Geological and Dispositional History of the Starved Rocks, Illinois

In site one there was a high proportion of very unspherical rocks. According to this the hypothesis is right, in site two there is a lot more smother rocks medium sized and in site 3 there are very small pebbles which are very smooth and spherical. The pebbles get smoother and rounder while it goes downstream. Due to us only taking about 10 rocks our result may have been not right as there were some pebbles which were largely over sized. Most of the other load is dissolved by solution such as limestone and chalk

First, we must examine the sedimentary formations; when they were formed, how they were formed, and what materials they consist of. About ninety-three to one hundred million years ago, the Western Interior Seaway rolled through the North American continent, eventually reaching the geographical area of today’s Mesa Verde National Park (National Park Service 2005). This sea deposited a thick, hard sandstone base that is called Dakota Sandstone, although this layer is not exposed in the park

One of the major things noticeable from the cross section is that quite a few of the rock layers are over turned, where the older rock layers are above the newer rock layers. This is seen in the contact between the Quartz Monzonite of Papoose Flat and the Campito Formation which is also a disconformity. Next there is some fault zones separating the Camptio, Poleta, and Harkless formations. We then see some more overturned layers with the contacts between Saline Spring Valley Formation (lower and upper members) above the Mule Spring Formation along with some inferred folding. With a normal fault separating the inferred folding event, we see where the overturning occurs. In between the Cambrian layers we see Tertiary Basalt nonconformities also being folded, thus with that we know that the folding event was more recent than the formation of the Basalt. Next there is a large Basalt field with a spot of the Harkless formation. Again we see over tuning as the Basalt field ends there are the Devonian and Mississippian rock Layers on top of the basalt. Separating these overturned layers from the Harkless Formation and the Saline valley Formation (upper member), which are not overturned, is a thrust fault. From this information, there was a major stress event sometime after the Tertiary period causing the rock layers to fold and overturn. And from this stress event and from the folding, normal and thrust faults are formed. Finally we see that there were alluvial and landslide deposits from the Quaternary after the folding, faulting, and over

“Drainage patterns, the hilliness of the ground, the range of soils, the nature of the bedrock,

As this river of ice moved slowly over the hidden rocks, the base of the glacier grazed millions of sediments in the Earth. The after math composed of soil, pebbles, cobbles and boulders that pushed forward, smashing rocks into glacial dust. Then the climate began to warm. Melted water from the glaciers carried the soils and rocks away from the dissolving glacier, depositing its leftovers throughout the landscape. This combination of soils and rocks deposited. Then low hills, or moraines, were created across the state. Michigan's glacial drift averages 200 to 300 feet. The scraping of boulders created particles. The heaviest pieces formed ridges, which made the stream's flow in a certain direction. Lighter materials were carried further, dropping on the way as the flowing water slowed. These materials dried forming enormous, flat colored areas of sand, silt, clay creating a mixture called the outwash plains. The weight of the glacier over the Michigan basin was dropping, and the Earth began to recoil, like a sponge coming back to its original shape. The Michigan landscape began to appear. Plants began to approach on the shriveled landscape. Individual plants found a suitable growing environment near each other, which created a suitable home for

The latest rocks in this region were formed in Pleistocene time as imperfectly consolidated gravel of river terraces and alluvial deposits of the

Champaign County was first covered by the Illinois Glacier (191,000—130,000 years ago), which leveled the region and covered it in a deposit of boulder clay. The county’s topography was then formed by the Wisconsin Glacier about 20,000 years ago. As lobes of ice from what is now Lake Michigan crossed the county, a deep (up to 300 ft) pile of glacial soil was created and topped by numerous moraines (any glacially formed accumulations of unconsolidated debris) forming small, flat watersheds with no outlets. The moraines formed as the Wisconsin Glacier advanced and receded many times over the Midwest. The Champaign moraine system now crosses the county in a northwest-southeast direction, and between the moraines ridges are broad plains of what used to be swampy land, most of which has since been artificially drained.

The landscape of Indiana, like that of Illinois and Iowa was shaped by the glaciers that covered the midwest during the last ice age. In central Indiana they flattened the land and deposited a rocky debris called till. Over time, the sand clay and minerals that made up the till eroded into

Around the world our water supply is depleting. Our water is becoming contaminated making it harmful for both mammals and aquatic life. Today over one billion people go without adequate water supply and every fifteen seconds a child dies of waterborne illness. Sources of water that once supplied water to millions can no longer meet the supply and demand of the water need. Scientist predict that the amount of useful water will keep depleting greatly in the years to come. In the next couple of pages it will talk about both the geological and human reasons as to why are water supply is depleting.

The river was formed around the most populated areas in the states of South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska

For example. Waterfalls and potholes are commonly found in the upper course, and are exceedingly rare in the lower course. Meanders and Oxbow lakes are commonly found in the middle course, it is caused by erosion and deposition, these factors causes the river to have a bend during its course. Levees and flood plains are also frequently found in the lower course, there is a larger water volume, therefore floodplains are created to adapt to it’s new features, while features such as meanders will not be affective, as it has a higher chance of flood, and erosion would also change the feature very

The rock is trance in the sense that, it is formed out of thousands of layers of silt which are deposited at the centre of the inland sea. In the inland sea, Johnson is introduced to the Xiphactinus audax which is a fish, 14 feet long which swam in the inland ocean the last 80 million years ago as (Hirst 2) explains. Back to Utah, Johnson are in a discussion on how the creation of the rocky mountain happened. In 70 million years ago, the draining in the inland sea forced the coast dwelling dinosaurs to adjust to the new adaptation to the new local

The geologic history of Indiana is divided into four distinctive eras: the Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic. These eras consists of different historical periods that define the evolution of rocks and life as we know it in Indiana. Beginning 650 million years ago, the Precambrian era, was very hot in temperature and molten; therefore, there was no life present. The most common rock type found during this era was igneous rocks, such as granite and marble. It was not until the Paleozoic era where life began to form throughout the marine seas. The Paleozoic was extremely complex and divided into 6 different periods: Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian. Located at the subsurface of Indiana, Cambrian sandstones,siltstones

Figure 2: Lithostratigraphc correlation of major rock units and deformation events in the Neoarchean terranes of Minnesota.

Sequence stratigraphy is a discipline studying the linkages within the chronostratigraphic framework of sequences which is bounded by unconformities and correlative conformities. It enables interpretation of sedimentary strata as products of relative sea-level change. The sequence stratigraphy uses sub-dividing surfaces to provide a framework to the interpretation of the depositional settings of the sedimentary section and uses the interpretation for further prediction of the extent and character of the component sedimentary facies. Sequence stratigraphy was originally designed for seismic sections, but the principles can be applied to outcrop, core, and well logs. It now provides a powerful method and is widely used in the petroleum exploration and prospects.