Geology Department
Newsletter
W est er n
I llinois
Univ er s it y
Department News
2011-2012
Greetings from the WIU Geology Department! We hope this past year has been good for you
personally and professionally. Our year has been an exciting one so far. We’ve had the largest
enrollments in our courses since the 1980s. We’ve had to become innovative to handle the large
number of students, but it is a good problem to have and we hope it continues.
We are excited to introduce our new paleontologist, Tom Hegna. He has contributed a lengthy
article for this, his first newsletter, so that our alumni can get a feel for his research interests. Dr.
Bailey has been provided with office space next to our Geology Museum. When both he and Tom
are in Tillman Hall you can’t swing a dead Tully Monster without hitting a paleontologist (terrible
joke, but I couldn’t resist).
Right now, we’re gearing up for Field Camp 2012. We have a large group attending this year, so the
planning and organizing is proving to be a big project – securing accommodations at South Dakota
School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City, making reservations for lodging at Yellowstone and
Grand Tetons, lining up transportation from Macomb to Rapid City and all the field sites, as well as
numerous other details. The last time we had such a large group was in 1984. Luckily for us, Diane
Edwards is a fantastic Administrative Assistant so our faculty can put most of their efforts towards
teaching field camp instead of logistics.
We know how lucky we are to have such supportive alumni. In addition to generous monetary
donations, we routinely receive communication from alumni regarding employment opportunities
for our recent graduates. We can’t thank you enough for your continual support of our Geology
program. The Geology Department always welcomes communication and visits from our alumni.
Please send us an email or stop by Tillman Hall if you’re in the Macomb area.
Kyle Korczak poses with Dr. Calengas
and the rock hammer he won at the raffle
conducted as part of our annual FacultyStudent Bonding Night.
We had record attendance at our annual fall Bonding Night. It was
amazing to see our majors and minors interacting and enjoying an
all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. After eating, everyone (faculty and
staff included) had an opportunity to tell the group a little about
themselves. It was great fun to share this evening in this manner.
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Geology Department News letter
Leslie Melim
Figure 1. Living pool fingers from
Herbstlabyrinth, Germany. The fingers are
composed of filaments, biofilm and minor
calcite crystals.
With no field camp this year, I took the opportunity for more
summer traveling. The Bathurst Meeting occurs every four years,
somewhere in Great Britain, and it is only for carbonate
researchers. This gave me the excuse for three weeks in Europe,
two in Germany and one at the meeting in Bristol. The meeting
was great fun, but the best part was before the meeting in
Germany. After 10 years of looking, we finally have a living,
slimy example of pool fingers in the HerbstlabyrinthAdventhöhle cave system in central Germany! We have two
pools where they are currently underwater (Figure 1) and one
where the pool floods every winter (figure 2). Jordan Moroni,
our major, has already started a project comparing the living
microbes to the fossil ones from previous undergraduate
research projects. The cave was fun, but never believe a caver
when they say “It is easy, just walking”!
I also managed three other trips: Albuquerque, NM (research), the Keeweenaw Peninsula, Michigan and
Seattle (both vacation). By the time fall classes started, I was ready to be home—and my cats were MORE
than ready for me to be home!
Vacation on the Keeweenaw is beautiful in August, but I couldn’t resist the
chance to check out the stromatolites in the Precambrian Copper Harbor
Conglomerate (first seen way back in 1997 on Dr. Klasner’s Fall Field Trip).
Now that I work with cave stromatolites, this location of stromatolites in
the middle of a coarse conglomerate is even more interesting. So, on a
very windy day in October (figure 3), I went back with a couple of students
to measure section and sample. Brittany Doty will complete an
undergraduate research project on the stromatolites in 2012.
This fall, Stratigraphy and Sedimentation had the most students ever—17,
all majors. This pretty much filled the classroom, and everyone had to be
patient. It is a sign of things to
come; field camp for 2012 has 23
students. We haven’t had this
many students for field camp
during my time; I think not since
the early ‘80s. Should be a
challenge!
Three students worked with me
during the year:
Figure 3. Measuring the Copper Harbor
Conglomerate in 20-40 mph winds.
Randy Gustafson continued
working on the petrography and
writing up the results of a SEM/
petrography comparison
Figure 2. Pool fingers from
Adventhöhle , Germany. These are
calcite on the outside but filaments
on the inside. The pool fills in the
winter and dries up during the
spring.
