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Home , Dillsboro Formation, Louisville Limestone, Mansfield Formation, Pipe Creek Sinkhole, Salamonie Dolomite, Southern Indiana

ABC’s of Geology

is for , a Native American agricultural village along the northern bank of the near Evansville,A Indiana. People of the Middle culture built and lived on this site between A.D. 1050 and 1450. Earthwork excavations, ground penetrating radar, and soil studies reveal construction and use phases, each reflecting a significant ceremonial or community event. Liquefaction evidence has been found in the mounds and river banks.

Historic Site Visitors Center: 37.9447, -87.4518 ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for , a 16,100-acre park situated in the BNorman Upland physiographic province—a rugged terrain bisecting the southern half of Indiana. It consists of Early to Middle Mississippian deltaic siliciclastics of the 700-ft-thick Borden Group. Indiana’s largest state park covers roughly 8 percent of Brown County, with nearly 375 feet of relief.

Western Park entrance: 39.1768, -86.2704 ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for , a park in southeastern Indiana along the Ohio River that boasts four waterfalls. The falls occur Cat or near the contact between and rocks. Silurian Osgood Member shales of the provide the step back above the Ordovician fossiliferous limestone of the Saluda Member of the that creates the lip of the falls. The underlying occurs in the undercut of each waterfall.

Park entrance: 38.7422, -85.4127 ’s RUSSELL LANE ABC of Indiana Geology RUSSELL LANE

FORT RITNER ROAD

F ORT RITNER ROA

is for K

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T R H D

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R

I E

Devil’s Backbone,

a 600-ft-wide ridge between the East Fork of Devils Backbone IVER R E HIT the White River and Guthrie Creek in southern W

Fort RIVER ROAD RK Ritter FO

Lawrence County. The ridge is composed of Early to

D ST Middle Mississippian deltaic siliciclastics of the Borden EA

Group capped by nearshore carbonates of the Sanders Tunnel Hill Group and is transected by Devil’s Backbone Road. BIG

TUN The CSX Railroad cuts through the ridge at Tunnel Hill, NEL 1 mile to the southeast, through an appropriately named RIVER ROAD excavation called “Big Tunnel.”

Location: 38.7762, -86.3194

RIVER ROAD ABC’s of Indiana Geology

is for Empire Quarry, now abandoned, where the stone (Middle Mississippian ) was Eproduced for the Empire State Building in New York City. Quarrying began in 1929 and ended in 1931, producing roughly 207,000 cubic feet (18,360 tons) of dimension stone. The quarry is, unfortunately, off limits to visitors.

Location: 38.9173, -86.5249 ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for Falls of the Ohio, a ridge of and Silurian carbonate rock that contains prolific beds, some of the largest F exposed in the world. More than 600 species of have been identified in the strata of the and , two-thirds of which were type specimens. The Falls of the Ohio State Park is at Clarksville, Indiana, where trails from the visitors center and museum extend to rock benches exposing brachiopods, fenestrate bryozoans, stromatoporoids, sponges, and corals.

Visitor Center/Museum: 38.2765, -85.7634 KNAPP ROAD MAZE ROAD

S SHERMAN SHERMAN DR S M SHELBYVILLE ROAD

a 65 z e ’s E RALSTON RD

FIVE POINTS RD POINTS FIVE COPELAND ROAD F C ek lat re of

Indiana Geology

ABC AVE ARLINGTON S S EMERSON AVE EMERSON S B E COUNTY LINE RD S Grubbs Ditch L ra e nc E COUNTY LINE RD S at h he CR E 1075 N r

ROAD ACTON N MATHEWS RD MATHEWS N

Run RD MITTHOEFFER S CR 1050 N

is for FRANKLIN RD N

N GRAHAM RD N

CR 525 E 525 CR

CR N 300 E N CR CR 700 E 700 CR

k RD COMBS N e e

r CR E 1000 N

C

CR 1000 N

N EMERSON AVE EMERSON N

Greenwood Moraine, Greenwood

L t eath n erwo a od s a C the most prominent late Wisconsin moraine in e re l ek P CR 950 N ROCKLANE ROAD CR 950 N

central Indiana north of the Last Glacial Maximum. CR 950 N R E 525 CR

o E 600 CR ck lan e CR 900 N

The 60-ft-high moraine overlies a portion of the Teays River C R 950 C r N G e

ek CR 650 E 650 CR Valley and is unique in southern Indiana because it has significant E 700 CR

