American Institute of Professional Geologists

Pennsylvania Section

www.aipg.org June 2019

Walking the Wissahickon In This Issue: Article contributed by Mike Edelman ~ Photos by Kevin Kelly

 Summary of PA AIPG’s The Section of AIPG arranged a walking tour of a portion of Wissahickon Park Field Wissahickon Valley Park in on May 18, 2019. The tour was Trip – pgs. 1-2 led by Temple University professor Dr. Natalie Flynn, who was assisted by  Brownfields and PA DEP other faculty and staff from Temple. Approximately 40 people attended News Updates – pgs. 2-3 the tour – see group photo below.

 In Rememberance – The park is an oasis of quiet, just off of some of the busiest streets in Kevin Frysinger – pg. 3 Philadelphia. The land for the park was purchased in 1868 and demolition  Broad Top Coalfield of mills and taverns within the boundaries occurred during the 1920s. The Study – pgs. 4-6 tour started at Valley Green Inn, the only remaining example of the types  Summary of 2nd Private of taverns that were present at one time. Well Conference National Stakeholder Meeting – Not only is the park a treasure for city people seeking refuge in the park pg. 7 setting, it is a geological treasure as well. The geology consists of and of the Wissahickon Formation. According to information  Your Help Needed, other PA geo societies etc. – provided during the trip, the geologic history of the Wissahickon Formation pg. 8 began around 1.1 billion years ago, when the supercontinent Rodinia broke apart to form the Iapetus Ocean, which covered the area during the Cambrian Period.

The basement rock of Rodina consisted of gneiss. The Iapetus ocean closed during the Taconic Orogeny of the Ordovician Period. Sediments associated with the Iapetus Ocean are believed to have been formed into siltstones and mudstones, which were metamorphosed into the schist that we see today during two subsequent orogenic events known as the Acadian and Alleghanian orogenies. For those of us who grew up in

Philadelphia – even though Allegheny is how we spell the street - Alleghanian is how we spell the orogeny. Hence, the mixture of schist and gneiss, as well as other

metamorphic rocks (amphibolite and serpentinite, for example), are the result of the Contact Us: three mountain-building (or orogenic) events. The mineralogy of the Wissahickon Formation Dennis Pennington, is incredible as you walk through the transition President from isograd to isograd, with being a [email protected] favorite indicator for temperature and

pressure conditions. Michael Edelman, Vice-President So, where is the huge mountain range that once existed throughout North [email protected] America? The simple answer is time and weather, resulting in eroding the Joe Kraycik, Secretary mountains down to the very core, leaving the Wissahickon Valley in place [email protected] of the mountains. The tour was fantastic and the survey response provided by attendees was very favorable. Kevin Kelly, Treasurer [email protected] th Cliff Dodge Plan now for AIPG’s 56 National Meeting in Screening Chair Burlington, Vermont [email protected] http://www.aipg.org/2019Conference

Brownfields and PA DEP News Updates: Information compiled by Joe Kraycik

EPA Announces 2019 Brownfields Grant Winners

PA AIPG Section Newsletter On June 5, 2019, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator June 2019 Andrew Wheeler, joined by the White House Executive Director for the Opportunity and Revitalization Council Scott Turner, announced that 149 Page 2 communities were selected to receive 151 grant awards totaling $64,623,553 in EPA Brownfields funding through the Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup

(MAC) Grant Programs. Administrator Wheeler made the announcement in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The grant funds are intended to aid under-served and economically disadvantaged communities in Opportunity Zones and other parts of the country in assessing and cleaning up abandoned or under-used industrial and commercial properties. Forty percent of the communities selected

for funding will be receiving assistance for the first time. Dauphin County was

awarded $300,000 in grant funding.

Region 3 fared particularly well during this year’s competition with 24 communities receiving a grant award. Nearly half of the 2019 Region 3 grants “One of the most were awarded to communities that have not previously received EPA Brownfields assistance. This year, the regional success rate for awarded proposals was 77% important things about (24 out of 31 proposals), which is an increase from last year’s 68% and well the geology on the above the national average of 35%. Grant awards to Region 3 states included: moon is your descriptions of what  Pennsylvania - $3.9 million to 9 communities you see, comparing  Virginia - $3.3 million to 7 communities them to things that  West Virginia - $2.4 million to 7 communities you've seen on Earth so  - $300,000 to Wilmington that the geologists and Additional information regarding the 2019 EPA Brownfields grant program and the scientists on the recipients is available at: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-announces- ground would know selection-149-communities-receive-646-million-funding-brownfields. what you're talking about; and then take pictures of them.” Remembering Kevin Frysinger

~Gene Cernan (1934- It is with great sadness that we share the news that PA Section member Kevin 2017) – Naval aviator & Frysinger passed away unexpectedly on Friday February 8, 2019. Kevin was a fighter pilot, Astronaut longtime employee of Environmental Standards in Valley Forge, and was involved in many complex on Apollo missions 10 & and highly technical projects. His specialty was 17, and last man to groundwater fate and transport, and he managed walk on the moon. the firm’s modeling and graphics programs.

