Clastic Dikes and Other Interesting Geology In Badlands National Park, South Dakota 

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I’ve been to the Badlands several years times and didn’t know what clasts were, so I didn’t pay attention. Now I want to go back and pay attention. 😂

5:49 the silhouette of Shawn's shadow on the rock as he gives his lecture looks so cool!

I get particularly excited when I have visited and marveled at the subject of one of your vlogs. I plan to make your videos a part of my future exploration of the West. I can't thank you enough for the excitement that I feel for my future plans. Being disabled, easy to get to geological fascinations are priceless! I can't wait! ❤️👍👍

Shawn, your enthusiasm makes geology fun and interesting. I like the way you present the unknowns to us with possible causes, and of course, your cool drawings.

Thank you Shawn. I learned new things about clastic dikes, concretions and popcorn weathering by watching your video. It's wonderful to learn new things and you always make it an enjoyable experience.

I visited in the 1960s as a child and found it fascinating. Thanks for helping me relive that time!!

I was at Badlands National Park about 2 years ago, but I didn't notice the clastic dikes. If I get to go back I will be paying extra attention to them. 🙂

Thank you for the tour.

I visited Badlands NP back in 2004 and found it a very interesting place -- I wish I'd had you teach me about places like this back then. Given how soft and erodible this formation is and the time frame involved the place must have changed substantially in the millions of years since it's formation. As you said, there are similar such places in Utah such as the area around Toadstool Hoodoo's and in the northern reaches of Capitol Reef NP (Bentonite Hills along the Hartnet Cathedral Road).

Thanks again! Camped there in 1978, in a completely off grid campground. In the morning a couple of buffalo walked by our camper. Never knew about the ash deposits.

It really is wonderful to follow your travels to places I didn't even know existed and then to have the landscapes and rock explanned is awesome for some of us, thank you.

THANK YOU. I asked you the other day when you provided the video on the three layers of lava flow about where the volcanos were. This was a great video that helped me understand more. I really enjoy your videos. My dad was a geologist, and although it wasn’t my field, I have a great appreciation for understanding about the geology and great memories of my dad explaining rocks that I would bring him. Your videos are so appreciated.

Hi ya Shawn. Thanks for your videos, particularly of Iceland. Please visit Theodore Roosevelt NP nearby. It’s our favorite NP for bicycling! We rode the loop a number of times before the loop road was damaged, not to be repaired reopened.

Looks so cool! Thank you!

Shawn, the concretions you indicated (precipitation of stronger elements) are they still growing today due to water, or are these far older?

I've been to Badlands twice, but I never saw it with the eyes of a geologist, but I did find it a really cool and weird place, that provided so much opportunity for exploring.

Hello Mr. Wilsey. I enjoy your videos, They are very informative. I wonder if you know Mr. Myron Cook? He produces geology videos as well, and I thought it would be nice to hear you do a shout out for him during one of your wonderful videos. He is an excellent teacher as well. Thank you for all you do to share with us in your geologic adventures.

Thank you for the video, Dr. Willsey! I grew up in Eastern SD, visited the Badlands a few times growing up and once more recently, it's honestly one of my most favorite places. I got so excited seeing this upload! I think the Badlands are just fascinating, so full of interesting shapes and colors. The yellow and red mounds are my favorite part of the national park--it just floors me how vibrant they are. Western SD has some awesome geography and geology, glad you were able to stop by! Hope you had a good time. I now live much farther away, but I hope to be back soon with much more knowledge than ever before.

Crave these presentations Shawn thank you.

Fantastic video! Thank you 🙏🏻 for doing these amazing videos!

enjoy the content , spent 30 yrs driving truck and stopping all over the states , checking out places ... hiking AT and PCT the geology is amazing but had no idea what i was seeing. never to old to learn lol.

Thanks Shawn, for your continued geology education. 338 like Is it possible to have a Clastic Dike inside a crack or fracture of a lava flow ???? I think I am observing such near where I live.

Bentonite is a well drillers best friend. However, I've had it interfere with environmental monitoring data when used to grout wells, because of some of its constituents.

Was hoping you would show the color of the badlands with the sunset. The needles always fascinated me.

Went out there in 1969 (I live in Connecticut) as a teen . Absolutely amazing place !

Thank you, Shawn, I have been so looking forward to this video. It would be impossible for me to count the number of times I've been in the Badlands. When a kid, I saw a rock climber stuck on the side of a cliff, unable to move up or down with rock crumbling away from his fingers and toes. Back around 2004, my son tried kicking some mud off his shoe and it went sailing out there, right off his foot. Did you find that shoe? (Note to travelers: it is impossible to find a pair of shoes between the Badlands and Sioux Falls on a Saturday afternoon.) What cameras fail to portray are the incredible diverse and rich colors of the Badlands, in horizontal striations across the formations. This is my favorite South Dakota go-to and must-see spot! Thanks again!

