Emma Gray
Editor
On Saturday, May 5, Parkland’s geology instructors and the Science Club invited students to join them on a free field trip to Starved Rock State Park and Matthiessen State Park.
The group was led by Julie Angel, an associate professor of earth science, Mindy Tidrick, a part-time science instructor, and Kena Chapman, the chemistry lab manager.
In total, around 30 students participated in the field trip, fitting into two of Parkland’s miniature passenger buses and a few cars following behind.
While hiking through the trails, Angel, Tidrick, and Chapman pointed out various kinds of plants and flowers that were coming into bloom to students. Angel spoke to students about how the sandstone of the parks had originally been laid down over millions of years. Tidrick then spoke to students about how the sandstone was slowly worn away by the rivers and glacial ice melting. She explained how scientists can look at the pattern in the rock to tell how fast the currents were that wore away at the rock.
Students explored the rock formations and tried to find small fossils in the rocks.
Tidrick and Angel also explained that the sandstone found in the Starved Rock area is special because of how pure it is. Many areas in the park have what is called St. Peter Sandstone, a very pure form of sandstone which is poorly cemented together, making it easy to crumble. In many places it looked like instead of being in a rocky valley, the group was inside a giant sand castle. As explained by Tidrick and Angel, the stone in the upper state of Illinois has been mined for a long time with some towns like Galena, Ill. being named for the minerals which are mined there.
After learning about the geological history of the area, the group climbed to the top of Starved Rock to learn about the legend of how Starved Rock got its name. According to the legend, Starved Rock was named for a group of Illinois Native Americans which were starved out after one of their own stabbed Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa tribe.
After going to Starved Rock, the group headed to Matthiessen State Park. There, the group hiked down to the lower dells where there was a waterfall and small pool of water that students could wade in.
According to Tidrick, this is the latest in the season that the group has gone to Starved Rock and the busiest they’ve seen the park.
Some students on the trip went for extra credit in their classes but others went just for fun.