Kevin was an active member of AIPG and especially looked forward to attending the field

trips offered each year at the annual conference.

The Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon Dam field trips during the 2014 conference were among his favorites. Kevin also enjoyed traveling - typically planning one big trip every year. In November 2018, he made a trip to Israel and Jordan. Kevin had a goal of visiting every U.S. state capital and he was very close to achieving that goal.

Kevin was born on June 12, 1971, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was the son

of Roy Donald Frysinger and the late Doris J. (Fluke) Frysinger. Kevin is PA AIPG Section Newsletter June 2019 survived by his father, Roy, of Palmyra; a brother, Todd M. Frysinger, of Pittsburgh; a nephew, Quinn M. Frysinger, of Pittsburgh; as well as extended family and many caring friends. Page 3

We miss our friend and colleague. Rest in peace, Kevin.

Geological Survey Initiates New Study of Broad Top Coalfield, contributed by Clifford H. Dodge, Pennsylvania Geological Survey

Since the mid-nineteenth century, the Broad Top coalfield of Bedford, Fulton, and Huntingdon Counties, south-central Pennsylvania (Figure 1), has been of considerable interest to geologists and mining companies alike, owing to its complex stratigraphy (e.g., coal correlations and discontinuities) and structure (e.g., steeply dipping beds, small-scale folding, and faulting),

and because of its high- quality metallurgical- grade bituminous coal.

The isolated Broad Top field is located about 25 miles east of the eastern edge of the Main Bituminous coalfield of western Pennsylvania and covers an area of about 75 square miles. Figure 1 It lies in the center of a wide, deep structural basin (Broad Top synclinorium) that is surrounded on all sides by intensely folded, steeply dipping rocks of the Ridge and Valley Physiographic Province.

Within the Broad Top are many secondary anticlines and synclines that trend roughly N30oE. Dips are often as high as 35 degrees but may be much steeper in places toward the western terminus of the field where rocks are more intensely deformed. The Broad Top field has been extensively mined in the past in both underground and surface coal operations. Some surface mining still occurs today.

Several years ago, the Bureau of District Mining Operations (BDMO), Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP), asked the Pennsylvania Geological Survey (PAGS), Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (PADCNR), to consider undertaking a comprehensive new geologic study of the Broad Top coalfield in order to provide sound science and assist the PADEP in its analysis and decision- making of future coal mine-permit and mine-reclamation activities for the region. Former mining practices had led to environmental degradation, largely as a result of acid mine drainage, and the impact of new mining or remining on water quality is difficult to determine at present, owing in large PA AIPG Section Newsletter part to the lack of information on the detailed stratigraphy, structural June 2019 geology, and mining history of the coalfield. Recognizing the value and

Page 4 importance of such a study both for the PADEP and the coal industry (i.e., by providing the latter with information that aids in coal exploration, mine permitting, and mine development), the PAGS strongly endorsed the request.

No modern-day, detailed geologic investigations and mapping of the Broad Top field have ever been undertaken—indeed, the Broad Top is

probably the least studied bituminous coalfield in Pennsylvania. The most recent comprehensive study of the coalfield was published by the Pennsylvania Geological Survey in 1913 (Gardner, 1913), which covered the known coal stratigraphy and mining. Since that time, the coalfield has been much more extensively developed by numerous operators, rendering Gardner’s (1913) work as woefully inadequate and out of date.

The growth of mining resulted in the generation of much additional

geologic information about the field through the surveying and mapping of many underground and surface operations (mine maps) and by considerable exploratory drilling of coal lands. Although some of this geologic information had already been obtained by the PAGS and other state and federal agencies, much of it was archived with various companies in the private sector and not yet available to the public.

The first phase of the Broad Top study began in 2017 and focused on the

acquisition, as much as possible, of all known preexisting subsurface and outcrop data held by private and public individuals and organizations or found in unpublished manuscripts, reports and databases. The cooperation and enthusiastic support of such individuals and organizations have been outstanding. Geologic information obtained included

underground and surface mine maps, drill-hole records and location maps, measured sections, outcrop descriptions, structural measurements, cross sections, coal analyses, property maps, coal-resource studies, and more. Much of the information has been subsequently scanned and georeferenced for use in a geographic information system (GIS) and will

eventually be digitized as various features classes and annotated.

PA AIPG Section Newsletter June 2019

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Figure 2 Later the same year, the PAGS submitted a grant proposal to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), under its cooperative StateMap Program, to

begin the systematic and multiyear investigation and mapping of the Broad Top field and contiguous surrounding areas, starting with the Saltillo 7.5-minute quadrangle along the eastern edge of the coalfield, where the geology is generally less complicated than areas farther to the west (Figure 2). In addition to using standard field techniques, drill-hole records,

and mine maps to aid in geologic mapping, the PAGS will acquire surface geophysical data (i.e., seismic-reflection and electrical-resistivity-imaging data) to help elucidate and interpret deeper geologic structures and stratigraphic horizons.

