Special Reports - IGS

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    The hydrogeology of Allen County, Indiana: a geologic and ground-water atlas
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1994) Fleming, Anthony H.
    "Allen County is in northeastern Indiana, adjacent to the Ohio state line about 33 miles south of the Michigan state line. The county is approximately 671 square miles in size and had a total population of about 300,000 in 1990. The county seat is the City of Fort Wayne, one of the most rapidly growing metropolitan areas in Indiana. Ground water is the principal source of water for more than half of the residents and much of the industry in the county. The City of Fort Wayne is the only areas in the county served by a public water supply derived from surface sources. Population growth is greatest in outlying areas, thus it is likely that the percentage of county residents and businesses served by ground water will grow in the future. Due to the humid climate and abundant precipitation (approximately 35 to 40 inches per year), the growing reliance on ground water in Allen County is unlikely to be threatened by inadequate quantity. Although a few widely scattered locations do exist in the county were groundwater availability is somewhat limited, a far more significant threat is the potential for contamination of productive aquifers by activities or facilities located in areas where het ground water is naturally susceptible to pollution. The high economic, societal, and environmental costs of polluted ground water are well known and far exceed the relatively minimal costs associated with preventing ground-water contamination in the first place. For example, several million dollars have reportedly been spent attempting to clean up soil and ground-water contamination at just one Superfund site in Allen County, whereas the cost of this study is less than $200,000. Growing recognition of these costs, coupled with the highly publicized nature of many ground-water contamination incidents and the identification of a wide variety of potential contaminants and activities that can negatively impact ground-water quality (U.S.E.P.A., 1980; Pye and Kelly, 1984), have led to a heightened awareness of the need to protect ground-water quality on the part of concerned citizens and local officials. This study was initiated at the request of several Allen County agencies in order to provide information needed to understand and protect the ground-water resources into the land-use planning and screening activities. The information contained in this study is presented at too course a scale to be suitable for most site-specific activities but it provides a useful regional perspective for more detailed site investigations."
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    Stratigraphy and conodont paleontology of the Sexton Creek Limestone and the Salamonie Dolomite (Silurian) in northwestern Indiana
    (1982) Rexroad, Carl B.; Droste, John B.
    This study of Alexandrian and early Niagaran strata in northwestern Indiana is part of a series of studies of Silurian rocks in the northern part of the state. It is based on geophysical logs, conodonts, and well samples, including cuttings and cores. Alexandrian rocks are represented by the Sexton Creek Limestone, the lower part of which is separated here as the Schweizer Member of the Sexton Creek Limestone. An upper facies of the Sexton Creek is recognized as being equivalent to the Kankakee Formation in Illinois but is not normally named. The main body of the Sexton Creek is cherty impure brown dolomite; the Schweizer lacks chert, is more argillaceous, and includes dolomitic shale. Formation thickness ranges from 1 to 110 feet. The Sexton Creek Limestone is unconformably overlain by the Salamonie Dolomite except that in western Lake County the two may be conformable. The Salamonie Dolomite (Niagaran) is generally light-gray to white granular vuggy dolomite. Chert is irregularly present. The lower part of the formation if finer grained and more argillaceous and is equivalent to the Stroh Member of the Cataract Formation to the east and to part of the Brandon Bridge Member of the Joliet Formation to the west. The known thickness of the Salamonie in the study area ranges from about 50 feet to more than 200 feet.
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    Underground Coal Gasification Potential in the Illinois Basin
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 2017) Mastalerz, Maria; Drobniak, Agnieszka; Rupp, John A.
    This report provides a summary of the development of underground coal gasification technology throughout the world and the results of an evaluation of the potential for application in the Illinois Basin. Two coal members—the Springfield Coal of the Petersburg Formation and the Seelyville Coal of the Linton Formation in Indiana and their equivalents in Illinois and western Kentucky (Dekoven/Davis/Seelyville and Dekoven and Davis, respectively) are assessed in detail based on thickness and depth. In Indiana, four promising underground coal gasification areas were previously identified in the Springfield Coal Member and five in the Seelyville Coal Member; this publication briefly reviews those findings. We subsequently selected one area in Posey County, Indiana, for further examination; the study began by drilling three new boreholes, was followed by analyses of coal and gas, and resulted in a reevaluation of coal volumes available for underground coal gasification technology. In this report, we present these new results and evaluate underground coal gasification potential in the area.
