RECENT STUDIES IN APPLIED GEOLOGY, A CONTINUING STORY, TIPPECANOE COUNTY, NORTHWEST INDIANA

Tippecanoe County, Indiana, home of Purdue University, is a convenient location for field studies in applied geology for students and faculty. Undergraduate research projects of a short duration, master’s studies and continuing field investigations by faculty members are facilitated by the close vicinity of the field sites. Over the years, the author has had numerous opportunities to be involved in this work. Studies have included ground water supply problems where shallow siltstone bedrock prevails, the ancestral Wabash River channel location, wetlands associated with agricultural farming, fields with drainage tiles versus those in undrained areas, environmental concerns along the Wabash River floodway, siting of a new sanitary landfill and environmental concerns for existing ones, gravel deposits in glacial terrain , soil erosion from residential construction yielding sediment transport and deposition, consideration of the Lafayette dam and reservoir proposed by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, right of way concerns for highway relocation, expansion of university ownership into a former gravel pit property, eminent domain issues with local government and Purdue University, evaluation of the geology and terrain at the Battle of Tippecanoe, November 1811 and age dating of gravel deposits in the Wea Outwash Plain. A brief summary of these projects will be presented with emphasis on the influence of geology and topography of Tippecanoe County.