Karst Information for Jo Daviess County

Identification and Characterization of Karst Terrane in Illinois' Unglaciated Region: Results of LiDAR Imagery and Ground Penetrating Radar in Jo Daviess County, Northwestern Illinois

In 2007, the owners/representatives of Tradition Dairy of California selected two sites in eastern Jo Daviess County near Nora, IL to build two dairies that would each house about 5000 dairy cattle per site. The geologists and engineers hired by the dairy conducted studies on each site in accordance with Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) regulations and, based on IDOA's site-characterization methods guidelines, found the site to be suitable for the facility. The geologists and engineers retained by the dairy, using methodologies promulgated by the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPCB), found no evidence of karst on the sites in spite of the fact that the area had been mapped as karst by ISGS geologists. Consequently, the dairy owners concluded that those requirements for construction of such a facility in karst terrane were unnecessary.

During the application and site characterization phase, the Illinois State Geological Survey was asked by the Jo Daviess County Board and the Illinois Attorney General's Office to examine the geology and hydrogeology of the area. Below are links to the report, appendices, and two of the figures from the report.

Note: the files are in PDF format and the sizes are listed behind the links.

Report (25.8Mb)

Appendix A (29Mb) - LiDAR shaded relief map of eastern JoDaviess County showing the Tradition Dairy South site, lineaments, springs and study locations.

Appendix B (23Mb) - Mapping Crevice Karst Aquifers in Jo Daviess County, Illinois Using 2008 LiDAR Elevation Data

Appendix C (2Mb) - Preliminary Water Table Map of the Mega-Dairy Sites Near Nora, IL

Appendix D (100Mb) - Photomosaic of a road cut located on Route 78 just southeast of the Wisconsin boarder, Jo Daviess County, showing karst features.

Appendix E (45Mb) - Photomosaic of a road cut located just east of Elizabeth, IL along Route 20 in Jo Daviess County showing karst features.

Figure 2 (4Mb) - LiDAR based maps showing areas examined in this investigation lineament traces int he vicinity of the Tradition Dairy South site.

Figure 12 (5Mb) - Close-up of the stream mentioned in Figure 11 showing mapped lineaments intersecting a stream channel and abrupt changes in the channel in the vicinity of the lineaments.

Updated 09/04/2009 SLD