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Episode 305: Underground Indiana (Earth Science)
Rick Crosslin: On this episode of Indiana Expeditions, we’ll uncover one of Indiana’s
greatest resources: Limestone, a world-famous building material that comes from right
beneath our feet. We’ll dig for fossils. And search for buried treasures. Follow me! It’s
time for another expedition!
Announcer: Indiana Expeditions with Rick Crosslin is made possible through the
generous support of the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation, dedicated to improving the
lives of patients and the communities we serve. The Dr Laura Hare Charitable Trust,
enhancing Indiana’s natural environment through preservation and protection of
ecologically significant natural areas and promoting environmental education,
stewardship, and awareness. And the Indiana Academy of Science, serving Indiana
science since 1885.
Rick Crosslin: On this episode of Indiana Expeditions, I’m going to explore underground
Indiana. Now I could use a shovel like this, but I tell ya, that’s gonna take me a while.
Luckily, I know a shortcut. Check this out.
Rick Crosslin: This is the Independent Limestone Quarry, and I’m standing here on the
hill overlooking all the operation. This is where they
quarry, or dig out, the limestone that is used in building
materials all over the world.
We’re standing on Indiana limestone.
Steve Cummings: Indiana limestone. That is correct.
The depth today is the overburden of sixty some feet.
Then we go into forty some odd, fifty some feet of good
solid material.
Rick Crosslin: This is a quarry right. So the word quarry,
what does that mean?
Steve Cummings: A quarry is a mine, and ours is a surface mine.
Rick Crosslin: This saw behind me is like a giant chainsaw that cuts over twelve feet
deep through solid limestone. Once these large
limestone slabs are cut, they have to be moved over
so they can be shipped out. That takes some real
power. Check this out!
What you just saw only took a few minutes of
modern technology. Can you imagine a hundred
years ago using raw hammer power and mules to do
the same thing? But today, thanks to new
technology, chisels, pneumatic bags, a hundred and
forty tons was just brought over in one single move.
Now what they’re going to do is break this large slab
into more manageable pieces. And they’re going to
do that by drilling some holes and using the power of hydraulics to split it open, and
that’s gonna be cool to see.
Rick Crosslin: Watch it open up a little bit.
This same deposit of limestone goes from Canada all the way down to the Gulf of
Mexico, except for here in Indiana in the stonebelt, it’s pretty close to the surface which
makes going underground in Indiana a lot easier.
A lot of the limestone that’s quarried is not the best
quality for building material. Maybe the color’s wrong or
maybe it’s got some striations in it, but it’s still good
material that can be used to stop erosion, like these
blocks headed to Lake Michigan.
I bet you if you look in your own driveway, you’ll find
some limestone.
Next stop, the mill!
Rick Crosslin: Pretty cool. There must be a hundred
ways to cut limestone.Like this diamond tip saw that
slices right through the limestone almost like it was
butter.
Will Bybee: Every major city east of the Mississippi
going all the way to the East Coast has got Indiana
limestone on courthouses, federal courthouses,
churches, many, many universities and colleges use
it, you name it. We’ve done the restoration of the
west front of the US Capitol Building. We did the last
ten years of the two front towers on the Washington
Cathedral. We did the Pentagon after 9/11 after the
plane went in. And we’ve done numerous other
buildings in Washington DC. We’ve done some in New York. Pretty much all over the
East Coast we work.
Rick Crosslin: It has taken millions of years for this limestone to form underground in
Indiana. But it’s only taken a couple of days for the Bybee stonecutters and carvers to
turn that limestone into some awesome building
material that’s used around the world.
Bybee stone is known for its detailed carving.
Ned Cunningham: Carving becomes a lot more threedimensional, and sometimes it becomes more
inventive.
Rick Crosslin: Do you think you can show me how to
do a little piece of that, or is that—
Ned Cunningham: Don’t mess it up!
Rick Crosslin: That was pretty cool!
