The first circular for the meeting and call for abstracts will be mailed in early January. For additional information, contact Bob Regis at (906) 227-1176 or Dept. of Geography and Earth Science, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI 49855, or Ted Bornhorst at (906) 487-2721 or tjbornho@mtu.edu, Dept. of Geological Engineering and Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931.

Report on the 44th Annual Meeting

Submitted by Jim Miller and Mark Jirsa, Co-chairs 1998 ILSG

The 44th Annual Meeting of the Institute on Lake Superior Geology was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 6-10, 1998. The meeting was sponsored by the Minnesota Geological Survey and was held at the Holiday Inn on the West Bank of the University of Minnesota campus. By most measures, the meeting was a great success. We saw a considerable jump in attendance this year to 200 participants, compared with recent average attendance on the order of 125. Fifty-six participants were first-time attendees to the ISLG; split about equally between students and related fields people—that is, those involved in Quaternary, Paleozoic, environmental, and engineering geology that are not traditional topics of the Institute. We attribute some of this increase simply to the metropolitan location of the meeting and our fairly aggressive appeal to the local geoscience community. To attract local and more broadly based interest, we broke somewhat with tradition by conducting a special half-day session overviewing the geology of the Lake Superior region. To make the meeting even more attractive to new-comers, we offered a first-day-only registration at a reduced rate for those interested in attending just the special overview session; however, few took advantage of the offer.

The special overview session consisted of six 30 minute talks that outlined current ideas and new research directions on the main geologic provinces of the Lake Superior region. Presentations were given by Ken Card (Archean), Dick Ojakangas (Early Proterzoic), Bill Cannon (Middle Proterozoic), Tony Runkel (Paleozoic), Carrie Patterson (Quaternary), and Dave Southwick (New directions in Lake Superior geology). The talks were well presented and well received; comments from the participants were overwhelmingly favorable. The general sessions included 23 oral presentations covering not only the typical fare of Precambrian topics, but also included several talks on groundwater sensitivity. In addition, 24 poster presentation were on display during the course of the meeting. The banquet speaker was Dr. Bevan French of the Smithsonian Institution, who gave an excellent talk on the role of meteorite impacts on the geologic history of earth and other planets. At the banquet, Zell Peterman of the USGS was awarded the Goldich.

Medal for his important geochronologic and geologic studies of Precambrian geology in the Lake Superior region. Another highlight of the meeting for 40 participants was a night of baseball at the Metrodome where we joined in to heartily jeer the Bronx Bonehead, Chuck Knoblauch.

This meeting also broke the mold a bit by offering five field excursions that covered a similarly wide breadth of geology as was presented in the special overview session. Although the emphasis remained with Precambrian geology, trips highlighting the Paleozoic and Quaternary geology of central and southern Minnesota were also included. Three pre-meeting field trips were run on Wednesday, May 6th and dealt with 1) the Early Proterozoic geology of east-central Minnesota led by Terry Boerboom, Mark Jirsa, and Daniel Holm (26 participants); 2) the Keweenawan geology of the Taylor's Falls area led by Karl Wirth, Bill Cordua, Bill Kean, Mike Middleton, and Zach Naiman (46 participants); and 3) Glacial exotica of the Twin Cites area led by Howard Hobbs, Alan Knaeble and Gary Meyer (21 participants). Two post-meeting trips included a one-day trip on the Paleozoic stratigraphy and sedimentology of southeastern Minnesota led by Tony Runkel and Bob Tipping (11 participants), and a two-day excursion investigating the Quaternary and Archean geology of the Minnesota River Valley led by Carrie Patterson and David Southwick (33 participants). The MRV bus driver was glad when that trip was over!

The meeting was also a financial success; that is, if your measure of success is to at least break even (which has been the traditionally held view). We actually turned a small profit. Although registration was more costly than we had hoped, the cost was unavoidable given the metropolitan location. Part of the registration we all pay is applied to encouraging student participation in the Institute by granting awards for student travel and best student papers. Eight travel awards totalling $750, and two best paper awards of $150 each were granted. Best paper awards went to Kathleen Abbott for her undergraduate work on geochemistry and petrography of Keweenawan Chengwatana volcanic rocks, and to Dean Peterson for his graduate presentation on GIS-based mineral potential analyses. Congratulations to you both!

