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Research about Illinois

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Illinois.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources
USGS1979

Chemical analyses of surface water in Illinois, 1975-77--Volume III, Ohio River tributaries and Mississippi River tributaries south of Illinois River basin

Samples of surface water were collected and analyzed by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. The results from water years 1975 to 1977 are presented in three volumes. The history of sampling and analytical methods used during that period are summarized. Stream discharge data from records of the U.S. Geological Survey are included for all sites where samples were collected at gaging stations or near enough that reliable discharge estimates could be made. Volume III includes Ohio River tributaries and Mississippi River tributaries south of Illinois River basin.

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USGS1979

Effects of urbanization on the magnitude and frequency of floods in northeastern Illinois

Changes in land use associated with urbanization have increased flood-peak discharges in northeastern Illinois by factors up to 3.2. Techniques are presented for estimating the magnitude and frequency of floods in the urban environment of northeastern Illinois, and for estimating probable changes in flood characteristics that may be expected to accompany progressive urbanization. Suggestions also are offered for estimating the effects of urbanization on flood characteristics in areas other than northeastern Illinois. Three variables, drainage area, channel slope, and percent imperviousness (an urbanization factor), are used to estimate flood magnitudes for frequencies ranging from 2 to 500 years. Multiple regression analyses were used to relate flood-discharge data to the above watershed characteristics for 103 gaged watersheds. These watersheds ranged in drainage area from 0.07 to 630 square miles, in channel slope from 1.1 to 115 feet per mile, and in imperviousness from 1 to 39 percent.

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USGS1978

Chemical analyses of surface water in Illinois, 1958–74—Volume I, Des Plaines River basin and Lake Michigan

Samples of surface water were collected and analyzed by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and its predecessor, the Stream Pollution Control Bureau of the Illinois Department of Public Health. The results for the period 1958 to 1974 are presented in tabular form and the history of sampling and analytical methods are summarized. Stream discharge data from records of the U.S. Geological Survey are included for all sites where samples were collected at gaging stations or near enough that reliable discharge estimates could be made. The report is contained in three volumes. This volume (Volume I) includes Des Plaines River basin and Lake Michigan. (See also W78-10035 and W78-10036).

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USGS1978

Chemical analyses of surface water in Illinois, 1958–74—Volume II, Illinois River basin and Mississippi River tributaries north of Illinois River basin

Samples of surface water were collected and analyzed by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and its predecessor, the Stream Pollution Control Bureau of the Illinois Department of Public Health. The results for the period 1958 to 1974 are presented in tabular form and the history of sampling and analytical methods are included for all sites where samples were collected at gaging stations or near enough that reliable discharge estimates could be made. The report is contained in three volumes. This volume (Volume II) includes Illinois River basin and Mississippi River tributaries north of Illinois River basin. (See also W78-10034 and W78-10036)

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USGS1978

Chemical analyses of surface water in Illinois, 1958–74—Volume III, Ohio River tributaries and Mississippi River tributaries south of the Illinois River basin

Samples of surface water were collected and analyzed by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and its predecessor, the Stream Pollution Control Bureau of the Illinois Department of Public Health. The results for the period 1958 to 1974 are presented in tabular form and the history of sampling and analytical methods are summarized. Stream discharge data from records of the U.S. Geological Survey are included for all sites where saples were collected at gaging stations or near enough that reliable discharge estimates could be made. The report is contained in three volumes. This volume (Volume III) includes Ohio River tributaries and Mississippi River tributaries south of Illinois River basin. (See also W78-10034 and W78-10035)

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USGS1978

Water quality in the Sugar Creek basin, Bloomington and Normal, Illinois

Sugar Creek, within the twin cities of Bloomington and Normal, Illinois, has differences in water quantity and quality as a result of urban runoff and overflows from combined sewers. Water-quality data from five primary and eight secondary locations showed three basic types of responses to climatic and hydrologic stresses. Stream temperatures and concentrations of dissolved oxygen, ammonia nitrogen, total phosphorus, biochemical oxygen demand, and fecal bacteria showed seasonal variations. Conductivity (dis­solved solids), pH, chloride, and suspended solids concentrations varied more closely with stream discharges. Total organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, biochemical oxygen demand, and fecal coliform and fecal strep­tococcal bacteria concentrations exhibited variations indicative of initial flushing action during storm runoff. Selected analyses for herbicides, insecticides, and other complex organic compounds in solution and in bed material showed that these constituents were coming from sources other than the municipal sanitary treatment plant effluent. Analyses for 10 common metals: arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, manganese, mer­cury, nickel, and zinc showed changes in concentrations below the municipal sanitary plant outfall.

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USGS1977

Sediment transport to the Fox Chain of Lakes, Illinois

Two main tributaries to the Fox Chain of Lakes, the Fox River and Nippersink Creek, were sampled twice weekly and during periods of high runoff to determine the amount of suspended inorganic sediment being transported into the Chain of Lakes. Sediment yields were determined by using the transport-duration technique. It is estimated that 34,100 tons of suspended sediment are transported to the Lakes annually. Of this, 16,100 tons were from the Fox River and 14,400 tons from Nippersink Creek. Based on drainage-area ratios, it is estimated that the additional 3,600 tons were from Squaw Creek, a minor tributary. Assuming a density of 50 lbs/ft 3 , it would take an average of 200 years to deposit 1 foot of sediment throughout the entire Chain of Lakes.

