Department of GeologyY e a r i n R e v i e w 2 0 1 3 – 2 0 1 4

U n i v e r s i t y o f I l l i n o i s a t U r b a n a - C h a m p a i g n

Geology goes global

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Department faculty members have hitthe road, pursuing projects that cross

disciplines and cultures, putting the University of Illinois at the forefront ofearth sciences on an international level.The impact of the Department’s researchand educational efforts is being felt world-wide through a series of collaborations between U. of I. and universities and organizations abroad. Here’s a glimpse at some of the efforts of just a few of ourglobetrotting faculty:

Bangladesh:Prof. Jim Best’s

time in Bangladeshhas been spent bothin the field and inthe classroom. Aspart of an ongoingthree-year project,Best and colleaguesfrom the Universityof Birmingham and the University ofSouthampton have been looking at scourholes in some of Bangladesh’s greatestrivers, including the Brahmaputra. Usingseismic surveying, and later this year theDepartment’s parametric echo sounder(see story on page 1), Best and colleagueshave been looking at the morphology andmigration of the scour holes, with the ulti-mate goal of coming up with guidelinesand a numerical model that can reproducethe subsurface structure of such scourholes when they are infilled by later sedi-mentation.

The project has been funded by theUniversities of Birmingham andSouthampton, through the UK NationalEnvironment Research Council, and hasalso received support from the Center forEnvironmental and Geographic Informa-tion Services in Dhaka, Bangladesh, bring-ing together scientists from the UK,

Bangladesh, and the United States.“The commerce, the stability, and even

social practices in Bangladesh all revolvearound water, so it’s vital to collaboratewith researchers who live and work thereon this project,” says Best. “It’s been fasci-nating to study the various rivers and wit-ness how the community engages withand is affected by the rivers.”

In February 2014, Best also taught in afield school as part of an NSF fundedproject called BanglaPIRE, that is headedby scientists from Lamont-Doherty andVanderbilt universities. This project is aninternational effort to bring togetherscholars in both the physical and socialsciences to better understand the dynam-ics of the world’s largest delta, theGanges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta(GBMD). The field school was attended

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Jim Best teaching inBangladesh

Boat dreading water inBangldesh as part ofJim best’s research

State of the art technology on new research boat

Over the past eight years, Departmentresearchers in river and lake mor-

phology and sedimentology have beensteadily building a collection of state-of-the-science field research equipment,all of which will able to now be de-ployed using in the Department’s newresearch boat, the RV Wabash, gener-ously gifted entirely by an alum andDepartment donor.

Through a series of projects fundedby the National Science Foundationand contributions from several indus-trial and academic partners, ProfessorsJim Best, Gary Parker, Marcelo Garcia,and Bruce Rhoads have gathered an as-sortment of cutting edge instruments,including a multibeam echosounder,that can be used to better study themorphology of rivers and lakes, as wellas their fluid dynamics and subsurfacesedimentary structure. The result of anNSF grant, the Shallow Water Multi-beam Echo-sounding System uses 512beams (a traditional echosounder usu-ally uses just one beam)to map out the

The Department’s new state of the art research boat on Lewis Lake

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Dear Alumni and Friends,

This newsletter is coming to you later thannormal, and here is why: we are in the

midst of exciting, yet challenging, transitionsin the Department of Geology. We’ve clearedsome big hurdles this year, and are preparingthe department toward a very bright future.Please join me in celebrating our accomplish-ments and thanking a few of the people whohave made them possible.

Faculty Hiring. The first great success ofthe year was continued hiring of the nextgeneration of Geology faculty. I am proud tosay we hired two new assistant professorsand one lecturer this year, and all three newhires are excellent scientists and educators.The lecturer, Dr. Jackie Wittmer, a Paleontol-ogist/Stratigrapher, has been with us for several months already, teaching key coursesand playing a central role in moving our col-lections (see below). Dr. Patricia Gregg, ournew Assistant Professor of Geophysics,began just weeks ago but is already an ener-getic and positive presence. Dr. JenniferDruhan, our Hydrogeology hire, will join usin about a year, and is sure to inject addi-tional new energy into the department.These three join Profs. Lijun Liu, JessicaConroy, and William Guenthner to make animpressive cluster of young faculty who willhelp determine the course of the departmentfor decades to come.

Hiring new faculty is probably the singlemost critical thing we do as we strive toevolve the department and build its future. Itis also a very complex process. After receiv-ing approval from the Dean for a facultysearch, we advertise internationally, receiveperhaps a hundred applications, request andreview reference letters, decide on a final in-terview list, plan and complete interviews(each taking two days), debate and decide

on our top choice, negotiate startup fund-ing and other issues, then celebrate whenour offer is accepted! Completing just onefaculty search in a given year requires asignificant effort; doing THREE in one yearis exceptional for a department of our size.But we managed to pull it off, and hiredsome of the best scholars in the business. Iwould like to thank Profs. Jim Best, Xi-aodong Song, and Bruce Fouke, the searchcommittee chairs, for the innumerablehours they spent running the searches,and also Marilyn Whalen, who organizedthe interviews and played other key rolesin the search process.

The NHB Project: A second great suc-cess is progress made on the Natural His-tory Building renovation project.Amazingly, we are now completely movedto our temporary spaces and the construc-tion has begun! This past year, we de-signed and renovated temporary spacesfor our laboratories and classrooms,packed up and moved our many speci-mens and pieces of equipment into them,and got (almost) everything operationalagain. I’ll never forget the sight of our$700,000 multicollector ICP-MS loaded ona forklift, gingerly motoring across thestreet to Burrill Hall! Relocating our manycabinets full of teaching and researchspecimens was also a big job. EileenHerrstrom, Jackie Wittmer, Ann Long anda small army of undergraduate studentsworked many hours to look through thecollections, pack them up, and reassemblethem in the Davenport Hall classroomsand storage rooms. After everything ofvalue was moved out of NHB, we dealtwith the legacies of long ago. Rememberthat bottle of toxic liquid you left behindin the lab when you graduated, perhapsdecades ago? Well, we found it and dis-posed of it (thanks go to grad studentsGideon Bartov and Ted Grimm for extrahelp).

The extensive design work on “thenew NHB” is now essentially finished. Asmost of you have heard, the renovationproject involves almost a complete guttingof the building’s interior. Accordingly,every room belonging to the departmenthad to be carefully considered and de-

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Year in Review is published once a year by the Depart-ment of Geology, University of Illinois Urbana-Cham-paign, to highlight the activities and accomplishmentswithin our department and feature news from ouralumni and friends.Department Head: Tom Johnson

(tmjohnsn@illinois.edu)Administrative Aide: Marilyn Whalen

(mkt@illinois.edu)Editor: Kate Quealy-Gainer (kqueal1@illinois.edu)www.geology.illinois.edu

signed, to create state-of-the-art facilities tosupport the next decades of learning andresearch. We are extremely grateful for thesuperhuman efforts of Scott Morris, Asso-ciate Director for Operations in SESE, in allaspects of the NHB project. Scott has beenthe glue that has held the project together.His constant attention to detail has al-lowed us to succeed in a very complex andchallenging project.

Your Role in the NHB Project. Nowthat the NHB plans are complete, we areturning our attention to the financial pic-ture. As you know, the 2007 discovery of aone hundred-year-old construction defectin the NHB floors caught us by surprise.Ruth Watkins, our former LAS Dean,worked hard to quickly line up fundingfrom several sources on campus to get the NHB project started a few years ago.One component of the funding picture wasprojected gifts from alumni, friends, andcorporations. Such gifts have been increas-ingly critical to success of all universitiesnationwide, both public and private. In theDepartment of Geology, we are very fortu-nate to have a strong tradition of alumnigiving. With the NHB project, the pro-jected gifts have allowed us to pursueworld class designs for classrooms, labora-tories, offices and other incredible workareas, but we need your help.

Please consider supporting the NHBproject at whatever level you can. We willbe reaching out to alumni and friends likeyou to discuss funding opportunities re-lated to this historical building and thankyou in advance for your interest in learn-ing more. We've devoted the last fewpages of this year's newsletter to share theexcitement of the NHB project and offernaming and pledging opportunities. Wewelcome you to contact us if you have any questions or comments. The newly re-stored and upgraded facility will serve ourcampus into the next century. This is yourchance to support “thy happy children ofthe future” and make your mark on thenew NHB!

Please come visit campus when youcan and let us know when you’re here!

All the best to you and yours,

Tom Johnson

Letter from the Head

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Geology goes global(continued from page 1)

by both American and Bangladeshi stu-dents and examined the interaction ofsedimentation and tectonics across theDelta.

“The exchange of both academic andcultural ideas is essential in this particu-lar project and I think makes us betterscientists overall,” says Best.

Norway and Sweden: Prof. Alison Anders returned

to Norway and Sweden this summer,studying the geomorphic development ofthe Scandinavian Mountains. Anders co-taught the course, “Environment and Society in a Changing Arctic,” last yearthrough a collaboration with Stockholm’sRoyal Institute of Technology (KTH) aspart of the INSPIRE program, the Illinois-Sweden Program for Educational and Re-search Exchange. As a result of herteaching the course, Anders connectedwith several colleagues in Stockholm alsointerested in surface erosion and land-scape evolution and together they ob-tained funding from Stockholm Universityand the Swedish Research Council to lookat passive margin development in theglaciated Scandinavian Mountains.

“Basically, there’s a bit of a contro-versy about when the Scandis actually became a high mountain range. We werelooking at whether or not some of themore flat surfaces formed in the recentgeologic past, and whether they experi-enced tectonic uplift and/or erosion”says Anders, “The work is somewhatsimilar to my work in Western Gatsmountain Range of India, but in a completely different climate.”

The project is still in its beginningstages. Anders worked with Brad Good-fellow, a postdoctoral student the Univer-sity of Stockholm, as well as RachelOien, University of Illinois doctoral stu-dent, who is using the data collected toput together a numerical landscape evo-lution model for the mountains. Theyhope to then apply for an NSF grant tosupport further work. Anders also taught

and having temperature gradients play akey role in how magma compositionsevolve. Their results appear to support the hypothesis and Lundstrom’s studentNorbert Gajos will soon finish his master’sthesis and submit a paper that presentsthe work.

Christmas Island: On a small island in the central Pacific

Ocean, just north of the equator, Prof. Jessica Conroy spent several weeks thispast July retrieving sediment cores fromChristmas Island’s lakes and ponds. Thefestively named island is situated in aunique part of the ocean of that is particu-larly fascinating to paleoclimatologists, asthe area is where the weather patternknown as El Niño begins.

Conroy and her colleagues from theIllinois State Geological Survey and theUniversity of Hawaii will examine thecores of sediment in coming months, look-ing at the variability of calcium carbonatemicrofossils, and analyzing oxygen iso-topes, as well as measuring the salinity ofthe collected samples to get an idea of thearea’s climate before there was a historicalrecord. Her team will also investigatepollen preserved in the sediment to under-stand how vegetation interacted withchanging temperatures.

“The ultimate goal is to get a morecomprehensive understanding and to fillin the gaps of the record of climatechange,” says Conroy.

The project was initially funded by theUniversity of Illinois Campus ResearchBoard, and Conroy hopes to use the col-lected data to obtain an NSF grant for continued work in this exciting location.

the INSPIRE class again while working onthe project, instructing students fromboth U of I and KTH.

“INSPIRE has offered me an opportu-nity to both teach and do research at aninternational and interdisciplinary level,”says Anders, “I have never been part of aclass that was so truly interdisciplinary,and I feel that that atmosphere really contributes to high level work and scholarship.”

Chile:Meanwhile, on the other side of the

world, the Torres del Paine national parkin Patagonia was the site of Prof. CraigLundstrom’s latest research. Workingwith the University of Chile, Lundstromand two Illinois grad students as well asseveral Chilean undergrads spent threeweeks last January hiking out in thePatagonia terrain, collecting rock samplesand studying a granite pluton. The plutonin this region has been spectacularly ex-posed by glaciation—2km vertical cliffs ofgranite with an underlying mafic com-plex—which makes it one of the bestplaces to study how granites are made onearth.

“The work was physically demanding,to say the least. We had to hike in withfood and hiking out carrying hundreds ofpounds of rock,” says Lundstrom, “I lost25 lbs despite eating well!”

