G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t

N e w s l e t t e r

Finished Diprotodon

skull. This was in the

process of printing last

year at this time. Bob

assembled, painted, and

made a stand for the

skull. Dr. Hegna has it

on display in the Geol

112 - History of the

Earth lab room.

Group photo taken at the Fall 2015 Geology Bonding Night held at Pizza Hut.

Hello Alumni! On behalf of the Geology Department, I hope 2016 is starting out well for you. There have been a

lot of changes during the past twelve months, as you’ll see by reading the remainder of this newsletter. Most of

the changes are driven by the ongoing budget crisis in the state of Illinois so it is completely out of our hands.

We expect even more changes in the coming year, but rest assured that we will be here in some form for the

foreseeable future and our commitment to our students is as strong as ever. Despite these lean budgetary times

we continue to bring students on field trips, involve them in undergraduate research, and bring them to

research conferences to present their results. We are able to continue these activities because you, our alumni,

generously contribute to our Geology Foundation account. We can’t thank you enough for your past and your

continuing monetary support of the Geology Department. I hope you enjoy reading this year’s edition of the

Geology Alumni Newsletter.

Steve Bennett

Alumni Newsletter Editor

Artwork on the 2016 WIU Geology t-shirt features Bob Johnson’s vision of a wrestling match between Lincoln and

an oversized Tully Monster.

G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t N e w s l e t t e r P a g e 2

L e s l i e M e l i m

I spent most of Spring 2015 Semester on sabbatical in Albuquerque, NM working on the scanning

electron microscope at the University of New Mexico. Much as I love teaching, it was a nice change to

just work on research for awhile. I missed Macomb and my friends here, but really enjoyed spending

time with my friends there. I had planned on spending two months, but stayed an extra month after a

riding accident left me with a broken ankle (it’s fine now) and unable to drive my manual-transmission

Subaru. The extra time was very productive, as I collected hundreds of additional images and completed

most of a detailed survey of recrystallization fabrics in cave pearls from the Huber Limestone Mine in

Quincy, IL and from Carlsbad Cavern, NM. In addition, I worked some more on the living pool fingers

from the Herbstlabyrinth/Adventhöhle Cave System, Germany, which produced a quick paper and a

talk.

Summer was fairly quiet with no field camp. I did get to Denver, Colorado for the American Association

of Petroleum Geologists Annual Meeting as part of editor duties for Journal of Sedimentary Research. I

also managed a nice visit with my sister in the Seattle area: July has much nicer weather than my usual

December visit. In between trips, I found time for lots of horseback riding and woodworking.

In August, I got back into teaching with the largest Geol 340 Strat. Sed. class ever: 22 students! It made

for a very busy semester, particularly when grading the WID papers came around. As usual, I went back

to UNM over Thanksgiving Break, taking two geology majors, Nick Liming and Justin Christensen, to

finish up the cave pearl recrystallization study. Coming home, there was a huge ice storm over the Texas

Panhandle that closed the interstate. To go around, we drove up through Colorado but it still got us. We

encountered freezing drizzle on I-70 and so had to slow down. Unfortunately, the idiot behind us left her

cruise control on (in ice?!) and rear ended my car. No one was hurt, but we ended up staying an extra

two days in Colorado before I could get a rental car from her insurance company. Nick and Justin were

great company in the little tiny town of Limon in eastern Colorado. I ended up taking the little Ford rent-

al on a long odyssey over winter break from Illinois to Seattle to Albuquerque and finally back to

Colorado to pick up my car in January. I’d much rather have done it with my all-wheel drive Subaru!

Presentations:

Melim, L.A., Spilde, M.N., Northup, D.E., 2015, Geomicrobiology of cave pearls: New evidence from

Carlsbad Cavern. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 47, No. 7, p. 57,

Presented November 1, 2015.

Melim, L.A. Northup, D.E., Hughes, K.J., Spilde, M.N., and Boston, P.J., 2015, An SEM and molecular

study of the living pool fingers in the Herbstlabyrinth/Adventhöhle Cave System, Hess, Germany.