Did you know: An artifact is any item made or used by humans?
Rick Crosslin: Archaeology is the study of people who lived in the past. Archaeologists
study the things they left behind. Did you know
you can do archaeology too?
At certain times of the year, archaeologists all
over the state could use your help. One place
where you can do archaeology is at Strawtown,
Koteewi Park near Noblesville.
Isaac Lindell: We are digging through the dirt
with gloves on, and going through the dirt and
finding pottery, bones, and any items from the
prehistoric group of settlers that were in this
particular area.
Rick Crosslin: Archaeology is the study of the life ways of people who lived in the past
by looking closely at the things they left behind. These things are called artifacts. An
artifact is anything made, changed, or used by people. The places people lived
hundreds or even thousands of years ago, have been covered by a lot of dirt. That’s
why most artifacts that archaeologists study have to be excavated, or dug out of the
ground using brushes and shovels, trowels, buckets and screens.
Dr. Bob McCullough: Well the site we’re standing on here is called the Strawtown
Enclosure. It is an enclosure site that once had a ditch running around the outside of it
with an interior berm. And it’s about just less than a football field across, and it has three
different cultures here on this site. Now these groups were farmers, so they were not
nomadic. They would stay here and grow corn in these big bottoms around here at
Strawtown. And people who were more stable will have pottery, they made pots, and
there is a certain way to make that pot. You learn it from your relatives, and you
decorate it a certain way, and it looks a certain way, and you put various inclusions in
the clay when you make them. When you look at that design and technique on broken
pottery vessels, that associates the cultures which—who made them.
Isaac Lindell: This is a piece of pottery that we found
digging through the dirt and going through and trying to
find prehistoric items left from storing water, storing things,
or boiling corn for their tribe.
Rick Crosslin: One of the ways that archeologists learn
about the lives of people that lived in Indiana hundreds or
even thousands of years ago is by making the artifacts
they find at the site. This is called experimental
archaeology. At most prehistoric sites, there are stone
tools called lithics and pieces of charcoal
from cooking fires. Ever wonder how they
made stone tools or fires without matches or
lighters?
Eric Vosteen: Lithics are stone tools that
people have made, and there are different
ways that people have made stone tools, but
the way that cutting edges such as knives or
arrow points and some other types of cutting
edges are made is by a process called flint
knapping. So what I’m going to do here is I’m
going to reduce this a little bit. The idea is that I’m going to have this piece, this large
piece that would’ve been struck from a large nodule. And I’m going to reduce it down to
something that’s thin. So notice that this one is about similar size, but thin and under
control and very even. This one is just, has all different, all kinds of shapes and ridges
on it. From there, I’ll make it very thin, and then put notches in it.Instead of striking, I
push on the edge until a flake pops off. These triangular blades are just what we’re
finding here.
This is called seeding the spindle. So the first thing I’m doing is just burning a little spot
so the two are mated up well and not wobbly. Let
me do that. It should smoke quickly; see how quick
that smoke comes out of there. Okay, now, all of
the friction is down here, and all of the friction is
down where the two woods are meeting, and what I
need is a pile of charred dust that turns into a coal
that I can dump into this wad of bark fiber and blow
into flames. So in order to let that dust fall into one
spot and to allow a little oxygen to be worked
around in there, I am going to cut a notch. It doesn’t usually take long. I think my record
is about nine seconds. Okay, let’s see now, that is burning. Quickly, before the wind
blows it away, I’m going to pour it into here. And notice how I did that; I did it a very
specific way. Let the wind help me out on this one. Woo! So there it is, and that is just
like a big match.
Dr. Bob McCullough: Every site’s unique. Every site is interesting in its own right. But
what’s very interesting in Strawtown is the preservations went really well. This ranks
right up there with any kind of archaeological resource in the Midwest. And it’s nationally
significant. There are three sites on the National Register of Historic Places already
listed. And so you have nationally registered, quality sites on this property. And not only
because of their preservation and their condition, but also the information they hold and
can offer.