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USGS1977

Frequency analysis of Illinois floods using observed and synthetic streamflow records

Equations, applicable Statewide, for estimating flood magnitudes having recurrence intervals ranging from 2 to 500 years for unregulated rural streams, with drainage areas ranging from 9.02 to 10,000 square miles (0.05 to 25,900 sqiiare kilometers), were derived by multiple regression an. A rainfall-runoff model was used in the synthesis of long-term annual peak data for each of 54 small watersheds (drainage areas less than 10.2 nii2, 26.4 km 2). Synthetic freqeency curves generated from five long-term precipitation stations were combined into one synthetic curve and then this synthetic curve was combined with the observed station frequency curve to derae the station frequency curve. Synthetic data from the 54 small streams, observed data at 33 small streams, and observed data at 154 large streams were used in the analyses. The most significant independent variables in the regression analysis for estimating flood peaks on Illinois streams were drainage area, slope, rainfall intensity, and an areal factor.

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USGS1977

Technique for estimating magnitude and frequency of floods in Illinois

A technique is presented for estimating flood magnitudes at recurrence intervals ranging from 2 to 500 years, for unregulated rural streams in Illinois, with drainage areas ranging from 0.02 to 10,000 square miles. Multiple regression analyses, using streamflow data from 241 sampling sites, were used to define the flood-frequency relationships. The independent variables drainage area, slope, rainfall intensity, and an areal factor are used in the estimating equations to determine flood peaks. Examples are given to demonstrate a step-by-step procedure in computing a 100-year flood for a site on an ungaged stream and a site on a gaged stream in Illinois. The report is oriented toward planners and designers of engineering projects such as highways, bridges, culverts, flood-control structures, and drainage systems, and toward planners responsible for planning flood-plain use and establishing flood-insurance rates.

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USGS1975

Drainage areas for Illinois streams

Drainage areas were tabulated for all streams in Illinois which drain over 100 square miles. at sites where streamflow data have been collected, and at other selected locations. Areas were planimetered on U.S. Geological Survey topographic quadrangle maps and balanced to known areas taken from Smithsonian Geographical Tables of areas of quadrilaterals of the earth's surface (procedures and standards recommended by Subcommittee on Hydrology, Federal Inter-Agency River Basin Committee). Streams are tabulated in sequence; first, the Ohio River basin, followed by the St. Lawrence River basin, and finally, the Mississippi River basin. Streams are listed in downstream order, starting at the headwaters; the rank of the stream system within each basin is indicated by indention. At sites where streamflow data had been collected, previously assigned U.S. Geological Survey eight-digit numbers are used. These numbers, which describe unique sites, increase in downstream order. All locations are identified by reference to a town, land-line location, topo­graphic quadrangle, and county at the point where the drainage area was determined. An alphabetical index is provided.

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USGS1970

Age determination of raccoons

Age criteria, based on 61 skulls and eye lenses from 103 known-age captives, are described for separating raccoons ( Procyon lotor ) into eight age-classes as follows: young-of-the-year, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-7, > 7 years. Criteria studied were eye lens nitrogen, cranial suture closure, tooth wear and incisor cementum layers. Lens nitrogen increased rapidly up to 12 months of age, but at much reduced rate thereafter. Total lens nitrogen was useful only in separating young-of-the-year from adults. The closure sequence for five cranial sutures accurately divided the total known-age sample of males into seven groups, and the adults into five groups. The tooth wear criteria divided the known-age sample into five relative age groups, but aging of individuals by this method was inaccurate. Histological sectioning of known-age teeth was the best method of observing layering in the cementum tissue. The technique of basing estimation of age on cementum ring counts, although subjective, was accurate for aging individuals through their fourth year but tended to underestimate the age of animals over 4 years old. However, suture closure or tooth wear can be used to identify males over 4 years old. In field studies, technical difficulties limit the utility of age estimation by cementum layers. Maximum root thickness of the lower canine was accurate in determining the sex of individuals from 5 months to at least 48 months of age.

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USGS1967

The petrography of some Illinois Pleistocene and recent sands

Some Recent and Pleistocene sands of Illinois and the nearby Missouri River were separated into three groups by petrographic characteristics that reflect source material. The sands derived largely or entirely from the glacial material of Illinois and the upper Mississippi, Wabash, and Lake Michigan drainage basins contain types of feldspars and rock fragments that indicate derivation from the Precambrian metamorphic rocks of the Canadian Shield. The sands of the Ohio River at the southern boundary of Illinois contain relatively large amounts of polycrystalline quartz and nonfeldspathic rock fragments that may have been derived from Paleozoic sedimentary rocks largely of Appalachian derivation, from glacial drift of the eastern states, or from both sources. A significant portion of the Missouri River sands and the Mississippi River sands below the mouth of the Missouri River consists of feldspars and rock fragments derived from the Cretaceous and Tertiary igneous rocks of the western United States. The volcanic rock fragments are especially indicative of a western source. Petrographic characteristics of 23 samples of these sands were determined. The sources of the sands were interpreted principally from their rock fragments and light minerals, especially the feldspars, taking into account the variation in composition with changing grain size. Much of the plagioclase was untwinned, but certain varietal features proved useful in its identification.

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USGS1965

Artifact from deposits of mid-Wisconsin age in Illinois

Discovery of an artifact of human manufacture imbedded in Roxana loess, classed as Altonian substage of the Wisconsin stage of the Pleistocene, of an age of 35,000 to 40,000 years, contributes to the determination of the age of man in the New World.

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