ISGS - April 2006 Activity Highlights

Centennial Lecture Series Speakers Address the Community and the University

Dr. Robert Skinner, left, Dr.
Robert Finley, and Dr. William
Shilts admire the commerative
rock hammer.

The spring 2006 semester brought nine distinguished lecturers to the University of Illinois campus as part of the ISGS Centennial Celebration. Two spoke during this reporting period. Dr. Robert G. Skinner, former director of the Oxford (University) Institute for Energy Studies, spoke on the economics of energy resources. In addition to his morning address to the ISGS staff on the vulnerability of U.S. energy supplies, entitled "Too Many Perfect Storms," our own Robert Finley teamed up with Dr. Skinner in the afternoon to present "Energy in the 21st Century—The Markets Are Here but the Resources Are There." Their formal public lectures on this topic were preceded by a joint interview on WILL's Focus 580 program.

Stefan Blasco talks about his trip
to the RMS Titanic.

Fourth- and fifth-grade students at Westview and Kenwood Elementary Schools in Champaign sat on the gymnasium floor in rapt silence on April 11 as geophysicist Stefan M. Blasco, of the Geological Survey of Canada and the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, described his experiences in exploring the wreckage of the RMS Titanic at 13,000 feet beneath the North Atlantic. This topic was also the subject of his public lecture in the evening at the Levis Faculty Center, which was attended by about 200 people. The presentations on his participation in the scientific exploration of the Titanic wreckage happened to fall on the 94^th anniversary of the ship's fateful maiden voyage. In his afternoon presentation to the ISGS staff, Mr. Blasco reviewed the findings of his research on the variations in water levels in the Great Lakes as revealed by highly detailed topographic maps of the bottom of Georgian Bay, Lake Huron. (Contact: J. Goodwin)

ISGS staff work at Wagner Fen.

The Village of Lake Barrington Fen Work Reaches Successful Conclusion

Regarding the completion of recent ISGS work on the possible hydrogeologic impacts to Wagner Fen from a housing development proposed on adjacent farm land, Village President Kevin Richardson wrote in a letter to Chief Bill Shilts, "I am writing to thank you for the outstanding participation of the Illinois State Geological Survey and Mr. James Miner of the ISGS staff during our recent multilateral stakeholder technical consultation process relative to the above-referenced development... Too often, the dedication and professionalism of state agencies and state employees go unrecognized and unappreciated. In this instance, I want to make clear the great value my community received from the timely and professional counsel that the ISGS and Mr. Miner provided us..." (Contact: J. Miner)

Annual Review of Industrial Minerals Completed

Two ISGS geologists prepared and submitted the annual review of Illinois industrial minerals to the U.S. Geological Survey and Mining Engineering magazine. The industrial minerals with the highest values mined or manufactured in Illinois include crushed stone, cement, sand and gravel, industrial sand, lime, clay, tripoli, and peat. Construction aggregate, the primary industrial minerals of Illinois, include, in order of abundance, dolomite, limestone, and sand and gravel. Sand and gravel deposits are widely distributed throughout the state but are most abundant and of highest quality in northeastern Illinois. Dolomite is produced from the Silurian and Ordovician rocks in northern Illinois, especially in the Chicago area. Northeastern Illinois is one of the largest aggregate producing and consuming regions in the country and will likely remain so long into the future. In the western and southern parts of the state, limestones of the Mississippian System are actively exploited for construction aggregate, cement manufacture, and other related purposes. Limited amounts of Pennsylvanian-age limestone occur in the central part of the state and are quarried where they are present near the surface. In these areas, underground mining may be necessary to meet the region's crushed stone needs because near-surface limestone beds are thin and commonly unsuited for use in concrete highways. The depletion of near-surface reserves and difficulty in obtaining zoning and other permits for new, geologically suitable quarry sites continues to impact the crushed stone and the sand and gravel industries. Opposition to aggregate mining is no longer limited to populated areas. Opening or expansion of quarries and pits also is strongly contested by citizens in many rural areas throughout the state. In partial response to the opposition to new quarries, companies continue to evaluate or pursue development of underground stone mines. According to Aggregate Manager and the U. S. Geological Survey, there were 98 underground stone mines in the nation at the end of the third quarter of 2004, and Illinois was third in the amount of crushed stone produced from underground mining operations. (Contact: Z. Lasemi)

