Diamictite

Unlithified diamictite is referred to as diamicton.

The term diamictite is often applied to nonsorted or poorly sorted, lithified glacial deposits such as glacial tillite and boulder clay, and diamictites are often mistakenly interpreted as having an essentially glacial origin (see Snowball Earth). The most common origin for diamictites, however, is deposition by submarine mass flows like turbidites and olistostromes in tectonically active areas, and they can be produced in a wide range of other geological conditions. Possible origins include:

• glacial origin
  • meltwater flow deposition
  • unsorted moraine glacial till
  • basal melt-out
  • ice rafted sediments deposited by melting icebergs or disintegrating ice sheets (dropstones)
• volcanic origin
  • lahars
  • lahar mass flows entering the ocean
• marine origin
  • debris flow
  • turbiditic olistostromes
  • mixing of sediments by submarine landslides
• tectonic origin
  • fault gouge
• erosional origin
  • regolith, in the form of a debris flow
  • other mass wasting events
• extraterrestrial origin
  • impact breccia