Wooster Geologists

Guest bloggers: Adam Wood and Arjan Chahal.

College of Wooster Hydrology team at the Airport artesian spring.

On September 8, 2025, the College of Wooster ESCI-28000-01 (Hydro) team visited two artesian wells/springs (Kinney and Wayne County Airport site). Above the group is shown taking notes on the location, the depth to bedrock, and the elevation at well head. An artesian well/spring is an spring in which water is contained within a confined aquifer and emerges from an opening freely under intense pressure. They have been used since the pre-Columbian period, and by early European settlers for accessible water. At the Airport site, tubing was placed over the artesian spring to permit members of the community to draw water into containers. This spring is used heavily by the surrounding community.

Members of the College of Wooster Hydrology team taking sips from the artesian spring.This water was perfectly potable from the source, and members of the Wooster Hydrology team even took a few sips.

Sugar Creek at Airport site.

The stream at the airport site, otherwise known as Sugar Creek (above), is directly recharged by the artesian spring nearby, with water coming down the hill. In the distance, barely visible, is a graveyard, where sand and gravel have been laid down to prevent the stream from reaching it.

GoogleEarthPro satellite view of the Airport Spring (40.87842, -81.89743) site. Field of view ~2 kilometers.

Snapshot taken from an Airplane flying over the College of Wooster Hydrology team at the artesian spring near the Wooster Airport and sugar creek. Courtesy of Neil Edmiston 26′.

Kinney artesian spring encapsulated by shed.  The Kinney artesian spring is situated at the headwaters of Christmas Run. Christmas Run flows into the confluence of both Killbuck and Apple creek. Surrounding the artesian spring is topographically hummocky land (fig. 1b), composed of an overburden of unconsolidated glacial sediment, underlain by a layer of clay. Three tests conducted by Cooper Norwell 27’ recorded temperature for the spring: 14.7^o C (57.2 F), 58^o F, and 59^o F respectively.  Whilst conducting these tests, a tile probe was inserted into the ground to measure the depth to bedrock. The tile probe will not penetrate sand or gravel, thereby indicating bedrock. Before leaving, our group technician, Nick, inserted a transducer which would collect data on the discharge (water level and temperatures) of the spring per hour.

GoogleEarthPro satellite view of Kinney Spring (40.83067, -81.94129) and Christmas Run (40.825014, –81.940587). Field of view ~2 kilometers.

Block diagram illustrations of varying geologic settings for springs.The geologic setting most resembling what the College of Wooster Hydrology team encountered is block “b”, as the underlaying layer under the clay is composed of hard bedrock (low permeability).

Guest Bloggers: Li Winner and Aaron Walters

Dr. Wiles’s 2025 Hydrology class visited Spangler Park this past Monday. The day was sunny and warm. The main objective was to study the geological history and hydrology of the park. Especially with how it relates to its glacial and post glacial past, from around 15,000 to present.

Figure 1: Pointing  a disconformity of the top fluvial sediments and the glacial till. The contact is about where Luke’s thumb is located.

Luke (above) is pointing to a disconformity between the top fluvial alluvium and bottom glacial till. The top layer was mainly brought from land use changes beginning during settlement 200 years ago or previous aggradation of Holocene Alluvium. European settlement in the area caused an increase of erosion and sediment deposition from clear cutting of all of the trees in the area and from mill ponds in the area. The bottom is glacial deposition made up mostly of sand and gravel. This glacial sediment formed during the ice retreat of the last ice age around 15,000 years ago. This sediment is impermeable meaning water has trouble to move through it. During rain events water moves through the permeable top alluvium. The water has to move horizontally once it reaches the impermeable till at the disconformity. This horizontally moving water lubricates the alluvium causing it to move and erode.

Figure 2. Killbuck River flow from 1930-2024. This is the annual flow that reflects the increases in precipitation in the basin.