The group has since performed vari-ous petrological and geochemical analy-ses on the over 160 samples they broughtback, with the aim of testing Lundstrom’shypothesis that granite plutons form by atop down process of adding small sills

Jessica Conroy’s team retrieving a lake sedimentcore near Christmas Island.

PhD student Melinda Higley measuring water chemistry near Christmas Island

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Donor ProfileDennis Coleman

(Ph.D. ‘76),founder of IsotechLaboratories inChampaign, gener-ously donated fundsto support the devel-opment of a Geo-

chemistry Lab in the newly designedNatural History Building.

“Having seen significant growth inthe isotope geochemistry program in re-cent years, and knowing that the build-ing problems encountered would put asevere drain on financial resources, Iwanted to do what I could to help main-tain that growth curve.”

After completing his Ph.D. at the U.of I. in 1976, Coleman continued towork at the Illinois State Geological Sur-vey in various research and administra-tive capacities. In 1985, he and threecolleagues founded Isotech Laboratories,Inc., a laboratory focused on providingisotope analysis for the oil and gas in-dustries, environmental organizations,and government organizations. The labquickly gained recognition for its highquality work and its development of Iso-Tubes®, which over the years have stan-dardized the collection of gas samples inthe industry. The company was acquiredby Weatherford Labs in 2011. Isotechemploys over fifty people in Champaignand has satellite labs in Egypt, Brazil,Australia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, andCanada.

Kieffer garners awards, publishes book

Recently retired Sue Kieffer, Walgreen Professor Emeritus, published her book,

“Dynamics of Disaster”(W.W. Norton, 2013)last fall to glowing reviews.

The book focuses on the relationship between natural disasters and geological dy-namics and on how such knowledge of thosedynamics can improve the ways in which humans prepare for, cope with, and survivemajor environmental events. Kieffer wrote thebook with the general public in mind, citingthe need for stronger science communicationwith people outside the research community.

“Most of the policy makers and voting citi-zens are not scientists. They are intelligent peo-ple who need information, but we don't makeit easy for them to access or read our researchjournals,” said Kieffer, “A different style of writing is required to reach out to them.At first I found it very difficult to write without using equations and graphs, and toget rid of writing in the passive voice, which is how I was trained to write researchscience. That's the main reason that I started doing my GeologyInMotion.comblog—it helped free up my writing style, and I think made my writing easier to di-gest for nonscientists.”

The book is garnering praise from scientific journals and the mainstream media,with Kirkus calling the book “sharp, timely, slightly terrifying science writing.” Kieffer was also interviewed by Salon, the popular internet news magazine, inwhich she spoke about disaster preparedness, climate change, and popular understanding of natural disasters.

“The attention has been both surprising and gratifying, but I still get anxiouswhen I hear that a new review is in the works. I am grateful for the colleagues andstrangers who have taken time to read and review it,” she said.

Kieffer has also been named the first female recipient of the Penrose Medal ofthe Geological Society of America, which is the highest award offered by the Society and goes to a recipient who has made “outstanding original contributionsor achievements that mark a major advance in the science of geology.” Theaward has been given to one individual every year since 1927. Additionally, she’sbeen elected to the American Philosophical Society, to which only 20 membersare elected per year. The APS was founded by Benjamin Franklin, and membershave included Charles Darwin, Robert Frost, and Margaret Mead, and from UIUC,John Bardeen and Carle Woese.

You can find more about Kieffer and her research at her blog GeologyInMotion.com.

Cover image used with permission of W.W. Norton & Company

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i n M e m o r i u m

Albert Hsui Albert Hsui, Emeritus Professor of

Geophysics passed away in Decem-ber of 2013 in Palo Alto, CA.

Hsui joined the Department in1980 after completing his Ph.D. atCornell University and his post-doc-toral studies MIT. His research focusedon a broad range of geodynamicalsubjects, from the gravitational con-stant to the evolution of subductionarcs, mantle convection and planetaryinteriors. He was particularly inter-ested in teaching and in bringing com-puter simulation and quantitativemethods to the classroom, and it wasIllinois’ supercomputer that initiallyattracted him to campus.

Hsui also developed a new intro-ductory geology course that fulfills theuniversity’s quantitative reasoningcourse requirement. To make thiscourse possible, Hsui had to write anew lab book that gives students theopportunity to use math in the contextof solving geological problems. Hsuiretired from the University of IllinoisDepartment of Geology in 2005 andmoved to Hong Kong before returningto California.

He was also a longtime practi-tioner of Tai-Chi, and taught the mar-tial art through the Division ofCampus Recreation for several years.His office in NHB was notable forbeing hidden directly behind the largeBison at the north entrance to thebuilding.

“Prof. Hsui was a kind and quietlybrilliant person who contributed inimportant ways to the research, teach-ing, and administrative success of thedepartment. Every department shouldhave a Tai-Chi master, calm andthoughtful, among the faculty. We’vemissed him since he retired andmoved on to other endeavors, and wenow share a greater loss with his fam-ily,” said Tom Johnson, Head of theDepartment.

Barbara J. (Schenck)CollinsBarbara J. (Schenck) Collins, an

alumna with a long and distin-guished teaching career, passedaway on April 30, 2013. She was thefirst woman to earn a doctorate de-gree in the study of geology at theUniversity of Illinois.

Collins received a Ph.D. in claymineralogy under Dr. Ralph Grim’smentorship in 1955 and was the firstperson to produce transmission elec-tron micrographs of about 25 differ-ent clay minerals so that theircrystalline structures could be de-tected. Before her Ph.D. studies, allimages of clay minerals lacked anyevidence of crystal structure and ap-peared as opaque clumps. Interest-ingly, her thesis almost never cameto fruition. After becoming engagedto her husband in 1954, she wrote aletter to Dr. Grim, telling him thatshe would not be finishing her Ph.D.as she was planning to assist herhusband, Larry (Lorence) Collins,who was pursuing his own graduatestudies in geology. When she re-turned to campus, Dr. Grim ignoredeven having received her letter andsimply stated that it was time for herto propose a thesis topic and to getstarted on it.

After completing her degree atIllinois, Collins joined her husbandin Germany, where he was stationedas an intelligence officer in the U.S.Air Force. After two years abroad,Collins and her husband returned tothe Illinois campus, where shetaught mineralogy for engineers onesemester. During that time, she tooka course with the Botany Depart-ment and discovered a new passion,which led her to pursue an addi-tional degree in botany. The univer-sity, however, would not give her asecond Ph.D. because she already

had a Ph.D. but instead afforded heran M.S. degree in botany to give hercredit for her coursework.

She went on to teach biology,botany, and microbiology in the Biol-ogy Department of California LutheranUniversity for 50 years before retiringin the spring of 2013. During hertenure there, she was named the recip-ient of the national Sears-RoebuckFoundation Teaching Excellence andCampus Leadership Award in 1991,the Professor of the Year in 1996, andthe recipient of the President's Awardfor Teaching Excellence in 2007.

Collins wrote an autobiographicalbook, You Lead A Mean Trail(Lutheran University Press, 2012),which includes stories of her travelsthrough Europe and climbing Mt.Whitney, her nature conservationwork, and her experiences raising fivechildren while working in academia.She and her husband developed fivewildflower identification websites withmore than 10,000 color images, whichcan be found athttp://www.clunet.edu/wf.

In addition to Larry, Collins is sur-vived by their children Glenn, Greg,Kevin and Rachel. She was precededin death by their daughter Beth. Herwork as a trailblazer in both the fieldsof geology and botany will leave alasting impact.

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Q&A with Jenny Druhan, Assistant Professor Q.Can you give us a bit of your back-ground? What degrees do you hold?A. I hold a Ph.D. in earth sciences fromBerkeley, an M.S. from the UniversityArizona, and my B.S. from the universityof North Carolina.

Q.What are your research interests? A. I am an NSF postdoctoral fellow atStanford University and I spend most ofmy time developing reactive transportmodels and complementary experimentsto consider the relationship between flowthrough porous media, chemical reactiv-ity and stable isotope fractionation. Recently, I have been working with Kate Maher to develop a new kind of reactive transport modeling short course(https://startrtm.stanford.edu) that I’mreally excited about (and hope someUIUC folks will attend!)

Q.What drew you to the Illinois campus?A. I was drawn to join the faculty atUIUC because of the strong, multidiscipli-nary strength in hydrology across cam-pus, coupled with extensive stableisotope facilities. I am really very excitedfor this unique combination and I amlooking forward to getting started!

Q&A with Trish Gregg, Assistant ProfessorQ.Can you give us a bit of your back-ground? What degrees do you hold?A. I grew up nearby in Missouri and re-ceived my B.S. in Geology and Geo-physics from the University of Missouri –Rolla (now Missouri S&T). After complet-ing my bachelor’s degree, I worked as a Project Manager and Associate Engineer for Sprint in Overland Park, KS.I received my Ph.D. in Marine Geo-physics from the Massachusetts Instituteof Technology / Woods Hole Oceano-graphic Institution Joint Program, then

Welcome to the newest members of the Department of Geology

received a National Science FoundationPostdoctoral Fellowship, which I split between the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University andOregon State University.

Q.What are your research interests? A. I am fascinated by planetary volcan-ism, not only the hazards associated withliving on and near active volcanoes, butalso the dynamics of melt generationwithin the crust and mantle, transportingthat melt to form magma reservoirs inthe crust, and the mechanics triggering avolcanic eruption. My research areasspan submarine volcanism at mid-oceanridges, supervolcanic systems such asYellowstone, and planetary volcanism.My research utilizes geodynamic model-ing to synthesize large geological, geo-physical, and geochemical datasets tobetter understand volcanic systems. I am very excited about new projects and fieldwork at Toba supervolcano inIndonesia and Taupo supervolcano inNew Zealand, with collaborators at Ore-gon State University. I also have an up-coming field expedition funded by theNational Science Foundation to investi-gate a 200 km-long seamount chain (the8° 20’N Seamounts) adjacent to the EastPacific Rise. This 30-day field expeditionincludes 15 dives in the DSV Alvin,which we will be using to sample andmap discrete lava flows and morphologi-cal features such as calderas.

Q.What drew you to the Illinois campus?A. I have long been aware of the out-standing scientific research and comput-ing infrastructure at UIUC, as well as itsstrong tradition in Earth Sciences educa-tion. During my visit, I was very im-pressed by the commitment of the facultyand administration to supporting cutting-edge research while providing an exem-plary education at the undergraduate andgraduate level. I look forward to working

with Jay, Xiaodong, and Lijun to furtherdevelop an excellent geophysics and geo-dynamics curriculum and research center.Also, I am very excited to join a depart-ment that is so vibrant and engaged. Ilook forward to being inspired and moti-vated by the exceptional colleagues I willhave at UIUC and in particular the largecohort of junior faculty members.

Q&A with Jaclyn M. Wittmer Malinowski, Assistant ProfessorQ.Can you give us a bit of your back-ground? What degrees do you hold?A. I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and Iwent to Beloit College in Beloit, WI whereI graduated with a B.S. in Geology withHonors. I received my M.S. in Geologyfrom the University of Cincinnati in 2009and I have recently received my Ph.D.from the Department of Geosciences atVirginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA.

Q. What are your research interests? A. I am a stratigraphic paleobiologist,which basically means that I am a sedi-mentologist, stratigrapher, and a paleon-tologist all wrapped up in one person. Myresearch focuses on using fossils to refinesequence stratigraphic interpretations ofsedimentary basins by quantitatively re-constructing environmental changes, suchas relative changes in sea level. I haveworked in carbonate systems such as SanSalvador Island, the Bahamas where Ihave looked at the preservation potentialof different organisms across different en-vironmental conditions. The majority ofmy research has focused on the siliciclas-tic basin of the Po Plain in northeasternItaly where I have employed jointly se-quence stratigraphy and quantitative pale-ontological techniques. Additionally, myresearch interests have taken me to NovaScotia, San Juan Islands, and to the su-perb Ordovician seas of the CincinnatiArch area (Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana).

The department’s infusion of new blood continues this year with several new hires, all of whom bring unique experiences andbackground to uphold the fundamental standards of excellence we set here in the department. The demographic shifts you see in

the department reflect those in the field, and we’re excited about the influx of new ideas and new directions even as we stay true toour core values of research, education, and stewardship.