Geology Department News letter
Page 3
between pool spar and pool fingers. It will be a nice comparison to a similar project done by Randi Liescheidt,
'09.
Jordan Moroni started a project in the fall comparing the living microbes from the new living pool finger
samples from Germany to the entombed microbes we have been documenting from fossil pool fingers.
Stefan Sheplar is working on a comparison between drip-type and flow-type cave pearls from the Quincy
underground limestone mine.
Papers and Talks:
Melim, L.A. and Spilde, M.N., 2011, Rapid growth and recrystallization of cave pearls in an
underground limestone mine. Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 81, p. 785-786.
Melim, L.A. and Spilde, M.N., 2011, Rethinking the diagenetic potential of low-Mg calcite:
Recrystallization in experimental cave pearls, 14th Bathurst Meeting of Carbonate
Sedimentologists, Bristol, UK, p. 43. Talk presented July 13, 2011.
Melim, L.A., Northup, D.E., Spilde, M.N., and Boston, P.J., 2011, Recognizing biogenic carbonates:
Biosignatures in cave pool precipitates (pool fingers). 14th Bathurst Meeting of Carbonate
Sedimentologists, Bristol, UK, p. 106. Poster presented July 12, 2011.
Melim, L.A., Plan, L., von Boguslawski, S., Meyer, S. 2011, Terminologie biogener Beckensinter.
Höhlen, Mitteilungen des Verbandes der deutschen Höhlen- und Karstforscher e.V. München, v.
54(4) p. 110-114 (in German).
Melim, L.A., Spilde, M.N., and Northup, D.E., 2011, Stable isotopic evidence for microbial precipitation
of calcite in cave pool fingers, Annual Meeting Geological Society of America, Minneapolis, MN,
Presented October 10, 2011; Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 43, No.
5, p. 329
Northup, D.E., Melim, L.A., Spilde, M.N., Hathaway, J.J.M., Garcia, M.G., Moya, M., Stone, F.D., Boston,
P.J., Dapkevicius, M.L.N.E., and Riquelme, C., 2011, Lave cave microbial communities within mats
and secondary mineral deposits: Implications for life detection on other planets. Astrobiology, v.
Peter Calengas
Greetings to all of you. I hope this note finds you all in good health and spirit. The department is thrilled to
report the number of geology majors has grown and is reflected in this year’s largest Geology Field Camp
enrollment in many years. Your financial support has made it possible to not only increase the monetary
value of the Geology Summer Field Camp scholarships and student driver awards, but also to purchase muchneeded equipment for the field. In addition, your appreciated support has allowed us to continue to offer our
in-class field trips, to expand our undergraduate research participation at the annual Undergraduate
Research Day on campus, and to defray the cost of student travel to professional meetings.
This year we were able to fill Dr. Jack Bailey’s position with Dr. Tom Hegna, a paleontologist from Yale
University. Tom feels at home already as he hales from Western Iowa. He has begun to involve our students
in his research and is looking forward to a long and successful career at Western.
The financial stress in the State and at our University has also affected our department. For the third year in a
row we have not been able to fill the Geomorphology position left vacant with the departure of Dr. Amy
Brock. We hope that we will fill the position with a national search this fall.
I still continue to teach my online GEOL 375 (Environmental Geology) and serve as a consultant to the
Industrial Mineral community. Please stop by the department if you are in the Macomb area. We are always
glad to see you.
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Geology Department News letter
To m H e g n a
I’m the new face in the hallways of Tillman: the new
paleontologist trying to fill the shoes of Dr. Bailey. I’m
very grateful to have the opportunity to teach with
such genial colleagues at Western. Truly, they have
reminded me that colleague and collegial both come
from the same root!
I grew up in a small town called Avoca in western Iowa,
where my parents still live. I attended the University of
Iowa as an undergraduate, where I met my future wife,
Megan. Together we both received our masters
degrees from Iowa, mine in Paleontology and hers in
Library Science.
We moved on to Connecticut where I pursued my PhD at Yale and Megan worked as a children’s librarian. After a
couple years, we were blessed with our son, Henry—now a rambunctious and energetic two-and-a-half year old. I
will be defending my dissertation from Yale, “The Phylogeny and Fossil Record of Branchiopod Crustaceans: An
Integrative Approach” this spring.
Western is a perfect fit for me professionally and personally. We love being closer to family and exchanging a
midwestern pace for New England traffic jams (and New England drivers!). Henry loves to visit the museum in
Tillman Hall to see the dinosaurs with their ‘sharpee teef’! And Megan is enjoying the opportunity to stay home
with him.
