Occasional Papers - IGWS

Permanent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2022/158

This series consists of small reports on research topics that were not expected to be re-examined. They were more inexpensively produced than special reports, owing to the more specialized subject matter. Henry H. Gray initiated this series in 1974, suggesting the benefit of a larger 8 ½” x 11” publication format (usually reserved for guidebooks) to display his research. Although occasional papers were initially produced in black and white using the Docutek process, the most recent versions were distributed digitally as downloadable PDFs. All required a full formal review.

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Glacial Lake Sediments in Salt Creek Valley near Bedford, Indiana
(Indiana Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey, 1974) Gray, Henry H.
Subsurface sampling reveals at least 5 feet of unconsolidated deposits beneath the valley floor of Salt Creek near Bedford. Textural relationships within these sediments define two cycles of deposition, each of which begins with sandy and gravelly material that is interpreted as primarily alluvial and closes with silty and clayey material that represents lacustrine deposition. Some of the sediment is locally derived, but an important part of it has been transported as outwash down the East Fork of White River, to which Salt Creek is tributary, and up the ponded Salt Creek valley to the site of deposition. The sediments are tentatively dated as late Wisconsinan, probably contemporary with the building of the Shelbyville and Crawfordsville Moraines.
Ctenoconularia Delphiensis, a New Species of the Conulata from the New Albany Shale (Upper Devonian) at Delphi, Indiana
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1974) Orr, William R.; Maroney, David G.
Ctenoconularia delphiensis is a new species of the Conulata obtained from the base of the New Albany Shale (upper Devonian) at Delphi, Ind. This new species differs from other members of the genus in possessing several pustules opposite the transverse ridges in the interfacial grooves. The new taxon is based on 150 specimens from a phosphatic-nodular bed containing other fossils rich in calcium phosphate. The conulariid-bearing rock is a coarse-grained mature quartz sandstone interpreted as deposited under shallow marine conditions with penecontemporaneous formation of phosphatic nodules.
The Muscatatuck Group (New Middle Devonian Name) in Indiana
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1974) Shaver, Robert H.
"The new name Muscatatuck Group is proposed for the mostly dolomites and limestones that make up the middle Devonian rocks in Indiana. These rocks are in two mostly separate bodies that flank the Michigan Basin in northern Indiana and the Illinois Basin in southern Indiana but that have in northwestern Indiana a narrow corridor of physical continuity between the two basins. The Muscatatuck Group lies unconformably on Silurian rocks of varying age, except in southwestern-most Indiana, where it lies on lower Devonian rocks. It is overlain by the New Albany Shale in the southern area and by the Antrim Shale in the northern area, the Antrim Shale being defined so as to include a transitional carbonate-shale zone in the Antrim. The Muscatatuck type section is on Big Camp Creek (a part of the Muscatatuck River drainage system) in Jefferson County, Ind., where the Geneva Dolomite and Jeffersonville and North Vernon Limestones are present in a 66-foot Muscatatuck section. Three reference sections are in Boone County, central Indiana (subsurface, 93.5 feet, Jeffersonville and North Vernon); Allen County, northeastern Indiana (subsurface, 102 feet, Detroit River and Traverse Formations); and in LaPorte County, northwestern Indiana (subsurface, 138 feet, Detroit River and Traverse)."
Glossary of Building Stone and Masonry Terms
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1974) Patton, John B.
"The vocabulary of building stone and masonry spans segments of the fields of geology, mineral resources, architecture, history, and several crafts and industries. Each of these has its own specialized language and literature, and many of the terms that have some common usage are also applied differently within the various fields. It is the goal of this modest compilation to bridge the diversities of word use and contribute toward a common terminology. Although history, or historical usage, is a factor in nearly all definitions, no words are included for their historical interest alone. To include all the terms that have been applied would have doubled the length of the list without adding substantially to an understanding of modern and recent applications. Because so much of the written record for stone and other masonry is British, an appreciable number of the words contained have been used primarily or entirely in the trades and industries of Great Britain."
