| Director: |
Henry Loope |
| Other Researchers: |
Jose Luis Antinao,
Peter Jacobs Dave Grimley (Illinois State Geological Survey), Drew Phillips (Illinois State Geological Survey)
|
| Funding: |
Indiana University - Indiana Geological & Water Survey
|
| Issue: |
Loess-derived soils are some of the most agriculturally productive in the Midwest and the physical and geochemical properties of loess are important factors in understanding their productivity. Additionally, the distribution, provenance, and chronology of loess deposits provide important indicators of past changes in surface processes and enhance paleoclimate reconstructions. |
| Objective: |
This project will determine the provenance and chronology of deposition of Roxana Loess prior to the last glacial maximum in west-central Indiana. |
| Approach: |
This project will collect and analyze cores along two west-to-east transects adjacent to the Wabash River near Terre Haute, Indiana. The cores will be photographed and sampled for particle size, clay and silt mineralogy, magnetic susceptibility, and elemental geochemistry. Organic material within the cores will be submitted for radiocarbon dating to determine the chronology of deposition. Core locations will be selected perpendicular to the Wabash River valley in order to measure changes in thickness and particle size of the Roxana Loess, which will provide important insight into the source (provenance) of the loess. |
| Products: |
A manuscript, to be submitted to an international journal, will be prepared with the data collected from this project, coupled with data collected during the course of a summer 2024 Potter Internship. |
| Benefits: |
This project improves our understanding of the paleoenvironmental conditions present in west-central Indiana prior to the last glacial maximum (ca. 45,000 to 30,000 years ago). Mineralogy, elemental geochemistry and particle size data collected for this project will provide important information regarding the source area for loess and improve our understanding of loess-derived soils. |
