ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for Angel Mounds, a Native American agricultural village along the northern bank of the Ohio River near Evansville,A Indiana. People of the Middle Mississippian 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 Brown County State Park, 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 Clifty Falls State Park, a park in southeastern Indiana along the Ohio River that boasts four waterfalls. The falls occur Cat or near the contact between Silurian and Ordovician rocks. Silurian Osgood Member shales of the Salamonie Dolomite provide the step back above the Ordovician fossiliferous limestone of the Saluda Member of the Whitewater Formation that creates the lip of the falls. The underlying Dillsboro Formation 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 G E U E T R H D C 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 Salem Limestone) 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 Devonian and Silurian carbonate rock that contains prolific fossil beds, some of the largest F exposed in the world. More than 600 species of fossils have been identified in the strata of the Jeffersonville Limestone and Louisville Limestone, 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 her CR E 1075 N ACTON 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 eat n herw a ood 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 lane 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 ell BILLINGSLY ROAD Campb 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 Pennsylvanian sandstone of the Mansfield Formation 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 Pleistocene 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 Mississippi River. 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-Illinois 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 Indianapolis State House. Park entrance: 39.2835, -86.7262 ABC’s of Indiana Geology is for New Harmony, a small town along the Wabash River 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 vertebrate fossils from about 5 million years Pago was discovered in Silurian reef rock.