2015 NSS Convention, Waynesville, MO, July 13-17, 2015. Presented July 15, 2015.

Publications:

Meyer, S., Melim, L., and Scholz, D., 2015, Morphologie der Pool-Fingers in der Riesenberghöhle (Süntel,

Niedersachsen), Die Höhle, v. 66, p. 80-95 (in German, English abstract).

Melim, L.A., Northup, D.E., Spilde, M.N., and Boston, P.J., 2015, Update: Living reticulated filaments

from Herbstlabyrinth-Adventhöhle Cave System, Germany, Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, v. 77,

p. 87-90.

Preston, L.J., Melim, L.A., Polyak, V.J., Asmerom, Y., Southam, G., 2014, Infrared spectroscopic

biosignatures from Hidden Cave, New Mexico: Possible applications for remote life detection,

Geomicrobiology Journal, v. 31, p. 929-941.

P a g e 3 G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t N e w s l e t t e r

Hi Everyone,

As always, it’s a pleasure to submit a “blurb”

for the annual Geology newsletter. That means

I’m still vertical and working with some of the

best folks on campus. There is a lot of

uncertainty here at WIU and throughout the

state of Illinois. Nonetheless we keep moving

forward and coming to work each day to do

the best we can for our students.

Our major count is holding steady, which is

great news! We have a large group of students

signed up for Geology Summer Field Camp 2016. Right now the count is 23 which matches the count from

1984’s field camp. We’re very humbled by the Paul Wagner Memorial contributions received this past year.

These funds went to the Geology Foundation and have been earmarked for field camp.

We’ve had really great turnouts the past few years for Bonding Night, the annual Geology Club Holiday Party, and

the spring picnic. It’s very heart-warming to see our students interested in these Geology-related social events.

On a personal note, my entire family met for a week of fun in the sun and on the water at Lake of the Ozarks,

Missouri. We had beautiful weather, amazing accommodations and a ton of fun. I feel truly blessed! The photo

was taken at “Wobbly Boots” Restaurant, Osage Beach. Those of you that have visited this area are probably

familiar with it.

Please keep in touch & wishing you all a healthy, happy year!

D i a n e E d wa r d s

Pe t e r C a l e n g a s

Greetings to all of the friends of the Department! The past year has been a very eventful one for everyone.

Although our overall enrollments are similar to recent years, we currently have a large group of students taking

our upper division courses (Geologic Field Methods, Stratigraphy and Sedimentology, Structural Geology)

producing the largest enrollments we have had in these courses in 30 years. That is the good news. The bad news

is that we once again have a “bare-bones” budget, and next year does not look any better! Fortunately, your

generous financial support has made a difference. We will be offering Geology Field Camp this summer and have

been able to continue to support our in-class field trips, trips for field work, and travel to present research at

conferences. Without your generous donations to our foundation this would not be possible. In fact, half of our

expenses during the last fiscal year were paid using our Geology Foundation account. Your continued support

helps defray the cost for these important activities and allows us to continue to offer a high-quality Geology

program for our majors.

With Dr. Mayborn serving as an Interim Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, we were allowed to

hire a visiting lecturer, Dr. Petr Yakovlev, for the Spring 2016 semester to teach Structural Geology. Although the

geomorphology faculty position remains unfilled, we have asked Dr. Yakovlev to teach Geomorphology this spring

to give our students an additional upper-division course option.

I continue to teach my online Environmental Geology class and to serve as a consultant to a variety of Industrial

Mineral enterprises. Keep in touch. It’s always great to hear from you.

G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t N e w s l e t t e r P a g e 4

2015 proved to be a busy year in the “Hegna Lab”. In the

spring, I had the privilege of taking the Paleontology class on

a trip to Iowa City to see the paleontology collections at the

University of Iowa (my alma mater), the MAPS fossil show, and

the Devonian fossil gorge. I helped out with the Structural

Geology field trip to Wisconsin—seeing some sights that I had

not seen since I was an undergraduate and did a similar trip,

as well as some that I had never seen before. I was even able

to convince Dr. Mayborn to make a brief stop at a spectacular

Ordovician-age outcrop in southern Wisconsin to see some

fossils. At the end of the spring semester, I took several stu-

dents to the North Central Geological Society of America

Meeting, where several presented their research.