We hope that with the success of the 1998 meeting, the ILGS took an important step toward achieving the goal of expanding its reach, both in terms of the range of geological topics and the background of participants. While we may not be able to repeat the attendance success of this meeting as we move to the more typically remote conference sites, future organizers and those of us who are long-time participants should do all we can to actively promote the ILSG to the broadest possible audience. If we had to pinpoint one reason for the success of the 1998 meeting, it would be our relentless promotion of the meeting to local geoscience organizations, colleges, and individuals. For our part, we will encourage Twin Cities geoscientists to continue their involvement, now that they have been exposed to what the ILSG has to offer.

We wish to thank to all of the presenters, in particular the special session speakers who wrote extended abstracts that will serve as summaries of their fields for some years to come. This institute was built on its tradition of fine field trips, and this year's trips maintained that tradition nicely, thanks to efforts of the leaders. Acknowledgment is also due to the session chairs, the best student paper award committee, the local planning committee, and the ILSG board members for making our jobs much easier by doing theirs well. A special thanks to Terry Boerboom for his flawless organization of the field trips and guidebook, and to Lori Day, the meeting coordinator, for doing anything and everything necessary. Finally we want to thank our director of the Minnesota Geological Survey, David Southwick, for giving us the freeboard and staff time needed to pull the meeting together.

See you all next spring in Marquette.

From the Secretary-Treasurer

Submitted by Mark Jirsa, Secretary-Treasurer ILSG

The 1998 meeting in Minneapolis provided a wonderful opportunity to broaden the focus of the Institute; it brought together a wide variety of scientists, and in the process produced a small net income of several hundred dollars. I speak with some authority when I say that projecting costs for such a meeting is hair-raising (or loosing, as the case may be), and there is no small amount of relief associated with the realization that the last bill for the meeting has been paid and we're still in the black! The Institute's unspoken objective to at least break even was taken quite seriously by this years organizing committee. It was a balancing act to hold down participant's costs in this metropolitan location on the one hand; yet provide the services expected and have money left for awards on the other. We are pleased that the organizing committee managed to award a fairly large amount of money overall to students this year in the form of travel and best paper awards, coming in part from modest investments of the Institute's general fund, and partly from meeting registrations (and T-shirt sales didn't hurt either!). In summary, the Institute's net worth, at just over $30,000 US, increased about $6000 between May 1997 and May 1998, due to a combination of investment dividends and interest (50% of the increase), sales of archived volumes (40%), and annual meeting income (10%). The Goldich medal account now stands at $3350 and increasing at the rate of $1 per meeting participant per year. If you would like additional details about the financial holdings of ILSG, or have investment or award suggestions, please contact me.

Some Michigan Mineral Highlights-1998

Submitted by Milton A. Gere, Jr., Minerals Lease Management Section, Real Estate Division, Department of Natural Resources, Lansing, Michigan phone 517-335-3249 fax 517-335-3264; e-mail gerem@state.mi.us

Legislation

Metallic Mineral Rights - Private ownership of severed metallic mineral rights may be affected by Act 154, Public Acts of 1997. The December 1997 Act shortens the time between recordings of severed metallic mineral rights under the merchantable record title to twenty years. Severed metallic mineral rights not recorded would revert to the surface owner of record. Those with unrecorded severed metallic mineral rights were given a three-year window in which to record them. The deadline is December 22, 2000.

Oil and Gas Mineral Rights - Some State-owned severed oil and gas mineral rights will be affected by Act 117, P.A. 1998. The Act provides for conditions whereby certain State-owned severed oil and gas rights may be acquired by private surface owners to unify ownership. Areas of current State leases, expected or known oil and gas production and Department of Natural Resources projects are not included. Guidelines are still being developed.

Mining

Iron - The Tilden and Empire Mines, both located in Marquette County and operated by Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company continue to produce large quantities of iron ore pellets. Several varieties of pellets are shipped by train and lake freighter to iron producers in the U.S. and Canada.

Copper - The Caledonia Mine located in Ontonagon County and operated by Red Metal Minerals is Michigan's only copper producer. The mine supplies limited quantities of copper and related mineral specimens to collectors and museums worldwide.

Salt - The Detroit Salt Company, L.C., began mining rock salt at depth in the Detroit area in 1998. The mine had been idle since the previous owner, International Salt, halted operations a number of years ago.

Limestone/Dolomite - A number of quarries throughout the State produce limestone and dolomite for aggregate, fluxstone, cement manufacture and other uses. Oglebay Norton Company bought Specialty Minerals, Inc.'s Port Inland operations in Schoolcraft and Mackinac Counties. It now is known as Global Stone Port Inland, Inc. One small quarry in Schoolcraft County, operated by Inwood Stone Products, produces dimension stone for building construction.

