Purdue News
Purdue NewsDrilling will not cause any permanent environmental damage, said Jon Harbor, associate professor in Purdue's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
In a joint venture between the parks department and Purdue, researchers will drill a core to the bottom of the bog. They then will use radiocarbon measurements to date preserved plant and animal remains found in the core. Celery Bog Fund money also will pay a doctoral student to help the researchers analyze the core.
"This core will provide us with fossil plant material from the recent past all the way back to the first days of the marsh, perhaps as early as 14,000 years ago," said Anthony Swinehart, project co-director and curator of the Arthur and Kriebel Herbaria at Purdue. "Students will sift through core sections, pulling out plant and animal remains preserved in the peat. The Purdue herbarium is the second largest plant collection in Indiana, and it will be an invaluable resource to help identify the fossils.
"Working on a project like this is a rare opportunity for students."
West Lafayette then can use the information unearthed by faculty and students as a blueprint for replanting the wetland areas that had been drained and farmed during the first part of this century. Emigrants from northern Holland grew celery, onions, carrots, tomatoes, green beans, potatoes, peas and cabbage for more than 80 area grocers, until farmers abandoned the bog area in the 1960s.
"We would like to restore the wetland to its historical condition," said Joe Payne, West Lafayette Parks and Recreation superintendent. "And this work also will provide important information that can be used in the planned Celery Bog Nature Center."
A preserved section of the core will be displayed at the nature center, along with exhibits describing the environmental history of the marsh.
"There is a popular misconception that Celery Bog has only been a wetland for about 30 years, since the end of agriculture at the site," said Harbor, who co-directs the project with Swinehart. "This project should provide new information on the environmental history of Tippecanoe County since the last glaciation and should enhance understanding that the wetland has been in place for many thousands of years."
When work starts Oct. 29, a small, all-terrain coring vehicle will roll to the center of the bog. The drilling crew will carefully poke a 4-inch diameter coring pipe nearly 40 feet down to the bottom of the marsh. The core they bring up will be turned over to Harbor and Swinehart, who will oversee the research.
The researchers expect to find a good record of past plant life because bog soils are generally oxygen-free and preserve plant material from bacterial breakdown, Swinehart said. Plant remains that sit long enough on bog soils are replaced by minerals and become true fossils. However, Swinehart expects to find plant material from Celery Bog in a state he classifies as "subfossil," plant or animal material that's on its way to becoming a fossil, but which isn't yet mineralized.
After each bit has been analyzed and cataloged, Swinehart will add it to a growing
collection of subfossils in the Kriebel Herbarium. Then future Purdue students and
scientists studying ancient flora and fauna can use the Celery Bog samples as they
research other sites.
CONTACTS: Swinehart, (765) 494-4623; e-mail, swinehart@btny.purdue.edu; Harbor, (765)
494-9610; e-mail, jharbor@geo.purdue.edu; Payne, (765) 775-5110
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