My big trip of the summer was a National Geographic-funded

trip to the House Range of Utah to study a site of exceptional

preservation in the Cambrian-aged Weeks Formation. Five

WIU Geology undergraduates came with: Justin Christensen,

Nick Liming, Corrin Peters-Kaffenberger, Hunter Starr, and

Andrew Turner. We worked with an international team of

paleontologists collecting fossils, dodging snakes, eating

spoiled hot dogs and sleeping in the desert. Miraculously, we

all came back alive! This trip corresponded with my wedding

anniversary—meaning that because of geology, I have missed my anniversary twice since coming to WIU—

three after this coming summer when I will be helping out with field camp. I should probably move my anni-

versary to a more convenient date to save my wife the shame of her husband leaving her for rocks on their

anniversary.

I was awarded a summer stipend, and used it to travel to the UK to learn some new fossil processing

techniques involving hydrofluoric acid with my friend Tom Harvey at the University of Leceister. I hope to

begin using these techniques at WIU with the help of Brian Bellott in the Chemistry department. I also got a

chance to stop for a few days in Bath to visit another friend at the University of Bath, Tim Astrop, and work on

finishing up a manuscript together. The traveling meant that I spent a lot of time away from my family this

past summer, so I had to do a lot of make up time with my two kids when I returned. I took my son for his

first father-son camp out. We had a nice family picnic prior to the camping where my wife and daughter

joined us.

In the fall, I helped out with Dr. Melim’s annual Sedimentary Geology field trip to southern Illinois. I also

traveled to the National Geological Society of America meeting in Baltimore, where I presented two posters

and one talk (“Pyritized in situ trilobite eggs from the Ordovician of New York (Lorraine Group): Implications

for trilobite reproductive biology”, “Trilobites as arthropods: the implications of the arthrodial membrane for

trilobite taphonomy”, and “Possible minute branchiopod mandibles (?Cladocera) from the lake deposits

(Ciniza Lake) in the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation (New Mexico) and the temporal record of small

carbonaceous fossils (SCFs)”).

Over winter break, I submitted round 2 of our Scanning Electron Microscope grant—with positive reviews last

year, we’re hoping this is the year it will be funded. We have a number of faculty from WIU involved in the

grant, and if funded, it will significantly enrich our classes and student research projects to have a piece of

equipment like that on campus for easy access.

To m H e g n a

Scaling ripplemarks preserved in quartzite during the Spring 2015 Structural Geology/Petrology trip

P a g e 5 G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t N e w s l e t t e r

Student projects:

•Kevin Cavett spent the summer hiking through the wilds of Argyle Lake to test a GIS approach to predicting the

location of rocky outcrops.

• Justin Christensen and Andrew Turner worked on CT scans of an enigmatic arthropod called Schramixerxes

geremi.

•Daniel Hillenberg has been doing some modern clam shimp appendage dissections to better understand their

fossils.

•Drew Laviada-Garmon has been trying to understand how some unusual examples of petrified wood were

preserved—a task made easier by a recent trip to the SEM in Iowa City.

•Rayleno Oliviera-Santana and Corrin Peters-Kaffenberger worked on better understanding trilobite ontogeny

from the Cambrian Weeks Formation.

•Jacob Shaw has been working on several species of clam shrimp from a Triassic lakebed in New Mexico.

•Hunter Starr is working on writing up his findings on a lobster that was misidentified as an amphipod

crustacean by a previous worker.

Publications

Serrano, M. de L., T.A. Hegna, P. Schaaf, L. Pérez, E. Centeno-Garcia, & F.J. Vega. 2015. The aquatic and

semiaquatic biota in Miocene amber from the Campo La Granja Mine (Chiapas, Mexico): Paleoenvironmental

implications. Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 62: 243-256.