My raison d’être is fossil arthropods: fossil creepy crawlies. In my research, I try to combine the fossil record of
arthropods with their modern diversity in order to understand some of the big transitions in arthropod evolution.
I am already looking forward to getting my teeth into the nearby Mazon Creek fossils. I’ve also begun an
undergraduate “lab group” for some minions, er, mentees (Brian Knecht, Brad Raver, and Morgan Stice) to learn
about arthropod paleobiology through individual research projects.
I’ve had great interactions with the students so far here at Western teaching History of the Earth and soon,
Paleontology. The geology department (together with vertebrate paleontologist Dr. Matt Bonnan from the
Biology department) is working to create a paleontology degree option for students. I’m excited about helming
this endeavor in the coming years and seeing our Geology program at WIU grow.
It is my sincere goal to help students at WIU to learn to judge scientific material for themselves, and to arm them
with the critical thinking skills they need. The true hallmark of a good undergraduate education is the ability to
think for oneself, and if I can help WIU students achieve this, regardless of their major, I will be quite proud. I am
thrilled to be a Leatherneck, and hope you’ll stop in to my office (113 Tillman) for a chat sometime.
Selected Publications:
Hegna, T. A. & Olesen, J. 201x. Branchiopoda. Pages xx-xx. In K. de Queiroz, P. D. Cantino, and J. Gauthier (eds.) Phylonyms:
a Companion to the PhyloCode. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. [accepted by the editors, but the book has
not been formally accepted by the publisher]
Lerosey-Aubril, R., T. A. Hegna & S. Olive. 2011. Inferring internal anatomy from the trilobite exoskeleton: the relationship
between frontal auxiliary impressions and the digestive system. Lethaia 44: 166-184.
Hegna, T. A. & D. Ren. 2010. Two new “notostracans”, Chenops gen. nov. and Jeholops gen. nov. (Crustacea: Branchiopoda: ?
Notostraca) from the Yixian Formation, northeastern China. Acta Geologica Sinica 84(4):886-894.
Hegna, T. A. & E. A. Lazo-Wasem. 2010. Branchinecta brushi n. sp. (Branchiopoda: Anostraca: Branchinectidae) from a volcanic
Geology Department News letter
Page 5
crater in northern Chile (Antofagasta Province): a new altitude record for crustaceans. Journal of Crustacean Biology 30
(3):445-464.
Hegna, T. A. 2010. Photography of soft-bodied crustaceans via drying, whitening, and splicing. Journal of Crustacean Biology
30(3):351-356.
Hegna, T. A. 2010. The function of forks: Isotelus-type hypostomes and trilobite feeding. Lethaia 43:411-419.
Selected Conference Presentations:
Wolfe, J. M. & Hegna, T. A. 2011. Semaphoronts and the phylogenetic position of fossil pancrustacean larvae. 55th Annual
Meeting, Palaeontological Society Association, December 17th-20th, Plymouth University, UK.
Hegna, T. A. & D. E. G. Briggs. 2011. Unmineralized exoskeletal morphology of Isotelus (Arthropoda, Trilobita, Asaphida);
Possible evidence of cephalic limb differentiation. Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America; Minneapolis, MN.
Hegna, T. A. 2011. New insights on notostracan limb differentiation and evolution and its implications for calmanostracan
phylogeny. 2nd International Congress on Invertebrate Morphology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Lerosey-Aubril, R., T. A. Hegna, C. Kier, E. Bonino, M. Carré & J. Habersetzer. 2011. Trilobite guts: an inside look at the
morphology and its mechanism of preservation. 2nd International Congress on Invertebrate Morphology, Harvard
University, Cambridge, MA.
Wolfe, J. M. & Hegna, T. A. 2011. Testing the phylogenetic position of fossil pancrustacean larvae: a semaphoront-based
coding system. 2nd International Congress on Invertebrate Morphology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Astrop, T. A. & Hegna, T. A. 2011. An integrative assault on clam shrimp ('Conchostraca'; Branchiopoda; Crustacea)
Paleobiology and Phylogeny. GSA Northeastern & North-Central Joint Regional Meeting (20–22 March 2011) in
Pittsburgh, PA.
Hegna, T. A. 2011. Living fossils? The phylogeny and fossil record of branchiopod crustaceans. 2011 Annual Meeting of the
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Salt Lake City, UT.
