Bedrock topography of Elgin Quadrangle, Kane and Cook Counties, Illinois

              Illinois Geologic Quadrangle Map
IGQ Elgin-BT
Base map compiled by Illinois State Geological Survey from digital data provided by the United States Geological Survey. Topography compiled 1988. Planimetry derived from imagery taken 1998. PLSS and survey control current as of 1991. Boundaries current as of 2002.
North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)
Projection: Transverse Mercator
10,000-foot ticks: Illinois State Plane Coordinate system, east zone (Transverse Mercator)
1,000-meter ticks: Universal Transverse Mercator grid system, zone 16
Recommended citation:
Curry, B.B., 2007, Bedrock Topography of Elgin Quadrangle, Kane and Cook Counties, Il­linois: Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois Geologic Quadrangle Map, IGQ Elgin-BT, 1:24,000.
Geology based on field work by B. Curry, 2004.
Digital cartography by J. Carrell, J. Domier, M. Barrett, and A. Tovey, Illinois State Geological Survey.
The Illinois State Geological Survey, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and the State of Illinois make no guarantee, expressed or implied, regarding the correctness of the interpretations presented in this document and accept no liability for the consequences of decisions made by others on the basis of the information presented here. The geologic interpretations are based on data that may vary with respect to accuracy of geographic lo­cation, the type and quantity of data available at each location, and the scientific/technical qualifications of the data sources. Maps or cross sections in this document are not meant to be enlarged.
IGQ Elgin-BT
BEDROCK TOPOGRAPHY OF ELGIN QUADRANGLE
KANE AND COOK COUNTIES, ILLINOIS
B. Brandon Curry
20072 / °12APPROXIMATE MEANDECLINATION, 2007MAGNETIC NORTHTRUE NORTHROAD CLASSIFICATIONPrimary highway,hard surfaceSecondary highway,hard surfaceLight-duty road, hard orimproved surfaceUnimproved roadInterstate RouteU.S. RouteState Route
ADJOINING
QUADRANGLES
1 Huntley
2 Crystal Lake
3 Barrington
4 Pingree Grove
5 Streamwood
6 Elburn
7 Geneva
8 West Chicago
BASE MAP CONTOUR INTERVAL 10 FEET
NATIONAL GEODETIC VERTICAL DATUM OF 1929
For more information contact:Illinois State Geological Survey 615 East Peabody Drive
Champaign, Illinois 61820-6964
(217) 244-2414
http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu12345678
Released by the authority of the State of Illinois: 2007
7
000 FEET10001000020003000400050006000.51 KILOMETER10SCALE 1:24,0001/2101 MILE
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
ILLINOIS STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
William W. Shilts, Chief
Figure 1 Regional bedrock topography (from Herzog et al. 1994). The differences between this map and the new map on the left are due to incorporation of new data and inclusion of details that can be shown at a scale of 1:24,000.
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65055060065070088°W42°N42°NR 8 ET 43 NR 9 ER 10 ER 7 ET 42 NT 41 NT 40 N····ElginSt. CharlesBarringtonSchaumburgSt.CharlesBedrockValleyMCHENRYKANECOOKDU PAGEElginQuadrangle Bedrock Elevation(feet above mean sea level) 750700 650 60055050050Miles
Introduction
Bedrock topography indicates the elevation of the contact between the Quaternary glacial drift and Paleozoic bedrock. Bedrock is exposed at ground surface in a few places in the southern part of the quadrangle along the Fox River and in quarries. The primary use of this map is to show the location of buried bedrock valleys and other low areas that are filled with deposits of sand and gravel and are potential aquifers. A primary example is a segment of the St. Charles Bedrock Valley located in the southeastern corner of Elgin Quadrangle. The St. Charles drift aquifer occurs in the lower part of the sediment succession filling the valley, and it supplies the groundwater pumped by municipal water wells for South Elgin (Curry and Seaber 1990). Data in several areas of the quadrangle suggest the occurrence of sinkholes developed in Silurian-age dolomite formations.
