ISGS - April 2004 Activity Highlights

ISGS Web Site Soon Will Deliver Well Data to the Public

The Geological Survey's extensive digital files of geological and other data from water wells soon will be provided to the public in an easily accessible form. Users of the new system will be able to "point and click" to a location on a map of the state, zoom in and out and define a rectangle to specify a more detailed area, find all the known wells in the area and select the digital information to be displayed, and display the selected information in tabular form for the wells selected. The site should be ready for internal testing by the end of May and should be made accessible for the public by the end of July. (Contact: S. Beaverson, B. Herzog)

ISGS Finds New Abundant Water Supply for Avon

Contractors for the Village of Avon in Fulton County recently drilled a very successful test well at a location recommended by the ISGS based on the results of an electrical earth resistivity survey conducted in 2003. Initial results from the test well suggest that the production from this single well could be three to six times greater than the combined yields of all the village's current wells. The available yield from the new well is expected to greatly exceed Avon's present needs. (Contact: T.Young)

Data Requested from USEPA for CO₂ Sequestration Project

ISGS has filed an FOIA request with USEPA Region V to get information about the geology of Class I wells in Illinois and Indiana used to inject liquid wastes into deep saline aquifers. The Underground Injection Control land ban petitions for these wells are expected to contain valuable information about the hydraulic characteristics of deep saline aquifers such as the Mt. Simon Sandstone. These aquifers are expected to be among the largest reservoirs that could be used to sequester carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. (Contact: E. Mehnert)

Digital Data on Coal Quality and Availability Now Served Internally

ISGS has loaded 58 GIS data layers and metadata for eight major coal seams in Illinois onto the enterprise GIS to make the information available to ISGS and IDNR users. The data layers include coal resource, quality, availability for mining, stratigraphic data, and mined-out area information for the Danville, Jamestown, Herrin, Springfield, Colchester, Seelyville, Dekoven, and Davis Coals. The data sets resulted from more than 10 years of work on coal availability mapping in Illinois funded in part by the USGS. (Contacts: S. Elrick, C. Korose)

Research Methodology Proposed for Project to Determine Sources of Lead Exposure in Northwestern Illinois

ISGS scientists are working with the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Jo Daviess County Health Department to develop ways of determining whether known lead-zinc mines and other natural sources of lead in the soils of the area are the source of the high concentrations of lead found in some children in the area. An undergraduate geology student has been employed to produce an updated digital map of the known lead-zinc mining sites in the county. Mine maps and other records recently obtained from the last active mining company in the area are being used to add to other previously published data held by the ISGS. (Contacts: J. Risatti, Z. Lasemi, R. Finley, W. Shilts)

Limestone for Use in Sulfur Scrubber Sought in Southern Illinois

For the Illinois Clean Coal Institute, the ISGS is compiling an inventory and characterizing Illinois limestone resources for use in scrubber systems of coal-fired power plants. More than 100 limestone samples collected thus far from quarries in the southern half of the state have been analyzed chemically and mineralogically. Determinations of physical properties and experimental work on the limestones' quality and ability to capture sulfur are currently under way. In the next phase of the project, the remaining stone quarries, especially those located in bordering states, will be sampled; determinations of chemical, mineralogical, and physical properties will be completed; and maps showing the locations of scrubber stone resources for the southern part of the state will be made. Many new coal-fired power plants are planned in southern Illinois, and stone for scrubbers will be needed for those plants. (Contacts: Z. Lasemi, R. Norby, S. Koenig, C. Majerczyk)

Updated 08/07/2012 SLD