Distribution and Significance of Some Ice-Disintegration Features in West-Central Indiana
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1974) Bleuer, Ned K.
"Ice-disintegration features are well known from the northern Great Plains of the United States and Canada; but they have not been extensively documented in the Midwest, although, historically, parts of this very west-central Indiana area served in T.C. Chamberlin's ""Nature of the Englacial Drift of the Mississippi Basin"" (1893) as the foremost examples of englacial and superglacial drift deposition (Bleuer, 1973). The form, distribution, and significance of such features in west-central Indiana, which include linear disintegration ridges and trenches, ice-walled channels and lakes, circular disintegration ridges(doughnuts), and prairie mounds, are described in this report."
Age of the Detroit River Formation in Indiana
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1974) Droste, John B.; Orr, William R.
"The purpose of this note is to consider the age of the Detroit River Formation (middle Devonian) in northern Indiana by using new physical evidence obtained from a K-bentonite or metabentonite and paleontologic data provided by conodonts. The best known and well-documented, widespread sedimentary accumulation of volcanic ash in the middle Devonian rocks of the Appalachian Basin is the Tioga Bentonite Bed (Johnson, Milton, and Dennison, 1971: Dennison and Textoris, 1970). Oliver and others (1967, p. 1006-1007) indicated that the stratigraphic position of the Tioga in the Devonian System was between the Ulsterian and Erian Series, the Onesquethaw and Cazenovia Stages, and the Moorehouse and Seneca Members of the Onondaga Limestone in the New York outcrop. These workers showed the Dundee Limestone separated from the subjacent Columbus Limestone by the Tioga at Sandusky in northern Ohio, and Janssens (1970) stated that a 3-inch shale bed between the Columbus Limestone at Marble Cliff Quarry, Franklin County, Ohio, was identified as Tioga bentonite by D.A. Textoris and J.M. Dennison. Collinson and others (1967) showed the stratigraphic position of the Tioga in some wells in the Illinois Basin, and Becker (in preparation) traced the position of the Tioga in the Jeffersonville Limestone on geophysical logs of 60 wells in southwestern and west-central Indiana."
Sedimentation In Lake Lemon Monroe County, Indiana
(Indiana Geological Survey, 1974) Hartke, Edwin J.; Hill, John R.
"Lake Lemon was constructed during 1953 in a hilly (average relief of about 100 feet), heavily wooded drainage basin. Considerable lakeside development has taken place after impoundment, and as a result concern has arisen about the sedimentation rate in the lake. This study was undertaken to determine the sedimentologic conditions and the total sediment accumulation in the lake and to relate these determinations to the geology of the drainage basin. Lake Lemon is on the boundary between Monroe and Brown Counties about 9 miles northeast of Bloomington. The lake is used presently for flood control, low-flow augmentation, and recreation. It was used for water supply and is being considered as a future auxiliary and emergency supply for Bloomington. The reservoir has a surface area of 1,440 acres at the spillway (crest) elevation of 630 feet above sea level. The original lake volume at that level, as computed by the U.S. Geological Survey and verified by this study, was 14,400 acre-feet. Because of the siltation during the past 20 years, the present lake volume corresponding to the 630-foot pool is 13,920 acre-feet, which represents an approximate 3 ½-percent decrease in reservoir volume."
Haney Limestone (Stephensport Group, Chesterian, Mississippian) in Indiana
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1974) Gray, Henry H.
The formation that has been called Golconda Limestone in Indiana is equivalent to the Haney Limestone of southern Illinois and western Kentucky rather than to the entire Golconda Group. The name Haney is here adopted for this formation, which crops out in seven counties in southwestern Indiana and is recognized also in the subsurface. It is 20 to 40 feet thick and consists principally of limestone and dolomite with minor chert. Pentremites and Archimedes are the most prominent elements of the fauna.