Regional Setting
The bedrock surface is a significant unconformity found throughout Illinois. Below this surface in northeastern Illinois the bedrock is more than 400,000,000 years old, and above it the sediment is less than about 500,000 years old and, in many places, less than 25,000 years old (Curry et al. 1999, Curry 2007c). Most of the rock that occurs at and just below the bedrock surface was originally deposited as sediment in warm, tropical oceans during the Paleozoic Era; most of the sediment above the bedrock surface is of glacial origin and was deposited during the Quaternary Period.
The bedrock surface in the Elgin Quadrangle was eroded into resistant Silurian dolomite and softer shaly Ordovician dolomite. Drift thickness ranges from nil along southern reaches of the Fox River valley and in nearby quarries to more than 290 feet in uplands west of the Fox River valley (Curry 2007b). Figure 1 shows the generalized topography of the bedrock surface of a portion of the northeastern Illinois region (Herzog et al. 1994). The bedrock topography of Kane County (Dey et al. 2004, Vaiden and Curry 1990) has been mapped at 1:100,000. This 1:24,000-scale map of the Elgin Quadrangle is more detailed than the previous maps and shows the location, value, and type of the data used to compile the map.
The topography of the bedrock surface was sculpted by pre-glacial stream erosion and later modified, perhaps significantly so, by glacial agents including ice and meltwater. The best evidence for glacial erosion is boulder-sized fragments of the underlying rock in the unsorted glacial sediment (diamicton) and the polished and striated bedrock surface once exposed in several quarries in South Elgin. There is evidence that some low areas may have formed by pre-glacial karst (chemically eroded carbonate rock).
Discussion
The most significant features of the bedrock topography of the Elgin Quadrangle include the St. Charles Bedrock Valley in the southeastern portion of the map and several large depressions or low areas. The St. Charles Bedrock Valley is the longest and deepest bedrock valley in Kane County and is important because it is where sand and gravel aquifers, collectively known as the St. Charles aquifer, are especially prolific (Curry and Seaber 1990). Within and just south of the Elgin Quadrangle, the municipalities of South Elgin, Valley View, and St. Charles have several water wells that pump water from drift aquifers, primarily from the St. Charles aquifer. A major tributary to the St. Charles Bedrock Valley, the Elgin Bedrock Valley, occurs in the southwestern and west-central portions of the map.
Little is known about the origin of the approximately 70-foot deep depression located in the north-central part of the bedrock topography map northwest of the intersection of Interstate 90 and Route 31 (Sec. 33, T42N, R8E) and a smaller, shallower depression near the mouth of Tyler Creek (Sec. 11, T41N, R8E). There are two likely origins for these features. First, the depressions may be extensions of bedrock valleys. In this case, the valley segments that would connect the depressions with the main valleys are not discernible with the available data. Second, the depressions may be attributed to sinkholes. This choice, however, seems less likely because the underlying bedrock units include thin-to-absent Silurian dolomite formations and the Maquoketa and Galena Groups (Curry 2007c). Large sinkholes have been mapped in Chicago and Joliet where near-surface Silurian dolomite is more than 100 feet thick (e.g., Bushbach et al. 1982). On the Elgin Quadrangle, the elevations of the base of the aforementioned depressions are 625 and 645 feet above mean sea level, respectively, about 25 feet below the upper surface of the shaly Maquoketa Group. Whatever their origin, the orientation and location of the depressions or valleys are likely influenced by the density and orientation of joints and other discontinuities in the bedrock (Foote 1982, Bauer et al. 1988).