Kid: Can I have a small one, because I have small hands.
Rick Crosslin: If you’re interested in becoming an archaeologist, or just want to have
some hands on experience in archaeology, Strawtown Koteewi Park is the place to
start. For more information, check out our website. Can you dig it?
Did you know: Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, is named the
Father of American Archaeology?
Rick Crosslin: Underground Indiana is a great place to find fossils. But many of those
fossils are buried deep. Now here at my camp, I had a chance to bring some of those
deep rocks from underground up to the surface, so we could get a better look at what is
a fossil here in Indiana. If you can’t go underground, find something that used to be.
Rick Crosslin: This is a pretty unique place, because where I’m walking, very recently,
was underground. But because of erosion and some new construction, I can search for
treasures right here without digging. I’m here today to see some pretty interesting plant
fossils that are world famous, and they’re right here under your feet in Indiana.
I’ve put together quite a dig team today to look for these underground treasures, experts
from the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, the Indiana Geological Survey, and my
friend who brought us out here today, Bruce Stevens, from the Department of Natural
Resources.
Now Bruce, we’ve got a lot of people here. One
thing about collecting fossils, you don’t take
everybody to your favorite spot.
Bruce Stevens: You don’t divulge everything,
that’s for sure.
Rick Crosslin: Do you have a little place that
maybe you and I can go?
Bruce Stevens: Yeah, I’ve got one over the hill here that we might be able to lose the
rest of them.
Rick Crosslin: Let’s see if we can get there before they do. Come on.
Bruce Stevens: There’s three of them right there. And look at that guy. There’s one with
lots of potential.
Nelson Schaffer: The reason so many rocks are here at the surface all fresh and so, is
because companies come to mine coal. This is a shale that surrounds the coal, and you
can see this rock is very different. It’s a little harder, it’s got a shape to it, and it’s a
reddish color. This is a material called siderite or iron carbonate. And you get all these
nodules. You will see some excellent fossils inside them. This is a fossil fern from the
Pennsylvanian. And this guy lived probably two hundred and fifty million years ago or so
in an old coal swamp.
Rick Crosslin: You know the thing about fossil hunting is it’s not a guaranteed find. So
you have to cover a lot of ground, but every once in a while, you find a little spot that’s
filled with them, like right here.
I got one here, Bruce, and here’s one.
Bruce Stevens: That’s a pretty good one.
Rick Crosslin: There’s a good one.
Rick Crosslin: Sometimes Mother Nature makes it easy and will do the cracking for
you.
There’s a nice little pile here, Bruce, and actually, when you see something like this one
that’s been washed in the rain, I found the other half of it right laying next to it.
Bruce Stevens: Actually, if you find half, you always want to look around very carefully
for the other part. That’s an epidendrum stem. That’s what that is.
Rick Crosslin: If you train your eyes, there’s a lot to see and a lot of treasures here on
the ground.
Bruce Stevens: Right. Here’s a little fern right there, that’s a cocoptorous.
Rick Crosslin: Another example of weathering, in this
case, weathering that allows us to find a treasure with the
work already done.I’m kind of like a kid, I want to crack
them now and see what’s in them. We’ve got DNR, versus
Geology, versus Children’s Museum. Which one is this
one from? Children’s Museum. All right, here we go. Hey! One out of one, a hundred
percent. DNR—dud. This is Indiana Geological Survey. So far, not too much. Now that’s
what I’m talking about! An underground treasure.I’ll tell ya, we’ll save the rest of the
cracking for back at the lab.
Rick Crosslin: Hey guys, I brought my fossils!
Paleontologists: Welcome Rick! You want to come on in and work on those? Come on
in!
William Ripley: You just want to throw your bucket up on the table.
Rick Crosslin: I’ve also brought some fossils I’ve already
cracked.
William Ripley: Okay, great, we’ll take a look at these in
the back.
Rick Crosslin: Hey William, I forgot one important piece
about cracking fossils: eye protection. Can you help me
out?