Age and Origin of Stone Quarried near Fort Wayne in the Mid-1800's
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1974) Moore, Michael C.; Rexroad, Carl Buckner
The published report of a quarry abandoned prior to 1888 was investigated because of the excellent location of the site with respect to potential markets. It was found, however, to be in an area having about 90 feet of unconsolidated overburden and no indication of the possibility of anomalous bedrock highs. Twenty kilograms of rock fragments were collected at the site, and petrographic examination and conodont study show that the rock belongs to the Dundee Limestone of middle Devonian age. The Dundee has not been recognized generally in Indiana, although lithologic equivalents may be present. Thus it is suggested that the rock was transported from northwestern Ohio to Allen County as a large glacial erratic which remained intact while being moved a distance of a few tens of miles.
Fortran Program for the Upward and Downward Continuation and Derivatives of Potential Fields
(Indiana Geological Survey, 1975) Rudman, Albert J.; Blakely, Robert, F.
"In 1960 Roland G. Henderson, of the U.S. Geological Survey, published a comprehensive system fro computation of first and second derivatives of potential fields and the continuation of fields to levels above or below the plane of observation. In our study a Fortran IV program (HNDRSN2), based on Henderson's algorithm, uses map data digitized at an equally spaced grid interval. Output from program HNDRSN2 includes maps of the field continued upward or downward from one to five grid units and first and second derivative maps on the surface and on selected downward continued levels. Test cases demonstrate the reliability of the program in standard analyses of gravity and magnetic fields."
The Stone Creek Section, a Historical Key to the Glacial Stratigraphy of West-Central Indiana
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1975) Bleuer, Ned K.
"A photograph of T.C. Chamberlin's Stone Creek section near Williamsport, Ind., was used as the frontispiece of James Geikie's ""The Great Ice Age,"" 3d ed (1894). It is one of the earliest published halftone photographs illustrating a multiple-drift succession. This example of the so-called imbrication of the till sheets, differing in color and composition was published during the controversy regarding the diversity versus the unity of the glacial epoch. Unfortunately, the historic Stone Creek section has been lost since 1894; no creek of that name is known in the Williamsport area. Only the Lovers Leap area on Big Pine Creek east of Williamsport presents sufficient relief, drift thickness, and proper drift stratigraphy to qualify as the probably site of the section. At Lovers Leap the uppermost till is a yellowish-brown to gray loam till of the Trafalgar Formation with a high garnet: epidote ratio ( 4:1) and northeast fabric. This overlies a gray clay loam till of the Snider Till Member (Wedron Formation) with a low garnet: epidote ratio ( 2:1) and north fabric that in turn overlies a reddish-brown sandy loam till of the Glenburn Till Member (Wedron Formation) with a low garnet: epidote ratio and northwest fabric. The tills are separated by massive ferruginous carbonate-cemented gravel. Although Frank Leverett (U.S. Geological Survey Monograph 53, 1915) abandoned Chamberlin's concept of crosscutting moraines, we have since returned, again on a morphologic basis in this area (W.J. Wayne, Indiana Geological Survey Report of Progress 28, 1965), to Chamberlin's basic idea. Remarkably, the major rock-stratigraphic relationships supporting this concept, which are just now being discerned, were anticipated by Chamberlin 80 years ago."
Some Environmental Geologic Factors as Aids to Planning in Hendricks County, Indiana
(Indiana Geological Survey, 1975) Hill, John R.; Austin, George S.
