Clastic Dikes: Dispelling a Periglacial Origin

What Does Periglacial Mean?

"Periglacial" is a term that packs a punch. Like "tundra" or "permafrost", it stands in for a full suite of cold-climate features, biophysical processes, and assumptions. Periglacial regions are those that lie just beyond areas covered by glacial ice. They are cold-dominated landscapes that often fringe glaciated terrain where Mean Annual Temperature (MAT) ranges between -2 to -5 degC. Ground ice is the common to all periglacial environments, past or present (Pewe, 1973; French, 2017), but glaciers are not. Today, periglaciation is limited to the high latitude regions (i.e., Alaska, Greenland, Svalbard, northern Eurasia) and high elevation mountains (Himalaya, Andes, etc.).

Arctic wedges. Ice wedge polygons at Barrow, AK (Pewe, 1967).

Active ice wedges and fossil ice wedge casts are perhaps the only a sure indicator of periglaciation whether current or relict (Black, 1976), but other cold-related features are common to cold regions. Stone circles, cryoplanation terraces, thermokarst basins, frost-shattered bedrock, cryoturbated soils, and gelifluction deposits are few examples (Murton, 2021).

Permafrost in the Western U.S. The Columbia Basin lies west of and at a lower elevation than the known limit of frozen ground developed during the Last Glacial. Temperatures on the Palouse are considered by some to have resembled those in alpine regions, though the evidence is weak; loess is not diagnostic of sub-zero MAT. Note there are no periglacial features (white dots) in Eastern Washington. I include a a region approximating extreme modern winter temperature here, too, in order to show that cold temps still do develop from time to time across the Desert Southwest and High Plains. Why more evidence of past periglacial activity in Eastern Oregon has not been found is a mystery to me; it should be there. Modified from French (1996), Pewe (1983).

Murton (2021) uses four criteria to identify modern and relict periglacial landscapes in North America (3.5 Ma to present). His criteria include (1) persistent cold, (2) extraglacial location, (3) ice-rich substrates, (4) significant aggradation of sediment and ground ice. Murton's empirical and geologically-based system improves upon earlier efforts to map and classify periglacial reigons (Tricart and Cailleux, 1972; Mikhailov, 1981; Budel, 1982; Karte, 1982). By Murton's criteria, the Columbia Basin during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) would have met just 1 of his 4 criteria (extraglacial location). Today, it would still meet just that one.

Incipient frozen ground. Frost cracks (soil cracks) likely caused by cold penetrate glacial till at Foster Creek, WA. The features are not abundant in roadcuts and stream banks of the area, but appear occasionally. My photo taken October 2017.

Eastern Washington's Missing Periglacial Zone

Soils in Eastern Washington have never developed year round ground ice. Conditions that promoted growth of ice wedges along the margins of Pleistocene ice sheets (i.e., New Hampshire) and in the High Plains (i.e., Centennial Basin, WY) never developed in Eastern Washington. Late Wisconsin Palouse loess and scabland flood deposits contain abundant phytoliths, rodent burrows, and insect burrows - features that prove ground ice was rare if not absent. Rodents and insects repeatedly recolonized the Channeled Scablands between megafloods. Evidence preserved in paleosols in the Ringold Fm and in Palouse loess indicate cicada thrived during the Pliocene and Pleistocene.

I'm with Larry. Soil wedges descend from numerous horizons in Ice Age lake beds of western Montana. The wedges correspond with periods of subaerial exposure corresponding to periodic draining/shoaling of Glacial Lake Missoula. The features are well documented in recent articles and field trip guides by Dr. Larry Smith, a Hydrogeologist and now retired professor from Montana Tech. Jocko Valley, MT. My photo Oct 2022.

No Soil Survey Evidence of Permafrost

Soil survey maps, completed for the entire state, contain detailed information on unconsolidated Pleistocene and Holocene surficial sediment (soil parent materials). The soil survey of the Colville Indian Reservation (NRCS, 2002) is an excellent example of a detailed soil survey (178 soil map units, >28,000 soil polygons with an average size of 48.6 acres). Soil mapping covered both forested and rangeland, both glaciated and unglaciated terrain. The mapping was conducted at a scale fine enough to record periglacial features, however, no mention is made of fossil wedges, relict ground ice, frost stirring, or gelifluction. No fossil ground ice features are reported in similar soil survey publications for Okanogan County (NRCS, 1980/2010), Chelan County (USDA, 1975), Douglas County (NRCS, 1981/2008), Grant County (USDA, 1984), or Lincoln County (USDA, 1981).

No Tundra in Eastern Washington

Soils in Eastern Washington have never supported a tundra plant community. Tundra biomes are identified by their lack of trees. Tundra plants, common in today's Arctic, are adapted to cold conditions, short growing seasons, rocky soils, and shallow rooting zones atop permafrost. Pleistocene mammoth in the Horse Heaven Hills were nourished by steppe-grassland forage (Barton, 1999), not tundra plants. Pollen data from Columbia Basin lake cores reveal the presence of certain cold-tolerant, low-growing species, but the region never lost its tree component entirely (Blinnikov et al., 2002; Whitlock et al., 2006). Berry (1925) states it clearly,

That there was an actual zonal arrangement of climatic belts south of the ice front seems very doubtful. Even in the immediate vicinity of the ice front there was probably no continuous barren ground or tundra zone inhabited by arctic vegetation.