William Ripley: There you go!
Rick Crosslin: Now I’m ready to crack fossils.
Rick Crosslin: Whoa! Very nice. This one is definitely one to show the museum.
This is a lot like fishing. You’re not guaranteed to catch a fish, but it’s a lot of fun. And
that’s how it is with cracking fossils. Who knows,
the next one might be the big one.
Here we go. Now that’s a cool fern leaf fossil.
This may be a good one. Very cool. Hey William!
Come here and check this out.
William Ripley: Oh cool, I like that one.
Rick Crosslin: Well this is my last one, and I’ve
got some I need some help with.
William Ripley: Okay, let’s grab them, take them
to the back and show them to Dallas.
Rick Crosslin: Hey Dallas, I’ve got some things for you to take a look at.
Dallas Evans: Just go ahead and set them down here.
Rick Crosslin: Well we had fun collecting these fossils, but now it’s time to understand
what they are. What do we have here?
Dallas Evans: Well, we’ve got a great collection, good diversity. I see some stems, just
fern stems. You also have some really gorgeous fern
fossils too. That’s got beautiful definition, really well
highlighted. It’s a great piece. It’s called a leaf coptorous.
We’ve got one over here. And you also have ferns called
precoptorous. And we have quite a few of those too.
Rick Crosslin: Pre-cop-tor-ous. That’s a mouthful. Can I
ask you, what happened to the leaves and stems that
used to be in these fossils?
Dallas Evans: Well, these are carbonized impressions, so
basically the decay of these plants caused these
nodules to form, not the actual plant itself, but just
the impression, like a footprint in the snow.
Rick Crosslin: So you end up getting an imprint, a
mold, and a cast. That’s pretty cool.
Dallas Evans: That’s pretty much how it works.
Rick Crosslin: I notice some other cool fossils. Are
these from Indiana?
Dallas Evans: Those are from Indiana too.
Rick Crosslin: I’d like to know a little bit more about these.
Dallas Evans: Well we’ve got the person who can tell you all about them.
Rick Crosslin: Hey thanks for your time, Dallas. Hey Victor, how you doing?
Victor Porter: Hey Rick! Doing well.
Rick Crosslin: So I understand that these are from Indiana also.
Victor Porter: Yes, these are some of our Indiana famous crinoids. These are some very
old pieces, exceptional pieces. Crinoids lived in the
deep seas. This is an actual image, photograph of a
living crinoid here. Most every museum in the world,
natural history museums, have these. These have
been dispersed from Indiana sites all over the world.
So they’re very, very important pieces for science.
Rick Crosslin: I guess we could say that this is one part of underground Indiana that’s
gone around the world. Wanting to find out more about crinoids, I headed to
Crawfordsville to pay a visit to the Crinoid King, Tom Witherspoon.
So how long have you been doing this?
Tom Witherspoon: Ever since I was about five years old, so let’s say forty-six years.
Rick Crosslin: Really! We’re here in Montgomery County. Is that famous for crinoids?
Tom Witherspoon: Yes it is. It’s one of the best spots in the world. There’s other really
good spots, but this is really something. This area has really got it.
Rick Crosslin: Mining for fossils here in Montgomery County began in the mid-1860s,
about the time of the Civil War. Many of the best crinoids on displays in museums all
around the world came from Corey’s Bluff, right in Tom’s backyard.
Tom Witherspoon: Okay look at this. Look at the crinoid right there. See it? See where
the stem comes out here? You can see where it goes across here, and then there’s the
crinoid right there. And then there’s an
impression here of another one. Yeah, this is
good.
Rick Crosslin: The fossils we are finding
today were deposited approximately three
hundred and fifty million years ago and may
have formed over two thousand miles away.
Plate tectonics pushed it around, and the
melting glaciers have eroded it to expose the
rock formations you see here.
