Guide to the Geology of the Apple River Canyon State Park and Surrounding Area of Northeastern Jo Daviess County, Illinois Wayne T. Frankie Illinois State Geological Survey Robert S. Nelson Illinois State University Field Trip Guidebook 2002B October 19, 2002 November 2, 2002 George H. Ryan, Governor Department of Natural Resources Brent Manning, Director ILLINOIS STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY William W. Shilts, Chief Cover photo: Apple River Canyon State Park (photo by W. T. Frankie). Geological Science Field Trips The Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) conducts four free tours each year to acquaint the public with the rocks, mineral resources, and landscapes of various regions of the state and the geological processes that have led to their origin. Each trip is an all- day excursion through one or more Illinois counties. Frequent stops are made to explore interest- ing phenomena, explain the processes that shape our environment, discuss principles of earth science, and collect rocks and fossils. People of all ages and interests are welcome. The trips are especially helpful to teachers who prepare earth science units. We ask, however, that grade school students be accompanied by at least one parent or guardian for each five students. High school science classes should be supervised by at least one adult for each ten students. A list of guidebooks of earlier field trips for planning class tours and private outings may be obtained by contacting the Geoscience Outreach Coordinator, Illinois State Geological Survey, Natural Resources Building, 615 East Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL 61820-6964. Telephone: 217- 244-2427 or 217-333-4747. This information is on the ISGS home page: http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu. Six USGS 7.5-Minute Quadrangle maps (Apple River, Elizabeth Northeast, Scales Mound East, Scales Mound West, Shullsburg, and Warren) provide coverage for this field trip area. Editorial Board Jonathan H. Goodwin, Chair Michael L. Barnhardt David R. Larson B. Brandon Curry John H. McBride Anne L. Erdmann Donald G. Mikulic William R. Roy ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES v Printed with soybean ink on recycled paper Printed by authority of the State of Illinois 3/02 - 1M Guide to the Geology of the Apple River Canyon State Park and Surrounding Area of Northeastern Jo Daviess County, Illinois Wayne T. Frankie, Illinois State Geological Survey Robert S. Nelson Illinois State University Field Trip Guidebook 2002B October 19, 2002 November 2, 2002 George H. Ryan, Governor Department of Natural Resources Brent Manning, Director ILLINOIS STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY William W. Shilts, Chief Natural Resources Building 615 E. Peabody Drive Champaign, IL 61820-6964 Home page: http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/ CONTENTS Introduction 1 Geologic Framework 1 Precambrian Era 1 Paleozoic Era 2 Depositional History 3 Paleozoic Era 3 Stratigraphic Units and Contacts 3 Mesozoic Era 7 Ancient Environmental History 7 Stratigraphy 12 Bedrock Names 12 Ordovician Period 12 Silurian Period 12 Structural Setting 14 Wisconsin Arch 14 Preglacial History of Northwestern Illinois 14 Erosion Surfaces 15 Glacial History of Illinois 16 Pleistocene Epoch 16 Geomorphology 21 Wisconsin Driftless Section 21 Rock River Hill Country 23 Natural Divisions and Geology 23 Natural Divisions 23 Wisconsin Driftless Division 24 Drainage 24 Relief 24 Natural Resources 24 Mineral Production 24 Groundwater 25 Future of Mineral Industries in Illinois 25 GUIDE TO THE ROUTE 27 STOP DESCRIPTIONS 47 1 Rutherford’s Quarry and Dolomite Prairie 54 2 Youngbluth Quarry 56 3 Benton Mound 59 4 Lunch 60 5 Cox Quarry 62 6 Wenzel Mound Quarry 65 REFERENCES 70 RELATED READINGS 71 GLOSSARY 74 SUPPLEMENTARY READING 82 Period or System Age Era and Thickness Epoch (years ago) General Types of Rocks Holocene Recent alluvium in river valleys 10,000 Quaternary Glacial till, glacial outwash, gravel, sand, silt, 0-500' lake deposits of clay and silt, loess and sand dunes; covers nearly all of state except north- west corner and southern tip Pleistocene Glacial Age 1.8 m Pliocene 5.3 m Chert gravel, present in northern, southern and 33.7 m western Illinois Age of Mammals Tertiary Mostly micaceous sand with some silt and clay; 0-500' presently only in southern Illinois Eocene 54.8 m CENOZOIC "Recent Life" Mostly clay, little sand; present only in southern Paleocene 65.0 m Illinois Mostly sand, some thin beds of clay, and, locally, Cretaceous 144 m gravel, present only in southern Illinois 0-300' 290 m MESOZOIC "Middle Life" Age of Reptiles Pennsylvanian 0-3,000' Largely shale and sandstone with beds of coal, limestone, and clay ("Coal Measures") 323 m Black and gray shale at base, middle zone of Mississippian thick limestone that grades to siltstone chert, and shale; upper zone of interbedded 0-3,500' sandstone, shale, and limestone Age of Amphibians and Early Plants 354 m Thick limestone, minor sandstones and shales; Devonian largely chert and cherty limestone in