One research paper and two data sets were published this week in Vol. 6 of the Indiana Journal of Earth Sciences:

Modifications of Pennsylvanian Stratigraphy in Indiana

This study critically reviews selected Pennsylvanian units in Indiana and makes changes to improve the stratigraphic scheme for the Illinois Basin. The overall purpose of the changes is to facilitate the correlation of the rock units within Indiana and the entire Illinois Basin by making unit ranges and nomenclature more compatible with those formally used in Illinois and western Kentucky. The main changes include: a) abandoning the use of the names "Brazil Formation" and "Staunton Formation" as formal stratigraphic units and introducing the name "Tradewater Formation"; b) abandoning the name "Mansfield Formation" and introducing the name "Caseyville Formation"; c) formalizing two coal seams in the former Staunton Formation as the Wise Ridge Coal Bed and Montgomery Coal Bed of the Tradewater Formation; and d) formalizing four distinctive black, fissile shale units as the Veale Shale Member of the Tradewater Formation, the Logan Quarry Shale Member of the Tradewater Formation, the Turner Mine Shale Member of the Dugger Formation, and the Anna Shale Member of the Dugger Formation.

Read the report at this link.

Landslide Hazard Mapping and Inventory of the Hoosier National Forest Using LiDAR Data

This data package includes a geodatabase of landslides on forest properties; it also includes a web service showing landslides in the Hoosier National Forest (HNF) and along Indiana state highways that can be viewed on one digital map. The state highway landslide data was also published earlier this year as a separate report.

The new data from the HNF addresses a gap in landslide documentation on naturally graded slopes and landforms; previously, Indiana's landslide hazard inventory relied on records from the Indiana Department of Transportation which focus only on slope failures near highway infrastructure. Lead researcher Victoria Leffel is applying for more funding for the Indiana Geological and Water Survey to expand knowledge of landslide hazards elsewhere in the state so that this data set can grow.

Find the latest data release at this link.

Talk to Dr. Maria Mastalerz about coal geology and organic petrology, or read her hundreds of research papers or her curriculum vitae, and you'll likely recognize a scholar whose standing in her field is unrivaled.

The catalyst for that long, decorated career wasn't initially a passion for geology, though. It was a desire not to work on her parents' farm in post-WWII Poland any longer, and instead, to do "something that sounded scientific." It was through her drive and the collaborative aid of other scientists around the world that Mastalerz landed at the Indiana Geological and Water Survey at Indiana University, where she's been advancing research into various sources of natural energy for 30 years.

Read more...

The 2025 IGWS calendar spotlights a low-profile but growing division of the Survey's research: geologic hazards.

The poster-sized wall calendar--an IGWS tradition since 1998--focuses on one aspect of the IGWS's work each year, and is distributed to state lawmakers, IU campus partners, and other geology fans and stakeholders statewide around Christmastime as supplies allow. Paper copies are available for pickup in the IGWS Learning Lab for $1 each. A free digital download also is available now at this link and will be released through the Indiana Journal of Earth Sciences Vol. 7 on Jan. 2.

Hazards was chosen as this year's theme to draw attention to several recent or in-progress publications. Among them are a data release about highway landslides in Indiana (published Aug. 2, 2024), an inventory of landslide hazards in the Hoosier National Forest (published this week), and an updated Indiana earthquake map (expected spring 2025).

The designer of this calendar, IGWS Digital Imaging Specialist Kristen Wilkins, modified a submitted rockfall photo and a landslide fieldwork photo shot by IGWS Editor Sara Clifford to stand as the main image. The result is a poster in the style of Works Progress Administration (WPA) artwork which promoted national parks and other government initiatives in the 1930s and '40s.

The unnamed IGWS staff members featured on the poster are GIS Analyst Nicholas Angelos and Research Geologist Victoria Leffel, whose work is informing the landslide projects. Calendar committee members were Wilkins and Outreach and Education Coordinator Polly Sturgeon, with input from Director and State Geologist Dr. Todd Thompson.

Editor's note: The E-Geo News has been walking readers through the various steps required to turn physical data such as core samples into a functional geological map. This is the eighth and final installment in this series; the first was core collection, then core describing, lab analysis, outcrop scouting, historic data mining, behind-the-scenes data management, and cartography.

Before it is released to the public, a geologic publication must pass through a gauntlet of approvals: peer reviewers who debate the study methods and results; a copyeditor who improves the readability of the document; and the state geologist who assesses the publication's quality as a work product of the Indiana Geological and Water Survey. All those processes are coordinated by me, Sara Clifford, editor for the IGWS and managing editor of the Indiana Journal of Earth Sciences (IJES).

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Paper copies of the Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood State Forests Topographic Trail Map are back in stock in the IGWS Learning Lab in-person and online stores for the first time in nearly a year. New trails and public land acquisitions have been added to the updated version.

The IGWS produced a series of five topographic trail maps in 2019 and 2020 covering public lands in nine southern Indiana counties. They became immensely popular during COVID, as restrictions on indoor activities pushed many Hoosiers outside. Besides the Morgan-Monroe Yellowwood map (map No. 5), updates are in progress on two others in the series: Brown County State Park and Yellowwood/Morgan-Monroe State Forests (map No. 4), and Deam Wilderness (map No. 1). Map 4 is at the printer and Map 1 is slated to go to print in early spring.

IGWS map creator Matt Johnson consulted public land owners/managers and local hiking groups to learn about trail reroutes, new properties and trails, and other changes since the maps' first printing. Those updates, as well as contact info for newly added properties, are included in the new versions.

Georeferenced maps in the series are available for digital download from the Avenza Maps app. The original versions are free; the updated versions will cost $6.99 each.

Waterproof, tear-resistant paper maps cost $15 each. Visit the IGWS store at this link.

The staff of the Indiana Geological and Water Survey wishes you a very happy holidays. But before we recess, a few announcements:

• If you're planning to purchase items from our bookstore which require shipping, those orders must be received by Thursday, Dec. 19.

• Our office, and most offices on the IU campus, will be closed from Wednesday, Dec. 25, to Wednesday, Jan. 1. We will reopen Thursday, Jan. 2.

• The IGWS Learning Lab will be closed from Saturday, Dec. 21, to Monday, Jan. 6. It will reopen at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7.

• The E-Geo News is moving to quarterly in 2025; expect the next issue in March.