The Geological Society of America (GSA) has published a special paper that includes highlights of past and current research of the quaternary sciences at the Illinois State Geological Survey. ISGS scientists wrote three chapters in the paper. The lead authors are Brandon Curry, David Grimley, and Jason Thomason.
GSA editors select the topics of special papers based on the significance and impact of new developments and technological advances in the field of geology. The paper includes 12 chapters that cover diverse topics ranging from hydrogeology and near-surface geophysics to vertebrate paleontology and glacial history.
Some of the technology discussed includes the interpretation of glacial geomorphology (landforms) using detailed relief maps of digital elevation models of LiDAR data, discernment of glacial sedimentology and aquifer characterization based on seismic and electric geophysical techniques, and refinement of the timing of glacial events through greater accuracy and precision of radiocarbon dating using mass spectrometry compared with older techniques.
Brandon Curry, ISGS research scientist, co-edited the special paper with Alan Kehew from Western Michigan University. The title is “Quaternary Glaciation of the Great Lakes Region,” which focuses on new developments in glacial geology during the past 20 years, but also offers historical perspectives on advances in geologic mapping since the late 1800s.
Curry and Kehew were invited to edit the paper following a regional GSA symposium in May 2015. The symposium was held to mark the 100th anniversary of a U.S. Geological Survey monograph by Frank Leverett and F.B. Taylor on the glacial geology of the western Great Lakes. Potential authors were contacted in early 2016 and were given a year to submit their manuscripts. The special paper was published in January 2018.
ISGS co-authors included Andrew Phillips, Don McKay, Hong Wang, Andrew Anderson, Tim Larson, Steve Sargent, and Ahmed Ismail.
Caption: Pictured left to right are ISGS scientists Jason Thomason, Brandon Curry, and David Grimley.
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