Mapping Methods
Bedrock surface elevations were interpreted from the logs of stratigraphic, water-well, and engineering test borings that penetrate the bedrock surface and from observations in quarries (Curry 2007a). Bedrock surface elevation data from a one-township-wide buffer around the Elgin Quadrangle were included in the calculation but are not shown on the map. Each bedrock surface elevation was calculated by subtracting the total thickness of unconsolidated materials penetrated by a well from the ground surface elevation. The surface elevations of water wells were estimated from a digital surface created from a digital elevation model (DEM) of Kane County (Kane County Regional Planning Commission 2001) using EarthVision® software (Dynamic Graphics Inc. 1997). The elevations of the DEM occur on a 32.8-foot (10-m) grid with an accuracy of ±2 feet. The surface elevations of most structural borings are recorded on the logs available at the Geologic Records Unit at the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS). These elevations were determined by normal surveying procedures carried out by private consulting companies. The elevations of most borings from the Cook County portion of the Elgin Quadrangle are from engineering borings; the surface elevations of water wells in Cook County were estimated from a regional 30-m DEM with an accuracy of ±5 feet (http://data.geocomm.com/catalog/US/ 61071/3112/group1-3.html). The inverse distance weighted algorithm in ESRI’s ArcGIS 9.0 was used to grid the data at 10-m spacings. The final contours of the bedrock topography were placed so that all data were honored using digitally generated contours as a guide.
The quality of much of the data used to compile this map is excellent, although the data points are not evenly distributed. Of the 349 data points used to make this map, 55 were of especially high quality because they were described by engineers and geologists. The remaining 294 records were from logs supplied by water-well drillers, including 71 with sample sets examined by ISGS geologists. Sample sets consist of washed cuttings collected by the well driller at 5-foot intervals and at each significant change in lithology. The reliability of data derived from water-well logs was verified, in part, by similar bedrock surface elevations in residential subdivisions where the density of available data is great. The locations of all data points were verified in the field by consulting engineers, hydrologists, or ISGS staff.
References
Bauer, R.A., J.P. Kempton, B.B. Curry, W.G. Dixon, Jr., A.M. Graese, M.J. Hasek, R.C. Vaiden, P.J. Conroy, P.A. Dickson, E.M. Cikanek, and M.P. Bruen, 1988, Geotechnical summary to the proposal to site the Superconducting Super Collider in Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey, 48 p.
Buschbach, T.C., R.T. Cyrier, and G.E. Heim, 1982, Geology and deep tunnels in Chicago, in R.F. Legget, ed., Geology under cities, Reviews in engineering geology: Geological Society of America, p. 41–54.
Curry, B.B., 2007a, Data point locations of Elgin Quadrangle, Kane and Cook Counties, Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois Geological Quadrangle Map, IGQ Elgin-DP, 1:24,000.
Curry, B.B., 2007b, Drift thickness of Elgin Quadrangle, Kane and Cook Counties, Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois Geological Quadrangle Map, IGQ Elgin-DT, 1:24,000.
Curry, B.B., 2007c, Surficial geology of Elgin Quadrangle, Kane and Cook Counties, Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois Geological Quadrangle Map, IGQ Elgin-SG, 1:24,000.
Curry, B.B., D.A. Grimley, and J.A. Stravers, 1999, Quaternary geology, geomorphology, and climatic history of Kane County, Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey, Guidebook 28, 40 p.
Curry, B.B., and P.R. Seaber, 1990, Hydrogeology of shallow groundwater resources, Kane County, Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey, Contract/Grant Report 1990-1, 37 p.
Dey, W.S., A.M. Davis, B.B. Curry, and J.C. Sieving, 2004, Preliminary bedrock geology map, Kane County, Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois Preliminary Geologic Map, IPGM Kane-BG, 1:100,000.
Dynamic Graphics Inc., 1997, EarthVision® , User’s guide 5.0: Alameda, California, Dynamic Graphics, Inc., v. 1.
Foote, G.R., 1982, Fracture analysis in northeastern Illinois and northern Indiana: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, master’s thesis, 192 p.
Herzog, B.L., B.J. Stiff, C.A. Chenoweth, K.L. Warner, J.B. Sieverling, and C. Avery, 1994, Buried bedrock surface of Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois Map 5, 1:500,000.
Kane County Regional Planning Commission, Development Department, 2001, Topography map of Kane County, 2-foot contours, digital data from Tim Meischer.
Vaiden, R.C., and B.B. Curry, 1990, Bedrock topography of Kane County, Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey, Open File Series 1990-2b, 1:62,500.
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