ISGS - November 2003 Activity Highlights

White County Coal Bed Methane Development Project Begins

In cooperation with an industrial partner, ISGS geologists described and sampled the drill core from the first of 3 planned test wells. A total of 16 coal samples from 7 significant coal beds penetrated by the 1,175-foot deep well, and 3 black shale samples, were collected and placed in desorption canisters. Methane desorption tests will take about 3 months to complete. The well was cased and cemented in preparation for further stimulation and permeability testing once the gas content data are complete. The project is supported by the Office of Coal Development, Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

ISGS scientists helped Gas Technology Institute scientists collect large blocks of Herrin Coal from the Cottage Grove Coal Mine for use in measuring the velocity with which seismic waves are transmitted through the coal. The GTI will use this information for advanced 2-D seismic profiling and downhole seismic surveys to detect thin coal beds at depths of 800 to 1,100 feet. These tests will be conducted in the vicinity of the White County test wells, and the results may be used to determine optimum positions of the dewatering wells at the White County test site. (Contacts: I. Demir, D. Morse, T. Moore)

Mining Records May Help Solve Lead Contamination Problem in Galena

The Illinois Department of Public Health has found that children in the Galena area have high concentrations of lead in their blood, but it is unclear whether the contamination is due to past lead mining in the area or to naturally high levels of lead in the soil. IDPH asked ISGS for all available information. As it happens, ISGS recently received all of the drilling records and mine maps for the northwestern Illinois lead-zinc district from the now-defunct Eagle-Picher Company's Galena office. In addition to records from post-WWII mining and exploration activities, the archives include working maps of mines and drilling sites and also records from leased properties operated by Eagle-Picher and other companies. Some records go back as far as 1900. These records and maps should prove invaluable in sorting out the lead contamination problem in the Galena area. (Contacts: D. Mikulic, Z. Lasemi)

ISGS Will Assist IEPA in Mapping "LUST" Sites

As they carry out their other duties, staff of the ISGS Environmental Site Assessment Section are verifying and mapping the locations of leaking underground storage tanks across Illinois, gradually building a statewide database. At a recent meeting, ISGS and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency representatives compared the ISGS's recently completed McLean County database with the IEPA's address-matched list. The comparison showed the ISGS database to be more accurate, and IEPA officials expressed the hope that they could replace the data on their Web site with the ISGS data. The McLean County database is undergoing a final quality check before being transferred to IEPA. The program to move ISGS-verfied data to the IEPA Web site will continue as counties are completed. (Contacts: D. Adomaitis, S. Ellis, A. Erdmann)

Seismic Research Vessel Succeeds on Lake County Shake-Down Cruise

After nearly a year of preparation, ISGS scientists and technicians launched and successfully tested the Survey's new seismic research vessel in Lake Marie, west of Antioch. The scientists collected a total of 7 line-miles of high-resolution seismic profiles of the sediments beneath the lake. Seismic waves produced by the "pop" of a one cubic inch burst of compressed air just under the water surface travel downward into the sediments, and the echoes from the sediment layers are picked up by hydrophones encased in an oil-filled plastic tube trailed behind the boat. The new vessel will be used to collect seismic data on glacial sediments and other materials previously hidden beneath water bodies across the state. (Contacts: A. Pugin, T. Larson)

Updated 08/08/2012 SLD