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    Characterization of groundwater in the coal-mine aquifers of Indiana
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 2013) Harper, Denver; Branam, Tracy D.; Olyphant, Greg A.
    "The Indiana Geological Survey has published a report that explores groundwater present in the abandoned coal mines of southwestern Indiana. More than 194,000 acres of Indiana are underlain by underground coal mines, and the amount of groundwater that fills the voids of these abandoned mines may be as much as 172 billion gallons. In the future, these potentially high-yielding coal-mine aquifers may represent resources of significant public and commercial value that could be used for a variety of purposes. However, little is known about the quality of water within flooded coal mines, the mechanisms of recharge and discharge, or the hydrodynamics of individual mine pools. Characterization of Groundwater in the Coal-Mine Aquifers of Indiana, by Denver Harper, Tracy D. Branam, and Greg A. Olyphant, summarizes the limited data specific to Indiana that are currently available, and suggests lines of research that promote the future use—and remediation, where necessary—of this potentially valuable resource. “Abandoned underground coal mines have often been forgotten once their intended purpose has been exploited,” said John C. Steinmetz, Director of Indiana Geological Survey. “Now, however, with this study, a potential new resource has been revealed. Not only does it document a source of water in the state that has heretofore not even been considered, but it opens possibilities for such other purposes as renewable geothermal heat-pump and cooling systems, and even for energy storage.”
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    Effects of abandoned mine land reclamation on ground and surface water quality: Research and case histories from Indiana
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 2012) Comer, John B.
    "This volume of thirteen papers presents the results of research investigating the impacts on ground and surface water of diverse reclamation practices designed to clean up abandoned coal mine sites in Indiana. Reclamation activities in Indiana’s abandoned mine lands during the past 20 years have provided numerous opportunities to gauge the effectiveness of various remediation designs and to conduct field experiments to quantify the impact of these efforts on water quality and hydrology. Studies conducted at Indiana AML sites and controlled experiments performed in the laboratory simulating these sites have produced considerable data and provided important insights into what processes are effective in converting barren land to productive uses and reducing the outflow of acid mine drainage that leaches toxic metals from mine refuse and overburden, sterilizes downstream water bodies, and contaminates down-gradient aquifers. This volume gathers under one cover the information learned and the insights gained during the past two decades by researchers at the Indiana Geological Survey and their colleagues who have studied the natural processes and environmental impacts of Indiana’s abandoned mine lands reclamation program. The book is a must for those working in coal mine reclamation, as well as useful for teachers and students studying the environmental impacts of mining."
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    A history of glacial boundaries in Indiana
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 2011) Gray, Henry H.; Letsinger, Sally L.
    "This publication traces the progress of mapping the furthest extent of the Pleistocene ice lobes in Indiana from their first understanding in the mid-nineteenth century to the boundaries that define current knowledge of the glacial limits. The work of mapping glacial boundaries in Indiana first focused on identifying the extent of the southernmost advances of pre-Wisconsin-age ice lobes. The line so defined is of uncertain precision and over the years has been subject to change. Later work has identified the position of the more recent, more influential, and better defined Wisconsin-age glacial limit. The report describes the historical progress of mapping these boundaries, which are important to an understanding of the geological and hydrological processes intimately related to the distribution of materials that remain from the glacial advances. An annotated bibliography is included, which provides details of the historical literature and describes the stepwise and cumulative contribution of many workers in mapping the glacial boundaries in Indiana. Associated with this report are geographic information system (GIS) data layers representing the two major glacial boundaries in Indiana (Pre-Wisconsin and Wisconsin). These can be downloaded as shapefiles from the IndianaMap under the “Geology” category: http://inmap.indiana.edu/dload_page/geology.html.
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    Stratigraphy of the West Franklin Limestone Member (Pennsylvanian) in Posey County, Indiana
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 2011) Gray, Henry H.
    The West Franklin Limestone Member, which marks the top of the Shelburn Formation (Desmoinesian, Pennsylvanian) in Indiana, consists of one to three benches of limestone and intervening shale and siltstone beds and ranges in thickness from 5 to 30 feet. Each bench appears to represent a discrete depositional event. In many of those places where the West Franklin can be shown to be missing from its usual stratigraphic position it is a result of nondeposition, probably reflecting topographic irregularity of the sea floor. Absence of the limestone in other places is a result of minor penecontemporaneous erosion, succeeded by deposition of the Inglefield Sandstone Member of the Patoka Formation (Missourian).