Other Nonmetallic Minerals - Gypsum, shale, sand and gravel, lime, brine and miscellaneous stone production continues in various parts of the State.

Exploration

Metal exploration - Three companies reportedly continue very limited scale exploration projects for base and precious metals.

Exploration drilling - The Geological Survey Division (GSD) of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) reported no exploration drilling was performed under the Mineral Well Act as of late 1998. They also reported receiving large quantities of core donated to their Geological Core and Sample Repository at Marquette. Contact Bill Swenor, 906-228-6561, for sample inventory and visiting information.

Mineral Resource Inventories and Related Studies

Dimension Stone Resources - Field investigations of quarry potential for stone resources are being conducted by H. James Bourque and Associates of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. This Michigan Jobs Commission funded project is a continuation of an inventory and testing of potential building stone resources started years ago by Michigan Technological University. Several building stone producers have visited some of the potential quarry sites in 1998.

Abandoned Mine Inventory - The Statewide Abandoned Underground Mine Inventory Project (AUMI) is scheduled for completion by the end of 1998. Nearly 800 mines with about 2000 shafts and openings have been inventoried, field reviewed and site evaluated for public safety needs. The project contractor is Dr. Allan M. Johnson, Department of Mining Engineering, Michigan Tech University. The contract was funded by the State of Michigan and administered by the Real Estate Division (RED) of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Cooperation of the various County Mine Inspectors has been valuable to the completion of the project.

Bats in Mines - The 1998 Michigan conference was held in Houghton in August. The meeting was sponsored by Bat Conservation International and others. Representatives of State, Local and Federal Agencies, Universities and other organizations discussed bat cage mine closure techniques and needs. Some of Michigan's many abandoned underground mines are now home to many thousands of bats, which are valuable to insect control, etc. Proper bat cage structures at mine openings would provide both public safety and allow bats to continue living and hibernating in selected abandoned mines.

Leasing of State Owned Mineral Lands

Leasing - The State owns approximately 5.4 million acres of mineral rights and 25 million acres of Great Lakes bottomlands. State-owned mineral lands leasing is managed by the Minerals Lease Management Section, MLMS, of the RED/DNR. The MLMS divided its operations into three units in 1998. The Units are the Oil and Gas Leasing Unit; Metallic and Nonmetallic Minerals and Underground Gas Storage Leasing Unit; and the Revenue Verification Unit.

Oil and Gas - About 411 leases were issued and many lease assignments were processed in 1998. About 790,00 acres are under lease in this program.

Metallic Minerals - Three Direct Leases were issued and 17 were terminated. Over 11,000 acres are under lease in this program.

Nonmetallic Minerals - One Salt Lease and one Salt Rights Sale were processed. Finalization is expected in early 1999. Also, a special variation of the lease document was developed for Construction Sand, Gravel, Cobbles, Boulders and Clay. The new document is intended for use on select large, continuously used State sand and gravel pits to give long term responsibility to a specific operator. This will replace a few of the annual permits, which adapt themselves best to smaller, less used pits. Nearly 300 acres are under lease in this program.

Underground Gas Storage - One small lease addition to an existing storage field was in the data collection stage in 1998. Almost 11,000 acres are under lease in this program.

Revenues - The lease rental, royalty and other dollars collected in 1998 accounted for a mineral income of over $38.5 million. This was derived from leases covering about 785,000 acres of State mineral ownership. The Oil and Gas Leasing program generates most of the income. The bulk of the income is deposited in the Natural Resources Trust Fund account and is used for recreational land purchases and projects by State and Local Units of Government.

Aeromagnetic Studies by the USGS

Map and Caption Submitted by Susanne Nicholson, U.S. Geological Survey

As part of a multiyear effort to improve geophysical coverage in Wisconsin, aeromagnetic surveys have been flown by the USGS during each of the last three years. These surveys have been flown using a flight-line spacing of 1/2 mile at an altitude of 1000 feet. Much of the data is already available in traditional USGS Open-file reports (OFR 98-228; OFR 98-431 through 439), as noted on the figure. Digital versions of the data are forthcoming and will be published as digital open-file reports through the USGS.

An aeromagnetic survey is currently being conducted over the southern third of Wisconsin and the data should become available in 1999. These new data, when combined with the large block of aeromagnetic data flown by John Karl and numerous industry datasets that are publically available, will provide for the first time a compilation of aeromagnetic data with flight-line spacing of 1/2 mile or better for the entire state of Wisconsin.