"With the expanding awareness of environmental needs during the past decade, the value of geologic information to urban and regional planning has become increasingly apparent. Earth materials in the form of rock and unconsolidated sediments provide a basis for our very existence. They yield building stone, coal, oil, gas, ground water, a wide variety of minerals, and sand and gravel, and we grow our crops in soils - all from a small portion of the earth's upper crust. Continued use of these mostly nonrenewable natural resources and increasingly complex economic and distributional problems have ushered in the era of shortages. Clearly, every effort must be made to plan future use and urban growth in such a way as to maximize efficiency and minimize waste. This calls for a cooperative approach to planning. Practical knowledge of hydrology, geology, soils, engineering, biology, botany, and economics can help planners to make judgements that will result in the greatest benefit to urban and rural communities alike. The maps presented here are to supply as much simple and direct geologic information for a particular area as is possible. These special geologic maps and their explanations were prepared after consultation with official representatives of Hendricks County, who outlined their then-current needs. The information contained in this report is not comprehensive, but it answers many practical questions posed at the onset of the study."
Silurian reefs in southwestern Indiana and their relation to petroleum accumulation
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1976) Becker, Leroy E.; Keller, Stanley J.
"Reefs and reef structures are found across most of Indiana (Ault and others, in preparation), but reef structures commonly called pinnacle reefs have been recognized only in the Illinois Basin portion of Indiana. This report outlines briefly the distribution and stratigraphic setting of reef structures in the Illinois Basin of southwestern Indiana and the structural highs associated with them. It also includes comments on the occurrence of petroleum in the highs overlying the reefs and favorable areas of search for additional reefs. County names and geologic provinces in Indiana are shown in this report. To date, oil has never been produced in Indiana from Silurian reefs themselves, but oil production from structural highs associated with Silurian reefs dates back to the discovery of the Terre Haute Field in Vigo County in 1889. The production at Terre Haute was derived from Devonian rocks, and at that time it was not known that the structural high that entrapped the oil was a reflection of an underlying Silurian reef. After the Terre Haute discovery, only three commercial pools related to reefs were discovered until the late 1940's and early 1950's, when reef drilling exploration reached its peak. Exploration activity in search of natural gas storage fields resulted in the discovery of the Plummer Field in Greene County in 1969 (Noel, in preparation). The primary production at Plummer is obtained from the Salem Limestone, and some production comes from the Ste. Genevieve Limestone and Devonian carbonate rocks. This discovery stimulated extensive exploration for Silurian reef structures in southwestern Indiana. Since the Plummer discovery in 1969, additional reefs have been found in Greene, Daviess, Owen, and Clay Counties."
Environmental Geologic Maps for Land Use Evaluations in Johnson County, Indiana
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1976) Hill, John R.
"INTRODUCTION: Johnson County has experienced considerable population growth from 1960 to 1975 because of internal expansion and its proximity to Marion County. In 1970 its population was 61,138, a 40-percent increase over the previous (1960) census of 43,704. The Johnson County area has undergone such growth because: (1) it has substantial supplies of ground water; (2) high-traffic-volume thoroughfares, such as State Highways 135 and 37, U.S. Highway 31, and Interstate 65, cross the county; and (3) its land is generally well suited to construction. Nearly all the county embraces landforms based on glacially derived sediments that were deposited by ice, wind, and water. Glacial till (an unconsolidated material composed of sediments ranging in size from clay to boulders) that was deposited in numerous stages during the Ice Age blankets nearly all the count except a few localities south of Nineveh along the Johnson-Brown county line. Sand and gravel, washed from the ice as it retreated from the area nearly 20,000 years ago, exist now as sinuous valley train deposits. Some of the old glacial drainageways are now occupied by such streams as Grassy, Brewers, Buckhart, and Sugar Creeks. The overall thickness of the glacial deposits ranges from 0 to nearly 300 feet and has largely been determined by the underlying bedrock topography and glacial depositional processes. The information presented in this report supplements information already available in other reports that are pertinent to land use planning in Johnson county. To avoid duplication of existing material, very little has been said here about geologic history, engineering properties of the glacial drift, geomorphology and soils geology. Rather, this report concentrates on subjects for which little information is currently available: (1) depths to water table, (2) sand and gravel resources potential, (3) drift thickness, and (4) geologic factors affecting land use suitability to sanitary landfilling."
Environmental Geologic Maps for Land Use Evaluations in Morgan County, Indiana
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1976) Hartke, Edwin J.; Hill, John R.