Roberts, E., H. Jelsma, S. Perritt & T.A. Hegna. 2015. Mesozoic sedimentary cover sequences of the Congo Basin

in the Kasai Region, Democratic Republic of Congo. In "Geology and Resource Potential of the Congo Basin—

dedicated to L. Cahen and H. Kampunzu", editted by M.J. de Wit, F. Guillocheau, M.C.J De Wit. Springer

Verlag. p. 163-191.

Broda, K., T.A. Hegna & M. Zatoń. 2015. Fossils explained: Thylacocephalans. Geology Today. 31(3): 116-120.

Sigma Gamma Epsilon faculty advisor

Steve Bennett presents the 2015 W.A.

Tarr Award winner Megan Beeler with

her certificate and $50 check.

Congratulations Megan!

We visited Mammoth Cave National Park in August. On the ever-popular

Violet City Lantern Tour, small groups of people experience the cave by

lantern light, which truly is the best way to explore the cave. The historic

cave tours offer stark reminders of the oddities of medical practices

during the 19th century, as we were led through the sad, little

tuberculosis huts, thick with shadows and melancholy. On a much

“lighter” note, we took a canoe trip down the incredibly lovely Green River

that flows through the park. This is absolutely a must do activity.

We then visited a restored, early 19th century, pioneer

village at Spring Mill State Park in Indiana. An extremely

knowledgeable park employee operates a meticulously

restored, water-powered gristmill. The operator opens the

S a r a B e n n e t t

G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t N e w s l e t t e r P a g e 6

It has been a year of surprises and challenges. In June I re-

ceived an email from our Dean asking if I was in town and

could I stop by for a visit. I thought she might ask me to

serve on some committee for the College as I have many

times in the past, but no, I was quite surprised when she

asked me if I would serve as an Interim Associate Dean. I

took a few days to think about it and then said yes on the

condition that I would still teach Mineralogy and Igneous and

Metamorphic Petrology. It has been quite interesting and

challenging, but I’m thankful that I still start most of my days

in the Geology Department.

Mineralogy went well with fifteen fun and engaged students. It is funny that they only know me as wearing a

jacket and tie. I told them that all the previous students could never imagine me in anything but Levi’s, flan-

nel shirts, and Merrell hiking shoes.

Last year’s Petrology/Structure trip was to central Wisconsin to visit the Baraboo Syncline and the Wausau

Magmatic Terrain. We explored some new (to us) outcrops along the river in downtown Wausau which had

some interesting magmatic mixing textures and inclusions. We did not camp at Devil’s Lake but stayed at a

Hartman Creek State Park closer to Wausau.

Research on the Mellen Complex in northern Wisconsin is continuing. I took two undergraduates with me and

we did some relatively closely-spaced sampling near the base of the Mineral Lake Intrusion, because the pre-

vious year’s work suggested the presence of a marginal reversal. Current undergraduate Luke Smith present-

ed this work at the North-Central GSA Meeting in Madison last spring.

In addition to work, I have still been hitting the trails for some running and mountain biking. Last spring I

went to Adventure Racing Camp in northwestern Illinois. Two days of orienteering, mountain biking, rock

climbing, and rappelling, capped off by a six hour adventure race. It was a blast.

I hope that all is going well for you. Please send me an email as I would love to hear how you are doing (KR-

Mayborn@wiu.edu).

Ky l e M ay b o r n

Outside the University of Kansas Memorial Union during the SGE National Convention

It may look like karaoke, but this is how you describe the structural geology at this location in

Devil’s Lake State Park, Wisconsin

B o b J o h n s o n

I’m sad to say that this may be my last blurb for the geology

newsletter. As of this writing I am being laid off from the university

along with 40+ other faculty for what the administration calls

“monetary reasons”. The particulars of the lay off are too long and

complicated to detail here. I’m sure you can find the information on

line if you’re curious. There is a chance that my position could be

saved through arbitration, but that is in the future. I will tell you that

things are pretty messed up in the state of Illinois. Pay attention, and

don’t believe it couldn’t happen to you. The callous actions and

bickering of our myopic elected oaf-ficials have far reaching, and long

-term negative effects on everyone.