ISGS Serves as Advisor to Wetlands Monitoring Program

James Miner and Geoff Pociask attended meetings at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to advise on the development of a wetlands monitoring program to satisfy mandates in Sections 303d and 305b of the Clean Water Act to report to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the status and trends of Illinois wetlands. In the absence of additional funding, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will gather data being collected as part of current programs of other agencies (e.g., Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Illinois Department of Transportation) and summarize them to fulfill their mandate. (Contact: J. Miner)

A Multi-channel Land Streamer System for Surface-Wave Surveys

The geophysics section at ISGS is working on building a multi-channel land streamer system for surface-wave surveys. With the landstreamer, surface-wave data can be acquired at a rate of 3 kilometers per day. The Multi-Channel Analysis of Surface-Wave (MASW) acquired by the land streamer provides two-dimensional shear wave seismic velocity-depth profiles to a depth of approximately 150 feet. Shear-wave seismic velocity is a key parameter to characterize and map the surficial materials and/or bedrock. The same data can be further used to build soil amplification maps that show the potential for ground shaking resulting from earthquakes. The non-invasive nature of using the land streamer system and its very limited footprint make it ideal to address the complexities and test site limitations of an urban area. (Contact: A. Ismail)

Poster on Illinois Oil Potential Presented

Beverly Seyler presented a poster entitled, "Petroleum Potential of Under-Explored Lower Paleozoic Strata in the Mature Illinois Basin," at a poster session held April 11, 2006, during the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in Houston, Texas. Co-authors were John P. Grube, Joan E. Crockett, Steve Gustison, Randy Lipking, Bryan Huff, Philip Johanek and Rex Knepp. The poster was well received and generated much interest in the potential of the deeper Illinois Basin. (Contact: B. Seyler)

UIUC Environmental Assessments
class

Environmental Assessments Taught at University of Illinois

For the fourth year, ISGS scientist Phyllis Bannon-Nilles is partnering with Professor David Kovacic of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Landscape Architecture Department to teach a course on environmental impact statements and environmental assessments. The part of the class taught by Bannon-Nilles focuses on familiarizing the students with the practical aspects of completing environmental assessment work through assignments, guest speakers, and the completion of a class site assessment project. Three other ISGS scientists have served as guest lecturers in this class during this reporting period: Brian Trask, Greg Kientop, and Dan Adomaitis. (Contact: P. Bannon-Nilles)

ISGS at Geology Shows

A rock and mineral show was held at the Carterville Jr. High School on March 18 and 19, 2006. The show was sponsored by the Southern Illinois Earth Science Club. The ISGS was represented by Jim Geiger, Brett Denny, and Joe Devera, who talked to the public about their geological questions and identified mineral and fossil specimens. About 600 to 800 people were assisted during the two days of the show.

Two ISGS geologists, Russ Jacobson and Joe Devera, attended the MAPS (Mid-America Paleontology Society) National Fossil Exposition XXVII-2006 on April 5 to 9 at the Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois. Working at the ISGS table, the two sold a total of $1,017 in ISGS publications, which is a record for this meeting. Field trip guides, geological quadrangle maps, new state geological maps, and fossil books and posters were big sellers. (Contacts: J. Devera and J. Geiger)

Publications and Reports Released

Five outside publications, one unpublished wetland site evaluation report, and fifteen unpublished Preliminary Environmental Site Assessments reports were released this month. The citations for the external publications follow.

Forester, R.M., A.J. Smith, D.F. Palmer, and B.B. Curry, 2006, North American Non-Marine Ostracode Database "NANODe", Version 1: Kent, Ohio, Kent State University. http://www.kent.edu/nanode/. Accessed May 1, 2006.

Mackie R.I., S. Koike, I. Krapac, J.Chee-Sanford, S. Maxwell, Y.-F. Lin, and R. Aminov, 2006, Critical literature review: Fate and transport of antibiotic residues and antibiotic resistance genetic determinants during manure storage, treatment, and land application with emphasis on the environmental persistence and transferability of these determinants: Des Moines, Iowa, National Pork Board, 68 p.

Morse, D., I. Demir, S. Elrick, and K. Hackley, 2006, Biogenic coalbed methane in Illinois expands the play area: Annual Meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Houston, Texas, April 9-12, 2006.

Panno, S.V., K.C. Hackley, H.H. Hwang, S.E. Greenberg, and I. Krapac, 2006, Characterization and identification of Na-Cl sources in ground water: Ground Water, v. 44, p. 176-187.

Panno, S.V., K.C. Hackley, W. Kelly, and H.H. Hwang, 2006, Isotopic evidence of nitrate sources and denitrification in the Mississippi River, Illinois: Journal of Environmental Quality, v. 35, p. 495-504.

Highlights Archive

Updated 07/19/2012 SLD