65 ek e E 375 CR r ROCK 31 C LANE ROA ALLEN ROAD D

outwash deposits; these extend southward into the drainage

CR 325 E

CR 550 E 550 CR

RD FRANKLIN S

system of the West Fork of the White River. Recent investigations E 250 N CR ll pbe BILLINGSLY ROAD Cam

SOUTH GRAHAMROAD SOUTH

e CR 750 N

an c D i indicate that the landform developed from 21,700 to 19,500 t ch

Hurri E 750 CR

R Flat Branch an CR E 750 N sd ell Di years ago. Interstate 65 cuts the western limb of the moraine at tc h CR N 670 E

CR E 700 N

Greenwood, and Rocklane Road follows its southern margin. 300CR E

31 E 100 CR CR N 200 E 200 N CR

CR E 700 N CR 575 E 575 CR Interstate 65 Exit to Rocklane Road: 39.6145, -86.0739 E 500 CR ABC’s of Indiana Geology

is for Hindostan Falls, a 6-ft-high ridge of Lower sandstone of the in Hthe East Fork of the White River. Deep potholes and long subparallel Nye channels indicate pre-Wisconsin subglacial meltwater flow. From 1816 to 1820, numerous mills produced the eponymous Hindostan whetstone for sharpening stones and grave markers.

Parking area: 38.6245, -86.8512 ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for Indiana Dunes, the National Lakeshore and State Park in northwestern Indiana along the southern coast of Lake Michigan. Relict shorelines and dunes arc across a late lacustrine plain bounded on the south by end moraine dams. Studies of the relict shorelines have been used to reconstruct past changes in lake levels going back approximately 14,000 years.

National Lakeshore Visitor Center: 41.6338, -87.0543 ABC’s of Indiana Geology

is for Jug Rock, the largest free-standing table rock formation in the United States east of the . Located in south-central Indiana, it is one of Indiana’s many standing rocks created by the erosion of surrounding material from frost, plant roots, and running water. Jug Rock is composed of cross-bedded sandstone of the Lower Pennsylvanian Mansfield Formation and stands approximately 60 ft high.

Parking area: 38.6758, -86.7971 ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for Kentland Meteor Impact Structure, Ka 7.8-mile-wide crater located in northwestern Indiana near the Indiana- border. Truncated by faults on the northeastern and southwestern sides, the uplifted, complexly folded dome contains shatter cones and highly deformed rocks in nearly vertical positions. The exact age of the structure is unknown. The outer basin and rim of the crater are buried by Pleistocene till, and the impact is preserved in Lower Ordovician to Pennsylvanian carbonate, shale, and sandstone units. A portion of the central uplift is quarried by the Rogers Group.

Quarry Entrance: 40.7665, -87.3879 ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for Lost River, a 90-mile-long sinking stream that crosses the sinkhole-dotted terrain of the Mitchell Plateau Lphysiographic province. About 25 miles of the Lost River runs underground, following subterranean drainage that can be observed in a karst window at the Wesley Chapel Gulf National Natural Landmark and again at the True Rise, 2 miles south of the Orangeville Rise. Surface flow along the entire length of the river occurs only during spring runoff and extreme rainfalls. Location where Lost River crosses S.R. 37: 38.6100, -86.4579 ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for McCormick’s Creek State Park, Indiana’s first state park. It is situated in Mthe Mitchell Plateau physiographic province, characterized by rolling hills, steep-walled valleys, and limestone solution features within Early to Middle Mississippian carbonate rock of the Sanders and Blue River Groups. A waterfall occurs in the lower St. Louis Limestone. A small quarry in the Salem Limestone produced stone from 1878 to 1880 to construct the State House. Park entrance: 39.2835, -86.7262 ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for New Harmony, a small town along the in the southwestern part of Indiana. It was a center Nof progressive education and scientific research during the early 1800s. Notably, Indiana’s first state geologist, David Dale Owen, lived there. William Maclure, often called the “father of American geology” and long-time president of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, lived and taught for several years in New Harmony.