On the brighter side I once again emerged victorious at the Broken

Arrow Stunt Championships in St. Louis. The weather was fine and

the flying was too. In addition there is now a model airplane club in Macomb. You can find us by searching

for: Macomb, IL RC Flyers. There are several videos of our flying and a few feature yours truly.

The family is well, and Pam and I continue to plod through cleaning out my mothers house. I hope to be

done with it this spring.

New 3-D printed specimens keep coming in thanks to Dr. Hegna. Among them we have a Diprotodon

(giant Wombat), some assorted hominids and a soon to be complete Mosasaur. These are quite nicely

done and when finished look very much like the genuine article. There’s still a lot of painting yet to be

done.

If indeed this is my last missive, I would like to say that I have enjoyed meeting and working with all our

students over the last 37 years. I like to think that my efforts may have added in some small way to your

education and success, and of course I wish for all of you the very best in the future.

P a g e 7 G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t N e w s l e t t e r

sluice gate and grinds corn every day on the 1000-pound quartzite millstones. The sounds of the rotating

water wheel and groaning of the gears is very cool. To top off the whole experience, freshly ground

cornmeal may be purchased for home use. Right next door to the park is the Gus Grissom Memorial

Museum so be sure and stop by for a look at the tiny space capsule that Gus was confined in during a

Gemini mission.

Sigma Gamma Epsilon celebrated its Centennial at the University of Kansas. I have not attended an SGE

meeting for a number of years and was interested to see that 21st century meetings are quite similar in

format to their 20th century counterparts, although there was a definite lack of power point

presentations during much of the 20th century. The best part of most geologic gatherings is the

concluding field trip. The opportunity to collect gastropod shells was a highlight for me. I also found the

birds eye view and discussion of subtle glacial features quite interesting.

The 49th Annual GSA North-Central Section Meeting was held in Madison, Wisconsin. The convention

center is located a few blocks from one the most beautiful State Capital buildings ever constructed. Be

sure and obtain a copy of the fossil location pamphlet and have a great time searching for the famous

fossils embedded in the interior building stone. To commemorate your visit, take selfie photos with the

fossils, including the well-known, 400-million-year-old, sea star in one of the steps. (Obtaining a selfie

with the sea star will be awkward, but well worth it!)

Posing with his most recent trophy from the Broken Arrow Stunt Championships in St. Louis.

P a g e 8 G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t N e w s l e t t e r

S t ev e B e n n e t t

Hello everyone! In terms of teaching, this year has been much like the last. In the Fall semester I taught

Introduction to the Earth, Hydrogeology, and Geologic Field Methods (21 students, my largest class yet!). I’ve also

been teaching my online Earth and Energy Resources course the past four semesters (including the summer).

Online courses are very popular and I am becoming more comfortable with the delivery method, although I still

much prefer a face-to-face course.

I have two students working with me on undergraduate research

projects involving the Spring Lake watershed. One is continuing

work from a past student on nutrient measurements in a tributary

to the lake. The other student is attempting to develop a

preliminary model to simulate streamflow in the watershed using

the U.S. Army Corps’ HEC-HMS program. By this time of the year

I am always itching to get back outside to do some field work!

I continue to serve as the Treasurer for the Illinois Groundwater

Association, which will be holding their Spring meeting the day

after the North-Central GSA meeting in Champaign.

Last summer I had another milestone in my fatherhood. My

younger son is now taller than me! Those little boys that some

of you probably remember from Geology Department

gatherings are now as big as my students, and my older son

has a thick beard! Where has all the time gone? Keep in touch,

I always enjoy hearing from our alumni.

Pe t r Ya kov l ev

Hi everyone,

I’m excited to be a new member of the WIU Geology

community! I recently finished my PhD in Structural Geology at

the University of Michigan, where I spent the better part of the

five years traipsing around the Tibetan Plateau. My interests lie

in the long-term deformation of the earth’s crust, and the

formation of major mountain belts. I’ve had the opportunity to

use a wide array of techniques and methods during my

graduate studies, which I hope to introduce to students during

my classes.