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    Geology of the Late Neogene Pipe Creek Sinkhole (Grant County, Indiana)
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 2010) Farlow, James O.; Steinmetz, John; DeChurch, Deborah A.
    Geology of the Late Neogene Pipe Creek Sinkhole (Grant County, Indiana) is a volume of collected papers concerning different aspects of the geology of this interesting site. Uncovered in 1996 by workers at the Pipe Creek Jr. Quarry, the Late Neogene sinkhole has yielded the first preglacial fauna from the age of mammals ever found in the interior of the eastern half of North America. The papers include: “Occurrence and features of fossiliferous sediments of the Pipe Creek Sinkhole (Late Neogene, Grant County, Indiana),” by J. O. Farlow, R. L. Richards, and others; “Interstratified kaolinite-smectite from a sediment derived from terra rossa in the Pipe Creek Sinkhole, Indiana,” by Anne Argast and J. O. Farlow; and “Course of the Tertiary Teays River southwest of Lake Erie Lowlands, USA: Evidence from petrologic and lead isotopic characteristics of pebbles found in the northern Indiana Pipe Creek Sinkhole,” by J. A. Sunderman, E. T. Rasbury, and S. R. Hemming.
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    Conodont paleontology of the West Franklin Limestone Member of the Shelburn Formation (Pennsylvanian) in the southeastern part of the Illinois Basin
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 2009) Brown, Lewis M.; Rexroad, Carl B.
    Conodonts described in this paper show that the West Franklin Limestone Member of the Shelburn Formation and equivalent units are mostly of Desmoinesian age but are in part Missourian (Pennsylvanian). The sedimentation, stratigraphy and conodont paleoecology of the one to three limestone benches and immediately associated rocks are described and show generally nearshore, sometimes harsh conditions, with shifting areas of deposition.
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    Indiana limestones and dolomites for flue gas desulfurization
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 2009) Shaffer, Nelson R.; Sadowski, Robert
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    Characterization of Indiana's Coal Resource—Availability of the Reserves, Physical and Chemical Properties of the Coal, and Present and Potential Uses
    (Indiana Geological Survey, 2009) Mastalerz, Maria; Drobniak, Agnieszka; Rupp, John A.; Shaffer, Nelson R.
    This publication provides a comprehensive summary of Indiana coal resources, coal characteristics, and current and potential use of Indiana coal. In addition to the previously evaluated resources of the Springfield, Danville, and the Seelyville coals, new GIS-based valuations are provided for the Hymera, Houchin Creek, Survant, and Colchester coals. The coal quality of major coal beds in Indiana is discussed and maps of sulfur, ash, and heating value are provided. Summaries of 35 trace elements are given and mercury, selenium, arsenic, and chlorine are discussed in more detail. Other aspects include coalbed methane potential, carbon dioxide sequestration, characteristics of limestone and dolomite for flue gas desulfurization, and the production and use of coal combustion products.
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    Slow-logging subtle sequences the gamma-ray log character of glacigenic and other unconsolidated sedimentary sequences
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 2004) Bleuer, Ned K.
    "Natural gamma-ray logging is the most versatile downhole geophysical method available for use in glacial and related terrain. Log profiles illustrate lithologic variation. They illustrate vertical sequences of glacigenic deposition as well as regionally recognizable till-statigraphic units. Expanded log profiles run at very slow speeds can illustrate cyclic variations in thick loess and in soil and soil-landscape relations. Recognition of depositional-sequence packages can provide an ultimate basis for a natural “genetic stratigraphic classification, a classification emphasizing whole events at all scales. Such log-based packages can provide the framework and the predictive models necessary for both regional and site-specific applications. These models can provide an objective understanding of variation that is critical to both engineering and hydrogeologic concerns."
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    Indiana coals and the steel industry
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 2004) Mastalerz, Maria; Valia, Hararshan
    This paper discusses the characteristics of Indiana coals with regard to the application of this coal in the steel industry. Coal characteristics favorable for application of coal in coking blends and those suitable for application in pulverized coal injection (PCI) are considered. This study demonstrates that selected Brazil Formation coals have superior coking properties and could be successfully used in coking blends. They possess high fluidity, high fluid range, and unusually high amount of contraction for such a low rank coal. In addition to higher fluid properties, some of these coals, when compared, for example, with similar ranked Illinois coals, are characterized by lower sulfur, lower alkalies, and lower chlorine. The higher fluidity, coupled with lower sulfur and lower alkali index, result in high predicted and actual coke strength after reaction (CSR) for some of the Brazil Block coals. Replacement Ratio (RR) is an important parameter in evaluation of coal for application in PCI. Because of higher hydrogen content, some of the Indiana coals, especially Brazil Formation coals, have moderate predicted replacement ratio. This makes these coals attractive for use in blast furnace pulverized coal injection. This paper presents the locations of coals with adequate replacement ratios.