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Generous alum recognized by campus

Q.What drew you to Illinois campus?A. I was drawn to UIUC because of thestrong commitment to teaching whilebeing an active and productive tier 1

research institution. I love teaching Geologyto all levels and I am so happy to be part ofthe department’s impact on both the re-search and student community. I hope to

provide an engaging and field-based learn-ing environment for both undergraduateand graduate students across many disci-plines in Geology while being at UIUC.

The 50th Anniversary AnnualMeeting of The Clay Minerals

Society was held in early Octoberof 2013 at the University of Illinoisto resounding success, with overtwo hundred scientists from overhalf the US states and nearly 30different countries in attendance.

Professor Steve Altaner was onthe Organizing Committee as theField Trips Chair and led two geol-ogy field trips for the meeting: anall-day trip to Starved Rock andMatthiessen State Parks, and a halfday trip on to the Fithian Illite andMorrow Plots.

“U of I was selected for this im-portant anniversary meeting because itwas the academic and professional homeof Professor Ralph E. Grim, who was aprofessor in the Department of Geologyfrom 1948 to 1967 and a research scientistat the Illinois State Geological Survey for17 years before that,” says Altaner. “He isconsidered one of the founding fathers ofthe science of clay mineralogy and of TheClay Minerals Society. The field trips of-fered a wonderful opportunity to show-case some of the geological structures inIllinois that served as the as foundation ofGrim’s work as well as a chance to visitsome every scenically beautiful places.”

Altaner and a group of CMS membersboarded a bus in the early morning of Oc-tober 6 and set out for the Starved Rockand Matthiessen State Parks, making sev-eral stop along the way to view variousrock and sediment outcroppings. At theLake Bloomington Spillway, the groupviewed glacial tills from the Illinois andWisconsin Episodes of glaciation as well

as examples of paleosol, ancient soilburied under sediment. Once at the statepark, the group hiked several milesthrough rocky terrain, viewing the Ordovi-cian St. Peter Sandstone, an extremelypure quartz sandstone, and taking the op-portunity to look for and collect variousfossils along the Vermillion River. Thegroup also examined the park’s stunningriver gorges, dramatic waterfalls, and im-pressive cliffs, observing specifically theevidence left behind by the Quaternaryfloods of melting glaciers. Throughout thetrip, Altaner and his colleague Shane But-ler (M.S. 2007) provided background onthe legend of Starved Rock, the historicIllinois & Michigan Canal, and the devel-opment of the more recent lock and damalong the Illinois River.

Altaner also led the half-day trip onOctober 10 to more local sites. That tripvisited campus’s well-known Morrowplots, the oldest continually used experi-mental agricultural fields in the USA and

Illinois hosts historic CMS meeting

the second oldest in the world, andthe Fithian illite, which outcropsnext to the Salt Fork of the VermilionRiver. Participants were able to ex-amine and collect samples of theFithian illite—the very same type ofclay mineral in the very same loca-tion where Grim and his colleaguesfirst collected and identified it.

The meeting brought back sev-eral Illinois alumni to campus, in-cluding Eric Daniels (M.S. ’89, Ph.D.’92), Linda Bonnell (Ph.D. ’90), RobLander (Ph.D. ’91), Jay Matthews(M.S. ’88, Ph.D. ’92), and GeorgGrathoff (Ph.D. ’72). Additionally,former Dept. of Geology professor

Jim Kirkpatrick (Ph.D., 1972) and formerDept. of Geology post-doc AndreyKalinichev attended the meeting.Kalinichev received the George W. Brind-ley Lecture Award, which is intended torecognize a clay scientist who will infusethe Society with new ideas, someone whois both a dynamic speaker and involvedin innovative research.

“The University was honored to hostthis exciting event, and the departmentwas proud to be a sponsor. Many thanksgo out to Prof. Emeritus Joe Stucki andProf. Steve Altaner for their organizing ef-forts. The clay mineralogy tradition liveson at Illinois!” says Tom Johnson, Head ofthe Department.

A guide for both field trips, written byAltaner, can be found on the meeting’swebsite at http://www.clays.org/an-nual%20meeting/50th_annual_meet-ing_website/program.html.

Steve Altaner leads part of the Clay Minerals Society’s field trip to theFithian Illite

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Hay receives AlumniAchievement Award

William W. (Bill) Hay (M.S. ’58) wasselected by faculty members to

receive the 2013 Alumni AchievementAward, highlighting his work in sedimen-tary, paleoclimatic, paleoceanographic,and climate studies, among others, and acareer that has stretched the globe. Anenthusiastic educator and world travelingresearcher, Hay epitomizes the Depart-ment of Geology’s core missions of re-search, education, and engagement. Hay was born October 12, 1934, in

Dallas, Texas, but it was a visit to Colorado and time spent with his grand-mother’s collections of rocks and miner-als that first sparked his interest ingeology. He was the youngest member ofhis high school graduating class at just16, and entered Southern Methodist Uni-versity, embarking on a pre-med curricu-lum. Through an exchange program, Haywas able to study in Cold War Germanyfor his junior year. He graduated with hisB.S. in Biology in 1955, and although hehad plans to enter the Geology programat the University of Illinois immediately, a discussion with George White, the department head at the time, led him toaccept a fellowship to the University ofZurich in Switzerland for a year. After

returning to the States, Hay entered theGeology program at U. of I. and gradu-ated with his M.S. in 1958, with a thesison Tertiary ostracods from southwesternFrance. He went on to earn his Ph.D.from Stanford University in 1960, study-ing fossils on the coastal plain of Mexico. After a year of postdoctoral study at the

University of Basel, Switzerland, hebegan his professional career at the Uni-versity of Illinois in Urbana in 1960. Throughout his fifty-plus year career,

he has served stateside as a faculty mem-ber at the U. of I., the University of Miami(where he was Dean of Rosenstiel Schoolof Marine and Atmospheric Science from1976 to 1980), and the University of Colorado, while internationally, he hasworked with at GEOMAR, a marine geo-logical research institute attached toChristian-Albrecht’s-Universitt, Kiel, Germany; the Institute of Earth Sciences,

University of Utrecht, The Netherlands; the Institute for Baltic Sea Research inWarnemünde, Germany; the University of Vienna; and University in Greifswald, Germany. His research has taken him fromthe shores of the Caribbean to the Sorbonnein countryside of France to the Mideast, and pretty much everywhere in between. Hay also served in leadership roles of

major national or international organiza-tions. From 1979 to 1982 he served as Pres-ident of Joint Oceanographic Institutions,Inc., which had been recently formed tomanage the large, complex Deep SeaDrilling Program. Other roles included theOcean Sciences Board of the US NationalResearch Council and the InternationalOceanographic Foundation. He has au-thored or co-authored over 260 scientific papers and in 2012 he published a book, Experimenting on a Small Planet—A Schol-arly Entertainment (Copernicus, 2012)about past and future climate change. “Bill Hay possesses an amazing intellec-

tual energy that shows in his publicationrecord and in the list of leadership positionshe held over his long career,” says TomJohnson, Head of the Department of Geology. “We witnessed this energy last fall,when Bill visited to receive his award anddeliver a lecture in our weekly colloquium.It was a tour de force, and I am still amazedthat he made it through 82 slides in 50 minutes!”

William W. (Bill) Hay, recipient of the 2013 AlumniAchievement Award

It was another outstanding year for the faculty andteaching assistants in the Department of Geology, as

they continue to be recognized for excellence in theirteaching endeavors.

Fifteen Department of Geology instructors werenamed to the University’s List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for the spring and fall 2013 semesters.

The rankings are released every semester and arebased on student evaluations maintained by the Centerfor Teaching Excellence on the Illinois Campus. Facultyand academic professionals appearing on this list in-clude Stephen Altaner, Jim Best, Tom Johnson, Lijun

Liu, Ann Long, Craig Lundstrom, Steve Marshak, Rob Sand-ford, and Michael Stewart.

Graduate students Alexander Bryk, Stephanie Mager,Ryanne Ardisana, Norbert Gajos, Kelsey Kehoe, were namedto the list for their work as teaching assistants in the depart-ment.

Six instructors received the highest ranking of “outstand-ing.” Stephen Altaner and Michael Stewart took top honorsin the spring semester while Brook Eickhoff, Kelsey Kehoe,and Tom Johnson earned this ranking in the fall semester.Stephanie Mager received this ranking for her work in boththe spring and fall semesters.

Faculty and Students Earn Teaching Awards

9

This past May, students and facultytrekked to Scotland, the birthplace of

geology and home to stunning geologicalwonders, as part of the Geology 415/515field course.

Besides allowing students to visit theplace where James Hutton, the foundingfather of geology, first came up with histheories on rock formation, the trip alsocontinued the Department’s own traditionof student field study in Scotland. In the1970s and ‘80s, the late Prof. Dennis Wood ran an annual field course in theHighlands, attracting students from acrossthe country.

“We wanted to go back to Scotland thisyear because we wanted to expose ourstudents to the huge variety of geologicalwonders in the country,” says Prof. SteveMarshak, who, together with Prof.Michael Stewart, Prof. Craig Lundstrom,Adj. Prof. Kurt Burmeister, and Dr. SteveHurst led twenty-five undergraduate andgraduate students for the eight-day inter-disciplinary expedition.

Geology students head tothe Highlands

I n t h e F i e l d

Illini geologists standing on the Moine thrust, near the northern tip of Scotland.

The trip, funded in part by a generousgift from Shell Oil Company, provides anopportunity to apply classroom conceptsto the real world. After a semester of lec-tures on campus, the group flew to Edin-burgh, and then headed to the island ofSkye, an area of northern Scotland knownfor its breathtaking mountainsides androcky slopes. Under the supervision ofProfs. Lundstrom and Stewart, the stu-dents learned about layered mafic intru-sions, about granite formation, and aboutCenozoic rifting.

From there, the group headed north tothe small town of Ullapool in the Scottish

Highlands and looked at structures associ-ated with the formation of the Caledonianorogen, and had the opportunity to studythe mylonites of the Moine Thrust.

The department offers a different ver-sion of the trip, under the masthead ofGeology 415/515 every year. Destinationsin recent years have included Curaçao,Cyprus, Ireland, and Arizona. “Over theyears, our alumni have told us that fieldtrips are foundational to their understand-ing of geology and incredible learning ex-periences that prepared them for futurefieldwork,” says Marshak.

Dr. Tom Phillips, University of Illinois Professor Emeritus ofPlant Biology and Geology, is recognized internationally for

his visionary research into the evolution of land plants and theecology of plant communities from the Devonian through thePennsylvanian Periods. By integrating American and Europeanfossil collections, he established the evolutionary trajectory offerns and their relatives spanning 35 million years. Dr. Phillips’pioneering research also revealed the ecological relationships ofancient plant communities—what actually grew in the swampsof the Carboniferous Period and how plants and insects inter-acted. His numerous published papers in biological and geologi-cal journals have deeply influenced the scholarly community. Dr. Phillips was a Guggenheim Fellow, NAS Exchange Scientist tothe U.S.S.R. and Gilbert H. Cady Awardee (Coal Geology), andwas invited to join the National Academy of Sciences in 1999. Hecultivated a generation of scholars, many of whom now holdleading positions at universities and research institutes.

In recognition of his many contributions, the Department ofPlant Biology and Department of Geology have established thePhillips Lecture in Paleoscience with the inaugural lecture to beheld October 30, 2014 featuring Dr. Andrew H. Knoll, Fisher Professor of Natural History and Professor of Earth and PlanetarySciences at Harvard University, as speaker.

We hope that Geology Alumni touched by Tom’s career willhelp us build an endowment for the Phillips Lecture in Paleo-science. Your generosity will help us honor his contributions to the vitality of plant biology, geology, and interdisciplinary re-search and education at Illinois. Gifts to the Phillips Lecture Fundmay be made online at uif.uillinois.edu/gifts or made payable the University of Illinois Foundation and mailed to University ofIllinois Foundation, 1305 West Green Street, MC-386, Urbana, IL61801. Please indicate that the gift is in support of the PhillipsLecture Fund #338152.

New Lecture Series Honors Tom Phillips

10

by Ralph L. Langenheim

Editor’s Note: “Windows into the Past” is a reg-ular feature of the Year in Review contributedby Professor Emeritus Ralph L. Langenheim.Ralph’s writing represents a long-serving fac-ulty member’s recollections and his perspec-tives of the Department’s past.

