2023 Summer Research at MGRRE

2023 Summer Research at MGRRE- A Keck Research Experience for Undergraduates

A Project to Study Middle and Upper Devonian Rocks of Michigan

By: Peter Voice and Jay Zambito (Beloit College)

This past summer MGRRE and the Michigan Geological Survey hosted 9 undergraduate students working on a Keck Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Project. Students from across the country were invited to spend a week in Kalamazoo to examine cores and collect samples and observations, followed by two weeks at Beloit College to analyze the samples. The students finished their summer work by attending the Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy Meeting at SUNY Geneseo where they went on field trips to study the Devonian strata of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, listened to talks from a wide variety of Devonian specialists, and even presented preliminary results from their projects.

At MGRRE, we had a series of cores laid out for the students that covered the interval from the upper Traverse Group through the Ellsworth Shale. The students explored the cores, and with consultation with Jay and Peter, developed individual projects.

spots that they were going to visit in New York. The projects include:

1) A student examined the upper Traverse Group in the subsurface to attempt correlation to the outcrop belt of this unit. Historically much effort has been expended on mapping the discontinuous exposure along the outcrop belt which has led to a proliferation of geologic formation names. Unfortunately, correlating from the outcrop to the subsurface has been more difficult due to changes in rock type (the Traverse Group is shalier in eastern Michigan and more dominated by limestone to the west).

2) One student characterized the “Squaw Bay Formation ” This formation is slated for a name change in the near future, but in order to formally change the name of a rock unit, we need to geologically define the revised unit. A second student looked at the contact between the Traverse Group and the “Squaw Bay Formation” in an attempt to understand the alteration of these sediments during lithification.

3) Several students collected high density sampling in the Antrim Shale to generate a robust dataset that includes organic carbon isotopes, elemental analyses from x-ray fluorescence, and magnetic susceptibility. These datasets will help with regional correlation and hopefully better constrain the age of the Antrim Shale.

4) Two students looked at the Ellsworth Shale – one doing detailed statistical analyses of the laminations and the other gathered elemental data from x-ray fluorescence and mineralogical data from x-ray diffraction of samples.

The last student is working on constructing a geologic map for Alpena County – the high density of wells, especially in the southern half of the county, provide a lot of information that can be used to construct a quality map for the region. Bedrock maps like this provide information on natural resources and even natural hazards – Alpena, for example, has areas of limestone bedrock that are susceptible to karsting and sinkhole development.

The students are not finished yet with their work on the Devonian of the Michigan Basin – they returned to their home institutions and will be working on writing theses and reports summarizing their work over the Fall 2023-Spring 2024 academic year. The students will also be preparing short contributions for a Keck Proceedings volume and will present their research at the Spring 2024 joint North Central-South Central Geological Society of America Meeting.