Thanks Teacher, you do a great job explaining these features!

My mom’s house in Littleton, CO (1971-2000, southern suburb of Denver) was supposedly built on soil with bentonite clay. Caused all sorts of problems with shrinkage and expansion. Patio deck had to be replaced because big hole developed underneath as the clay dried up. Foundation was twisted causing a crack in the living room ceiling. Etc etc

I heard in one lecture here in Pennsylvania that the clastic dikes are an ice age phenomenon. The cracks form when the catabatic winds freeze and dry the landscape and then supply the loess to fill them.

Been to Badlands many times and always wondered about those usually greenish vertical features. Now I know. Thanks!

Hi Shawn, your Icelandic videos really impressed me and is a reason for me selecting this video. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Plus, the badlands are awesome, especially with so many fossils!

Thanks!

I seem to remember discussion of a sedimentary/clastic dike along the Kentucky River in my geology class at EKU, where the material was very unlike the local rock composition (the local rock was limestone, the dike was silt or sand based stone). As the area is not only very typical karst, the river gorge was on a fault, where one side of the river was 100-200 feet higher than the same strata on the other side. One of the hypotheses of its formation was that at some earlier point, a cavern created by dissolution of the limestone or cavity created by the faulting got submerged for a substantial period, and was filled completely by river sediment, before the area was lifted above the water table. However, the professor didn't know the actual location of the formation, having only heard about it from a report by prior professors in the area (either UK or EKU back when it was Eastern Kentucky Teachers College), and it is possible that the location may have been destroyed by the construction of I-75. It was the first time I'd ever heard of a sedimentary dike.

I’ve been to Badlands a ton of times, so this is very interesting to me. Why are those clastic dikes slightly green in color (usually)?

This video ended really suddenly. This is unusual for your videos. I found it really interesting. I've only driven past the Badlands area. We just didn't have time for a side trip on that vacation. I had no idea how different the geology is there. Thanks for sharing this. I'm glad you talked about the theories about the clastic dykes. The materials the hills are made of are intensifying the climate of the area as you mentioned. I find that really interesting. With such a climate no wonder the nearby reservations are so empoverished. I've studied the history of the designation of those reservations. That was done intentionally by the government at that time to destroy the population forced to settle there. Thanks for doing this video. You added to my anthropological knowledge today.

Thanks

Shawn, I always worry about snakes when I see you climbing over these rocks!

fascinating discussion about something I've never thought about. Was there once many years ago don't remember much but one thing that stood out to me is I remember asking my mom about why certain layers were more red tinted or grey/greenish blue tinted and getting told about oxidation and redux conditions(My mom got her degree in geology)

The 'crack' I crawled down on the Missouri River was clay like.

Thx Prof ✌🏻 fascinating!

Another great educational video ! Interesting to learn about these Clastic Dykes, Thank you Shawn for you're knowledgeable RU-vid channel! 😉👍👍

Was that Ron Blakey's Cretaceous seaway map? Another one of my old profs. I enjoy your vids.

Very interesting. I camped there in 2004 and wondered about those dikes and the age of the sediments, which are more colourful than those in Alberta. Also, on close inspection I found a lot of little agate pebbles in the white clay formations.

Great video thanks again.

Just a thought, maybe get a gimbal for your camera. The rapid back and forth motion makes it hard to watch. I've been there when I was a teen, interesting to know how it formed. Thanks

Clastic dikes are truly strange. I’m guessing that close inspection of the micro fabric along several transects across the dikes might settle the argument regarding the mechanism for emplacement. Without much to go on, I’m leaning toward the bottom up water/sediment over pressuring/injection theory.

I'm curious as to how those clastic dikes could form in such straight lines. It's like a giant knife cut through it like a cake and filled in the cut (clastic dike) with a different material.

Are the clastic dikes pretty uniform throughout the formation or are they more prominent towards the top in the newer layers?

I kind of think possibility B is the more correct one with the folds and V shapes pointing upward. Just my opinion, but I've never been to the Bad lands. Thanks again for the video.

I'm intrigued by the big smiley-face or channel-form dike. One way to explain that one is movement of the top member beds over the lower, and pushing a small toe of sediment in front of it. That would also account for foliation at right angles to the direction of force - or as I think of it, parallel to the energy front.

I did my thesis on this rock formation 25 years ago. Its a enormous sedimentary fan that spreads to the east of the Rocky Mountains for about 250 miles. The color is tan/pink/grey mudstone (siltstone). I've seen it in the Dakotas, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, and New Mexico. It commonly forms badlands. The pale white-ish layers are volcanic ash beds. You will commonly find a lot of fossils at the same levels as those ash beds. The ancient soil horizons (layers) show that at the bottom (oldest 37 million years ago) it was very wet, swampy and muddy plains. With time it got drier..at the top (30 million years ago) it was desert with sand(silt) dunes. Barite crystals are also easily found. (Remember do not dig around or collect samples from any federal or private lands without written permission)..