An entire book would be necessary to dojustice to Ralph Early Grim’s 60-year

career at Illinois; here I focus on some ofhis international activities. In all, he madeseven trips around the world and becameclosely involved in foreign lands (thoughnot quite as intimately involved as HomerAtkins, the main character of the famous1958 Novel, The Ugly American). He playedan important role in opening up importantmineral resources in various nations aroundthe world; what follows are just a few ofthe highlights.

In 1968, Grim set up, in Viet Nam, aparallel to his highly successful Ivory CoastProgram (see the 2012 Department newslet-ter for a description of his key role develop-ing the mineral resources of that country).Development and Resources (D&R) Corpo-ration had a major AID (Agency for Interna-tional Development) contract to assess thetotal resources of South Vietnam and to setup a program for their post-war develop-ment. Grim was to conduct a research proj-ect that would “assess the total resources ofSouth Vietnam and…set up a program fordevelopment.” Upon arrival in Saigon hefound that the university geology depart-ment consisted of a 30-year-old professorwho had a year of training in Paris, an as-sistant who had no training outside of Viet-nam, a few students, and no equipment.Thankfully the collections had been trans-ported from headquarters in Hanoi toSaigon.

Grim hired a plane to make a swingthough a low mountain area north ofSaigon—the only region likely to have mineral deposits—and found the region un-touched by the war. An overall reconnais-sance of the Central Highlands, followed bya road trip twenty miles north to a potential

bauxite deposit, uncovered no importantmines nor deposits. However, Grim and hiscompanions were impressed with the largenumber of funeral processions they sawalong the highway. It turned out these wereViet Cong heading south for the Tet offen-sive. That night he and everyone else inSaigon suffered a sleepless night. Expectingto leave the following day, after a good din-ner and a stroll to view the decorations forTet, the Vietnamese New Year’s Day, Grimhad packed his bags. Instead he awoke to ablaring announcement of a North Viet-namese attack on the U.S. Embassy, the im-position of a curfew and the closure of theairport as the U.S. and Vietnamese militarycountered the Tet offensive. It proved im-possible to telephone the U.S. so his wife,and the University, were left with no newsother than a message through the State De-partment reporting that Grim was safe. Thesituation lasted for ten days after which AIDinformed him that, if he could get to the air-port in an hour, they would put him on aplane to Bangkok.

His trip home to Urbana took fifty-twohours, during which Grim never had achance to shed his clothes nor sleep in abed. After he arrived in Chicago, to his cha-grin he found there was no room on OzarkAirlines to Champaign. He managed tosneak on to a fully booked train by bribingthe porter to put his bag in the lounge andthen slipping through the exit door. Inciden-tally, Grim reports having done this manytimes. Thus, Grim made it home fromSouth Vietnam.

Grim’s subsequent report pointed outthat metal deposits would be unlikely in the sedimentary rocks underlying SouthVietnam. He wrote that he had observedonly “a very small coal deposit and an evensmaller copper mine,” and stated that “in-dustrial minerals are abundant, bauxitemay be present…petroleum might be pres-ent.” In 1979 Grim pondered: “I wonderwhat happened to my report and all theother reports D&R left behind at the close ofthe war. I hope they have been useful to thepresent regime.” As of 2014 South Vietnamhas little mineral industry and petroleum isindeed being developed offshore.

In 1969, following his escape fromSouth Vietnam, Grim decided that afterone of his periodic trips to the Ivory Coasthe would also visit South Africa, NewZealand and Australia to study clay de-posits and to visit research laboratories. Arriving in Johannesburg, South Africa,the Grims were met by representatives ofG&W Base and Industrial Minerals, a diver-sified company founded by Arnold Weedonand his son Des Weedon, that mines andprocesses industrial minerals includingbentonite, limestone, silica and kaolin.

During what was to become anaround the world trip, Grim visited theGrahamstown kaolin deposit with TonyGreyville of Des Weedon’s staff to helpclean up “water rights and tax matters,”and to examine another kaolin deposit 200miles north of Capetown where he foundkaolin preserved in less than commercialvaluable quantity. A bentonite depositnorth of Durban, in Northern NatelProvince, Grim also designated sub-com-mercial but simultaneously regarded it ashaving much geologic interest because thevolcanic glass (perlite) had, in places, beenaltered to bentonite and in other placestransformed to kaolinite. The question:Was this caused by differences in the per-lite, the altering gas vapor, or the ability ofthe alteration process to remove or leavebehind alkalines or alkaline earth com-pounds?

During the latter part of the trip, Grimexamined clay deposits for the GeorgiaKaolin Company, both in the vicinity ofPerth, Australia and in the Bay of Islandsarea in New Zealand. Grim found the latterarea’s reserves to be scanty and of poor

Ralph Early Grim: A Not so Ugly American

This formal photograph of Ralph Grim is the fron-tispiece of his 689 page, Memoirs of Ralph EarlyGrim, preserved in the University of Illinois Libraryarchives. Unfortunately I found it impossible to findphotographs of Grim at work, but, to be fair, Grimwas a very formal person.

W i n d ow s f r o m t h e p a s t

11

quality so Georgia Kaolin turned down theoperation.

Grim’s international travels continuedinto the 1970’s. In 1971 he visited a kaolindeposit in Brazil north of the mouth of theAmazon River for Georgia Kaolin. The de-posit consisted of beds as much as 20 feetthick covering a large area adjacent to anavigable river, the Jari. However, thekaolin was very fine-grained and thuspoorly suited for some uses. GeorgiaKaolin opted out but the owner has subse-quently developed the deposit. Grim pre-dicted that minerals would be found allover Brazil and also that offshore oilwould be discovered. Today Brazil is in-deed a leading producer of offshore oil;some ambitious Illinois alumni havehelped drive this success!

That same year, 1971, Weedon visitedthe United States and attended a Georgia

conference in regard to the Grahamstowndeposits with Grim. Grim subsequently re-turned Weedon’s visit with a trip to SouthAfrica where he stayed with the Weedonsand observed the politics of apartheid. Healso visited G&W Base Metals in Zululandand the Cape Province and also examineda barite mine at Warmabad, Namibia.

Ralph Early Grim was a superior geologist, and of course, his long career at Illinois left an important legacy. His tenureat the Illinois State Geological Surveybegan in 1931. In 1948 he became a re-search professor of geology at the Univer-sity of Illinois. He served as Head of theClay Section at the ISGS until 1958 and retired from the University of Illinois asProfessor Emeritus in 1967. He receivedan honorary Ph.D. from the University in1984. He died in 1989 in Urbana. WhileGrim is oftentimes referred to as called the

“Father of Clay Mineralogy,” I would callhim the Carolus Linnaeus of clay. Hismemory lives on, partly in the form of theendowed Grim Professorship, which hashelped to enhance scholarship and teach-ing in Mineralogy and Sedimentary Geol-ogy for decades.

At the urging of his wife, Frances E.Grim, Ralph Grim wrote an 889 page, un-published manuscript, Memoirs of RalphEarly Grim. Mrs. Grim rescued the manu-script after his death, had it typed verba-tim, bound and distributed to theDepartment of Geology, the UniversityArchives, and selected associates. Thismemoir, Grim’s papers in the UniversityArchives, Departmental records, and mymemories are the principal sources for thisessay.

bottom of rivers and lakes to a resolutionof several centimeters, allowing re-searchers to determine the nature of ariver or lake bed in incredible detail. Additionally, acoustic Doppler currentprofilers use sound to measure the veloc-ity of the river flow, while a parametricechosounder uses acoustics to penetratethrough sediment to reveal the structureof the layers of mud and sand. All ofthese devices can now be used along witha high resolution GPS system on boardthe RV Wabash.

“We have amassed an incredible suiteof field instrumentation for studying riversand lakes, but floods don’t obey a calendarwhere we can run this equipment fromboats that are either rented or borrowed,”says Jim Best, Jack C. Threet & Richard L.Threet Professor of Sedimentary Geology.“We really needed one of our own.”

Roscoe Jackson (M.S. ’73, Ph.D. ’75),an alum who conducted pioneering workon the Wabash River during his doctoralresearch at Illinois, has been a regular vis-

itor to the department and generously of-fered financial support to provide a boatthat would meet the Department’s re-search needs.

The addition of the boat has allowedseveral projects to move ahead, includingresearch work on the Wabash River, theMississippi River, Yellowstone Lake andthe Chicago Ship Canal.

“Having all this fantastic equipmentand the boat has allowed us to form anadvanced research facility, one that wecan use and that can be used by others”says Best, “We can pursue fieldwork op-portunities that would not have otherwisebeen possible and it allows our thrivinggraduate research group a chance to workwith some really impressive technology.”

Along with all these new opportuni-ties, of course, came the need to bothmanage the new equipment and organizefieldwork. Enter Mike Reed, the newFieldwork Research Specialist for theSchool of Earth, Society and the Environ-ment (SESE), whose duties include the

State of the Art (continued from page 1)

maintenance and upkeep of the equip-ment, preparing the research boat for sci-entific and contracted survey work,captaining the survey vessels, acting asHealth and Safety officer and providingthe technical lead on all survey documen-tation and protocol.

“Mike’s role is essential in our researchand in utilizing all this equipment to thebest of our abilities,” says Best.

Prof. Stephen Marshak, Director ofSESE, sees the Department’s latest acquisi-tion as just the latest effort by Departmentresearchers to make an impact across dis-ciplines and throughout the world.

“The sedimentology and surfaceprocesses group here at the U of I strad-dles geology, geography, civil and me-chanical engineering, and we’vedeveloped a world renowned researchreputation in sedimentary processes,”says Marshak, “The research being donenow with the access to this equipment so-lidifies and enhances that reputation.”

12

Dale C. Anderson (B.S. ’61) died March 12,2014 at his home in Ninilchik Alaska, at the ageof 73. Born in Chicago, Sept. 11, 1940, he grewup in Libertyville, Ill. He graduated from theUniversity of Illinois in 1961, as well as the AirForce ROTC program, receiving a commissionas 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force, ultimatelyreaching the rank of Captain. He served as aconsultant to the Newport News Shipbuilding& Drydock Co., then to the Army at Fort Eustisand Fort Lee. Concurrently he pursued hisdream of becoming a nationally known andrespected expert in Military & Patriotic an-tiques, and spent the next 30 years in the an-tique business with his along with his wifeDebbie.

Jack R. Century (B.S. ’51, M.S. ’52) died April18, 2014, at age 84. He was employed byAmoco as a petroleum geologist, until he be-came an independent petroleum consultant in1973. After his retirement as a petroleum con-sultant in 1995, he continued to be active asan environmental geologist, and in in 2008,Jack was trained as an official presenter of “AnInconvenient Truth” in Montreal by The ClimateProject, Canada, an Al Gore environmental or-ganization.

Lee Clayton (Ph.D., ’65) died on May 7, 2014,at the age of 76. He studied geology as an undergraduate and master’s student at theUniversity of North Dakota. He continued re-searching glacial geology in New Zealand as aFulbright Scholar, eventually completing hisPhD studies at the University of Illinois and be-ginning his career as a glacial geologist at theUniversity of North Dakota. In 1979, he went toMadison, WI, to work as Professor of Geologyat the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, where he worked until his re-tirement in 2007.

Robert W. Coster (B.S. ’56) died on March 19,2014, at the age of 80. He graduated from theUniversity of Illinois in 1955 and attained a lawdegree from John Marshall Law School inChicago, IL in 1962. He practiced law inChicago until his retirement in 1999.

Richard M. Forester (M.S. ’72, Ph.D. ’75) diedon March 27, 2014 at the age of 55. The De-partment was shocked and saddened to learnof his early passing. He was a leader in the useof nonmarine ostracode species as indicatorsof present and past hydrologic conditions.After receiving his master’s degree workingwith Tom Anderson and his Ph.D. with PhilipSandberg, he moved on to the U.S. GeologicalSurvey in Lakewood. Rick worked on paleohy-

drologic and paleoclimatic studies of theAmerican Southwest, led the USGS YuccaMountain Climate Program from 1991 to 2000,and was was elected an AAAS fellow in 2005.A special session will be held in his honor atGSA this year.