*Hegna, T. A. 2011. Fossil insights on notostracan limb differentiation and evolution. 2011 Annual Meeting of the Society for
Integrative and Comparative Biology, Salt Lake City, UT.
*recipient of the Crustacean Society’s best student poster award
Hegna, T. A. 2010. The fossil record of branchiopod crustaceans: Stasis no more? Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of
America; Denver, CO.
Hegna, T. A., Vega, F. J., & Lazo-Wasem, E. A. 2010. MicroCT investigation of a new genus and species of Amphipoda
(Crustacea: Malacostraca: Talitridae) preserved in amber from the lower Miocene of Chiapas, Mexico. Annual Meeting of
the Geological Society of America; Denver, CO.
Diane Edwards
My mother used to tell me, “The older one gets, the faster times goes.” When I reflect on this past year, I totally
believe her words to be true. This past year has flown by, but not without creating a lot of good memories. Here
are just a few:
The 4th of July found me in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin for a family reunion. We stayed at the Grand Harbor
Resort & Waterpark in the Port of Dubuque, IA and visited the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium,
which has been named an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute.
In August, we took our kids and all the grandkids to a favorite resort in Lake of the Ozarks, MO. Copious amounts
of swimming & fishing were enjoyed by all.
This past fall my sister and her family visited here from Florida. We took a little side trip to Hermann, MO – home
of Stone Hill Winery. Hermann sits right along the Missouri River and is a lovely place to visit.
I hope this past year has been good to you and wishing you the best for the coming year.
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Geology Department News letter
Ky l e M ay b o rn
Greetings from Macomb. I hope all is going well for you and your families.
It has been another productive year here in the department. We continue
to have good enrollments in Mineralogy with ten students in the class last
fall. I’m continuing to convert more of the class lectures to PowerPoint
and to modify the labs to be prepared for larger class sizes. Hopefully,
more students will become aware of the wonderful careers available to
geologists and we will see our enrollments continue to rise.
In the spring we took our annual Structure/Petrology trip. This year I
risked going to northern Wisconsin. As it turns out we had quite the
adventurous time on what turned out to be an abbreviated trip. After a
nice morning of seeing lots of good igneous and metamorphic rocks, we
decided to venture onto some dirt roads to see the Mineral Lake Intrusion.
As you might expect, we did manage to get one of the vans stuck. The
upper surface of the ground was quite dry, but there was a layer of highly
water saturated soil about a foot underground. It was actually quite
amazing to be able to walk on dry ground that would buckle and bend
under your feet. Thankfully, we were pulled out by a local who had access to a very big tractor. After this, and a
forecast for 8 inches of snow for the next day, I decided to cut our losses and we made an all night trip back to
Macomb. Thankfully, we did get to see some good rocks and structures and the students have quite the
adventure to remember.
My research is going well and I have a bunch of projects in various stages. I made a trip back to northern
Wisconsin in the summer to the Mineral Lake Intrusion with a old friend from my undergrad years. It was fun to
camp and do field work together as we caught up on each others lives. The samples we collected will be used in
an undergraduate research project. I’m also at the stage of writing up some of my research on dikes from
Labrador. Additionally, I just started working with some colleagues on their quest to constrain the liquid
composition evolution for the Skaergaard Intrusion. I also had a paper published last fall in the journal
Computers & Geosciences. The reference is:
Mayborn, K.R. & Lesher, C.E., 2011, MagPath: An Excel-based Visual Basic program for forward modeling of
mafic magma crystallization. Computers & Geosciences 37, 1900-1903
On a personal note, Mari’s speaking career is going well. She is usually off speaking to various women’s groups a
few times a month. Christina is still working and taking classes at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mi. I’m still
playing disc golf and doing some trail running. After starting to watch the Deadliest Catch on Netflix I decided
that my new January break hobby should be working on a crab fishing boat. Thankfully, I have a wife who guides
me back to reality and towards safer hobbies.
I hope that all is going well for you. Please send me an email as I would love to hear how you are doing (KRMayborn@wiu.edu).
Geology Department News letter
Sara Bennett
Geology 110 classes used a different textbook in the fall so I was very
busy altering my PowerPoint lectures to make them consistent with
different terminology and illustrations used in the new textbook. I was
one step ahead of the students most of the semester in posting new note
outlines. Sure am glad that process is complete!