Washington wedges. At first glance, this small collapse feature filled with rubble resembles a periglacial wedge, but upon closer inspection formed by a process other than freeze-thaw action. Banks Lake in Upper Grand Coulee. My photo c. 2005.

Thin Periglacial Sliver Along the Cordilleran Ice Sheet

The southern terminus of late Wisconsin glacial ice is well mapped across northern Washington (Cheney, 2016, Fig 17.1), but a corresponding periglacial zone is all but absent. Murton (2021, Fig. 3) depicts a narrow permafrost zone south of the Okanogan Lobe's terminal moraine, indicating the ice margin and the southern limit of permafrost occupied essentially the same position. Unfortunately, he provides no evidence of periglaciation along the Withrow Moraine (see French and Millar, 2013; French, 2017). By contrast, abundant relict periglacial features populate a 200 km-wide zone south of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (Pewe, 1983; Clark and Ciolkosz, 1988).

The absence of a more typical periglacial zone between Pateros and Spokane is difficult to explain. Scant evidence that I have been able to document consists of crude frost cracks along Banks Lake (varved silt-clay, 478 m elevation), at Leahy Junction (varved silt-clay, 612 m), at Hunters (lacustrine silts, 393 m), and at Foster Creek (lodgment till, 384 m). Perhaps the ice sheet did not remain at its farthest-advanced position long enough for significant ground ice to accumulate. Glacial action may have buried periglacial features or scoured them away. Burrowing insects and rodents may have wiped out the evidence.

Just a sliver. A narrow periglacial zone (pink) is associated with the Cordilleran Ice Sheet margin (white) in the Pacific Northwest. Modified from Murton (2021).

Other Evidence

Cirque elevations - Contours project far above the crests of Yakima Fold Belt ridges (Pierce, 2003, Fig. 1), the highest places in the Channeled Scablands of south-central Washington.

Frost shattering - Frost shattering in Columbia River Basalt, exposed over thousands of square kilometers, was not unusually intense (i.e, Pidwirny, 2006). Flood basalts had several million years (all of the Pliocene) to weather in place under moderate conditions.

Loess and mima mounds - Thick loess and mima mound fields are often erroneously attributed to periglacial processes. Neither is not diagnostic of periglacial landscapes. Silt mounds are found from Alaska to Texas and certain mounds in south-central Washington are Holocene age (modern climate conditions). Mima mounds and thick loess in North America are found in low-relief, windy areas with sparse plant cover. Both are found in formerly glaciated terrain, unglaciated terrain, and deserts. Busacca et al. (2004) summarize the mixed origins of North American loess regions,

Ultimately, each eolian system has been driven by different controls and there are few synchronous units or soils that span the continent. Each region responded differently to glacial/interglacial conditions as a result of variable climate and vegetative cover, sediment character, and [sediment] supply.

Ice Age wind patterns - Katabatic winds off the Cordilleran Ice Sheet may have been mitigated by maritime weather systems off the Pacific or warm air masses moving northward out of the central Columbia Basin. If an anticyclonic wind pattern did develop over the southern part of the ice sheet at LGM, as Sweeney et al. (2004) postulate, it may have been too weak or infrequent to defeat the prevailing onshore flow (Muhs and Bettis, 2000). Northeastward transport of loess driven by southwesterly winds has remained consistent over most of the past 2 million years (McDonald et al., 2012). Likewise, Holocene sand dunes both at Hanford (middle Columbia River) and atop broad benches along Lake Roosevelt (upper Columbia River) show consistent SW to NE migration patterns.

Relict Ground Ice Features in the Rocky Mountains

Permafrost wedges and soil involutions are reported in the Lemhi Range of Idaho (D.R. Butler written communication and photos), the Owl Cave-Wasden Site on the Snake River Plain (Dort, 1968a; Miller and Dort, 1978; Butler, 1984), Glacial Lake Missoula basin in western Montana (Chambers, 1971; Chambers and Curry, 1989; Levish, 1997; Hanson et al., 2012; Smith, 2014, 2021), and terrace gravels near Lewistown, MT (Schafer, 1949).

Subaerial cracks? Frost cracks, some filled by collapse breccia, repeat dozens of times in varved beds at the Rail Line Section near Missoula, MT (Hanson et al., 2012; Smith and Hanson, 2014; Smith, 2021). Cracks are associated with weathered surfaces that appear to represent subaerially-exposed surfaces (drained surfaces) in the Glacial Lake Missoula basin. My photo taken August 2021.

