Survey of the Thelen Sand & Gravel Pits C. Stohr, T. Kemmis, A. Stumpf, and J. Thomason with apologies to B. Shilts, B. Curry, M. Barnhardt, and S. Brown

Written for the 2008 Midwest Friends of the Pleistocene Meeting

Sung to the tune of The Wreck of Ol 97

Shilts gave them his orders at Champaign-Urbana He said “Guys we’re way behind the times. We need geologic maps of northeastern Illinois, And we need them in great detail.”

Barnhardt said, “There’s no exposures ‘cept for the Thelen sand & gravel pits How d’we get this in a 3-D model If we don’t know beds, elevations and picks?”

Kemmis turned to his tired engineering geologist and said, “We can use a lithofacies code To describe six sections with efficiency And survey each bed with high accuracy.”

Curry mapped it as kame terrace Unique in the Midwest, Brown said it’s like in Wisconsin An ice-frontal delta with tapering foresets.

Well, there’s a lot of gravel in McHenry County At the surface and underground Is it Hager, Beverly or Wasco Stumpf said, “We just don’t know.”

Stohr said, “The sand was unconfined A large landslide not the Fox Lake moraine Distinguished by cascading scarps, ponds, and hummocks.” Thomason rolled his eyes and complained.

So, all you gravel grabbers and geologists Wherever you may wait Describe and survey those sections for the 3-D models Reporting coordinates with datum, precision and date.