In May I had a great time collecting crinoid pieces from a quarry near
Monmouth. Three students wished to go fossil hunting and asked Dr.
Bennett and me to gain them entry to the quarry. In some areas the rock
is just a crinoid mash. Sure was an amazingly hospitable environment for
crinoids way, way back during the Mississippian Period.
Last summer my family took a trip to Yellowstone National Park. Most
visitors to the park are clustered in certain scenic areas and on the two
loop roads through the park. Wow, people everywhere! When you
decide to visit be sure and enjoy a hike or two. You will see some
beautiful scenery (interesting rock outcrops surrounded by colorful
flowers) and best of all, not that many people on the trails.
Unfortunately, Obsidian Cliff is closed to tourists but we did climb around
on Sheepeater’s Cliff, columnar jointed basalts, which is a must see stop.
The basalts are named not because the igneous columns eat sheep but
for the Shoshone people who once lived in the area and hunted big horn At Sheepeater’s Cliff in Yellowstone
sheep for sustenance. We also took a side trip into Grand Teton National National Park during family vacation
Park and hiked around Jenny Lake. Wow, what a beautiful hike!! The
burned area is returning and the rocky outcrops are an amazing contrast to the flowering vegetation. In a
different area of the park we had some perfect views of glacially carved valleys and of the great dike cutting
through the gneiss rocks of Mount Moran. Really amazing place. Hope you had a chance to visit neat places
Bob Johnson
Opie continues to hang in the museum and even sported a Santa hat for the holiday season. The squid
breakfast I’ve promised him is a bit behind schedule. The body has been molded, but not the head. I’m
hoping things will progress soon. Updates and maintenance of other displays have been more frequent
recently, I guess that comes with age. The museum has also seen an increase in visits of scout troops in the
past month. Some are working on a Geology badge, others just visiting. We are of course, happy to have
them and help in any way we can.
My granddaughter Cynthia is now 1 year old. Accomplishments include: walking, running, climbing, jumping
(though she doesn’t get much air), and all those things a busy 1-year-old should do. All the family seems to
be doing well and all the grand kids are growing up fast.
This fall I returned to St. Louis for the 2011 Broken Arrow Stunt Championships. Weather was great and
everyone had a good time. Now the big surprise, I flew in the Intermediate division, yes the whole pattern. I
broke 400 points in my first intermediate contest and placed 2nd out of three, so no default this year.
Hummmm… guess that practice stuff pays off eventually. Now I must wait for flying season to begin again.
The new goal is to finish in first place.
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Geology Department News letter
Steve Bennett
Hello everyone. I hope you have enjoyed the year
since our last newsletter. The time has raced by
for me. I have the same teaching schedule as last
year, Introduction to the Earth, Geologic Field
Methods, and Hydrogeology. I had my largest
Hydrogeology class ever—15 students. The large
numbers made some of the field labs a little more
challenging due to my limited equipment, but we
managed.
I continue to serve on a variety of committees on
and off campus. I’m on the Groundwater
Guardian Council, a group that acts as an advisory
board for the Groundwater Guardian program
At Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park during my
that the Groundwater Foundation oversees. If any
summer vacation. I wish I could see it from above!
of you are interested in starting a local group to
promote the protection of, and education about groundwater I’d be happy to talk about their program with you
(end of plug).
I currently have four students working on two projects in the Spring Lake watershed. One pair of students is
studying the suspended sediment concentration and the other pair is looking at nutrient concentration (nitrate and
phosphate) in tributaries to Spring Lake. We’ve submitted two abstracts to the North-Central Sectional GSA
meeting that will be held in Dayton, Ohio this April. If you plan to attend the meeting please let me know so we can
meet up.
Our sons keep us pleasantly busy between school and extracurricular activities (Boy Scouts, 4H, basketball, baseball,
Science Olympiad, Scholastic Bowl, and probably some I’m forgetting). If my parents would have kept me this busy
maybe I wouldn’t have found so much trouble when I was their age? Or not.
Our family vacation to Yellowstone NP and the Tetons last summer was great. It has looked a little different every
time I’ve visited, especially at Mammoth Hot Springs. It was my fourth visit there. I don’t think I could ever get tired
of Yellowstone, but I was definitely tired of the overpriced food by the time we were ready to leave!
Please keep in touch. I always enjoy hearing from our alumni. Until next year…….
