Geology Underfoot in IllinoisIllinois--a flat and boring state with nothing but cornfields and crowded expressways, right? Balderdash! Geology Underfoot in Illinois scratches the Prairie State's surface to expose geologic diversity that stretches back more than a billion years. Copious illustrations and witty, page-turning prose guide readers on geologic walking or driving tours of 37 sites in Illinois. Enjoy an unexpected exploration of Chicago's architectural geology. Embark on a fault-seeking expedition in Mark Twain's big-river country. Or try moraine surfing on Interstates 55 and 74. With a touch of curiosity and Geology Underfoot in Illinois in hand, you will view the state with a new sense of wonder. |
Contents
An Overview | 1 |
Tips for Exploring the Sites Described in This Book | 11 |
The Upper Illinois River | 51 |
A Land Like the Rolling | 59 |
A Pocket History of a Freshwater | 67 |
A Primer of North Shore Geology | 75 |
In the Land of the | 85 |
A Sampler | 93 |
MoraineSurfing Down the Interstate | 183 |
A Tale of Two Rivers | 191 |
Coal Country and Pennsylvanian Cyclothems | 197 |
On the Edge of Two Ages | 203 |
The Black Bounty of the Illinois Basin | 209 |
The Lower Wabash Considered | 217 |
The World According to Karst | 223 |
A FaultSeeking Expedition | 231 |
Exploring the Lower Des Plaines | 107 |
Blue Island Bracketed | 113 |
A Deep Look at the Distant Past | 119 |
In the Path of the Kankakee Torrent | 127 |
The Realm of Fossil Forests | 135 |
Across a Lazy River | 141 |
Pekin to Havana | 157 |
Reconstructing a Coal Age Stream | 165 |
A Mystery from the Age of the Dinosaurs | 171 |
The 120MillionYear Hike | 177 |
Common terms and phrases
anticline beach bedrock beds Bloomington bluff Canyon carbonate rock channel chert cliff coal County Creek crust deposits Devonian dolomite dunes earth east end moraines environment erosion esker essay exposed farther fault zone feet floodplain floods Forest formation fossil Galena Geological Survey geologists glacial glacier gravel Hamletsburg Hill Ice Age ice sheet igneous Illinoian Illinois River Illinois State Geological Illinois's Jo Daviess County kames Kankakee River Kankakee Torrent Lake Chicago Lake Michigan land landforms layer limestone Louis lowland meltwater miles million years ago mineral Mississippi River modern Mound Niagaran Ohio River Ordovician outcrop outwash Paleozoic Park park's peneplain Pennsylvanian period plain plants Pleistocene Prairie Pre-Illinoian Precambrian Quarry region ridge Road roadcut ROADSIDE GEOLOGY Route sand sandstone sedimentary rock sediments shale Shelbyville shoreline side Silurian southern state's stone strata stream structure surface terrace terrain Thornton Quarry town upland upper