Research Projects
I have spent the past 8 years mapping the surficial deposits in the Ohio River Valley. Here is a list of the smaller projects and problems I have identified while mapping but haven't yet had the time to pursue. Any of these would make excellent student projects. These projects range in scope from simple characterizations of cores in the USI Geomorph Lab (or the KGS Sediment Lab) for understanding depositional environments to surficial geologic mapping a part of a 7.5 minute quadrangle for a USGS EdMap project (with a summer stipend). Students will be given relevant, peer-reviewed papers to review, goals of the project will be discussed, and methods (including software) to achieve those goals will be explained, and I will work closely with students until they are familiar enough with those methods to work independently. Results from the project can be presented in a report with figures, or alternatively students will be encouraged to write an abstract and present their research results as a poster for presentation at a professional meeting (such as regional GSA). Scroll down to see more details for each project.
1) EDMAP (1 year project): Southern limit of glaciation in southwestern Indiana
2) Characterization of a Mastodon Site in Henderson County, KY
3) Composition and Provenance of Sand in the Panther Creek Drainage, Daviess County, KY
4) Paleotopography during the Sangamon Interglacial
5) Geochemical characterization of pre-Loveland silt
6) Comparing the Composition of Illinoian and Wisconsinan Outwash
7) Hydrologic characterization of a semi-confined, Quaternary gravel aquifer in Henderson County, KY.
8) Paleoenvironmental analysis of slackwater lake deposits
9) EDMAP: (1 or 2 year project) Surficial geology of the Quartz Lake watershed, Glacier National Park
.....and if none of these seem interesting, I have even more!
1) EDMAP (1 year project): Southern limit of glaciation in sw Indiana
Maps showing the extent of glaciation in North America indicate that the Illinoian glaciation reached the northwestern edge of Vanderburgh county, but I am only aware of one publication that has mapped these deposits in detail, and that was done over 100 years ago at a small scale (the Patoka and Ditney U.S. Geologic Folios done in 1904 and 1902, respectively). However, as I look at high-resolution DEMs, I suspect the true limit is several miles farther south than shown on the old maps. This project will involve using stereo-pair photography to map landforms, drilling a few transects of cores with the USI Giddings, describing the sediment cores (map units), and creating a map using GIS software (ESRI’s ARCMap). To do an EDMAP project, the student must be a junior or senior who has had several upper level courses. The student will receive a summer stipend; the amount of the stipend will depend upon funding levels.
2) Characterization of a Mastodon Site in Henderson County, KY
In 1953 a Mastodon was discovered in the banks of the north fork of Canoe Creek in Henderson COunty, KY. Several organizations were initially involved in excavating the skeleton, but all parties involved abandoned excavating the mastodon after only half of it was removed due to an ownership dispute. The partial mastodon skeleton is on display today at Big Bone Lick State Park in northern Kentucky, but little is known about the environmental conditions the mastodon lived in. A core from this site is in the KGS sediment lab and needs to be split, described, sampled for pollen analysis, wet sieved to identify macrofossils (gastropods, ostracods, insect carapaces) and materials for age dating.
3) Composition and Provenance of Sand in the Panther Creek Drainage, Daviess County, KY
Panther Creek flows from east to west across a broad glacio-lacustrine plain several miles south of Owensboro. The upper 10 meters of this lacustrine plain are fine grained silt and clay, but beneath these fine-grained sediments lies a thick, coarse-grained sand unit of unknown origin. It could be outwash from the Ohio River Valley, local sand from Panther Creek, or possibly a paleochannel of the Green River. If the sand originated from the Ohio River it is much farther south than has been previously mapped. For this project the student will help drill cores to obtain sand samples from the Green River, Panther Creek, the Ohio River, and along with the unknown sand samples grain mounts will be prepared (or sent to outside lab), and point counts will be done on the slides using a petrographic microscope to determine the origin of the unknown sand.
4) Paleotopography during the Sangamon Interglacial Period
Several cores in the KGS sediment lab contain prominent paleosols that are likely the Sangamon paleosol, which represents the land surface prior to the last glaciation. There are also many outcrops in the region that contain the Sangamon paleosol. Aggradation in the lower Ohio River valley was significant during the last glaciation, but what the paleotopography was like before the last glacial maximum is unknown. It is assumed by most that the paleotopography is similar to the modern topography but is lower in the landscape. Is it similar? The Sangamon paleosol has been identified in a sufficient number of cores and outcrops to begin to answer this question. This project would involve measuring sections at outcrops that contain the paleosol (and measuring core) to compare the modern and paleotopography. This project could also reveal something about glacial aggradation rates and/or degradation during interglacials.
5) Geochemical characterization of pre-Loveland silt
I have a high resolution sample set (every 5 cm) of the Peorian Loess (last glacial) with many measured parameters already done for it. I also have a high-resolution sample set of the Loveland silt (penultimate glaciation, or 160,000 years ago) and a pre-Loveland silt (~250,000 years old). Slides of these samples need to be made for x-ray diffraction (XRD) and pellets for X-ray fractionation (XRF) analyses in the x-ray lab at the KGS in Lexington, KY. No pre-Loveland loess has yet been identified or analyzed in the Ohio River Valley in Kentucky, so this one would be the first!.
6) Comparing the Composition of Illinoian and Wisconsinan Outwash
I have several cores that contain outwash sand from the past two glaciations. These core sections need to be thoroughly described, sieved, and then slides or grain mounts need to be made. Identifying the composition and provenance of these sands (using point counts with a petrographic microscope) could help to better understand the dynamics of ice sheet movements and how they differed between these two glaciations.
7) Hydrologic characterization of a semi-confined, Quaternary gravel aquifer in Henderson County, KY.
There are three monitoring wells at the KGS in Henderson screened in a gravel aquifer that is confined (or partially confined). This project will investigate the physical characteristics of the aquifer, which would involve doing aquifer tests, slug tests, measuring water levels with a water level meter (and transducers and data loggers), collecting gamma logs, creating potentiometric surface maps, and collecting rainfall data (on site) and then making comparisons to other local aquifers.
8) Paleoenvironmental analysis of slackwater lake deposits
I have many cores of slackwater lake deposits that accumulated in tributary valleys of the Ohio River. These sedimentary archives record the aggradational history of the Ohio River valley, which can be decoded through the careful description of one or more of the cores. Once the cores are described they will need to be sampled for analyses (grain size, XRD/XRF, wet sieved) for additional analyses and more detailed paleoenvironmental interpretations, so this could be a year-long project for ambitious students.
9) EDMAP: (1 or 2 year project) Surficial geology of the Quartz Lake watershed, Glacier National Park
Quartz Lake in Glacier National Park is a stronghold for native Bull Trout, who are threatened by invasive Lake Trout species. This project will support a number of USGS projects studying the watershed and Bull Trout habitats. The student will make a reconnaissance map using stereo pair photos and will spend up to a month in Glacier National Park field checking and revising the map. To do an EDMAP project, the student must be a junior or senior who has had several upper level courses. The student will receive a summer stipend; the amount of the stipend will depend upon funding levels.