John M. Henton, Jr., (B.S. ’48, M.A. ’49) diedon September 16, 2013 at the age of 88. Hegraduated in 1949 with a Master’s degree inPetroleum Geology from the U. of I. Jack’s career which spanned 36 years and positionsfrom staff geologist to recruiter, living with his wife Dorothy in Wyoming, Colorado, Mississippi, Illinois, and Louisiana.

Donald O. Johnson (Ph.D. ‘72) died on July 1,2014 at the age of 72. He earned his Ph.D. incoal geology from the U. of I. and had a longcareer working at Argonne Laboratory andwith land reclamation.

Willard (Bill) C. Lacy (M.S. ’40) died Decem-ber 7, 2013 at the age of 97. He first gainedprominence as Chief Geologist of Cerro dePasco Corporation’s operations in Peru, wherehe participated in the discovery of some of themost famous and productive copper mines inthe world. In 1955, he began an academic ca-reer at the University of Arizona, and, and waseventually the Head of the Department ofMining and Geological Engineering. In 1971,he took a new position as Foundation Profes-sor of Geology at James Cook University inTownsville, Queensland, where he taught mineral economics, economic geology, andgeotechnical engineering. Dr. Lacy retiredfrom full-time teaching in 1981, but continuedan active practice of mineral consulting andlecturing for private clients, governments andeducational institutions throughout the world.

Morris “Brud” W. Leighton (B.S. ’47), ChiefEmeritus of the Illinois Geological Survey, diedon April 11, 2014 at the age 87. He began hiscareer with Standard Oil of New Jersey/Esso inTulsa, Okla., leading into a distinguished 32-year career as a geologist and manager whichtook him around the world with his high-school sweetheart and loving wife (JeanBosley Leighton) and family in tow. Upon retirement from Esso, Brud began a second career serving the Illinois State Geological Survey as its chief for 11 years and remainedactive in with Urbana Rotary, the Illinois StateGeological Survey, University of Illinois Depart-ment of Geology, Association of AmericanState Geologists, Geological Society of Amer-ica and American Association of PetroleumGeologists.

Mary Louise McCommons (B.C. ’47) died onAugust 15, 2013 at the age of 87. She earned adegree in Geology at the U. of I., where she metWilliam E (Bill) McCommons whom she marriedin 1947. Bill and Mary moved to Dallas in 1952with their four sons where he subsequently es-tablished his own oil and gas exploration com-pany. Whenever she should, she helped indrafting drilling prospect maps. Mary was amember of the Dallas Petroleum Club, the Dallas Geological and Geophysical Auxiliaryand the Delta Zeta sorority.

James Bruno Risatti, Jr. (Ph.D. ’78) died onAugust 29, 2013 at the age of 72. He joined theIllinois State Geological Survey as a Geochemistin the Organic Geochemistry Section and spenthis career there studying the presence of PCB’sand PCB degradation in groundwater. He ap-plied his research to various pollution remedia-tion projects including the Hudson RiverDredging Project and was invited to present hisresearch at the Gordon Conference. He retiredfrom the Geological Survey as the Section Headof the Organic Geochemistry Section in 2006.Jim was also an adjunct professor at North-western University and Indiana University.

Richard A. Upton (B.S. ’51) died on July 28,2013 at the age of 84. He graduated with a de-gree in petroleum geology and started his ca-reer with the Carter Oil Co. which later becamepart of Exxon. Eventually his work brought himto New Orleans, and later he joined DeltaDrilling Co. and then Valero Co. in San Antonioas a Senior Vice President. He retired in 1988and moved his wife back to Louisiana to bewith their two sons and their families.

Paul S. Wingard (Ph.D. ’61) died on June 11,2014 at the age of 84. He worked for the U.S.Geological Survey before he taught geology atKansas State University and the University ofAkron, the latter where he was Associate Deanof the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences andProfessor of Geology. He also served severalterms of elected office for the Stow-MunroeFalls School Board, Stow City Council, and OhioState House of Representatives.

William Terry Herbert Wright (Ph.D. ’70) diedon September 6, 2013 at the age of 70. Heearned his BS in Geology from Middlebury College 65. His PhD. in Geology from Univ. ofIllinois led to a position as a professor atSonoma State College.

i n M e m o r i u m

A l umn i N ew s

13

2010sBecca Alberts (B.S. ‘13) is attending grad school atOhio University.

Sam Dwyer (B.S. ‘09, M.S. ‘11) continues as one of ourrecent graduates working at Shell in Houston. Sam vis-ited in fall 2013 as the recruiter for Shell, interviewedseveral of our graduate students, and gave a presenta-tion about careers at the company.

Jessica Palmer (M.S. ‘10) is also working for Shell inHouston, and visited the department to help recruit Illinois students for Shell.

Amanda Raddatz (M.S. ‘10),now at Oxy, reports thatshe is “working on the CO2 sourcing team for enhancedoil recovery. I’m exploring for CO2 instead of oil!”

Zhen Xu (Ph.D. ‘11) is using his geophysical skills in hisjob as Research and Exploration Geophysicist,PetroTechnical Services, at Schlumberger in Houston.He just passed the three year mark with the company.

Katelyn Zatwarnicki (M.S. ‘14) is now working forAqueous Solutions, Inc. in Champaign and is helping toroll out The Geochemist’s Workbench Student Edition.

2000sScott Lepley (B.S. ’02) and Vineeth Madhavan (M.S. ’09) continue to work for BP in Houston, andmade a recruiting visit in fall 2013.

Amanda Peters (B.S. ‘09) recently took a job with Hal-liburton in Houston.

1990sDave Finkelstein (Ph.D. ‘97)now holds an assistantprofessor position at the Hobart and William Smith Colleges in upstate New York, after stints at UMASS, Ten-nessee, Indiana, and Miami. Congrats Dave! As it turnsout, the Geoscience Department at Hobart and WilliamSmith now has a cluster of Illinois alumni, including TaraCurtin, now Associate Professor, and Neil Laird, the De-partment Chair, who earned his Ph.D. in AtmosphericSciences here at Illinois.

1980sRik Lantz (B.S. ‘82) is living in Chicago and working as aProgram Manager for Sullivan International Group. He served on the Scientific and Technical Committee for the Third International Conference on SustainableRemediation, which takes place in Ferraro, Italy In September.

Pius Weibel (M.S. ‘82) retired recently from the ISGS.Pius has been active in local politics recently, serving onthe county board.

1970sJim Cobb (B.S. ’71, Ph.D. ‘81) stepped down in June asthe Kentucky State Geologist, and Director, of KentuckyGeological Survey. Jim visited the department to givethe weekly colloquium “Forty-five Years in Geology:Looking Back at Highlights from Research” on April 3rd,2014. In summer, 2014, he went to work with the ChinaEarthquake Administration in Gansu Province China. He notes that as of last spring, the Directors of the Geo-logical Surveys of Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana were all

Illinois Alumni! Jim is about to receive, as is Don McKay,the Presidential Award from the Eastern Section of AAPG!

Don McKay (M.S. ’75, Ph.D. ’77) retired in May from hisposition as Director of the Illinois State Geological Surveyafter 38 years of service to the ISGS and 6 years as Director.Don is about to receive the Presidential Award from theEastern Section of AAPG in September!

John Steinmetz (B.S. ’69, M.S. ‘75) the third of our troikaof state geologists, is currently Director of the Indiana Geological Survey and State Geologist of Indiana.

Owen White (Ph.D. ’71)got in touch this year. After re-ceiving his doctoral degree, he taught for years at the Uni-versity of Waterloo, then moved to the Ontario GeologicalSurvey. Owen recently made a gift of his Illinois academicregalia, which he purchased for graduation in 1971, andwe will bestow it upon a deserving PhD recipient. Owennotes that in his day Prof. George White was keenly awarethat graduate students from abroad who returned toteach in their home countries had difficulty acquiring regalia to proudly represent Illinois internationally.

1960sLorence Collins (Ph.D. ’59)published a 109-page articlein the electronic journal Myrmekite with the followingtitle: Origin of myrmekite as it relates to K-, Na-, and Ca-metasomatism and the metasomatic origin of some granite masses where myrmekite occurs.http://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/Nr56Metaso.pdf.

Send us your personal and professional updates by e-mailing us at geology@illinois.edu or by regular mail to: Department of Geology University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 156 Computing Applications Building, MC-235 605 E. Springfield Avenue Champaign, IL 61820Please include degree(s) earned and year, along with yourcurrent affiliation.

J.S. Rosenshein (Ph.D. ’67)and J.E. Moore (Ph.D. ’60)prepared a book “History ofHydrogeology in the UnitedStates 2nd Edition.” It tracesthe development of hydroge-ology from 1776 to 2010 andprovides a comprehensiveperspective on the develop-ment of the science, dis-cusses education and

influence of professional societies, and explores ground-water contamination and chemical hydrology. Many Illinoisgraduates helped in the preparation of the book, includingGeorge White (professor of Geology), George B. Maxey(professor of Geology), Williams Back (B.S. ’48), JohnBredehoeft (Ph.D. ’62), and Jack Sharp (Ph.D. ’74). Copies of the book can be purchased from the NationalGroundwater Association for $50, members $40.

FacultyStephen Altaner (Associate Professor)Alison Anders (Assistant Professor)Jay Bass (Ralph E. Grim Professor)Jim Best (Threet Professor)Jessica Conroy (Assistant Professor)Bruce Fouke (Professor)Patricia Gregg (Assistant Professor)Feng Sheng Hu (Ralph E. Grim Professor

and Head, Dept. Plant Biology)Tom Johnson (Professor and Head Dept.

of Geology)Lijun Liu (Assistant Professor)Craig Lundstrom (Professor)Steve Marshak (Professor & Director of

the School of Earth, Society &Environment)

Gary Parker (Johnson Professor)Xiaodong Song (Professor)Wendy Yang (Assistant Professor)

Affiliate FacultyStanley Ambrose (Professor,

Anthropology)Kenneth T. Christensen (Kritzer Faculty

Scholar & Associate Professor,Mechanical

Science and Engineering)Marcelo Garcia (Seiss Professor, Civil and

Environmental Engineering)Scott Olsen (Associate Professor, Civil

and Environmental Engineering) Surangi Punyasena (Assistant Professor,

Plant Biology)Bruce Rhoads (Head Department of

Geography)

Research and Teaching StaffWilliam Guenther (Research Assistant

Professor)Eileen Herrstrom (Teaching Specialist)Stephen Hurst (Research Programmer)Ann Long (Teaching Specialist)Jacalyn Wittmer Malinsowski (Lecturer)J. Cory Pettijohn (Research Assistant

Professor)Rob Sanford (Research Associate

Professor)Michael Stewart (Clinical Assistant

Professor)Jonathan Tomkin (Research Associate

Professor & Associate Director,School of Earth, Society, andEnvironment)

Adjunct FacultyErcan AlpKurtis Burmeister Brandon Curry Robert Finley Leon Follmer Dennis Kolata Hannes Leetaru Thomas PhillipsGeorge S. Roadcap William Shilts Wolfgang SturhahnScott M. Wikerson

14

Annual Report for 2013-2014

U.S. AIR FORCE Xiaodong Song—Joint Inversion of Crustal and

Uppermost Mantle Structure in Western ChinaXiaodong Song—Surface Wave Attenuation in

Tibetan Plateu from Ambient Noise

ARGONNE NATIONAL LABSJay Bass— High-Resolution Inelastic X-ray

Scattering at High P&T: A New Capability forthe COMPRES Community

Robert Sanford—Assessment of Anaerobic MetalReducing Anaeromyxobacter Populations inDOE Relevant Radionuclide Imacted Scenarios

ENVIROMIN, INCTom Johnson—Selenium Stable Isotope Analysis

for Enviromin

EXXON-MOBILJim Best—The Sedimentology of Tidally-

Influenced Fluvial Bars in High-energy RiverSystems: the Modern Columbia River

Jim Best—Sedimentology of Fluvial-Tidal Meander Deposits

William Guenthner—Raman Spectroscopy Dating in Detrital Zircons and Correlations withZircon (U-Th)/He Dates

GEL LABORATORIES, LLCTom Johnson—Measurement of Chromium

Stable Isotope Ratios

ISOTECH LABORATORIES, INCTom Johnson—Strontium (Sr) Isotope Analyses

Using Multiple-Collector Inductively CoupledPlasma Spectrometry (M-ICP-MS)

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITYRobert Sanford -Growth of Chlororespiring