southern 0-1,500' Illinois; black shale at top Age of Fishes 417 m Silurian Principally dolomite and limestone 0-1,000' PALEOZOIC "Ancient Life" 443 m Ordovician Largely dolomite and limestone but contains 500-2,000' sandstone, shale, and siltstone formations Age of Invertebrates 490 m Cambrian Chiefly sandstones with some dolomite and shale; 1,500-3,000' exposed only in small areas in north-central Illinois 543 m Precambrian Igneous and metamorphic rocks; known in Illinois only from deep wells Generalized geologic column showing succession of rocks in Illinois. Tete des Morts Dolomite, light gray, slightly cherty, thick-bedded 15-20 medium to fine-grained, relatively pure. Mosalem Dolomite, gray, cherty; medium-bedded; lower part 0-100 is very argillaceous dolomite grading to dolomitic shale at base.; Figure 2 Generalized stratigraphic column from the top of the Niagaran (middle Silurian) to the base of the Champlainian (middle Ordovician) in the field trip area (modified from Kolata and Buschbach 1976). Figure continues on the next page. 4 5 normal fault reverse fault fault plane fault line footwall hanging wall normal fault after erosion and burial horst graben Figure 3 Diagrammatic illustrations of fault types that may be present in the field trip area. A fault is a fracture in the Earth’s crust along which there has been relative movement of the opposing blocks. A fault is usually an inclined plane, and when the hanging wall (the block above the plane) has moved up relative to the footwall (the block below the fracture), the fault is a reverse fault. When the hanging wall has moved down relative to the footwall, the fault is a normal fault. A B x x z x x Figure 4 Schematic drawings of (A) a disconformity and (B) an angular unconformity (x represents the conformable rock sequence, and z is the plane of unconformity). 6 Apple River Canyon State Park WISCONSIN Anticline Syncline ARCH Monocline m River Fault Zone F.C. Fault Complex Plu Des Plaines Fault, ticks on downthrown side F.F. Faulted Flexure Sandwich Fault Zone Crypto-explosive or F.S. Fault System impact structure F.Z. Fault Zone KANKAKEE ARCH La Salle Royal Center Kentland MISSISSIPPI RIVER ARCH Glasford WESTERN Anticlinorium Fishhook Fortville Marshall-Sidell Pittsfield L in c o SANGAMON ARCH ln SHELF F o ld n Mt. Carmel C e a d p . au GrJs F.F u o L Waterloo-Dupo FAIRFIELD BASIN Clay City SPARTA Salem Valmeyer Du Quoin ARCH SHELF Omaha Wabash Valley C Dome Ste. Ge ottage G ne rove vi ev F.S. e Fault System F.Z. Hicks Dome ree OZARK Rough C k-S haw F neetown .S. CINCINNATI DOME Moorman Fluorspar Area F.C. Lusk Creek F.Z. Central F.S. F.S. Pennyrile MISSISSIPPI EMBAYMENT PASCOLA ARCH Reelfoot Rift 0 20 40 60 mi 0 40 80 km Figure 5 Structural features of Illinois (modified from Buschbach and Kolata 1991). 8 Figure 7 Bedrock geology beneath the surficial deposits in Illinois. 10 Figure 8 Bedrock valleys of Illinois (modified from Piskin and Bergstrom 1975). 11 Figure 12 Generalized map of the glacial deposits in Illinois (modified from Willman and Frye 1970). 18 “Woodfordian” Figure 13 The sequence of glaciations and interglacial drainage in Illinois. 19 Years Time-distance diagram Dominant climate conditions before Interglacial and Dominant land forming and soil present glacial episodes Sediment record forming events River, lake, wind, and Warm; stable landscape conditions. interglacial slope deposits. Formation of modern soil; running wa- CENE HOLO- episode ter, lake, wind, and slope processes. 10,000 Till and ice-marginal Cold; unstable landscape conditions. WISCONSIN deposits; outwash and Glacial deposition, erosion, and (late) glacial lake deposits; landforming processes (e.g., formation glacial loess. of end moraines, outwash plains, valley glacial episode trains, proglacial lakes, kettles), plus ice 6 running water, lake, wind, and slope processes. 25,000 (not to scale) WISCONSIN Loess; river, lake, and Cool; stable. (early and middle) slope deposits. Weathering, soil formation (Farmdale Soil and minor soils); wind and running glacial margin 5 water processes. north of Illinois 75,000 SANGAMON River, lake, wind, and Warm; stable. interglacial slope deposits. Weathering, soil formation (Sangamon episode Geosol); running water, lake, wind, and 4 slope processes. 125,000 Till and ice-marginal Cold; unstable. ILLINOIS deposits; outwash and Glacial deposition, erosion, and land- glacial glacial lake deposits; forming processes, plus proglacial episode loess. running water, lake, wind, and slope PLEISTOCENE EPOCH PLEISTOCENE processes; possible minor soil 3 formation. 300,000 YARMOUTH River, lake, wind, and Warm; stable. interglacial slope deposits. Long weathering interval with deep soil episode formation (Yarmouth Geosol); running 2 water, lake, wind, and slope processes. 425,000 ? Till and ice-marginal Alternating stable and unstable inter- deposits; outwash and vals of uncertain duration. glacial lake deposits; Glacial deposition, erosion, and land- loess plus nonglacial forming processes, plus proglacial river, lake, wind, and and interglacial running water, lake, PRE-ILLINOIS glacial slope deposits.