Tom Witherspoon: There’s a real nice little crinoid right here. Beautiful. This location
was originally discovered by two young boys back in the 1860s, and they found a fossil
down on the gravel bar at the mouth of this ravine right here, and it looked like a
petrified toad. And it was one of those: it’s a crinoid
without any arms, and just a loose calyx. That goes to
the boat.
Rick Crosslin: If someone just found this rock, is that
where all the work is, finding it and digging it out?
Tom Witherspoon: No, that’s where the fun is. The
value is the skill level of the prep work.
Rick Crosslin: Using special tools, Tom and his
coworker, Dan, clean away the surrounding rock and
sediments to reveal the fossils, then reassemble the loose parts like a jigsaw puzzle to
end up with a spectacular specimens that you see on display.
Daniel Sinatra: There’s probably fifteen to twenty crinoids
on there. By the time I’m finished, it’s going to be one
beautiful piece.
Tom Witherspoon: Here’s one of my favorite ones that has
just been finished. This is a high quality crinoid. This is a
really nice one. See how we trimmed it and scored the
back and snapped it to give it that natural look.
So we kind of preserve history. It’s healthy. This is the
best hobby that I’ve ever heard of.
Did you know: A fossil is preserved evidence of
ancient life?
Rick Crosslin: When exploring underground
Indiana, kids closest to the ground have an
advantage. At Hazel Dell Elementary,
kindergartners are getting an early start in earth
science.
Rick and kids: Science is for everyone!
Susan Julian: Science is really an integral part of all our curriculum. In fact, it’s like the
gateway to curriculum for us.
Who can tell me what a butterfly scientist is called? Zack?
Zack: A lepidopterist.
Susan Julian: A lepidopterist. Isn’t that a huge word?
It’s just a natural thing for children to do. They started to use terms like lepidopterist,
metamorphosis, chrysalis, and it was not because we were sitting down with a piece of
paper and studying it. It was because they had those
hands-on experiences.
Science to me growing up was a science book,
reading about it, very few experiments. I was always
interested, and I knew if I had the opportunity to teach
children, it would be different than that.
You know what, Play-Doh would be a neat thing to
push shells in to make impressions. We could do that!
Well this lesson about fossils actually started with
being a paleontologist. I gave them a paleontologist
kit. It had a magnifying glass and a fossil from
Indiana. And the children had the opportunity to examine it, look for characteristics, and
then I recorded that information. My experience with the Children’s Museum, going out
to the dig site in South Dakota has been wonderful. It’s really changed my whole
approach to teaching about fossils.
Here is an ischium!
I have learned so much from being able to get my hands in the dirt and examine fossils
myself with that expert over my shoulder explaining. That’s exactly what we try to do
here. We get a lot of things done in a half a day.
Rick Crosslin: What is that?
Susan Julian: We make every minute count, from the minute they walk in the door until
the minute they leave. That learning may not look like learning to adults, but trust me,
there are some great things going on, even though it’s not sitting at a table with papers
and pencils.
Rick Crosslin: Well I tell ya, we started out with fossils, and we’re ending up making a
house. Either way, working with kids is a lot fun, because they have great imaginations
and they’re filled with natural questions about the world around us. So how’s this house
gonna go?
In this episode, we’ve been having a lot of fun, exploring underground Indiana, finding
some awesome treasures. But the real treasures in Indiana are not found underground;
the real treasures are students just like this. I’m Rick Crosslin. Join me on the next
Indiana Expeditions.
Hey is there any gold left in there?
Rick Crosslin: For more information, extra content, and lesson plans, visit
indianaexpeditions.org.
Announcer: Indiana Expeditions with Rick Crosslin is made possible through the
generous support of the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation, dedicated to improving the
lives of patients and the communities we serve. The Dr Laura Hare Charitable Trust,
enhancing Indiana’s natural environment through preservation and protection of
ecologically significant natural areas and promoting environmental education,
stewardship, and awareness. And the Indiana Academy of Science, serving Indiana
science since 1885.