"Morgan County, a part of Planning Region 8 and represented on the Hoosier Heartland Coordinating Commission, is in south-central Indiana about 25 miles southwest of Indianapolis, the core of a large and expanding urban-industrial complex. Much of the growth pressure imposed on the dominantly rural, agriculturally oriented county results from the ease of access afforded to Indianapolis by three major highways that radiate from the center of the capital city into the county. Other factors that contribute to growth pressure are the attractive wooded hills in the southern part of the county and geologic conditions that generally favor homesite development. Certain considerations must be made, however, to determine the type of development best suited for given areas and the limits that must be imposed on development. The development potential of an area is partly controlled by its geologic environment and available resources. The maps compiled for this report are designed to provide guidelines for the planner and the developer so that they may make the best use of the resources of the county while avoiding environmental hazards. To assist in achieving these ends, information based on geology, hydrology, and soils in presented here in special regard to mineral resource potential and sanitary landfill suitability, and availability of industrial minerals were compiled originally on a scale of 1 inch to 1 mile. They have been reduced in size for this report, but the large-scale maps may be consulted in the offices of the Morgan County Plan Commission and of the Indiana Geological Survey. The sanitary landfill and mineral resources maps are self explanatory. The map showing drift thickness can be used in several kinds of studies that lead to use-suitability maps."
The Limberlost Dolomite of Indiana- A Key to the Great Silurian Facies in the Southern Great Lakes Area
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1976) Droste, John B.; Shaver, Robert H.
"A new formation, the Limberlost Dolomite, is proposed for what formerly was called the brown upper part of the Salamonie Dolomite (upper middle Silurian) in northern Indiana that had not been named separately as had other members of the Salamonie. The new unit, ranging in thickness from 0 to more than 70 feet, generally consists of micritic to calcisiltitic rather pure dolomite that apparently is conformable with both the white bioclastic upper (as now restricted) Salamonie lying below the Limberlost Dolomite and with the overlying dark argillaceous Waldron Formation. Laterally disposed facies include oolites, reef and other organic buildup material, and thinly laminated micrites. In fact, the Limberlost is both a lower part of the reef-bearing sequence of the Wabash Platform (a middle Paleozoic feature not to be confused with present structure) and a direct facies of the lower part of the Salina Formation or Group (middle and upper Silurian) of the southern part of the Michigan Basin. The Limberlost Dolomite is at least partly equivalent to the Greenfield Dolomite (lowest Salina) of northwestern Indiana, and with lower A-unit (Salina) rocks in general of the Michigan Basin. Vertical zonation of the unit reflects the alternating periods of above-normal salinity (represented in Indiana by the finest grained carbonate rocks) and of more normal salinity (coarser grained even bioclastic and reefy carbonate rocks in Indiana) that characterize the Salina as a whole as well as its lower, A-unit part. The Limberlost Dolomite represents the onset of restrictive Salina influences within the Michigan Basin that transgressed in time onto the Wabash Platform as far south as Indianapolis. In places this restrictive influence had an abortive effect on beginning reef growth on the platform, but in many places first generation reefs of Indiana and Ohio grew without interruption until the end or near the end of Salina deposition well within the Michigan Basin. The tops of some of these reefs are as much as 400 feet above the Limberlost stratigraphic level. Similarly, the highest outcropping classically known Salina rocks in Indiana (Kokomo and Kenneth Limestone Members) are that high above the Limberlost. These stratigraphic relations in the stated magnitude suggest the key role that the Limberlost Dolomite has in interpretation of the great facies relationship that exists in the Great Lakes area between the reef-bearing and salt-bearing rocks. Such relationship between platform and basin rocks tempers greatly the current ideas on basin tectonics, history of reef growth in buried locales, shallow-water versus deep-water evaporites, and Silurian stratigraphic nomenclature."
