. According to this explanation, the
disintegration penetrated downwards to varying depths and formed the
mantle of drift.
Pillars,
Polystrate Formations, and Potholes
Pillar structures in drift, and the ones in sandstone,
shown above,
resemble potholes in shape, and in their distribution patterns.
Sometimes potholes are discovered near sandstone pillars. Patterns of
cross strata in sandstones and in the pillars are interpreted as non
sedimentary in this article.
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William R. Corliss reprinted this article in his handbook
of
geological
enigmas, Unknown Earth, and portions of it again in his 1990
book Neglected Geological Anomalies p. 224-225, where he
also cited objections by E.J. Butler and F. Hoyle to the idea of
glacial movement
over vast distances that has been invoked in the glacial theory.
Corliss
wrote in his introduction to the article, "Most readers should find the
following
survey paper stimulating, comprehensive, and well-referenced."
Abstract: The drift phenomena around the world
have been interpreted by modern geologists in terms of tbe Glacial
Theory. A great many problems of a fundamental nature are involved in
this interpretation. The cause for the ice ages has not been
determined. The distribution of the
drift has given rise to numerous complicated and unlikely theories of
events
in the earth's past. Movement of great ice-sheets, necessary for a
theory
of distribution of the drift by ice-sheets and for the formation of
streamlined
landforms in a glacial environment, is postulated through some unknown
mechanism.
Mysteries abound in the glacial explanations of drumlins, kames and
eskers,
the formation of stratified drift, and ice-disintegration features.
Fossils
of the Quaternary include mammals not usually associated with cold
climate.
All of these facts suggest that the reality of the ice ages has not
been
proved.
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Niagara Gorge
 View
of the
Canadian Falls
The gorge of the Niagara River has a complex history.
During
construction of a railway bridge in the Whirlpool Rapids groge, drift
gravel was found deep below the present Niagara River, beneath the
talus blocks that have fallen
down from the sides. Before this discovery, geologists had assumed the
gorge
had been eroded by a progressive slow retreat of the falls upstream,
due
to a "sapping" process at the falls, which undermined the harder
dolomitic limestone above softer shale and sandstones, leading to
periodic collapse of the limestone.
Clearly, the discovery of drift gravel below the river
bed
proved the gorge was not formed by this process, but indicated the
river had merely removed unconsolidated drift gravel and sand, like
that which remained below the present river bed. This erosion could
occur in a much shorter period of
time than the age Charles Lyell and others had proposed, for the time
required
for the gorge to have formed. Lyell's estimate was approx. 35,000
years.
Nevertheless, at the Canadian Falls, a "sapping" process does cause
steady
retreat of the falls upstream, by collapse of the hard
Lockport Dolostone as the softer shale and sandstones below are
eroded.
At least five cataracts, similar to the present one,
spilled
over the Niagara Escarpment, before the present gorge was excavated.
Evidence
for these former outlets exists at Holley, Medina, Gasport, Lockport,
and
Lewiston, all in NY. Conventional theory says these outlets were
associated
with an ancient lake called Lake Tonawanda; this lake probably existed
for
only a brief period during the drainage of a former much larger Lake
Erie,
as the land was uplifted.
The drainage from the Lake Erie basin became confined to
its
most westerly outlet as the Niagara gorge was excavated. Most of the
present gorge was probably eroded by a much larger volume of water than
the present Niagara River. Traces of the former river bed can be found
at various sites, high above the present river; for example at Niagara
Glen. Smeaton Ravine, on the
Canadian side, was the site of a small, temporary waterfall, 46 m wide.
This
torrent eroded a gorge 152 m long, and emptied into the Niagara River.
The
former more powerful currents probably eroded most of the gorge in a
relatively
short time span.
Conventional
theory says a pre-glacial river eroded the upper part
of the Niagara River Gorge, and the St David gorge, but this gorge was
filled up with glacial drift by the glaciers. The pre-existing channel
was partly re-excavated by the existing Niagara River.
A new alternative explanation is that the drift within
the
Niagara Gorge was formed by an in situ disintegration process,
during the retreat
of the flood waters, when the basins of the Great Lakes were excavated
by
the fast currents generated by tectonic movements. This unconsolidated
drift
sand and gravel of the Niagara Gorge was excavated by retreating flood
waters
that drained the Lake Erie basin. At the Whirlpool, the course of the
ancient
drift filled valley split; one part was excavated by the currents, and
the
other remained unexcavated. The filled valley, 300 m wide and about 90
m
deep, is the St. David buried gorge. [ See map .] Well log
data indicates other similar buried valleys occur below the surface in
the area of the present town of Niagara Falls in Ontario. Some of these
are upstream from the site of the present falls.
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