Bacteria to High Cell Densities for Use inBioaugmentation

NASATom Johnson—Tracking Earth’s Early Oxygena-

tion Using Chromium Isotopes

NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTERSue Kieffer—An Experimental Investigation Of

Conditions Conducive To Groove And RidgeFormation At Double Layer Ejecta Craters OnMars

NATIONAL ENERGY TECHNOLOGY LABORA-TORY

Bruce Fouke—Recovery Act: Understanding theImpact of CO2 Injection on the Subsurface Microbial Community in an Illinois Basin CCSReservoir: Integrated Student Training in Geoscience and Geomicrobiology

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Alison Anders—Co-evolution of Orographic

Precipitation Patterns and Topography in theWestern Ghats, India

Jay Bass—Consortium for Materials Properties Research in Earth Sciences (COMPRES): NationalFacilities and Infrastructure Development forHigh-Pressure Geosciences Research

Jay Bass—Community Facilities and Infrastructurefor High-Pressure Mineral Physics and Geosciences: COMPRES II

Jay Bass—Collaborative Research: High PressureCalibration at High Temperatures

Jay Bass—Sound Velocities and Elasticity of Deep-Earth Materials at High Pressures andTemperatures

Jim Best—Collaborative Research: Modificationsof Turbulent Boundary Layer Structure by Wallpermeability and Surface Subsurface Interac-tions: An Innovative Experimental Approach

Jim Best—Collaborative Research: Role of Interfa-cial Turbulence in Hyproheic Exchange and FineParticle Dynamics

Jim Best, Marcelo Garcia, and Bruce Rhoads -Morphodynamics of Complex Meander Bendson Large Rivers

Lijun Liu -Deciphering the Origin of Intra-PlateVolcanism in the Pacific Northwest Using Geodynamic Models with Data Assimilation

Craig Lundstrom -Collaborative Proposal: Inte-grated Investigations of Isotopic Fractionationin Magmatic Systems

Craig Lundstrom—Collaborative Research: Investigating MORB differentiation throughnon-traditional stable isotope analyses

Steve Marshak—Collaborative Research: Structure and Dynamics of the North AmericanCraton - An Earthscope Swath from the Ozarksto the Grenville Front

Xiaodong Song—Theoretical and ObservationalStudies of Surface Wave Attenuation From Ambient Noise

SHELL INTERNATIONALGary Parker—Numerical and Experimental Mod-

eling of Tidal Morphodynamics Stratigraphy

TOTAL E&P RECHERCHE DEVELOPPEMENTBruce Fouke—Depositional Diagenetic and Mi-

crobial Controls on the Three-Dimensional Dis-tribution of Porosity and Permeability WithinTravertine Reservoir Analogs

Research Grants Active in 2013

TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTUR-ING NORTH AMERICA INC

Jay Bass—Photon Dispersion Characterization byBrillouin Light Scattering

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGYJay Bass—Aqueous Geochemistry at High Pressures

and TemperatureTom Johson—Microbial Oxidation of Hg(0): Its Effect

on Hg Stable Isotope Fractionation andMethylmercury Production

Tom Johnson—Exploratory Research Mercury Stable Isotopes as Indictors of the BiogeochemicalCycling of Mercury

Craig Lundstrom and Tom Johnson— Develop-ment Of U Isotope Fractionation As An Indicator OfU(VI) Reduction In Uranium Plumes

Robert Sanford—MURMoT: Design and Applicationof Microbial Uranium Reduction Monitoring Tools

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Jim Best—Surficial Geology of the Wabash Island

Quadrangle Gallatin County IL Posey County INand Union County KY

UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON

Jim Best—Morphodynamics and Sedimentology ofthe Tidally-Influenced Fluvial Zone TIFZ

UNIVERSITY OF HULLJim Best—Climatic and Autogenic Controls on the

Morphodynamics of Mega-Rivers Modeling Sedi-ment Flux in the Alluvial Transfer Zone

Jim Best—PES System Surveys of the Columbia RiverJim Best—Quantification and Modeling of Bedform

Dynamics in Unsteady Flows

UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEERobert Sanford—Towards Predictive Understanding

of Nitrogen Flux in Soils

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGYTom Johnson—Microbial Oxidation of Hg(0): Its Ef-

fect on Hg Stable Isotope Fractionation andMethylmercury Production

UTRECHT UNIVERSITYTom Johnson—Selenium Stable Isotope Analyses

Using Mass Spectrometer Facility

Stay ConnectedTo help us assure that you receive future issues of our newsletter and other communications fromour department, Geology alumni are encouraged to update their contact information with theUniversity of Illinois Alumni Association via email to alumni@illinois.edu or if you prefer to call, 217-333-1471, 800-355-2586. You can also update your information directly by going towww.uialumninetwork.org and clicking on the blue alumni sign-in here button. This is especiallyimportant as we look to communicate more electronically in the future.

15

Fall 2013 September 6Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, NationalCenter for Supercomputing Applications“Cyberinfrastructure for the Geo-sciences: Stakeholder Alignmentfor EarthCube”

September 13Suzan van der Lee, NorthwesternUniversity “Upper Mantle Structure East ofthe Rocky Mountains from USArraySeismic Data”

September 27Xiaodong Song, Univ. of Illinois,Dept. of Geology “One’s Noise is Another’s Signal:Imaging of the Earth’s Interior withSeismic Ambient Noise.”

October 4“Are We Headed Toward a Returnto Cretaceous Climate?”The Glenn and Susan Buckley Lecture in Environmental GeologyBill Hay (M.S., 1958, Illinois) University of ColoradoDepartment of Geology AlumniAchievement Award Recipient

October 11Gianluca Blois, Univ. of Illinois,Dept. of Geology“Investigating Geophysical FlowsCoupling Physical Modeling andCutting-edge Flow MeasurementTechniques: Current and FutureChallenges.”

October 18David Mohrig, Univ. of Texas,Austin“Building Landscapes: ComparingTransport by Channels on theCoastal Plain, in the Deep Ocean,and on Other Planets”

October 25The Richard L. Hay LecturePeter Michael, Univ. of Tulsa“Cycling of H2O and Chlorine inthe Earth”

November 1 Margarete Jadamec, Brown University “Three-dimensional Mantle Flowand its Role in the Transport ofGeochemical Signatures in Subduction Zones”

November 8Wendy Yang, Univ. of Illinois, PlantBiology and Geology “Iron as a Driver of Redox SensitiveBiogeochemical Cycling in Terres-trial Ecosystems”

November 15Paul Potter, Univ. of CincinnatiRachel Walker, Countrymark EnergyResources“Precambrian Paleotopography inthe Eastern Midwest and Ontario—Possible Analogs for Canada, Brazil,and Africa”

December 6John Isbell, Univ. of Wisconsin atMilwaukee“The Glaciation of Pangea duringthe late Paleozoic Ice Age”

Spring 2014January 23Eva De Boever, KU Leuven “Travertines Ain’t No Cheddar -What’s the Story Behind the Holes?”

January 30Sara Mitchell, College of the HolyCross “Glacial Cirques and the Link Be-tween Climate and MountainRange Height”

February 6The R. James Kirkpatrick Lecture Jonathan Lees, Univ. of North Car-olina, Chapel Hill “Boom-chugga-lugga in Russia andGuatemala: Kitchen Seismology ofExploding Volcanoes”

February 13Pamela Burnley, Univ. of Nevada,Las Vegas “The Pattern of Stress Distributionin Rocks and its Impact on Folia-tion, Fracture and Flow”

February 27The Glenn and Susan Buckley LectureMax Berkelhammer, Univ. of Illinois Chicago “Quantifying Terrestrial Gross Primary Production Using CarbonylSulfide Fluxes”

March 5The National Ground Water Association Darcy LectureDorte Wildenschild, Oregon StateUniversity “Optimizing Capillary Trapping as aCarbon Dioxide Mitigation Strat-egy: Pore-Scale Findings in Supportof Larger-Scale Implementation”

March 6The GSA Hydrogeology Division Birdsall-Dreiss Lecture Larry Band,Univ. of North Caroline, Chapel Hill“Critical Zone Processes at the Wa-tershed Scale: Hydroclimate andGroundwater Flowpath MediatedEvolution of Forest Canopy Patterns”

Colloquium Speakers for Fall 2013 and Spring 2014

March 13Ahmed Elbanna, Univ. of Illinois,Civil Engineering “A Physics Based Model for FaultGouge: Comminution, ThermalSoftening, and Strain Localization”

March 20The Richard L. Hay LectureBrandon Schmandt, Univ. of NewMexico “Seismic Structure of the WesternU.S. Mantle and the Origin of theYellowstone Hotspot”

April 3Jim Cobb, Director, Kentucky Geological Survey “Forty-five Years in Geology: Looking Back at Highlights fromResearch”

April 10Drew Phillips, Illinois State Geological Survey “The Meadow Bank Lineament ofthe Wabash Valley: Neotectonismor a Unique Example of TorrentialErosion?”

April 17Craig Grimes, Ohio University “Plagiogranites, Zircons, and Isotopes: What Conditions Are JustRight for Creating Felsic Melts fromMafic Oceanic Crust?”

April 24Ralph E. Grim LectureJustin Dodd, Northern Illinois University “Rapid Monsoon Onset During theMiddle-Pleistocene in the South-western US: Evidence from DiatomOxygen Isotope Values”

May 1Kate Huntington, University ofWashington“Insights Into Plateau Uplift and Pa-leoclimate From Clumped Isotopes”

Degrees Conferred in 2013-14

Bachelor of Science DegreesAugust 2013Cory HunterEmily RossRyan Sisson

December 2013Michael GlynnPatrick HuPhoebe MillerChristopher Ricely

Master of Science DegreesAugust 2013Stefanie Domrois, “The Midcontinent

exposed: Precambrian basementtopography, and fault-and-fold zones,within the cratonic platform of theUnited States”

Johanna Gemperline, “Controls on theextent of the Laurentide Ice Sheet inSouthern Illinois”

Mary Seid, “Tectonics of the Wolf CreekFault Zone, southern Illinois: Aconsequence of Late Paleozoictranspression and transtension at thesoutheastern end of the Ste.Genevieve Fault System”

May 2014Ryanne Ardisana, “Chromatophore

tissue density and skeletal densitybanding as a measure of the adaptiveresponse of healthy corals toenvironmental change”

Norbert Gajos, “Spatially controlled Feisotope variations at Torres Del Paine”

Armando Hermosillo, “Investigatingflat-slab subduction underneath SouthAmerica using 4D numericalsimulations”

Conor Neal, “Suspended sedimentsupply dominated by channelprocesses in a low-gradientagricultural watershed, Wildcat Slough,Fisher, IL USA”

Katelyn Zatwarnicki, “Modelingeffective isotopic fractionation ingroundwater aquifers withheterogeneous reaction rates”

Doctor of Philosophy DegreesDecember 2013Xiangli Wang, “Chromium and uranium

isotopic exchange kinetics and isotopefractionation during oxidation oftetravalent uranium by dissolvedoxygen”

May 2014Robert GeringerEvan GraggVlad IordacheMi Yen KimSamantha NewmanWilliam RenwickMaxwell Schaper

16

Abraham, J.P., Baringer, M., Bindoff, N.,Boyer, T., Cheng, L.J., Church, J.A.,Conroy, J.L, Domingues, C.M., Fasullo,J.T., Gilson, J., Goni, G., Good, S., Gor-man, J.M., Gouretski, V., Isjii, M., John-son, G.C., Kizu, S., Lyman, J.M.,MacDonald A., W.J. Minkowycz, Mof-fitt, S.E., Palmer, M., Piola, A., Re-seghetti, F., Trenberth, K.E.,Velicogna, I., Wijffels, S.E., Willis, J. Areview of global ocean heat contentobservations: Implications for cli-mate change. Review of Geophysics.DOI: 10.1002/rog.20022.

Altaner S., Demosthenous C., PozzuoliA., Rolandi G. Alteration history ofMount Epomeo Green Tuff and a re-lated Polymictic Breccia, Ischia Island,Italy: Evidence for debris avalanche.Volcanology, 75, 718-730. doi10.1007/s00445-013-0718-1.

Asahi, K., Shimizu, Y., Nelson, J., Parker,G. Numerical simulation of river me-andering with self-evolving banks.Journal of Geophysical Research: EarthSurface, 118.4, 2208-2229.

