A literature study directed mainly on sedimentological/erosional structures, combined with limited field work, give good grounds for rejecting the normal ice-age interpretation for relics from Pre-Pleistocene ice-ages , in favour of an interpretation as (mainly) different kinds of gravity flows. The long ages held by uniformitarian geologists for the formation of these structures are therefore no longer necessary, and the data instead point to an interpretation favouring a short timescale.
Deposits from especially dense gravity flows can look very similar to till. Also, many structures formed in gravity flows can look very similar to structures formed or influenced by glaciers . Some examples are till fabric, the occurrence of erratics, polished and striated stones and bedrock, the occurence of dropstones and periglacial phenomena.
The following regularly occuring structures are features of Pre-Pleistocene till ites which are never or rarely formed by glaciers, but are usually formed by gravity flows: A) the small extension and great depth of the tillites , B) the small size of erratics, C) stones pressed down in the underlying material, D-E) sorting of stones and erratics, F) channels eroded by water below the tillites , G) layers of dolomite and coal in close connection with the tillites , H) boulder pavements, I) no weathered till or soil profiles between different tillite layers , and J) the geographical occurence and extension of late Precambrian tillites .
All the above speaks against the interpretation of diamictites as glacial deposits, but favours gravity flows