Leave Desk, Discover Geology

Recently, I discovered fossil soil wedges along the highway east of Glacier National Park. The wedges follow a polygonal soil-crack pattern. The wedge networks are smaller and less conspicuous than the spectacular polygons in the High Plains of Wyoming (Grasso, 1979; Mears, 1981, 1987; Nissen and Mears, 1990; Munn and Spackman, 1991; Dillon and Sorenson, 2007). This location is 525 km east of Withrow, WA. The climate here, near Browning, MT, is decidedly continental. Winter temperatures today regularly fall 30 degrees below zero. Though the two sites lie at the same latitude, it was far colder here on the Two Medicine Creek divide than on the Waterville Plateau. Yet, even here the wedges are small. See this post for more: https://www.skyecooley.com/single-post/periglacial-soil-wedges-east-of-glacier-national-park

Montana was colder than Washington. Soil wedges follow polygonal crack networks in Pleistocene lake beds east of Glacial National Park. Roadcut is located along Hwy 89 between Two Medicine River and Badger Creek, south of Browning, MT. Winter conditions were then and are today much colder on Montana's East Front than in Washington's Columbia Basin, yet only small soil wedges formed here during the last Ice Age. My photo taken January 2021.

Implications for Clastic Dikes in Eastern Washington

I contend the clastic dikes that riddle Missoula flood slackwater rhythmites are not fossil ice wedge casts (Cooley, 2020). However, I cannot entirely rule out a periglacial origin. The dikes are vertically sheeted wedges that resemble ice wedges and fossil ice wedge casts in the modern Arctic.

The Arctic geomorphologist Robert F. Black (USGS and University of Connecticut) examined a few dikes in the Columbia Basin, weighed the pros and cons of a ground ice origin, and ultimately concluded the dikes look an awful lot like ice wedges, but are not periglacial features,

Previously proposed theories...earthquakes, desiccation, deep frost cracking, thermal contraction cracking of permafrost, and upward injection of groundwater are not considered primary modes of formation...The bulk of material filling most observed fractures came from above during aperiodic and repeated widening and concurrent filling (under an aqueous environment)...A loading hypothesis from catastrophic scabland floods is outlined as a possible cause for many typical clastic dikes... (Black, 1979)

Black ultimately settled on a "multigenetic" interpretation for the dikes, an idea he borrowed from Dionne and Shilts (1974), specifically their Table 1, which lists 31 articles on clastic dikes of various origins. In the late 1970s, Dionne was in Quebec, Shilts in Ontario, and Black in Connecticut. All were East Coast geomorphologists employed by government agencies. They knew each other personally and followed each other's work.

Black's "mulitgenetic" finding was subsequently adopted by a cadre of then young, now retired Hanford geologists who assisted him with his 3-day field investigation (J.A. Caggiano, G.V. Last, J.T. Lillie, A.M. Tallman). A careful reading of Black's somewhat hastily prepared report, however, reveals he actually argued for a single origin: floodwater loading, which Vic Baker had proposed years earlier (Baker, 1973).

Russian wedges. Ice wedges formed at different times and in different strata can connect with sufficient downward advance of the younger wedges into the older, lower set. Syngenetic growth in an aggradational setting can create wedges with prominent vertical sheeting.

Ice wedge growith in aggrading sediments. Syngenetic ice wedges form in polar regions in places where new sediment is periodically added to the ground surface. Vertically-sheeted clastic dikes in Ice Age floodways of the Columbia Basin are not syngenetic ice wedge casts. See this post for more information: https://www.skyecooley.com/single-post/2020/02/02/Syngenetic-Ice-Wedge-Growth

Black's thoughts are clearly summarized in a review article by Woodward-Clyde Associates (1981),

Black (1979) hypothesized that hydraulically dammed late Pleistocene floodwater, which repeatedly covered the area, was responsible for the formation of the fractures - for the aperiodic widening of these cracks - and was the primary source of material that filled the cracks. Sudden loading by floodwater on a ground surface whose ground-water level was not close to the surface produced stresses that were irregularly distributed. These stresses induced cracking of the ground, which would have allowed turbid water to enter. Sediment in the water would at first have been filter pressed against the walls of the crack, creating the "clay skins". Fractures could have been widened as the load increased or as shear resistance decreased with increasing pore pressure. Continued widening of the crack would have permitted coarser sediment to enter. The flow of sediment-laden water along the length of a crack would have produced the foreset-bedding structures frequently seen.

Summary

Conditions in the Columbia Basin at LGM were not periglacial as some have suggested (i.e., O'Geen and Busacca, 2001). At its coldest, the landscape was "tundra-like" (Cooley, 2008), but lacked ground ice. 14,000 years ago the Basin was a "cold steppe" (Spencer and Knapp, 2010, p. 50) with sagebrush and forest refugia that supported species,

...found in alpine and sub-alpine valleys in the [present-day] Cascade Mountains of Washington...cool-to-cold, moist, open-park conditions...consistent with the presence of continental ice to the north.

References

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Jocko Valley, MT. My photo taken Dec 2017.