From the Cincinnati Arch to the Illinois Basin: Geological Field Excursions along the Ohio River Valley
This guidebook complements the field trips offered during the 42nd Annual Meeting of the GSA North-Central Section, held in Evansville, Indiana. Topics include analysis and correlation of Silurian depositional sequences across the Cincinnati Arch in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana; conodonts and Pennsylvanian stratigraphy in southwestern Indiana; relationships between tectonism, igneous activity, and fluorite mineralization within the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorite District; characteristics and origin of the highly eroded Pennsylvanian sandstones at the Garden of the Gods in Illinois; use of filled-fracture features as indicators of seismicity within the lower Wabash and Ohio River valleys; and hydrogeology of an abandoned mine site in Indiana, with applications to planning for disposal of coal-combustion products. Two chapters focus on the history of New Harmony, Indiana, which served as headquarters for the pioneering naturalists who worked to characterize and map this country's interior. Another chapter relates the history of Evansville to the availability and use of geologic materials, with discussions on the characteristics and origins of building stones, building techniques, and architectural styles. References to mining history, with respect to building stone, coal, and fluorite, are made throughout.
The Illinois-Kentucky Fluorite District, Hicks Dome, and Garden of the Gods in southeastern Illinois and northwestern Kentucky
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Published:January 01, 2008
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CiteCitation
F. Brett Denny, Alan Goldstein, Joseph A. Devera, David A. Williams, Zakaria Lasemi, W. John Nelson, 2008. "The Illinois-Kentucky Fluorite District, Hicks Dome, and Garden of the Gods in southeastern Illinois and northwestern Kentucky", From the Cincinnati Arch to the Illinois Basin: Geological Field Excursions along the Ohio River Valley, Anton H. Maria, Ronald C. Counts
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Abstract
Minerals have been extracted from the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorite District for over 170 years. Theories concerning the inter-relationship between the fluorite mineralization, tectonism, and igneous activity will be discussed by several geologists during this field trip. The Columbia mine (vein deposit) will be visited in Kentucky, and the only mine currently producing fluorite in this district, the Hastie Limestone Quarry (strata-bound deposit), will be visited in Illinois. The mining history of this region will be explained at the American Fluorite Museum, where numerous mineral specimens can be examined. The Hicks Dome, a Permian crypto-volcanic feature (?) in Illinois, will also be discussed. The trip will conclude with a walking tour at the Garden of the Gods Recreational Area to view the Eagle Valley Syncline and Lower Pennsylvanian units.
- Carboniferous
- field trips
- fluorspar deposits
- Hardin County Illinois
- Illinois
- intrusions
- lithostratigraphy
- Lower Pennsylvanian
- mineral deposits, genesis
- mineralization
- mines
- mississippi valley-type deposits
- Paleozoic
- Pennsylvanian
- Saline County Illinois
- tectonics
- United States
- Garden of the Gods
- Hicks Dome
- Columbia Mine
- Eagle Valley Syncline
- Illinois-Kentucky fluorite district
- Hastie Limestone Quarry