Erosion from increasing precipitation as shown in the figure above is occurring more often in the park. This is because climate change is increasing precipitation (figure 2). Increased precipitation also increases the strength of the streams around the park leading to more downcutting. Over time in, figure 2, more bedrock will be exposed from this downcutting. The more downcutting that occurs, the more the streams get disconnected from their floodplains, meaning they can’t flood. Flooding is important to slow down and empty the load of the stream. If they can not do this the water stays constrained in the stream leading to even more downcutting and therefore erosion. Ecological effects can also be caused by increased downcutting due to the lowering of the water table. This can dry up ponds and stress plants that rely on water from the water table. Riparian vegetation which helps prevent erosion is especially susceptible to the lowering of the water table.

Figure 5: Shale from the Mississippian period. ~330 million years ago. The fractures in this shale, the dominant bedrock in the area, allow water to infiltrate into groundwater, making this area a recharge area. A recharge area is an area where more water enters into groundwater than leaves the groundwater. Fractures on this particular outcrop were formed and are getting larger as it slowly creeps downhill.

The two photos above depict an outcrop of glacial sediment complex that includes debris flows, fluvial, loess and tills. The area is a buried valley. Around 20,000 years ago, Wooster was covered by the Laurentide ice sheet. Around 15,000 years ago, the ice retreated, carving out this area into a valley. Glaciers drag sediment with them, depositing their glacial till in their wake. The sediment depicted in fig. 5 is brighter than sediments native to Ohio, indicating the sediments were brought here from Canada via glacier. After the glacial till was deposited, a stream formed from leftover glacial lakes made from melted ice and general precipitation. The red line in fig 5b approximates the path the ancient stream took. The sediment below the red line is glacial till, and the sediment above is river deposited alluvium, with young organic rich soil on the very top from the recent vegetation. Also seen above the red line in fig. 5b is an almond shaped hole where sediment has fallen off. A shadow cast makes the weathered area resemble an eye. Figure 5c provides a view of the same area but slightly to the right, highlighting accordion-like vertical patterns on the outcrop. These lines indicate where water seeps out of the outcrop, making this another recharge location.

Figure above shows the highly fractured bedrock: the Wooster shale. Wooster shale formed during the Mississippian, making it around 330 million years old. Wooster shale is a sedimentary rock formed from marine sediments during the ancient ocean that covered modern Ohio during the Mississippian. Its blue color indicates that the conditions when it was formed were anoxic, or low in oxygen. The longer a shale is exposed to oxygen, the more red it turns. Wooster often makes use of this shale, firing it to create a bright red Wooster brick! Shale contains clay minerals in its makeup. When wet, the clay expands, and when dry, the clay shrinks. This process makes shale susceptible to weathering when exposed to changes in hydration, causing it to crumble.

The figure above contains an alluvial fan, which is a fan-shaped flow of poorly sorted sediment. Figure 4a displays the alluvial fan in its natural state, which, to the untrained eye, is hard to see. The red lines highlights the path of the sediment down the fan. As a recharge spot, alluvial fans add water into the groundwater below, supplying the aquifer. An aquifer is a collection of water underground with a permeable layer of sediment on top and a nonpermeable layer below. In this case, the clay-rich sediment and shale bedrock and sediment hold Wooster water, while the alluvium above allows water to drain into the aquifer. Wooster aquifers provide water for many of her people—the rest relying on personal domestic wells, which still come from groundwater, just not the main aquifer. Alluvial fans are such powerful recharge systems that pig farming had to be banned on them in Wooster because the waste drained through the Alluvial fans, contaminating the aquifer.

This is a glacial erratic, a non-native rock that was deposited from a glacier. It was deposited from the Huronian ice age from around 2.2-2.5 billion years ago. These are important to study the range of previous glacial events.

Dr. Lyon and one of her IS students accompanied us to Wooster Memorial Park. Roo (Dr. Lyon’s dog) studied the hydrology diligently with us. Figure on the left shows her sampling the water quality. She fertilizes local flora in middle panel and on the right, Roo uses her canine hearing to pay full attention to the lecture. Roo is a very good hydrologist, and a very, very good girl.

The group at the final stop.

The HYDRO25 Macroinvertebrate team.