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    Conodont biostratigraphy and depositional environments of the Mecca Quarry Shale Member and the Velpen Limestone Member of the Linton Formation (Pennsylvanian, Desmoinesian) in the eastern part of the Illinois Basin, USA
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 2001) Rexroad, Carl B.; Wade, Jan A.; Merrill, Glen K.; Brown, Lewis M.; Padgett, Penny
    "Study of conodonts from the Mecca Quarry Shale Member and the Velpen Limestone Member of the Linton Formation in Indiana and from equivalent units in adjacent parts of Illinois and Kentucky is part of an investigation of Desmoinesian depositional patterns in the Illinois Basin and of correlations in the Midcontinent. Idiognathodus was by far the most abundant genus in the units studied, followed by Neognathodus with fewer than one-sixth as many speciments. Idioprioniodus, Hindeodus, and Adetognathus were present in small numbers; Ubinates and Diplognathodus were rare; and abundances of Gondolella were erratic. We assign the fauna to the Neognathodus roundyi zone, which is appreciably younger than the Ardmore Member of the Verdigris Formation in Missouri and the Verdigris Member of the Sonora Formation in Oklahoma, units with which the Velpen had been correlated. The Oak Grove Limestone Member of the Carbondale Formation in northern Illinois is slightly older than the Velpen. We suggest that in west-central Indiana the Mecca Quarry was deposited in water averaging no more than one meter in depth, with slightly deeper local depressions, under a nearshore flotant with shallow open marine conditions nearby. The Velpen formed subsequently in more open marine waters before terrestrial sedimentation took over. This interpretation fits with the nearshore processes and the geography of a deltaic sedimentation model that was influenced by local tectonism and climate in both the source and depositional regions and by some relative sea level change and was secondarily influence by compaction and isostasy."
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    Patterns of deposition during the Early Pennsylvanian (Morrowan) in the Illinois Basin
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 2000) Droste, John B.; Furer, Lloyd C.; Horowitz, Alan S.
    The early Pennsylvanian (Morrowan) transgressions in the Illinois Basin can be documented by mapping the depositional limits of the subdivisions of the Mansfield Formation. Initial Morrowan subsidence and/or sea level rises resulted in northeastward onlap in three separate centers of deposition that are associated with paleovalley systems on the sub-Pennsylvanian landscape. In the central and southern parts of the basin most of the sub-Pennsylvanian topography was buried by late Morrowan time. In middle Pennsylvanian (Atokan) time onlap deposition had extended beyond the present outcrop belt of Pennsylvanian rocks in the Illinois Basin.
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    Physiographic Divisions of Indiana
    (Indiana Geological Survey, 2000) Gray, Henry H.
    Physiographic Divisions of Indiana
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    Coal in Indiana: a geologic overview
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1998) Harper, Denver; Mastalerz, Maria
    "Coal is one of Indiana's most valuable natural resources. Since the 1830's, almost two billion tons of coal have been produced in the state. In 1994, total production was 31 million tons, of which 89 percent was produced by surface-mining methods, making Indiana the tenth largest coal-producing state in the United States (EIA Energy Information Administration, 1994). There have ben many investigations of the geology of Indiana's coalbeds. Much of this information is available in various publications, but much remains unpublished. The Indiana Geological Survey is engaged in an ongoing effort to convert these existing data into digital form that can be manipulated by computer. This will greatly enhance the ability of citizens, governmental agencies, electric power utilities, coal-mining companies, and others to gain access to the data, and more importantly, to visualize and quantitatively analyze the data in ways that were never before possible. But while a considerable amount of information has already been gathered, the markets for coal are constantly changing, and much additional information about the distribution and properties of coalbeds will be needed in the future if Indiana's coal-mining industry is to remain competitive in what has always been a highly competitive market. This report provides a concise overview of what is currently known about the geology of Indiana's coalbeds and what sources of information are available (including digital and unpublished data, as well as traditional published sources), and to suggest directions for future research."
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    Early Pennsylvanian stratigraphy and the influence of sub-Pennsylvanian topography in the subsurface of Indiana
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1995) Droste, John B.; Furer, Lloyd C.