Dr. Allen Keller, 1929-2010
The Geology Department recently received the sad news that former Geology professor Dr. Allen Keller passed
away in January of 2010. No doubt many of our alums will remember Dr. Keller’s structure class. Dr. Keller was
born in New Haven, Conn., in 1929. He earned his doctoral degree in Geology from Columbia University and
became a geology professor. He taught at Western for 17 years before leaving to pursue other career interests. He
maintained an interest in the geology of southeastern Idaho and enjoyed giving lectures to children and adults
about the area. Allen was a member of the founding faculty of the Geology Department along with John Juskevice,
Norb Archbald, Dave Hess, John Klasner, Will McCracken, and technician Andy Elder. Together they laid the
foundation for the successful department we have today which includes an active undergraduate research
program and Geology Museum.
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G e o l o g y D e p a r t mN
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Jack Bailey
Hi Gang,
A big ol' country "Howdy" from the Kentucky ("Yee-Haw!) Clam
Man. Although I'm now retired (pronounced “retard” down home),
I still maintain an office here in the Geology Department, where I
plan to continue my research on Paleozoic bivalves. My new office
(Room 118A Tillman) is a cozy little “lean-to” located just inside the
Museum. I have all the comforts of home: telephone, email,
internet, etc. (Shucks, I even have electricity and indoor plumbing!)
Stop by for a visit anytime you're in town.
As most of you know, I've been working on the clams from the
famous Mazon Creek fauna off and on since 1995, and I'm
continually surprised at what I'm seeing. Even after these many
years of study, I find there are still lots to learn and lots to say. But
hey, my really BIG news for the year was the September, 2011,
publication (at last!) of my lengthy study on the solemyid clams
(“awning shells”) of the Mazon Creek:
BAILEY, J. B. 2011. Paleobiology, paleoecology, and systematics of Solemyidae (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Protobranchia)
from the Mazon Creek Lagerstätte, Pennsylvanian of Illinois. Bulletins of American Paleontology no. 382. 75 pp., 5
text-figs., 5 pls. ISBN 978-0-87710-496-4.
As some of you know, Bulletins of American Paleontology is a monograph
series published by the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI), Ithaca, NY.
It is one of the oldest peer-reviewed paleontological journals in the world,
and the oldest continuously published paleontological periodical in North
America. So, I’m really proud to have a paper published there. And, happily,
the series specializes in the publication of really large systematics works such
as mine. If you're interested, you can check out my monograph in the
publication section at PRI's Museum of the Earth website: http://
www.museumoftheearth.org/
As part of my study, the well-known Mazon Creek “clam-clam” (shown on my
cover) finally got a legitimate name: I dubbed it Mazonomya mazonensis.
I'm pleased to report that the monograph has been very favorably received
by my fellow “clam-ologists” world-wide. The folks at PRI were a blast to
work with, and I was really impressed at the effort they put into my paper.
When I received my first copy in the mail, my howl of delight was reminiscent
of that of my fellow Kentuckian, famed Ernie “Turtle Man”, Brown ("Yee-Yee-
Yee-Haw! Live Action!").
During the coming months, besides expanding my drumming skills (see above), I'll be working on Mississippian and
Pennsylvanian myalinid bivalves from the Midcontinent and begin study on a remarkable assemblage of bivalves
from the Devonian of Arctic Canada.
Y’all come see us,
Jack Bailey, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus
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Geology Department News letter
The annual Geology Club Christmas
party at the historical Old Bailey
House had record attendance.
Faculty and staff brought the food.
Students ate to their heart’s content
and enjoyed the ambiance of the
venue. It was decided this year to
have a contest for “most
outrageous Christmas outfit”
with the winner receiving a gift card
to the University Union bookstore.
20 Year Reunion for Field Camp 1992
Some members of the 1992 WIU Geology Field Camp class are trying to organize a reunion this summer. If you
are interested in attending the reunion contact Paul Wagner at pvwags@gmail.com. It sounds like a great idea,
and I’m sure everyone still looks just like they did in the photo below!
P
P aa gg ee 11 11
Geology Department News letter
Undergraduate Research Presentations
Class-related field trips and projects keep our
students and faculty busy, in addition to their
regular class work. We have eight students currently
working on undergraduate research with our faculty.
These projects create opportunities for students to
focus on specific areas of geology that may benefit
them when the time comes for either graduate
school or employment searching.
Student Groups
The Geology Club and the Sigma Gamma Epsilon
remain very active groups. SGE has the most
members (15) that it has had in many years and
Geology Club has even more members!
