Quantifying Regionally-derived Sedimentary Rocks in Pleistocene Oak Creek Formation Glacial Till
Mentor 1
Scott Schaefer
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
5-4-2019 1:30 PM
End Date
5-4-2019 3:30 PM
Description
This project looks to identify and quantify regionally-sourced sedimentary rock eroding
from glacial till exposed along the beach at Sheridan Park in Cudahy, WI. Tills are a mix of geologic clasts—which are the most common types of rocks people think of when told about sedimentary rocks—and sediment transported by glaciers. The glacier that covered Wisconsin million years ago brought with it igneous and metamorphic rocks which now get mixed in with the sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary rocks at Sheridan Park appear to be exclusively from the Silurian and Devonian periods. Bedrock of such age extends north of Sheridan Park along Wisconsin’s eastern border into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This project will quantify this material relative to the rest of the till and could verify source localities for such rock, a task that has yet to be done for this deposit. Rocks that are being used for this project were collected in random bulks in three different GPS coordinates. They were then separated into categories of being either from the Silurian or the Devonian. The way to tell whether a rock is Silurian or Devonian is by looking at the colors. Silurian rocks tend to be more tan and light, while the Devonian rocks are darker. The overall purpose of this project is Sheridan Park records geologic history specific to Wisconsin and Milwaukee and its proximity to UWM means it is frequented for field trips. The site has become central to multiple outreach programs aimed at increasing ethnic diversity in the geosciences.
Quantifying Regionally-derived Sedimentary Rocks in Pleistocene Oak Creek Formation Glacial Till
Union Wisconsin Room
This project looks to identify and quantify regionally-sourced sedimentary rock eroding
from glacial till exposed along the beach at Sheridan Park in Cudahy, WI. Tills are a mix of geologic clasts—which are the most common types of rocks people think of when told about sedimentary rocks—and sediment transported by glaciers. The glacier that covered Wisconsin million years ago brought with it igneous and metamorphic rocks which now get mixed in with the sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary rocks at Sheridan Park appear to be exclusively from the Silurian and Devonian periods. Bedrock of such age extends north of Sheridan Park along Wisconsin’s eastern border into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This project will quantify this material relative to the rest of the till and could verify source localities for such rock, a task that has yet to be done for this deposit. Rocks that are being used for this project were collected in random bulks in three different GPS coordinates. They were then separated into categories of being either from the Silurian or the Devonian. The way to tell whether a rock is Silurian or Devonian is by looking at the colors. Silurian rocks tend to be more tan and light, while the Devonian rocks are darker. The overall purpose of this project is Sheridan Park records geologic history specific to Wisconsin and Milwaukee and its proximity to UWM means it is frequented for field trips. The site has become central to multiple outreach programs aimed at increasing ethnic diversity in the geosciences.