Bao, X., Song, X., Xu, M., Wang, L., Sun,X., Mi, N., Yu, D., Li, H. Crust andupper mantle structure of the NorthChina Craton and the NE TibetanPlateau and its tectonic implications.Earth and Planetary Science Letters,369-370, 129-137.

Bartov, G., Deonarine, A., Johnson,T.M., Ruhl, L., Vengosh, A., Hsu-Kim,H. Environmental impacts of the Ten-nessee Valley Authority Kingstoncoal ash spill. 1. Source apportion-ment using mercury stable isotopes.Environmental Science and Technol-ogy, 47.4, 2092-2099.

Bindeman, I.N., Lundstrom, C.C., Bopp,C., Huang, F. Stable isotope fractiona-tion by thermal diffusion throughpartially molten wet and dry silicaterocks. Earth and Planetary Science Let-ters, 365.1, 51-62.

Bower, N.W., Hendin, D.B., Lundstrom,C.C., Epstein, M.S., Keller, A.T., Wag-ner, A.R., White, Z.R. “Biblical” bronzecoins: New insights into their timingand attribution using copper andlead isotopes. Archaeological and An-thropological Sciences, 5.4, 287-298.

Carolin, S., Cobb, K.M., Adkins, J.F.,Clark, B. Conroy, J.L., Lejau, S.,Malang, J. and Tuen, A.A. Varied re-sponse of western tropical Pacific hy-drology to abrupt climate changes.Science. 340.6140, 1564-1566.

Conroy, J.L., Overpeck, J.T., Cole, J.E.,Liu, K.-B., Wang, L., and Ducea, M.N.Dust and temperature influences on

glaciofluvial sediment deposition insouthwestern Tibet during the lastmillennium. Global and PlanetaryChange. DOI: 10.1016/ j.glo-placha.2013.04.009.

Conroy, J.L., Cobb, K.M., and D. Noone.Precipitation isotope variabilityacross the tropical Pacific in theSWING2 model simulations. Journalof Geophysical Research-Atmospheres.DOI: 10.1002/jgrd.50412.

Dai, H.-H., Fernandez, R.L., Parker, G.,Garcia, M.H., Kim, W. Modelingdeltaic progradation constrained bya moving sediment source. Journal ofHydraulic Research, 51.3, 284-292.

Deonarine, A., Bartov, G., Johnson,T.M., Ruhl, L., Vengosh, A., Hsu-Kim,H. Environmental impacts of the Ten-nessee Valley Authority Kingstoncoal ash spill. 2. effect of coal ash onmethylmercury in historically con-taminated river sediments. Environ-mental Science and Technology. 47.4,2100-2108.

Dong, Y., C. G. Kumar, N. Chia, P. Kim, P.A. Miller, N. D. Price, I. K. O. Cann, T. M.Flynn, R. A. Sanford, I. G. Krapac, R. A.Locke II, P-Y. Hong, H. Tamaki, W-T.Liu, R. I. Mackie, A. G. Hernandez, C. L.Wright, M. A. Mikel, J. L. Walker, M.Sivaguru, G. Fried, A. C. Yannarell,and B. W. Fouke. Halomonas sulfi-daeris-dominated microbial commu-nity inhabits a 1.8 km-deepsubsurface Cambrian Sandstonereservoir. Environmental Microbiol-ogy. DOI:10.1111/1462-2920.12325.

Ellwood, B.B., Lambert, L.L., Tomkin,J.H., Bell, G.L., Nestell, G.P., Wardlaw,B.R. Magnetostratigraphy suscepti-bility for the guadalupian seriesGSSPs (Middle permian) inGuadalupe Mountains National Parkand adjacent areas in West Texas.Geological Society Special Publication,373.1, 375-394.

Ellwood, B.B., Brett, C.E., Tomkin, J.H.,Macdonald, W.D. Visual identificationand quantification of Milankovitchclimate cycles in outcrop: An exam-ple from the Upper Ordovician KopeFormation, Northern Kentucky. Geo-logical Society Special Publication.373.1, 341-353.

Ellwood, B.B., Wang, W.-H., Tomkin,J.H., El Hassani, A., Wright, A.M. Test-ing high resolution magnetic suscep-tibility and gamma radiationmethods in the Cenomanian-Turon-ian (Upper Cretaceous) GSSP andnear-by coeval section. Palaeogeog-raphy, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecol-ogy. 378.15, 75-90.

Eyong, J.T., Wignall, P., Fantong, W.Y.,Best, J., Hell, J.V. Paragenetic se-quences of carbonate and sulphideminerals of the Mamfe Basin(Cameroon): Indicators of palaeo-fluids, palaeo-oxygen levels and di-agenetic zones. Journal of AfricanEarth Sciences, 86, 25-44.

Ferrini, Vicki L.; Shillington, Donna J.;Gillis, Kathryn; MacLeod, Christo-pher J.; Teagle, Damon A.H.; Morris,Antony; Cazenave, Pierre W.; Hurst,Stephen; Tominaga, M., Evidence ofmass failure in the Hess Deep Riftfrom multi-resolutional bathymetrydata. Marine Geology, 339, 13-21.

Flynn, T. M., R. A. Sanford, H. Ryu, C.Bethke, A. D. Levine, N. J. Ashbolt, &J. W. Santo Domingo. 2013. Func-tional microbial diversity explainsgroundwater chemistry in a pristineaquifer. BMC Microbiology, 13.1,146. DOI:10.1186/1471-2180-13-146.

Guenthner, W.R., Reiners, P.W.,Ketcham, R.A., Nasdala, L., Giester,G. Helium diffusion in natural zir-con: radiation damage, anisotropy,and the interpretation of zircon (U-TH)/He thermochronology. Ameri-can Journal of Science, 313.3,145-198.

Gutierrez, R.R., Abad, J.D., Parsons,D.R., Best, J.L. Discrimination of bedform scales using robust spline fil-ters and wavelet transforms: Meth-ods and application to syntheticsignals and bed forms of the Ro Paran, Argentina. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface,118.3, 1400-1419.

Huang, H.-H., Xu, Z.J., Wu, Y.-M., Song,X., Huang, B.-S., Nguyen, L.M. Firstlocal seismic tomography for RedRiver shear zone, northern Vietnam:Stepwise inversion employingcrustal P and Pn waves. Tectono-physics. 584.22, 230-239.

Hassan, M.A., Voepel, H., Schumer, R.,Parker, G., Fraccarollo, L. Displace-ment characteristics of coarse flu-vial bed sediment. Journal ofGeophysical Research: Earth Surface,118.1, 155-165.

Ketcham, R.A., Guenthner, W.R., Rein-ers, P.W. Geometric analysis of radi-ation damage connectivity inzircon, and its implications for he-lium diffusion. American Mineralo-gist, 98.2-3, 350-360.

Kenney, M.A., Hobbs, B.F., Mohrig, D.,Huang, H., Nittrouer, J.A., Kim, W.,Parker, G. Cost analysis of water and

sediment diversions to optimizeland building in the MississippiRiver delta. Water Resources Re-search, 49.6, 3388-3405.

Kirk, M. F., E. F. U. Santillan, R. A. San-ford, & S. J. Altman. CO2-inducedshift in microbial activity affects car-bon trapping and water quality inanoxic bioreactors. Geochimica EtCosmochimica Acta, 122, 198–208.DOI:10.1016/j.gca.2013.08.018.

Konsoer, K., Zinger, J., Parker, G. Bank-full hydraulic geometry of subma-rine channels created by turbiditycurrents: Relations between bank-full channel characteristics andformative flow discharge. Journal ofGeophysical Research: Earth Surface,118.1, 216-228.

Lee, B., Han, Y., Huh, Y., Lundstrom, C.,Slame, L.L., Lee, J.I., Park, B.-K. Chem-ical and physical weathering insouth Patagonian rivers: A com-bined Sr-U-Be isotope approach.Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta,101.15, 173-190.

Lunt, I.A., Sambrook Smith, G.H., Best,J.L., Ashworth, P.J., Lane, S.N., Simp-son, C.J. Deposits of the sandybraided South Saskatchewan river:Implications for the use of modernanalogs in reconstructing channeldimensions in reservoir characteri-zation. AAPG Bulletin. 97.4, 553-576.

Mead, C., Lyons, J.R., Johnson, T.M.,Anbar, A.D. Unique Hg stable iso-tope signatures of compact fluores-cent lamp-sourced Hg.Environmental Science and Technol-ogy, 47.6, 2542-2547.

Mitchell, K., Couture, R.-M., Johnson,T.M., Mason, P.R.D., Van Cappellen, P.Selenium sorption and isotope frac-tionation: Iron(III) oxides versusiron(II) sulfides. Chemical Geology,342.9, 21-28.

Omidyeganeh, M., Piomelli, U., Chris-tensen, K.T., Best, J.L. Large eddysimulation of interacting barchandunes in a steady, unidirectionalflow. Journal of Geophysical Re-search: Earth Surface, 118.4, 2089-2104.

O’Neill, F.G., Simmons, S.M., Parsons,D.R., Best, J.L., Copland, P.J., Arm-strong, F., Breen, M., Summerbell, K.Monitoring the generation and evo-lution of the sediment plume be-hind towed fishing gears using amultibeam echosounder. ICES Jour-nal of Marine Science, 70.4, 892-903.

Parsons, D.R., Best, J. Bedforms: Viewsand new perspectives from the

Annual Report for 2013-2014

Publications

17

Welch, A., J. Chee-Sanford, L. Connor, F.Löffler, and R. Sanford. 2014. RefinedNrfA phylogeny improves PCR-basednrfA gene detection. Applied and Envi-ronmental Microbiology.DOI:10.1128/AEM.03443-13.

Wei, T., Peakall, J., Parsons, D.R., Chen, Z.,Zhao, B., Best, J. Three-dimensionalgravity-current flow within a subaque-ous bend: Spatial evolution and forcebalance variations. Sedimentology, 60.7,1668-1680.

Wilkerson, G.V., Parker, G. Physical basisfor quasi-universal relationships de-scribing bankfull hydraulic geometry ofsand-bed rivers. Journal of Hydraulic En-gineering, 139.1, 109.

Xu, Z.J., Song, X., Zheng, S. Shear velocitystructure of crust and uppermost man-tle in China from surface wave tomog-raphy using ambient noise andearthquake data.

Earthquake Science. 2013, 1-15.

Xu, Z.J., Song, X., Zhu, L. Crustal and up-permost mantle S velocity structureunder Hi-CLIMB seismic array in centralTibetan Plateau from joint inversion ofsurface wave dispersion and receiverfunction data. Tectonophysics, 584.22,209-220.

Viparelli, E., Wesley Lauer, J., Belmont, P.,Parker, G. A numerical model to de-velop long-term sediment budgetsusing isotopic sediment fingerprints.Computers and Geosciences, 53, 114-122.

Yeh, T.-H., Cantero, M., Cantelli, A., Pirmez,C., Parker, G. Turbidity current with aroof: Success and failure of RANS mod-eling for turbidity currents understrongly stratified conditions. Journal ofGeophysical Research: Earth Surface,118.3, 1975-1998.

Yeh, T.-H., Parker, G. Software for evaluat-ing sediment-induced stratification inopen-channel flows. Computers andGeosciences, 53, 94-104.

Yoon, S., Sanford, R., & Loffler, F. She-wanella spp. Use acetate as an electrondonor for denitrification but not ferriciron or fumarate reduction. Applied andEnvironmental Microbiology, 79.8, 2818–2822.

Zinger, J.A., Rhoads, B.L., Best, J.L., John-son, K.K. Flow structure and channelmorphodynamics of meander bendchute cutoffs: A case study of theWabash River, USA. Journal of Geophysi-cal Research: Earth Surface, 118.4, 2468-2487.

third international workshop on Ma-rine and River Dune Dynamics(MARID3). Earth Surface Processes andLandforms, 38.3, 319-329.

Parsons, D.R., Jackson, P.R., Czuba, J.A.,Engel, F.L, Rhoads, B.L., Oberg, K.A.,Best, J.L., Mueller, D.D., Johnson, K.K.,Riley, J.D. Velocity Mapping Toolbox(VMT): A processing and visualizationsuite for moving-vessel ADCP meas-urements. Earth Surface Processes andLandforms, 38.11, 1244-1260.

