The Enigmatic Sand: a Call for Collaboration



We propose a scenario in which significant quantities of distal ejecta, in the form of a 1-10 meter thick sheet(blanket) of fine-grained sand, was deposited (blanketed) across a wide area for the North American continent in a singular event lasting less than an hour ~800,000 years ago (kya).

Our conjecture suggests that the resulting strata of sand - as a unit - can easily be discriminated from more generic fluvial and eolian deposit using a set of easily-applied and identified criteria:

  • homogeneous stratigraphic unit of 1 to 10 meters in thickness
  • contact with underlying strata to be conformable and sharply defined
  • mottled or gnarly  presentation in vertical and horizontal cross section, suggesting turbid deposit environment
  • no indications of stratified horizons within the unit (single deposition sequence accepted)
  • no indications of aqueous deposition (i.e. shells); hence deductively considered eolian
  • virtually no clay lenses present
  • incongruous course skew seen in unit
  • tightly constrained grain size across unit
  • no variation in heavy metal suite across unit
  • little variation in presented color across unit
  • OSL dates would be older than the technology offers (>150,000)
  • 10Be/26Al burial dating will identify the layer as being ~800,000 years old
  • Geomagnetic Polarity set to the current normal (Brunhes Chron)
Due to the proposed geographic extent of this strata, we recognize it may well be considered "common" within your experience; yet enigmatic nonetheless in context, raising questions about the true depositional method.

Please consider the profile offered above, and should you have access to experimental datum derived from previous research which identified depositional strata meeting these criteria, we implore you to consider collaboration with us. In addition, should you have knowledge of , and access to, sites which exhibit these criteria, we invite you to assist us in obtaining samples across the vertical and extent of the unit.

We continue to accept contributions for our ongoing data gathering and analysis efforts. If you are intrigued by our work, please make a donation using PayPal link:







Michael Davias
203-705-9272
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