The StateMap grant was subsequently approved, with work commencing in State Fiscal Year 2018 (FY2018), beginning on July 1. At the same time, additional work has been undertaken immediately to the north and

south of Saltillo, forming a corridor representing the eastern third of the coalfield (Figure 2 – see above). A new StateMap grant for FY2019 was recently approved by the USGS, which will extend work to the proposed central corridor of the Broad Top area, including portions of three quadrangles (Figure 2). A third grant, covering the western third of the coalfield, for FY 2020 is anticipated.

Principal investigator for the Broad Top Project is Clifford H. Dodge, ably

assisted by experienced PAGS staff geologists Aaron D. Bierly and Rose- Anna Behr.

Publications resulting from this investigation will include interim bedrock geologic maps (1:24,000 scale) and cross sections (to be released within a year after completion of the mapping), GIS coverages, and a final report with accompanying bedrock geologic maps and cross sections. Other products are anticipated that may involve 3-D mapping.

Reference: Gardner, J. H., 1913, The Broad-Top coal field of Huntingdon, Bedford, and Fulton Counties [Pennsylvania]: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 3rd ser., Report 10, 81 p.

Figures:

Figure 1. Location of Broad Top coalfield (modified from PAGS Map 11, 2001)

Figure 2. Reconnaissance geologic map of current FY2018 study, Part 1 of the Broad Top coalfield (now expanded beyond the Saltillo quadrangle); recently approved Part 2 for FY2019; and Part 3 for future mapping.

Call for Articles: We want to keep our newsletter

interesting and relevant. That’s where you, the

PA AIPG Section Newsletter reader, come in. Please submit articles that you feel June 2019 meet the goals of this newsletter to Mike Edelman at Page 6 [email protected].

.

nd Summary of 2 Private Well Conference, National

Stakeholder Meeting – May 2019

Contributed by Amy Randolph, Harrisburg Area Geological Society

The 2nd Private Well Conference National Stakeholder Meeting was held in

downtown Harrisburg, PA May 21-23, 2019. The meeting brought together speakers and attendees from 33 states, the District of Columbia and Canada to share knowledge and experience on a wide variety of topics relevant to issues facing the private water well community. The conference was put together by an organization called The Private Well Class.

Per its website (www.privatewellclass.org), “The Private Well Class program uses a combination of online and in-person methods to boost knowledge and competency of the individual well owner as well as the thousands of dedicated environmental health, cooperative extension, and water well professionals that serve well owners day to day. The program is a collaboration between the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) and the Illinois State Water Survey at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).”

Speakers and attendees at the May 2019 meeting represented state and Federal agencies, master well drillers, environmental health professionals, extension agents and outreach specialists, academia, water quality treatment specialists and installers, water testing laboratories, and professional certification and training representatives, among others.

Presentations covered topics on septic systems (a common source of private well contamination); treatment technologies for dealing with arsenic, nitrates and radioactive elements; providing disinfection guidance to well users following flooding events, such as those caused by hurricanes; certification of water treatment components; training and certification of water treatment personnel;

states’ efforts to identify wells particularly vulnerable to contamination as a

proactive tool in emergencies; the use of downhole cameras to identify and solve well problems; and non-profits working with Federal grant and loan programs to bring economical solutions to small communities lacking reliable water supplies.

The first national meeting of this organization was held in Champaign, IL in May

2017. Meeting organizers are hopeful EPA funding will allow them to continue with a third conference somewhere west of the Mississippi River in 2021.

Missed this meeting? No worries – You can catch videos of all the presentations on The Private Well Class’s You Tube website – https://www.youtube.com/privatewellclass. The 2017 conferences videos, as well as other basic private well and septic education videos are located there as well, and could serve as helpful educational tools when dealing with clients and homeowners.

PA AIPG Section Newsletter The Rural Community Assistance Partnership (https://rcap.org) includes 6 June 2019 regional service areas covering the . RCAP, in partnership with the Illinois State Water Survey, provides training and technical assistance to owners Page 7 and managers of private water wells. Its website includes more information on its webinars, videos and other resources.

PA AIPG – YOUR HELP WANTED! AND

NEEDED!

 PA AIPG is still looking for a webmaster to help maintain its website. If you’d like to help, please contact Mike Edelman at [email protected].

 PA AIPG wants to hear from its members as to what articles, field

trips, seminars, etc. they’d like to see in the Chapter newsletter or otherwise sponsored by the Chapter. This is YOUR organization. We want to hear from you. Please let us know how we can best serve your needs and interests. Please contact any of the PA AIPG officers with your ideas (see sidebar on page 2 for email

addresses).

Pennsylvania Geological Societies – be sure to stay in touch with these geological societies for opportunities to hear interesting

speakers and to network with other professionals:

Philadelphia Geological Society – http://philageo.org

Harrisburg Area Geological Society - http://fcopg.org/contact-

us/links/hags

Northern Alleghenies Geological Society - https://www.facebook.com/Northern-Alleghenies-Geological-Society-177847959291767/

Pittsburgh Area Geological Society – https://www.pittsburghgeologicalsociety.org

PA AIPG Section Newsletter June 2019

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