Parker, N.O., Sambrook Smith, G.H.,Ashworth, P.J., Best, J.L., Lane, S.N.,Lunt, I.A., Simpson, C.J., Thomas, R.E.Quantification of the relation be-tween surface morphodynamics andsubsurface sedimentological productin sandy braided rivers.

Sedimentology, 60.3, 820-839.

Sambrook Smith, G.H., Best, J.L., Orfeo,O., Vardy, M.E., Zinger, J.A. Decimeter-scale in situ mapping of moderncross-bedded dune deposits usingparametric echo sounding: A newmethod for linking river processesand their deposits. Geophysical Re-search Letters, 40.15, 3883-3887.

Schilling, K., Johnson, T.M., Wilcke, W.Isotope fractionation of selenium bybiomethylation in microcosm incuba-tions of soil. Chemical Geology, 352,101-107.

Solari, L., Parker, G. Morphodynamicmodeling of the basal boundary ofice cover on brackish lakes. Journal ofGeophysical Research: Earth Surface,118.3, 1432-1442.

Takacs-Vesbach, C., Inskeep, W.P., Jay,Z.J., Herrgard, M.L., Rusch, D.B., Tringe,S.G., Kozubal, M.A., Hamamura, N.,Macur, R.E., Fouke, B.W., Reysenbach,A.L., McDermott, T.R., Jennings, R.M.,Hengartner, N.W., Xie, G.Metagenome sequence analysis of fil-amentous microbial communities ob-tained from geochemically distinctgeothermal channels reveals special-ization of three aquificales lineages.Frontiers in Microbiology, 4, 84.

Tian, K., Huang, C.-H., Wang, G.-Q., Fu,X.-D., Parker, G. Quantification ofchemical transport processes fromthe soil to surface runoff. Journal ofEnvironmental Quality, 42.1, 83-93.

Xie, X., Johnson, T.M., Wang, Y., Lund-strom, C., Ellis, A., Wang, X., Duan, M.Mobilization of arsenic in aquifersfrom the Datong Basin, China: Evi-dence from geochemical and ironisotopic data. Chemosphere, 90.6,1878-1884.

The 2014 Annual Research Reviewwas held at the Illini Union onFebruary 21st, highlighting research posters from all three depart-ments in the School of Earth, Society and the Environment. Thissymposium provides students, faculty, and staff with an opportu-nity to showcase new research ideas in a casual and open environ-ment. The Department of Geology awarded Abigail Asangba firstplace for her poster, “Reconstruction of Ancient Microbial Biodiver-sity and Metabolism from Fossil Travertine.” Derek Lichtner’s poster“Flow Beneath River Bedforms in Coarse Sediments” earned secondplace, while Norbert Gajos took third place with his poster, “SpatiallyControlled Fe Isotope Variations at Torres del Paine.”

Jay Bass has accepted an invitation to be an Editor of Geochemistry,Geophysics, Geosystems (G-Cubed), the flagship interdisciplinaryjournal of the American Geophysical Union.

Jessica Conroy was awarded the Arnold O. Beckman ResearchAward from the UIUC Campus Research Board for her proposal, ‘De-velopment of a new, high-resolution paleoclimate record from Kir-itimati lake sediments. She was also selected from a competitivepool of young climate change scholars to attend DISCCRS VIII, anNSF-funded workshop aimed at fostering interdisciplinary climatechange scholarship. Finally, she also gave the 33rd annual OsgoodMemorial Lecture, at her undergraduate alma mater, The College ofWooster. This lectureship brings a scientist interested in paleontol-ogy and/or stratigraphy to the campus each year to lecture andmeet with students.

Jim Bestwas co-organizer of the 10th Intentional Conference onFluvial Sedimentology held at the University of Leeds, July 14-19,2013 and also ran a post-conference field trip (July 20-24) to West-ern Ireland for this conference entitled ‘Fluvio-deltaic sedimentationin the Western Irish Namurian Basin of County Clare, Ireland: facies,sedimentary heterogeneity and controls on deposition.’ He also at-tended and presented papers, and was a member of the scientificorganizing committee, for the 4th International Workshop on Ma-rine and River Dune Dynamics, Bruges, April 15-17, 2013.

George Devries Klein, Emeritus Professor, has retired from consult-ing and relocated to Guam. Feel free to visit.

Lijun Liu gave several invited colloquium talks, at Southern IllinoisUniversity, Purdue University, St. Louis University, and NorthwesternUniversity. He was interviewed by Science News and the Earth Maga-zine.

Steve Marshak enters his third year with the OIINK project, theOzark Illinois Indiana Kentucky Flexible Array Experiment, an NSFfunded consortium of universities working to improve understand-ing of lithospheric scale structures of North America’s stable craton.

Alyssa Shiel, after a three year postdoctoral fellowship in the De-partment of Geology working with Tom Johnson and Craig Lund-strom, will leave to join the faculty of Oregon State Universitystarting August 2014.

Around the Department

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Non-Profit Organization

U.S. Postage

PAID

Permit No. 75

Champaign, IL 61820Department of GeologyUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign156 Computing Applications Building, MC-235605 E. Springfield AvenueChampaign, IL 61820

ILLINOIS

Dr. Gary D. StrickerDr. Michael L. SweetDr. Susan M. TaylorDr. and Mrs. Daniel A.

TextorisDr. John B. Tubb, Jr.Mr. Robert VaidenMr. and Mrs. Robert W. Von

RheeDr. F. Michael WahlMr. Dederick C. WardDr. James G. WardDr. W. F. WeeksMr. Eldon L. WhitesideMr. Harold T. WilberMr. Jack L. WilberMr. Donald R. WilliamsMs. Elaine WittMr. Lawrence WuDr. and Mrs. Robert F.

YlaganDr. and Mrs. Valentine E.

Zadnik

CorporationsAdlOptica Optical SystemsAlmax EasyLab Inc.Badger Exploration LLCBlake Industries, Inc.BP FoundationBruker AXS Inc.Chevron CorporationConocoPhillips CorporationD’Anvils, Ltd.Dominion FoundationExxonMobil FoundationFoxwood InstrumentsMax Voggenreiter GmbHMean Trail TrustMobil Retiree ProgramMor-Staffing, Inc.Shell Oil Company

FoundationSims Consulting Inc.Technodiamant USA, Inc.University of Brighton

School of the Environ-ment & Technology

Allison Greaney received the Outstanding GeologySenior Student Award, presented to an under-graduate student who has shown both academicexcellence as well as department participation.

Andrew Reinhard and Richard Vachulawon theEstwing Pick Awards, presented annually in theSpring to undergraduated who will attend fieldcamp that summer. The principal criterion is aca-demic achievement in geology courses and incognate science and mathematics courses. Con-sideration is also given to involvement in under-graduate research and to participation indepartmental activities. The award is an EstwingPick given by the Estwing Corporation.

Jin Zhang received the Harriet Wallace Award, presented to an Outstanding Woman Graduatebased on academic performance and researchperformance in the memory of Harriet Wallace,past librarian in the Department of Geology.

Gideon Bartov received James R. KirkpatrickAward, a college award for a graduate student fortheir research efforts, established to honor pastDepartment Head, James R. Kirkpatrick.

Kelsey Kehoe and Stephanie Magerwere recog-nized as Outstanding TAs, based on ICES resultsand faculty supervisors’ comments.

Laura DeMott, Stephanie Mager, andRachelOien received Morris Leighton research grants.The Fund was established in 1971 in memory ofMorris M. Leighton at the request of his family.Morris M. Leighton was an assistant professor ofgeology at Illinois and a geologist for the IllinoisState Geological Survey from 1919-1923. In 1923,Morris M. Leighton was appointed Chief of theIllinois State Geological Survey and served in thatcapacity until his retirement in 1954. He held thetitle of Chief Emeritus of the Illinois State Geologi-cal Survey until he passed away in 1971.

Ryan Arnott, Jing Jin, Derek Lichtner, ConorNeal, and Eric Prokockiwere the recipients ofthe Roscoe Jackson Award, designated to sup-port needs of graduate students who are pursu-ing thesis research. Dr. Jackson has been a strongsupporter of research in the department over theyears.

Erin Murphy received the Sohl Award for Research,which supports research by graduate students inthe Department of Geology with preference forsupport of paleontologic fieldwork by graduatestudents.

Mr. and Mrs. Jack D. FosterDr. Linda P. FultonMr. Barry R. GagerDr. James C. GambleMr. and Mrs. John R. GarinoMs. Theresa C. GierlowskiDr. Richard A. Gilman and

Mrs. Carmen MowryGilman

Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. Gossett

Mrs. Christine M. GriffithMr. Richard A. GriffithDr. and Mrs. Stuart

GrossmanDr. and Mrs. Albert L. GuberDr. Steven HagemanMrs. Catherine L. HarmsMr. and Mrs. Daniel HarmsDr. and Mrs. Henry J. HarrisMs. Laurie E. HartlineDr. Joseph R. HatchDr. Mark A. HelperDr. Lee HirschMr. Theodor HopkinsDr. Jennifer JacksonDr. Roscoe G. Jackson, IIMr. and Mrs. Steven F.

JamriskoDr. Allen H. JohnsonMr. Bruce A. JohnsonMr. John M. JohnstonDr. Suzanne Mahlburg KayDr. John P. KemptonDr. Ronald KernDr. and Mrs. John D. KieferMr. Christopher P. KoroseMr. Thomas KrisaMr. Michael B. LamportDr. Robert H. LanderMr. Rik LantzMr. Stephen C. LeeDr. Morris W. Leighton

(DEC)Dr. Margaret S. LeinenMr. Walter LundwallMr. Peter R. Malecki

Dr. Thomas AndersonMr. Franklin AndrewsDr. Robert F. Babb, IIMr. Rodney J. BalazsMs. Debbie E. BaldwinMr. Philip BardellMr. Robert BarnardMr. Douglas S. BatesMrs. Vicki BensonDr. William M. BenzelMr. Peter M. BergerDr. Marion E. BickfordLTC Ronald E. Black (RET)Dr. Linda M. BonnellMr. Joseph E. BoudreauxMr. and Mrs. Michael W.

BourqueDr. Michael G. BradleyMs. Annette BrewsterMr. David A. BrierleyMr. and Mrs. Ross D.

BrowerMr. Steven P. BurgessMrs. Vicki Benson BurgessDr. Thomas C. BuschbachDr. James W. CastleDr. Charles J. ChantellDr. Weng Cho ChewMr. Robert CluffDr. Harland E. Cofer, Jr.Dr. Lorence G. CollinsMr. Randolph M. CollinsDr. Virginia A. Colten-

BradleyMrs. Cynthia S. DavidMr. Scott R. DavidDr. Ilham DemirMr. Peter deVriesMs. Sophie M. DreiffusDr. Mohamed T. El-AshryMrs. Patricia El-AshryDr. Frank R. EttensohnDr. Peter FennerMr. Gary M. FleegerDr. and Mrs. Leon FollmerDr. Richard M. Forester

(DEC)

The following is a list of friends and alumni of the Department of Geology who have donated to the Department during the 2013 calendar year.

Honor Roll of Donors–2013 Student Awards

Mr. and Mrs. John MarksDr. and Mrs. Stephen

MarshakMrs. Joyce C. MastDr. James T. McCollumMs. Linda A. MinorMs. Judy MollerDr. John E. MooreMr. John S. MooreDr. Sharon MosherMs. Melanie J. MudarthMr. and Mrs. Brian D. NoelDr. Norman PageMrs. Sara PasternakMrs. Corinne PearsonDr. and Mrs. Russel A.

PeppersMr. Bruce E. PhillipsDr. Paul L. PlusquellecMr. Paul J. RegorzMr. Ronald RichmanMr. William F. RipleyDr. Nancy M. RodriguezMr. and Mrs. Edward L.

RosenthalMr. and Mrs. Rodney R.

RuchMr. Mark RussellMrs. Patricia SantogrossiMr. Michael L. SargentMr. and Mrs. Jay R.

ScheevelDr. David C. SchusterDr. and Mrs. Franklin W.

SchwartzMs. Helen SestakDr. and Mrs. John W.

SheltonMr. and Mrs. David SiehDr. Charles H. SimondsMr. D. Leroy SimsMr. Roger A. SippelMrs. Amanda A.

SonnebornMr. and Mrs. Eric P.

SproulsMr. Carl K. Steffensen