Last Spring two Geology majors presented their
research at the Annual Thomas E. Helm
Undergraduate Research Day in April, 2011.
Geology Club members show off their finds during the
Fall geode collecting trip in the Hamilton, Illinois area.
Tim Garvis poses with his poster entitled “Plagioclase and
Olivine Compositions and their Implications for the
Magmatic History of the Mineral Lake Intrusion, Northern
Wisconsin”. Tim was advised by Dr. Kyle Mayborn.
Geology students enjoyed the food and nice weather at
the annual Spring Picnic sponsored by the Geology Club.
The event was held at WIU’s Horn Field Campus
2011 Graduate
Christine Gardner poses with her poster entitled “Limb
Bone Scaling: Afrotherian Allometry”. Christine was
advised by Dr. Matt Bonnan, a vertebrate paleontologist
in WIU’s Department of Biological Sciences.
Tim Garvis
(We’ll have a bunch after
field camp this summer!)
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Geology Department News letter
(L to R) Jack Bailey, Peter Calengas, and Bob Johnson at
the College of Arts and Sciences Awards ceremony at
which Dr. Bailey’s retirement was recognized.
Jack and Kathy Bailey at the Geology Department
retirement dinner held to thank Jack for his many years
of service.
Donations
The Geology Department would like to thank the individuals and organizations listed below for their donations.
Your generous gifts have allowed us to provide scholarships, defray student costs of field trips, purchase scientific
equipment for use in undergraduate research, and cover registration fees and travel expenses of students
presenting research at geologic conferences. Again, thank you!
Mary Allen (’87)
AT&T Foundation (Matching for T.
Gordon)
Timothy Aten (’85)
Thomas Bartels (’72)
John Becker (’83)
Michael Bingham (’75)
Dennis Bomke (’76)
William Branson (’66)
Victoria Broomhead (’92)
John Brown on behalf of Craig
Brown (‘97)
Peter Calengas
John Carl (’85)
ChevronTexaco (Matching for M.
Bingham)
EOG Resources Inc. (Matching for K.
Perez & John Becker)
ExxonMobil (Matching for W.
Jardine & G. Rust)
Charles Finley (’70)
Richard Formosa (’81)
Gary Gerlach (’76)
Terry Gordon (’74)
Charles Gnuse (’91)
Todd Hall (’96)
David Higgins (’78)
Todd Huson (’80)
Sandra Jankowski-Rose (’78)
William Jardine (’85)
William Johnson (’85)
Philip Kaminski (’07)
Marvin Klusman (’67)
Scott Koza (’01)
Marathon Oil Foundation
(Matched for S. Koza)
Willard McCracken
Robert McGaughy (’81)
Joseph McKee (’83)
Timothy Morrow (’70)
Margaret Morton-Davis (’77)
Geoffrey Nokes (’81)
Lee Osmonson (’72)
Devon Pavlek (’00)
Kim Perez (’76)
Petersen Environmental LLC
Harley Ponsler (’74)
Spencer Quam (’77)
Stanley Robinson (’77)
Robert Roe (’72)
Lora Rosenhauer (’78)
Ginny Rust (’04)
Mark Severson (’75)
Stephen Shafer (’83)
Shell Oil Co. Foundation
(Matching for K. Woody)
Penny Silzer (’85)
Bruce Souder (’83)
Holly Stein (’76)
Craig Stevens (’80)
Sheri Stevens (’93)
Kenneth Stringer (’85)
Timothy Tessendorf (’75)
Susan Turner (’95)
Dorothy Tynal (’83)
Eric Tyrrell (’85)
Anthony Wendle (’82)
WIU Geology Club
Kristin Woody (’00)
David Wronkiewicz (’82)
Department of Geology
Western Illinois University
Macomb, IL 61455
Non-Profit Organization
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
Phone: 309-298-1151
Fax: 309-298-3399
E-mail: Geology@wiu.edu
Website
WWW.WIU.EDU/GEOLOGY/
Recent Field Trips
(Left) Students take notes on Liesegang banding, beautifully expressed in outcrops, at Garden of the Gods State Park. Dr.
Melim, led this trip as part of her Stratigraphy and Sedimentation course in the Fall 2011 semester.
(Right) Dr. Mayborn and students on his Spring 2011 Structural Geology and Petrology field trip pose next to an outcrop of the
Mellen complex megabreccia located north of Mellen, Wisconsin.