Workingman’s Institute: 38.1287, -87.9363 ABC’s of Indiana Geology

is for Orangeville Rise, a National Natural Landmark and the second largest spring in Indiana. It derives Ofrom subterranean drainage north of the Lost River drainage basin. Two openings occur at a depth of about 20 ft, producing from a minimum of 9 to a maximum of 180 cubic ft/second of water. The Mississippian Ste. Genevieve Limestone crops out north of the spring. Location: 38.6311, -86.5571 ABC’s of Indiana Geology

is for Pipe Creek Sinkhole, where an assemblage of early Pleistocene fossils from about 5 million years Pago was discovered in Silurian reef rock. Buried in the Pipe Creek Jr. Quarry of Irving Materials, the sinkhole was capped by Wisconsin till. This site will be visited during one of the fieldtrips during the 2018 Annual Conference of the Geological Society of America.

Location 40.464, - 85.792 ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for Quarries, a common sight along the narrow irregular strip in south- central Indiana known as the Stone Belt. Running 35 miles Q through Owen, Monroe, and Lawrence Counties, this small exposure of carbonate shoal rock of the Mississippian Salem Limestone has supplied 50 to 75% of all limestone used in North American buildings. In 1929 at the height of production, 12 million cubic ft of Salem Limestone was quarried from the Stone Belt region; today, the area produces 2.7 million cubic ft per year. The Land of Limestone exhibit, located in the former headquarters of the Indiana Limestone Co., celebrates the importance of Indiana limestone to U.S. history: 38.8752, -86.4830 ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for Reef, Wabash, the famous Niagaran reef structures in the upper of . Thousands of modest-sized to very large patch Rand pinnacle reefs exist in the reef facies of the upper Silurian . A natural landmark southeast of Lagro preserves one of the finest examples and exposes an 84-ft-tall reef flank bisected by the Wabash River.

Hanging Rock Nature Preserve: 40.8297, -85.7084 ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for , where an early 19th-century community was established near a collapsed karst window. In the S restored pioneer village sits a gristmill powered by a spring exiting Hamer Cave in Middle Mississippian carbonate rocks of the St. Louis and Salem Limestones.

Park entrance: 38.7233, -86.4170 ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for Turkey Run State Park, a park containing massive ledges of cross-stratified sandstone of the early Pennsylvanian Mansfield TFormation. Situated within the Central Wabash Valley physiographic region, the steep cliffs and gorges provide a sharp contrast to the gentle slopes of the surrounding area. A mixture of terrestrial and marine influences within the sediments is demonstrated by plant fossils, coals, linguloid brachiopods, conodonts, and tidal rhythmites.

Park entrance: 39.8821, -87.2019 ABC’s of Indiana Geology

is for University, Indiana, the multi-campus public university system in Indiana, and home to the Indiana UGeological and Water Survey. The flagship campus in Bloomington is built from locally quarried Salem Limestone, and its stylized carvings and ornate architecture make it one of the most beautiful college campuses in the nation. Indiana University will celebrate its bicentennial in 2020.

Sample Gates: 39.1665, -86.5266 ABC’s of Indiana Geology

is for , Indiana’s second largest park, situated in the Muscatatuck Plateau physiographic Vprovince. The Muscatatuck Plateau is characterized by karst development on Silurian and Devonian carbonate strata and pre-Wisconsin till in upland areas. Trilobites, brachiopods, and corals are exposed in the fossiliferous Ordovician Whitewater and Dillsboro Formations along the entrenched Laughery Creek that flows through the park.

Park entrance: 39.0613, -85.2340 ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for Wyandotte Cave, Indiana’s fifth longest cave; it has 9.3 miles of mapped passages at two major levels within the WMississippian Blue River Group carbonate strata. Prehistoric people and early pioneers quarried flint, aragonite, and epsom salts from the cave’s rugged, mostly dry passageways. The ceiling at the entrance to Wyandotte Cave is at about 580 ft above sea level, and three of the largest and highest rooms have collapsed at or above the elevation to the cave’s entrance. The Wyandotte Cave Complex is situated in the eastern Crawford Upland physiographic province. Park entrance: 38.2291, -86.2934 Lucas Oil ’s Stadium ABC of Indiana Geology Pan Am Plaza J.W. Marriott INDIANA CONVENTION CENTER Victory Hyatt Marriott Field Regency Simon The Westin Property Downtown Group Washington Street Garage Indiana Government Center South is for the Indiana Government Indiana Center North Geological Society of America State House 2018 Annual Meeting, from November 4–7, 2018, at the Indiana Convention Center Indiana NORTH in Indianapolis, Indiana. Join 7,000 other earth scientists for State Library technical and poster sessions, workshops, and fieldtrips at the Crossroads of America. Convention Center: 39.7649, -86.1622; Elevation: 710 ft msl