    The Raccoon Creek Group contains the oldest rocks of the Pennsylvanian System in Indiana and consists in descending order of the Staunton, Brazil, and Mansfield Formations. The major focus of this report is the subsurface distribution of the Mansfield Formation, which contains all the rocks of Pennsylvanian age below the Lower Block Coal Member of the overlying Brazil Formation. The Mansfield Formation is the thickest formation of the Pennsylvanian system in Indiana and ranges in thickness from zero at its present eroded limit to more than 800 feet in sub-Pennsylvanian paleovalleys. The Mansfield herein is subdivided into three informational and approximate chronostratigraphic subsurface units: the upper, middle, and lower divisions. The named members of the Mansfield cannot be traced regionally at the surface or in the subsurface, but the approximate stratigraphic position of these members can be correlated throughout much of the subsurface in Indiana. The top of the lower Mansfield is near the position of the French Lick Coal Member. From zero at its depositional limit to more than 500 feet in the subsurface, the lower Mansfield distribution is controlled partly by sub-Pennsylvanian topography, and in a few places the rocks in the upper part of the lower Mansfield are exposed along the southern half of the outcrop belt. The top of the middle Mansfield ranges in thickness from 150 to 250 feet and its present throughout the crop belt. The upper Mansfield ranges in thickness from 70 to 180 feet and extends throughout the outcrop belt in Indiana.
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    Underground Storage of Natural Gas in Indiana
    (Indiana Geological Survey, 1998) Keller, Stanley J.
    "Underground storage of natural gas is the practical method used to maintain a constant supply of gas effectively and economically during periods of widely changing demand. Underground storage in rock reservoirs is safer and more economical than aboveground storage in metal tanks. In Indiana there are 28 active gas storage projects, three inactive projects, and two projects under development. The total gas storage capacity within the state has grown from an estimated 48 billion cubic feet in 1963 to an estimated 139 billion cubic feet in1994. For underground storage in Indiana, the geologic conditions and the availability of subsurface data that define such conditions are most favorable in the Illinois Basin and less favorable in the Michigan Basin and on the Cincinnati and Kankakee Arches. In the Illinois Basin, stratigraphic hydrocarbon entrapments in Pennsylvanian and Mississippian rocks are abundant, and structural traps in Devonian rocks over Silurian reef-induced structures are present as well. Reservoir conditions for storage in Ordovician and Cambrian rocks are also present in Indiana but known trapping conditions are limited. Maps depicting the geology of all active and inactive projects, as well as projects that are currently under development in Indiana are included in the appendix. The appendix includes all the available pertinent statistics for each project."
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    Geophysical properties of the basement rocks of Indiana
    (Indiana Geological & Water Survey, 1993) Rudman, Albert J.; Rupp, John A.
    "Measurements of the physical properties of the basement complex from well samples, cores, and geophysical logs of deep tests in Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio show : (1) density values from 2.57 to 2.81 gm/cm 3 for granites, 2.86 gm/cm 3 for basalt, and 2.70 to 2.90 gm/cm 3 for andesites; (2) low magnetic susceptibility for basement rocks (generally less than 0.001 emu), with the highest value 0.010 emu for a gabbro in LaGrange County, Ind.; (3) seismic velocities ranging from 14,113 to 18,868 ft/sec; and (4) apparent electrical resistivity of 7 to 1,000 ohm-meters for the logged intervals. Geophysical surveys of basement features depend in part on predicting contrasts in physical properties between the basement and the overlying Mount Simon Sandstone (Cambrian). Studies of electrical resistivity, porosity, velocity, and gamma-ray logs show that the contact between the Mount Simon Sandstone and the basement complex is a mappable horizon in the northern and eastern parts of Indiana. The density contrast between the Mount Simon Sandstone and the basement complex ranges from 0.1 to 0.2 gm/cm 3, and magnetic-susceptibility contrasts range from 0.0 to approximately 0.007 emu. These low contrasts indicate that only major topographic features on the basement are observable by gravity and magnetic surveys. Therefore, the principal sources of gravity and magnetic anomalies observed throughout the state are considered to the lithologic contrasts within the basement complex. If the sources of the anomalies are near the top of the basement complex, the basement structural configuration can be obtained by standard depth calculations. Velocity contrasts between the Mount Simon and the basement complex were used to generate synthetic seismograms that demonstrate that the contact is a seismically mappable horizon in selected areas."