Guest bloggers: Phillipp Drappatz and Elliot Miller, the Hydrology class at the College of Wooster performed a macroinvertebrate survey on 8/25/25 on Apple Creek in Wooster. The first lab of the semester was a trip to Grosjean Park in Wooster. The class was joined by and guided by macroinvertebrate expert Carry Elvie from the CFAES who is also the director of the Bug Zoo. Apple Creek unusually for Ohio is a freestone trout stream under the stewardship of the Clear Fork River chapter of Trout Unlimited, which has been performing surveys since 2012. The purpose of this fieldtrip was to add on the current Trout Unlimited record and to gain insight into the health of the stream based on the assemblage of macroinvertebrates.

Students using D-nets and kick nets to sample. Aaron in the foreground takes water temperatures and geochemical measurements. Note in the background the stream has been recently modified in an ogoing stream restoration project.

In the tray above we can see a variety of macroinvertebrates separated into groups. On the top row left to right are caddis fly larvae, another different species of caddis fly larvae and a water penny. On the bottom row left to right are yet again another species of caddis larvae, more caddis larvae, annelid worms/leeches, a mayfly larva, and a different species of mayfly larvae.

Pictured above is a bycatch of small fish including shiners, stoneroller minnows, and mosquito fish. Macroinvertebrates pictured include a crayfish, a snail and a water slider climbing up the side

Carrie gave the group a debrief and we headed back to the lab to summarize the data and write the report.

The upshot of the data is the pollution tolerance index at two sites in Apple Creek shows high water quality. This measure is based on the occurrence of the various species mentioned above. The ratings of the mid 20s is an excellent rating in terms of water quality and we have discussed the possible impact the stream restoration and early fall sampling. Note that there is a decline in the curves above at both sites and this will be closely watched as future surveys are done.

Coring a lake usually involves… a lake. In this case, Dr. Eva Lyon and colleagues from Ohio University are studying Paleolake Buckeye, which probably last had water in the late Pleistocene, over 15 thousand years ago. To study the paleolake, Lyon and colleagues have been collecting sediment cores from what was once the bottom of a lake in eastern West Virginia. In late summer 2024 and 2025, Lyon and Nick Wiesenberg traveled to WV, Livingston corer in tow, to retrieve these cores.

The 2024 campaign, pictured above, was much more successful. Although the stream channel we cored in was dry at the time, a small stream usually trickles through, thoroughly saturating the sediments below our feet. We pulled out over three meters of core, the bottom of which we determined to be over 28,000 years old!

This summer, we tried a different spot, near what we determined to be the middle of the lake, Unfortunately, decades of mowing and cattle grazing, coupled with much less infiltration and saturation made this a much more resistant substrate for coring. We came up empty.

The cores retrieved in 2024 were analyzed this summer by a number of COW undergrad student researchers. Pictured above is Damien Gately operating the magnetic susceptibility probe on the core. This instrument provides an estimate of the relative amounts of iron-bearing minerals in a sample. This measure is often related to grain size, so we can also use it to help us track changes in grain size throughout a core.

There will be much more work to come on this record of late Pleistocene climate and environmental change – stay tuned!

Guest Bloggers – SEAK25: On the third and final day in Angoon, we split into two groups. One climbed Hood Bay Mountain to extract high-elevation mountain hemlock cores, the other kayaked to Turn Point, searching for and coring culturally modified trees (CMTs). 

The CMTs at Turn Point are Sitka Spruce that have distinct scars with hack marks, evidence of previous Tlingit generations harvesting sap and fire starter. These CMTs are of heightened interest because a new hydroelectric power plant is soon to be built, and its road will require the removal of many trees in Turn Point. High school students in Angoon have already worked to preserve the CMTs by creating photogrammetric renderings. This work will prevent the information from there valuable trees, which connect locals to their lineage, from being lost altogether. We hoped to contribute to the effort by extracting cores to investigate their growth and date the scars using tree rings.

A map showing Turn Point in relation to Angoon. Turn Point will be the site of a hydroelectric plant for power generation for Angoon, which is now powered by a diesel generator. 

We embarked on this mission in the morning, leaving from the seaplane dock on kayaks. We had to cross the Stillwater Anchorage inlet and saw a pack of seals and an immature bald eagle on the way.