In some cases contemporary clastic dikes have been observed when underlying sediments experience liquefaction as the result of an earthquake or shock. For example along the Mississippi River New Madrid fault event over two centuries ago. The dikes you pointed out with the vertical partings and the other dike with the tight chevron folding would seem difficult to create by the top down fill model. I would think that with top down there would be horizontal features. Also with top-down perhaps some bones and critters could become trapped and entombed.

You sometimes find fossils in concretions. What makes that happen? Just curious.

A problem with the top-down origin for the clastic dikes is whether such cracks could maintain slope stability for such a height with nothing but air for lateral support before being filled with sediment. Sediment that would shrink due to desiccation to create such cracks would also be prone to shrinkage and cracking along the walls of such a vertical crack. Further, would the strength of materail behind such a crack be sufficient to support such a vertical crack. For comparison, I think of headwall cracks hehind a slope failure. Such cracks often have secondary failures toward the headwall crack and it has limited depth before it closes because of the stability of its walls. This is a question subject to analysis, you would need to determine the strength of the material and perhaps look for exposed slopes for comparison. I favor the bottom up explanation in which cracking from some tensile or flexural stress regime is further forced apart and the walls supported by intrusion of a slurry that hydraulically supports the side walls. Such a crack could be repeatedly opened slightly with repeated injections of slurry from below, producing the vertical layering and a viscous slurry injection might produce some folding of the older dike materials as new materials come up the center. A liquefaction hypothesis of injection during earthquakes in which pore water pressures in the deeper sediments are increased combined pressure relief upwards into weak zones, with the dense slurry forcing apart the walls would fit. If such earthquakes were associated with stretching of the ground by flexure you could get the standard liquefaction type dikes, though the fine grained nature of the material making the dikes does challenge the normal liquefaction explanation. It would also be worthh looking at proximity of dikes to terrain. Deep valleys have stress relief effects by removing lateral support to the valley walls. Even if cracks don't open on their own, having reduced horizonatal stresses near the valley walls would make them more vulnerable to lateral hydraulic jacking by high pressure fluids. I suggest looking into the literature on stess relief joints associated with terrain. Interesting discussion. I wish I could visit and gather information about the dimensions and distribution of the dikes. Perhaps use of high quality aerial photos might aid mapping to determine the patterns of the dikes and the way they interact.

I would like to compare them to the badlands of AB and Sask. I remember the crumbly stuff they called popcorn.

Is that the same kind of geology as “white pocket” I don’t know where it is but I’ve seen pictures but looks the same❓Thank you Shawn

When I visited the Badlands NP, I blithely assumed that the orange-red layers were colored by iron. But nothing that I've read since nor your fine video confirmed that suspicion. Oh NO! Am I wrong? Never happened before.

Is the place where you are making these observations truly a road cut? If so, the dikes and matrix would have been continuous prior to the human activities that removed all the material that once filled the cut and the erosion that removed the softer matrix material and left the dike material extending (or retreating in one example) some 30cm or more from the matrix would have all had to occur since the road cut was cut. Since the date of the road's construction is well-known, can we make any interesting inferences about how erosion formed the landscape?

Shawn, love your videos. Have you been to "Devil's Slide" in Utah? I'd enjoy hearing what you have to say about that place.

Shawn, have you ever been to Square Butte, just south of Fort Benton MT?

So if the badlands were for example primarily granite or volcanic/lava or of crustal origin they probably wouldn’t be the badlands since the composition is primarily the result of an inland sea/underwater formative environment that lends itself to easier erosion. Is that a fair assessment by me?

If Neil Degrasse Tyson is my (as he says) ‘personal astrophysicist,’ you are my ‘personal geologist.’ Thank you for all you do.

A triple treat

If you crack open a concretion would it be solid or would it have a water cavity?

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You left the best tip for the end 😳 "don't build a home on that stuff" ....arrghhhhh.....I just did!! 😜🤡

South Dakota. It must have been North Dakota I heard has no national park. The only state w/no parks?

Is that also a witch called a questa

Could the dikes be caused by earthquake liquifaction?

Hope you stopped in across I-90 and had lunch/dinner at Wall Drug. 😁 Have you been to Theodore Roosevelt National Park yet? It's the other "badlands" national park. The North Unit is worth the drive. And just on the other side of the state line in Montana is Makoshika State Park. The south unit of TRNP is right on I-94, so it's another easy visit, and Makoshika is a short drive through Glendive, MT... Badlands NP was one of the first National Parks I visited because it's right off of I-90. Spectacular vistas almost everywhere. Careful on the road, people are looking at the vistas, not really driving, lol.

clay cracks are flat at the bottom, they do not come to a point.

Every other western movie ever made

Ending is a bit abrupt...

The Black Hills are even better. XD Lovely area though.

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