Fortran Program for Generation of Synthetic Seismograms
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1976) Blakely, Robert F.; Rudman, Albert Julius
"A Fortran IV computer program to generate synthetic seismograms has been developed by using the reflection coefficients computed for layers with differing velocities v. Convolution of coefficients with an input wave yields the synthetic seismogram. Choice of the input wave depends on what the user considers to be the best approximation of the response of his seismic system to a reflection. Input to the program consists of depths and interval transit times digitized from a continuous velocity log. Output consists of (1) a table of depths, transit times, interval velocities, reflection coefficients, and amplitudes of the synthetic seismogram and (2) line-printer and Calcomp plots of the input wave and seismogram. Although this program is applicable in most geologic situations, there is no provision for including multiple reflections or energy attenuation."
The Seismicity of Indiana Described by Return Periods of Earthquake Intensities
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1976) Blakely, Robert F.; Varma, Madan M.
"The application of the statistics of extremes to seismic intensity values in Indiana allows the contouring of return periods for specific earthquake intensities. The contours show a region of low seismic activity running NW-SE through the center of the state; seismically, the quietest part of Indiana is Newton County. The highest seismic activity is recorded in the southwest corner of the state. The return periods for seismic events of intensity IV range from 20 to 45 years. Intensity VI events (slight damage) have return periods ranging from 80 to 240 years. Return periods for earthquakes rated intensity VII (moderate damage) range from 300 to 1,300 years. Higher intensities are not probable in Indiana, and therefore earthquake accelerations greater than 0.1 g are improbable."
Pyrite in the Coxville Sandstone Member, Linton Formation, and its effect on acid mine conditions near Latta, Greene County, Indiana
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1976) Wiram, Vance P.
Table of key lines in X-ray powder diffraction patterns of minerals in clays and associated rocks
(Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1977) Chen, Pei-Yuan
"X-ray diffraction is a reliable and rapid method of mineral identification. It is useful in academic research as well as in industrial applications, and when used with the petrographic microscope, it forms the backbone of determinative mineralogy and petrography. Although it is useful in identifying all minerals, X-ray diffraction excels when the particles to be identified are too small to be clearly resolved with a microscope, such as clay particles, or when minerals exist as solid solutions or mixtures. The Hanawalt indexing method is the standard method used in most laboratories for identifying a mineral species from an X-ray diffraction pattern. With this method, after the X-ray diffraction pattern has been obtained and the three strongest reflection peaks converted from 2 angles to d-spacing values, a search is begun to match the d-spacing values of the unknown pattern to those in a given index book. Indexes commonly used are the ""Index Book to the X-ray Powder Diffraction File"" (PDF) or the ""Fink Index,"" both published by the American Society for Testing and Materials, or the ""Search Manual for Selected PDF for Minerals,"" published by the Joint Committee on Powder Diffraction Standards (JCPDS, 1974). These indexes are very comprehensive (the Search Manual alone lists 1,900 mineral entries), and so much time and patience are often needed to make the proper mineral identification. An awareness of elemental composition and mode of occurrence of the sample may narrow the search area. The purpose of this table is to provide a guide to the rapid identification of minerals in clays or other earthly materials and fine-grained rocks by the X-ray powder diffraction method. It includes about 240 names of mineral species and varieties, from such groups as the phyllosilicates, zeolites, authigenic and detrital sedimentary minerals, hydrothermal and weathering minerals, and a few ceramic minerals. The table should find its greatest usefulness with students learning the X-ray diffraction method of analysis, but it should also be valuable to the experienced mineralogist in identifying uncommon specimens. A basic understanding of the X-ray diffraction method of analysis is assumed, but for details of methodology and theory, the reader may want to consult Azaroff (1968), Hutchison (1974), Klug and Alexander (1974), Warren (1969), or others. For applications of the X-ray diffraction method to clay minerals analysis, the reader may want to consult Brown (1961), Carroll (1970), Carver (1971), Gibbs (1965), Grim (1968), or Warsaw and Roy (1961)."

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