PRI scientists from the Illinois State Water Survey and Illinois State Geological Survey are part of a collaborative project to study “critical interfaces” in the environment.

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $25 million to a three-year project led by the Prairie Research Institute that will design a next-generation power plant in Springfield, Illinois. The innovative plant design combines multiple techniques to both reduce emissions and capture and re-use carbon dioxide.

For almost 20 years, PRI’s geologists and engineers have been developing methods for the safe capture, storage, and utilization of CO2 from power plants and industrial operations. This has been in response to federal and state laws requiring reductions in CO2 emissions, as this byproduct of power generation has a direct link to atmospheric greenhouse gasses and climate change. 

The U.S. Geological Survey and the Association of American State Geologists will provide $106,978 in funding for critical minerals projects in Illinois. As part of this effort, the Illinois State Geological Survey will perform geochemical analyses for regions all over Illinois and adjoining states. 

ISGS scientists work the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to develop a better understanding of shoreline dynamics along the Illinois coast of Lake Michigan. Such insights are needed to inform coastal managers on how to best preserve the remaining natural coastline in Illinois.

ISGS and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Coastal Management Program are studying shoreline dynamics, erosion, and habitat loss at Illinois Beach State Park, one of the last stretches of natural coastline in Illinois. 

The Prairie Research Institute — is leading a drive to implement CO2 removal strategies, an essential step to a clean-energy future. 

For every Illinois home sold, the Prairie Research Institute provides data needed for banks, title companies, insurance companies, and consumers to make informed decisions about home ownership. 

With its unique geology marked by sinkholes, crevices, and caves, Jo Daviess County is highly susceptible to water contamination. Scientists from the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) and Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) are using their expertise and collaborating with a local organization to help citizens understand water quality issues and protect their water supplies.

Scientists with the Illinois State Geological Survey are partnering with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Geological Surveys of Kentucky and Indiana to image geology using airborne geophysical technology as part of the USGS Earth Mapping Resource Initiative.

For the first time, high-resolution digital elevation data that are essential for planning by local, state, and federal agencies are available online for all Illinois counties.

Each April in southern Illinois, students in grades K-6 participate in Stewardship Week, an outdoor education event. This year, just like every year for the past 30, Joe Devera, senior paleontologist at the Illinois State Geological Survey, will be back to share his knowledge and love of fossils with inquiring young minds.

Shoreline erosion can transform freshwater wetlands from carbon-storage pools to carbon sources, according to a new study led by Illinois State Geological Survey researchers. 

Preliminary results from a stratigraphic characterization well drilled in December 2018 by the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) and collaborators near Mt. Auburn, Illinois, indicate that the Mt. Simon Sandstone at this location has excellent reservoir characteristics for storage of CO₂. The T. R. McMillen #2 well is part of the CarbonSAFE Illinois–Macon County project, which is intended to establish the feasibility of storage of 50 million tonnes or more of CO₂.

A task force formed by the Illinois General Assembly to identify gaps in protection of the Mahomet Aquifer has issued its final recommendations. Illinois State Water Survey hydrologist George Roadcap served as a member of the task force, and other Prairie Research Institute scientists provided data and expertise to support the group’s yearlong effort.

On Dec. 3 the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) completed drilling the T.R. McMillen #2 well in Christian County, Illinois, as part of its CarbonSAFE Illinois program. Preliminary results indicate the Mt. Simon Sandstone at this location is suitable for a commercial-scale CO₂ storage site.

Scientists and staff from the Illinois State Geological Survey and the Illinois State Water Survey  ollaborated with county and local governments in Kane County to install groundwater-monitoring wells in northeast Illinois as part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Ground Water Monitoring Network. 

Geophysicist Timothy Larson was part of a project through Geoscientists Without Borders to drill water wells in Malawi.  

A biphasic CO2 absorption (BiCAP) technology developed at the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) has been selected for development and bench-scale testing by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as a transformation technology for post-combustion carbon capture.

Yu-Feng Lin, a hydrogeologist at the Illinois State Geological Survey, is the new director of the Illinois Water Resource Center, which addresses the state’s water resources challenges through research and education.

The Illinois State Geological Survey received a $720,000 grant from the Department of Energy to determine the feasibility of tapping geothermal energy for heating and cooling on the University of Illinois’ Urbana campus.

A conceptual model of water movement in rock layers many feet underground, published by Prairie Research Institute scientists, shows for the first time that water is flowing steadily south through the thick sequence of rock layers that form the Illinois Basin.

On June 16, 2015, Dr. Richard C. Berg was named the new director of the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) and 13th Illinois State Geologist. Berg has served the ISGS in various positions with increasing responsibilities during his 40-year career—from research assistant, to geologist, to section head, to chief scientist/principal geologist, to interim director, and now director.