Role of the Sylvania Formation in Sinkhole Development, Essex County; Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 5861, 122P
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[email protected] 5691 (inside Canada, United States) Crown Copyright Queen’s Printer Local: (416) 326-2678 Toll Free: 1-800-668-9938 [email protected] (inside Canada, United States) ® Ontario Ontario Geological Survey Open File Report 5861 Role of the Sylvania Formation in Sinkhole Development, Essex County 1993 Ministry of Northern Development and Mines Ontario ONTARIO GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Open File Report 5861 Role of the Sylvania Formation in Sinkhole Development, Essex County By D.J. Russell 1993 Parts of this publication may be quoted if credit is given. It is recommended that reference to this publication be made in the following form: Russell, D.J. 1993. Role of the Sylvania Formation in sinkhole development, Essex County; Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 5861, 122p. © Queen's Printer for Ontario, 1993 Ontario Geological Survey OPEN FILE REPORT Open File Reports are made available to the public subject to the following conditions: This report is unedited. 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A copy of this report is available for Inter-Library loan. This report is available for viewing at the following Resident Geologists' offices: London, 659 Exeter Rd., London N6A 4L6 The right to reproduce this report is reserved by the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. Permission for other reproductions must be obtained in writing from the Director, Ontario Geological Survey - Geoscience Branch. iii Contents page ABSTRACT xi INTRODUCTION 1 Background and Purpose of Investigation 1 Acknowledgements 5 Geology of the Windsor Area 5 Salt Production in Windsor 9 ENGINEERING GEOLOGY OF SINKHOLE DEVELOPMENT 9 Previous Work 9 Review of Models 21 GEOLOGY AND ENGINEERING GEOLOGY OF SYLVANIA FORMATION 22 Stratigraphy 22 The Sylvania Formation in Essex County 27 TOPOGRAPHY OF THE SUB-SYLVANIA FORMATION DEPOSITIONAL SURFACE 30 THICKNESS OF THE SYLVANIA FORMATION SANDSTONE 30 Petrology of the Sylvania Formation 33 Drilling and Sampling 35 Lithology of Intervals Sampled 37 Wl 37 W2, W3- 37 Petrography: Purpose and Methods 40 Petrography: Results 42 Sedimentology 47 Engineering Properties 50 Test Methods 51 Results 52 UNCONFINED COMPRESSION TEST DATA 52 POINT LOAD TEST DATA 59 TRIAXIAL COMPRESSION TEST DATA 61 Summary 61 THE OPERATIONAL HISTORY OF THE SANDWICH BRINE FIELD 61 A MODEL FOR SINKHOLE FORMATION AT SANDWICH BRINE FIELD 79 SUMMARY 85 REFERENCES 90 APPENDIX 1 DRILL HOLE LOGS 95 APPENDIX 2: DESCRIPTIONS OF SYLVANIA SANDSTONE THIN SECTIONS 108 APPENDIX 3: POINT LOAD STRENGTH TEST RESULTS 118 v List of Figures page Figure 1. Location maps of study area and approximate locations of boreholes Wl, W2 and W3 2 Figure 2. Plan of Sandwich site, with contours (in inches) of total subsidence, 1948-1954, and outline of eventual sinkhole 4 Figure 3. Paleozoic geology of southwestern Ontario, southeastern Michigan 7 Figure 4. Post-Middle Ordovician stratigraphy of southwestern Ontario 8 Figure 5. Subsidence curves for various observation points on the Sandwich site for 1948-1954, showing rapid subsidence in 1952 and 1953 11 Figure 6. Subsidence profiles along line A-A' {see Figure 2) from 1949 to 1953 12 Figure 7. Sinkhole formation mechanism, according to Terzaghi (1954) 14 Figure 8. Sinkhole formation mechanism, according to R. Terzaghi (1970) 16 Figure 9. Sinkhole formation mechanism according to Nieto-Pescetto and Hendron (1977) 17 Figure 10. Sinkhole formation mechanism, according to Stump (1980) 20 Figure 11. Isopach map for Sylvania Formation, southeastern Michigan and southwestern Ontario, after Brigham (1971) 26 Figure 12. Diagrammatic view of relationships between the Bois Blanc Formation, Sylvania Formation and Detroit River Group 28 Figure 13. Structure contour of base (of the upper, main sandstone interval) of the Sylvania Formation, Essex County based on data obtained from drilling records 31 Figure 14. Isopach map of the Sylvania Formation (upper, main sandstone interval only), Essex County based on data obtained from drilling records 32 Figure 15. General lithological logs of Borehole Wl, W2 and W3 36 Figure 16. Petrography results {see Appendix 2 for descriptions) determined from thin section analysis, borehole W3 39 Figure 17. Photomicrograph showing intergrowth of quartz grains 45 Figure 18. Photomicrograph showing well defined quartz overgrowths 46 Figure 19. Paleogeographic reconstruction of the Michigan Basin during the deposition of the Bois Blanc Formation, Sylvania Formation sandstone and carbonates of the Detroit River Group during the early Middle Devonian. 49 Figure 20. Unconfined compressive strengths for samples from W2, W3 53 Figure 21. Cartoon showing control of different grain/overgrowth boundary types on strength 54 Figure 22. Young's Moduli and Poisson's ratios for samples from W2, W3 55 Figure 23. Stress-strain curves for sample W3 340-341 58 Figure 24. Point Load Index results for samples from W3 60 Figure 25. Mohr's circles for triaxial tests on samples from W3 62 Figure 26. Stratigraphy of Sandwich brine field 64 Figure 27. Well histories for Sandwich brine field, 1902-1954 66 Figure 28. Single well injection method of brine extraction and resulting "momign glory" cavity 67 Figure 29a. Plan view of Sandwich site showing development of brine field, 1920 69 Figure 29b. Plan view of Sandwich site showing development of brine field, 1925-1930 70 Figure 29c. Plan view of Sandwich site showing development of brine field, 1935-1940 71 Figure 29d. Plan view of Sandwich site showing development of brine field, 1945-1954 72 Figure 30.