04-1931 Geology Contact - Department of Geography - Geology

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Jed Day and colleaguesready to board a helicopterfor a field excursion.Jake Morris is at far left.Jed is in the center.Day receives grant from thePetroleum Research FundProfessor Jed Day with Dr. Mike Whalen of theUniversity of Alaska-Fairbanks is in year two of aproject entitled “Integrated Late Devonian EventStratigraphy, Western North America” funded forthe amount of $80,000 from the PetroleumResearch Fund of the American Chemical Society.They are developing detailed fossil data (conodontsand brachiopods) from numerous field sitesin and around Jasper National Park and Crownlands (Alberta Provincial lands) in western Albertaand eastern British Columbia. They will developdetailed age correlations between Middle and LateDevonian sea level events that controlled the timingof deposition of the main reef Devoanian buildupsand nearby carbonate shelf successions. They alsowill develop the timing of stepped extinction eventsculminating in the Late Devonian Mass Extinction.The researchers are also developing detailedmagnetic susceptibility (MS) records to documentassociated climate changes. In addition, they willproduce carbon and oxygen stable isotopic datafrom sampled brachiopod skeletal calcite and conodontapatites to identify and correlate stable isotopeevents. The purpose of that is to study secularchanges in near equatorial sea surface or upperwater mass temperature to assess climate changesin the Devonian tropical ocean.In 2003 Jake Morris participated in field operationsin the Jasper Park and the Cadomin areas,with field operations planned in the Kakwa Parkarea of eastern British Columbia for the summerof 2004.New continuing educationpartnership with IEPAOne important new initiative this year was thedevelopment of a continuing education partnershipwith the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency(IEPA). Led by IEPA scientist Sherry Otto ’79 thispartnership was set up to train IPEA personnel inthe regional geology of Illinois through field tripsto various parts of the state, and through specializedfield, laboratory, lecture, and workshop coursesin environmental geology and hydrogeology. In2003-2004, our department will receive $25,000to develop these courses.This year is the first in what promises to be along-term mutually beneficial partnership. The firstof these courses was a run to LaSalle County inNovember. Skip, Bill, and I led about 30 IEPA professionalson a two-day field trip that highlightedthe local geology.Additional courses are planned. One that I amlooking forward to is inviting IEPA scientists alongon the stratigraphy field trip to Western Illinois inApril. As in past years, we will spend two days inthe Barnes Hill area. This year though, IEPA peoplewill be teamed up with stratigraphy students tomeasure and describe sections and make the geologicmap. I hope our students will make some valuablecontacts, and that the IEPA people will benefitfrom the student energy and enthusiasm.Illinois State University developspartnership with NICOR Inc.One of the exciting new partnerships that wedeveloped this year is with NICOR Inc. NICOR is amajor natural gas provider in Northern and CentralIllinois. The company operates a number of undergroundstorage fields along the LaSalle AnticlinalBelt and elsewhere in the state. The natural gas isextracted from natural reservoirs in the Gulf Coastarea, and shipped by pipeline to Illinois. Duringthe summer months, gas is pumped back into theground to store for use in the winter heating season.Because of increasing demand, the size of some ofthe storage fields will need to increase. A morethorough geologic and hydrogeologic understandingof these fields is needed.Through the efforts of Art Sanders ’96 we developeda NICOR-funded research project for LaurenHunt, a current master’s student, which involvesdetermining the nature of gas loss within the TroyGrove Gas Storage Field in LaSalle County. The lossof gas is estimated to be about 2 percent per year.Gas may have migrated to other parts of the structureor to the overlying quaternary deposits. Itmay dissolve in the groundwater, or it may be lostthrough equipment problems. Lauren’s work willinclude shallow geophysical imaging, and numericaland analytical models to address these hypotheses.4