This spring I’m teaching Structural Geology, Geomorphology,

and the Field Trip course. The students have been great so far.

I’m really eager to get to know them and help them learn! The field trip course will be joining a guided trip that

will be part of the annual meeting of the North Central Section of the Geological Society of America. This trip

will explore fluorite deposits within the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District, and I plan to introduce some topics

in economic geology prior to our departure. We are incredibly lucky to be able to subsidize this experience for

our students with money from the Geology Fund, which would have been impossible if not for the generous

contributions of our alumni.

Best,

Dr. Petr Yakovlev

Relaxing on the Tibetan Plateau

Collecting fossils at an outcrop along a road cut south of Lawrence, Kansas during the SGE National

Convention field trip (although it looks like we are doing community service road clean-up).

P a g e 9 G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t N e w s l e t t e r

Steve Bennett, Chad Sperry (Director, GIS

Center), and Bob Johnson pose by the

Topography Sand Table they built. Steve saw a video of one

of these posted on the Illinois State Geological Survey

Facebook page and realized we could build one of them for

WIU. Chad and Bob collaborated to build this wonderful

teaching tool that utilizes a computer, a projector, and an

Xbox Kinect to project colored topographic contours onto

the sand surface in real-time. You move the sand and it

immediately redraws the contours. It is mesmerizing! It has

been used in our geology labs and as a display at

conferences and it has been a huge hit. You can read the

WIU press release at: http://www.wiu.edu/news/newsrelease.php?release_id=12751

Updated “Evolution of Flesh-Eating Dinosaur” hall display. Now includes relative size diagrams.

Dr. Hegna modeling his latest 3D-printing project

(in progress), a mosasaur skull.

Dr. Hegna made a cast of this large crinoid house in the Yale University collection. It will be painted to

bring out the details.

G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t N e w s l e t t e r P a g e 1 0

The geology club resurrected what will become an annual pre-Christmas event—the rock and mineral sale. The

sale was surprisingly profitable, and will help support our activities throughout the year.

We took a trip again this year to the Vincennes Sand Pit, where we again found some amazing geodes (thanks

to alumni Don Smith!).

Our ‘Bad Geology Movie’ night has continued this semester, with the occasional ‘Good Geology Documentary’

added in.

S G E N ew s

G e o l o g y C l u b C o r n e r

WIU alumnus Don Smith giving the history of the quarry and talking about the mining industry during the Geology Club geode-collecting trip (left). Group shot of the Geology Club members during same trip (right).

The Delta Psi Chapter remained active this past year, conducting initiations

each semester, continuing work on the sidewalk timeline, and selling items

during the annual Geodeland Rock and Mineral Show.

We sent a delegation (Megan Beeler, Steve Bennett, Sara Bennett) to

represent the chapter at the SGE National Convention. It was held at the

University of Kansas to commemorate the founding of SGE at this institution

100 years ago.

In cooperation with the Geology Club, SGE had some new Geology t-shirts

made featuring more of Bob Johnson’s wonderful artwork. You can see it on

the front page of this newsletter! Megan Beeler at the SGE

National Convention

G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t N e w s l e t t e r P a g e 1 1

Group Photo from Summer Geology Field Camp 2006

Grace Iftner

Drew Laviada-Garmon

Continuing Student Alumni Award

Benjamin Yeacker

Richard Schafer Freshman Scholarship

Reed Duyvejonck

Benjamin Grober

New Geology Major Scholarships

Paige Elsea

Richard Schafer Community College

Scholarship

Undergraduate Research Presentations

G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t N e w s l e t t e r P a g e 1 2

Justin Christensen and Andrew Turner -

The 3D Morphology of the Enigmatic

Carboniferous Arthropod, Schramixerxes

gerem (Montceau-les-Mines) via Micro

Computed Tomography (microCT)

Lukas Smith - Mineral Chemistry Constraints on

the Origin of the Mineral Lake Intrusion,

northern Wisconsin

Ramon Glazianne Barbosa

Carvalho - Mineralogic

Trends in the Eastern

Region of Mineral Lake

Intrusion, Northern

Wisconsin

Hunter Starr - Epilogue to the

Tale of the Triassic Amphipod:

Rosagammarus is a Decapod

Tail (Luning Formation, Nevada)

Stefan Ososky had 2 posters!