The crew getting ready for the crossing.

Dexter and Landon crossing the Inlet.

We arrived after thirty minutes of paddling and quickly got to work. Finding the CMTs was rather challenging. Cody and Angel, high schoolers who had worked on the CMTs previously, were a part of the team, and they showed us the location of the CMTs athough we still struggled to trudge through the muddy terrain. We began by extracting five cores from each tree: one in the scar, one above the scar, one on the opposite side from the scar, and one on each side ninety degrees around the tree from the scar. For each tree, we hoped to be able to crossdate the scar core with the other cores, allowing us to obtain its age (the age of the scarring of the trees). Once we started coring, though, we realized that mst of the scar surfaces were too rotted for direct sampling. However, we tried coring next to the scars, and we noticed that roughly at the depth of the scar, the core became extremely sappy – in many cases, so sappy that we could not continue boring. We attribute this to a key spruce defense mechanism – when harmed, the wound is flushed with sap. This worked perfectly to the Tlingit’s advantage, allowing them to easily collect sap, and to ours as well, hopefully allowing us to effectively date the scars without actually coring into them. Essentially, the sap is a proxy for the scar. We adjusted our strategy to take two cores from each CMT, one just to the left of the scar, and one just to the right. By the end of the day, we cored around 15 CMTs.

Cody, Landon, and Dexter extracting cores.

Dr. Wiles extracting a core.

After a long day of coring, we returned to the kayaks and began the journey back across the inlet. This paddle was difficult, as the tide was heartily fighting our strokes. Fortunately, many of us still managed to join the bull kelp club, a distinctive organization constituted of those who have eaten raw bull kelp. It was salty and very slimy.

The extracted cores must dry for a couple of weeks, but will be processed at the Wooster tree ring lab. Upon obtaining dates and results from further analysis, the information will be shared with the Alaska Youth Stewards, contributing to and expanding upon their work with the CMTs.

The work of Keck SEAK25 is funded by the Keck Geology Consortium and the National Science Foundation.

Guest bloggers SEAK2025: We began Day 2 at Angoon High School, learning about student research focused on the preservation of Culturally Modified Trees (CMTs). A CMT is any tree that has been modified by indigenous people for cultural or practical reasons. This often includes bark removal for sap harvesting or building material. The group’s project is rooted at the intersection between culture and mathematics, or ethnomathematics. The team of students worked to preserve a cluster of CMTs on Admiralty Island using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) imaging, creating a digitized 3D model of each CMT. We would later have the opportunity to see CMTs at two different localities on Admiralty Island during our third day in Angoon.

Image: Frank Coenraad (of Chatham School District) orienting everyone with CMT research. Under the direction of Frank, the team of Angoon High students placed first at a regional conference in Juneau. They will compete at the Advancing Indigenous People in STEM (AISES) National Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, held in October 2025.

After an exciting start to our day, we delivered a presentation on the principles and practices of Dendrochronology to Alaska Youth Stewards (AYS) crew members and faculty. The presentation included field and lab methods, data interpretation, and how we each plan on using dendrochronology for further research.

Image: KECK students presenting to AYS crew members and faculty. Angoon High School, Angoon, Alaska.

 Image: AYS crew members getting hands-on experience learning how to properly mount tree cores.

Image: Nick Wiesenberg teaching students how to analyze tree cores under a microscope after they’ve been mounted and sanded.

After the morning presentations, we set out to explore low tide along the coast; the low tides during our stay were especially low. Referred to as negative low tides, these tides occur when the water level drops below the average low tide zone, exposing areas that are typically submerged. Below are some of the critters and settings observed during the course of the negative tide – the AYS group also explained the traditional uses of some of the seaweed.

We concluded our day collaborating with an ongoing project, led by S’eiltin Jamiann Hasselquist, that seeks to restore Tlingit burial sites to their former glory. We focused our efforts on a cemetery off of Killisnoo Rd. south of Angoon proper. A major effort was cleaning up the site and rolling back the moss and roots masses that have grown over the site. The team revealed grave sites that were covered.

The work of Keck SEAK25 is funded by the Keck Geology Consortium and the National Science Foundation.