Powell fund updateDuring these tight budget times, your generousdonations are most appreciated. The followingindividuals and groups contributed to the departmentalendowment in 2003.American Association ofPetroleum GeologistsAnonymousSteven BaumanWade BoringDr. and Mrs. James CarterFaith FieneShannon FultonMary Heitmeyer and husbandMr. and Mrs. John KapchinskeDrs. Elizabeth and Andrew KingMr. and Mrs. James KippCynthia LampeMr. and Mrs. Peter LennarsonJames MacKeyMr. and Mrs. Geoffrey MadduxDr. and Mrs. David MaloneMr. and Mrs. Robert NorthMr. and Mrs. NottMr. and Mrs. Harold OrndorffDr. and Mrs. Stanley PaxtonMr. and Mrs. MichaelRowlandsMr. and Mrs. Douglas ShuttEdward SmithNancy TaylorMr. and Mrs. John TraubMr. and Mrs. WayneVogelsburgMr. and Mrs. Charles WilliamsAs you may know, Illinois State University isin the final stages of our first comprehensivecampaign, Redefining “normal”, which formallyends December 31. This is the first such campaignthat our University has enjoyed, and thereturns have been fantastic. We have succeededin generating more than $78 million in gifts, andwe are approaching our goal of $88 million.Although much of this money has come fromindividual donors, a significant amount has comefrom corporations in the form of “in kind” gifts,employee matches, and outright donations. Ifyour company has such policies in effect, andyou are willing to pursue ways in which ourdepartment can benefit, by all means let meknow.Graduate program updateAs noted in last year’s edition of The Contact,the hydrogeology program is in the process of aninterim program review. Hopefully the decision tocontinue the program will be made by the timethis issue of The Contact reaches your mailbox.Last year I summarized the argument to continuethe program. In December, Loren Raymond, aprofessor and former chair at Appalachian StateUniversity in North Carolina served as an externalconsultant to the program. His report, which canbe found on our Web site, was very supportiveand favorable.No other university in Illinois offers a graduatedegree in hydrogeology. Five others offer graduatedegrees in geology and students can elect tospecialize in hydrogeology (as well as other subdisciplinesin geology) at four of these institutions.Sixteen students are enrolled in our graduateprogram. Compared to peer institutions, we havemore hydrogeology graduate students than anyoneelse, and nearly as many as the other state-supportedgraduate programs combined. We are theschool of choice for Illinois residents who seek agraduate degree in hydrogeology. Thirteen of ourcurrent students come from Illinois. We are theonly graduate program in the state that does extensiveapplied hydrogeologic research in Illinois. Weare the only program with a dedicated instructionaland research well field. This is evident by theclose relationship that we have developed with theIllinois State Geological Survey (ISGS), whose missionit is to learn more about the geology of thestate. In FY03, Skip Nelson and Dave Malone wereselected as recipients of the ISGS OutstandingCooperator Award for our various partnerships.In 2003, the National Groundwater AssociationDarcy Lecturer, and the AAPG distinguished lecturereach gave presentations at Illinois StateUniversity.Two student achievements are of note. TimSickbert won the Arthur D. Howard award for thebest student research proposal from the QuaternaryGeology and Geomorphology Division of theGeological Society of America. This award carrieda stipend of $5,000, and the award was presentedat the division business meeting at the Seattle conference.Tim also received a $500 grant fromSigma Xi. Katie Dertz won the Illinois State UniversityGraduate Student Teaching Award for herperformance as a teaching assistant for Principlesof Geology course. Way to go Tim and Katie!In terms of curricular development, we are inthe process of developing a graduate-level coursein isotope geochemistry, which is scheduled to betaught this coming fall. This course will be teamtaughtby Liz King and Steve Van der Hoven.Two students earned their M.S. degrees thisyear: Deborah Opokuah and Brian Smith. Deborahis now pursuing a Ph.D. degree at the Universityof Indiana. Brian accepted a position withDelta Environmental in St. Charles, Missouri. Inthe eight years of the existence of the program,we have seen 41 students graduate. We are righton target of graduating an average of five studentsper year.5
Page 1 and 2: Newsletterfor alumni of thegeology
Page 3: Undergraduate program updateOur und
Page 7 and 8: Dan Wendell Delivers2003-2004 Foste

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