Mississippian Bryozoans Preserved in Glauconite (Illinois, USA)

Range of Motion in the Appendicular Skeleton in Struthio camelus

Nick Liming and Corrin Peters - Silicification of

trilobites in the Cambrian Weeks Formation

(House Range, Utah)

The Geology Department once again had a good showing at

WIU’s annual Thomas E. Helm Undergraduate Research Day

with eight students presenting their research.

The abstracts for their research are posted at http://

www.wiu.edu/centennial_honors_college/

research_day/2015abstracts.php

P a g e 1 3 P a g e 1 3 G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t N e w s l e t t e r

Geology Department Gatherings

William Buscemi was the winner of our annual rock hammer raffle during Bonding Night. Bob has not shrunk over the years, William is just really tall!

Group shot of the students that attended the Geology Department Holiday Party. Can you pick out the first grade student?

Spring 2015 Geology Picnic at Horn Field Campus

P a g e 1 4

Phyllis Aragaki*

Timothy Aten

Rosemary Booth*

William Branson

Victoria Broomhead*

Craig Brown

Peter Calengas

John Carl

Stephanie Clark*

Bethany Evans*

Christopher Evans*

Exxon Mobil

(Matching for G. Walsh)

Kathryn Fettig*

Steven Fettig*

Christine Garretson*

Linda Gates*

Kurt Goebel

James Holmes*

Jennifer Holmes*

Donations

The Geology Department would like to thank the individuals and organizations listed below for their donations.

Your generous gifts have allowed us to provide scholarships, defray student costs of field trips, purchase scientific

equipment for use in undergraduate research, and cover registration fees and travel expenses of students

presenting research at geologic conferences. Again, thank you! (This list contains donations received since January,

2015)

Sandra Jankowski-Rose

William Jardine

William Johnson

Marvin Klusman

Steven Larson

Eric Luoma*

Marathon Oil Corporation

(Matching for S. Koza)

Cole Martin*

Kathleen Murphy*

Judith Osmonson

Lee Osmonson

Todd Paulson*

Kim Perez

Harry Petersen

Amber Peterson*

Todd Peterson*

Harley Ponsler

Spencer Quam

Lisa Reid*

Amy Rickwartz*

Jon Rickwartz*

Stanley Robinson

Laura Sandall*

Peter Sandall*

Sandra Schneider*

Billy Simmons*

Stephen Smith

Marc Steib*

Michelle Strickland*

Joann Wagner*

Kari Wolf*

*In memory of Paul Wagner, a

total of $2,570.00 was received

in Paul’s memory which will

benefit 2016 Field Camp stu-

dents.

G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t N e w s l e t t e r

2015 Graduates

Megan Beeler

Dorota Glod

Andrew Hope

Justin Longacre

Carl Nozum

Stefan Ososky

Manuel Vasquez

Some of our Spring 2015 Graduates: (left to right)

Dori Glod, Stefan Ososky, Manny Vasquez, Andrew Hope, Megan Beeler

P a g e 1 5 G e o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t N e w s l e t t e r

G e o l o g y N e w s H i g h l i g h t e d o n t h e W I U We b S i t e

Geology Assistant Professor and Students Study Exceptionally Preserved Fauna from the

Cambrian-Age Formation

S e pt e mbe r 1 6 , 2 0 1 5

MACOMB, IL – From May 31- June 11, Western Illinois University Assistant Professor of Paleontology Thomas Hegna and five of his geology

students investigated a unique Cambrian-aged (approximately 500-million-year-old) fossil deposit in west-central Utah. The National Geographic

Society Committee for Research and Exploration supported the team's fieldwork.

