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Diamictite

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Diamictite

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This rock consists of pebbles and angular fragments in poorly sorted matrix. This matrix (usually mud) is volumetrically dominant.

 

Diamictite is a poorly or non-sorted conglomerate with a wide range of clasts, up to 25% of them gravel sized (greater than 2 mm). Diamictites are composed of coarse, angular to well rounded sedimentary clastic fragments, or other type of fragments (igneous and metamorphic rocks) supported by a typically argillaceous (clay sized) matrix. The term was coined in 1960 by Flint and others as a purely descriptive term for poorly sorted and laminated rocks, avoiding any reference to a particular origin.

 

Diamictites are often interpreted mistakenly as having a glacial or ice sheet origin only, while in fact they can be produced by a wide range of different geological mechanisms.

 

Diamictite