Eisenbrey Student Travel Awards

Submitted by Mark Jirsa, Secretary-Treasurer ILSG

The traditional Student Travel Awards is now prefixed by "Eisenbrey." This name change was adopted by the 1998 Board of Directors to serve several purposes. In 1996, the Institute published a compendium of papers dealing with VMS deposits in Wisconsin (ILSG Proceeding Volume 42, Part 2), dedicated to Edward H. Eisenbrey. "Ned" Eisenbrey is considered one of the fathers of the study and exploration of Wisconsin and other VMS deposits. Much of the printing cost for that volume was paid by contributions to the Institute in honor of Ned (1926-1985). Some contributors proposed that a fund be established with income derived from sales of the volume to encourage students to participate in the study of Lake Superior geology and its mineral deposits. The Institute has such a fund and a program to administer it, the Student Travel Awards, and the Board surmised that the addition of investment income from the VMS moneys could substantially increase individual awards. To that end, the Student Travel Award Fund is now the "Eisenbrey Student Travel Award Fund", which derives income from all investments of the ILSG.

Hint to Students...

Submitted by Mark Jirsa, Secretary-Treasurer ILSG

You may have noticed from the secretary-treasurer's report in this newsletter that the ILSG is fairly flush with capital, which could work to your direct monetary advantage. This might be a good time to prepare a presentation (or for now, at least a title) of your research and submit an application for Eisenbrey Student Travel and Best Student Paper Awards. Nearly all topics of georesearch will be considered, and those students presenting and co-authoring papers receive favored status in the travel award category. The process is not particularly onerous, and in past years most students received some compensation for their efforts. Travel awards vary from a waiver of meeting registration fees, to defraying most of the student's travel costs. A Best Student Paper Award gets you as much as several hundred dollars! Qualification guidelines can be found within the "boiler-plate" of any recent ILSG Proceedings Volume, or contact the 1999 meeting chair, Ted Bornhorst (also the newsletter editor) at the Department of Geological Engineering and Sciences, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295 (906) 487-2721, tjbornho@mtu.edu

Whether you apply for these awards or not, we welcome and look forward to your participation in the ILSG!

Proceedings Volumes

Submitted by Mark Jirsa, Secretary-Treasurer ILSG

A reminder that proceedings volumes and field trip guidebooks from previous years of the ILSG can be purchased from the secretary-treasurer at nominal cost, typically about $5 per part plus shipping and handling. Stock is limited to the temporal range between Volumes 33 (1987 Wawa) and 44 (1998 Minneapolis), and not all parts of all volumes are still available.

The most recent, Volume 44, consists of the following parts:

Part I--Program and Abstracts

Contains 53 abstracts, including the 6 expanded abstracts of the special session entitled "Geological Overview of the Lake Superior Region." A note to teachers and researchers: most of the expanded abstracts have extensive reference lists.

Part II--Field Trip Guidebook

Field trips include:

1. Early Proterozoic intrusive rocks of east-central Minnesota (quarries and more)

2. Geology of the southeastern portion of the Midcontinent Rift System, eastern & Minnesota and western Wisconsin

3. Glacial exotica of the Twin Cities area

4. Stratigraphy and hydrogeology of Paleozoic rocks in southeastern Minnesota

5. Minnesota River Valley and vicinity, southwestern Minnesota (Archean gneiss and Quaternary stratigraphy)

Volume 44 can be acquired for $10 US each part, plus $2 US each part for shipping and handling ($24 US for the set). Checks payable to "ILSG" are accepted as prepayment, or you can contact me by one of the methods described below, and I'll bill you.

Direct orders and inquiries to Mark Jirsa, ILSG secretary-treasurer: 2642 University Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55114-1057, email: jirsa001@maroon.tc.umn.edu, phone (612) 627-4780 extension #208, or fax (612) 627-4778. Photo copies of older volumes back to 1955 can be purchased at the prevailing copying cost from the Institute's primary archivist MTU Archives and CCHC, J. Robert Van Pelt Library, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931 (phone 906/487-2505; fax 906/487-2357).

ILSG T-Shirts

Some of those beautiful ILSG T-shirts left from this year's meeting. Imagine how nice you or your significant others will look in their new ILSG T-shirts! Ten bucks (US) buys one, including the postage. Sizes available include XL-S, no XXL's, sorry. Contact the secretary-treasurer via methods listed elsewhere in this newsletter.