The five undergraduates included geology majors, senior Nick Liming (Lombard, IL), senior Hunter Starr (Elmhurst, IL), senior Corrin Kaffen-

burger (Peters) (Quincy, IL), senior Justin Christensen (Mokena, IL) and sophomore Andrew Turner (Western Springs, IL).

The students worked along with an international team of paleontologists that included researcher Rudy Lerosey-Aubril from the School of Envi-

ronmental & Rural Science at the University of New England, associate professor Robert Gaines from Pomona College, research fellow Javier

Ortega Hernández from Cambridge University and associate research scientist Peter Van Roy from Yale University.

Hegna and Lerosey-Aubril had been collaborating on this project for more than five years and were able to make this research trip a reality with

help from National Geographic and several WIU undergraduate research grants, which supported a larger field party that included the students.

"The experience was an amazing opportunity because it was supported by National Geographic. I was lucky to be a part of it," said Kaffenburger.

"At first I was intimidated to be working with all of these men who had a Ph.D., but I soon realized that they were very nice, and I was able to

learn so much from them."

The group observed remains of many multicellular organisms that have been preserved since the Cambrian Explosion.

"After the Cambrian Explosion, we saw the first appearance of many multicellular groups of animals on Earth. After the explosion, the Ordovi-

cian Radiation event is when we saw a diversification of many of these original groups. Having a set of exceptionally preserved animals in-

between those two major events is helping us connect those evolutionary lineages through time," said Hegna.

The group worked from dawn to dusk in hot, dry conditions with temperatures ranging from 80-90 degrees each day. They worked in quarries

that had been previously opened, splitting rock while looking for specimens and going bed-by-bed trying to get into layers of rock where soft

tissue was preserved.

"Normally, when people think of fossils, they think of shells or bones, but what is unique about our work is that we were finding preserved soft

tissue—the parts that are not mineralized. We were finding remains of animals that did not have shells or bones, which is not normal, so this is a

very unique deposit," said Hegna.

"It was very fun and interesting to go out and do fieldwork. I learned a lot compared to what I am limited to learning in a classroom. It took me

three days to finally find any soft-tissue preservation, but the hard work paid off," said Christensen.

After gathering fossils of fauna in Utah, the team shipped the fossils back where they could study them at a later date.

"Even more common fossils, like the shells of trilobites, are unique. The specimens are preserved with silica in a limestone. By taking concentrat-

ed hydrochloric acid (HCl), we are able to dissolve away everything that's not preserved by silica, leaving only the fossil, which allows us to ex-

amine it in better detail," said Liming.

"I am extremely interested in continuing my education after earning a bachelor's degree, and this was my first time out in the field. I really got a

sense of what it is like going out and collecting specimens as well as learning what kind of fieldwork is necessary to gather the specimens needed

for studies in the area I'm interested in, which is paleontological sciences," said Starr.

Hegna and the students will continue to study the fauna and hope to be able to take another trip in the future.

"We are very lucky that Dr. Hegna advocated for his students to be a part of this trip because we were the only students on this project, and it was

a great opportunity," said Kaffenburger. "Being able to work with my hands and work with people who are very passionate about what they do

helped me realize what I can do with my geology degree after graduation, and I'm very excited for that."

Posted By: Caitlin Meyers (CR-Meyers2@wiu.edu)

Office of University Relations

Website

WWW.WIU.EDU/GEOLOGY/

Phone: 309-298-1151

Fax: 309-298-3399

E-mail: Geology@wiu.edu

Department of Geology

Western Illinois University

Macomb, IL 61455

Non-Profit Organization

U.S. POSTAGE

P A I D

Bob Johnson recently completed this set of four skulls for Dr. Hegna to use in Earth History and Paleontology. Can you pick out the marsupial lion skull?

Nick Liming, Hunter Starr, Andrew Turner, Justin Christensen, and

Corrin Peters-Kaffenburger posing on an outcrop during their

research trip to Utah.