image for Brown, Steven E

Brown, Steven E

Deputy Director (ISGS) & Facilities Planning (PRI)
Principal Research Scientist

Address and Contact Information

Natural Resources Building
Room 129
615 E Peabody Dr
Champaign, IL  61820

Education

  • M.S. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
  • A.B. Albion College, Albion, Michigan

Research Biography

Professional Certifications

  • Indiana Licensed Professional Geologist #1736
  • Illinois Licensed Professional Geologist #196.001206

Research Interests

  • Glacial geology and geomorphology of glacial landforms and landscapes
  • Glacial sequence stratigraphy and deposition systems
  • Geologic mapping
  • Borehole geophysics applied to unconsolidated sediments

Current Projects

  • Measuring, monitoring, and mapping Lake Michigan shoreline and nearshore lake-bottom change

Recent Press

“Lake Michigan Water Levels Have Always Ebbed And Flowed”, February 5, 2020, WBBM Chicago News Radio 780 AM & 105.9 FM podcast interview by Cisco Cotto, https://www.radio.com/wbbm780/articles/lake-michigan-water-levels-have-always-ebbed-and-flowed

“High Lake Michigan water levels pose public safety concerns”, January 14, 2020, The Daily Northwestern, Northwestern University newspaper article by Emma Edmund, https://dailynorthwestern.com/2020/01/14/city/high-lake-michigan-water-levels-pose-public-safety-concerns/

Presenter in the television episode “America’s Ice Age” of the How the Earth Was Made series, The History Channel.  Produced by Pioneer Productions for the Arts and Entertainment Network.  Air date: Feb. 16, 2010

Selected Publications

Book Chapters
Berg, R.C., Brown, S.E., Thomason, J.F., Hasenmueller, N.R., Letsinger, S.L., Kincare, K.A., Esch, J.M., Kehew, A.E., Thorleifson, L.H., Kozlowski, A.L., Bird, B.C., Pavey, R.R., Bajc, A.F., Burt, A.K., Fleeger, G.M., and Carson, E.C. (2016). A multiagency and multijurisdictional approach to mapping the glacial deposits of the Great Lakes region in three dimensions. In G.R. Wessel and J.K. Greenberg (Eds.), Geoscience for the Public Good and Global Development: Toward a Sustainable Future. Geological Society of America Special Paper 520.  doi:10.1130/2016.2520(37)
 

Taylor, S.J., Phillips, A.C., Post, S.L., and Brown, S.E. (2009). An Overview of Illinois’ Geological History and Landscape:  in Canaries in the Catbird Seat: The Past, Present, and Future of Biological Resources in a Changing Environment,  C. A. Taylor, J.B. Taft and C. E. Warwick (eds.), Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, p.  7-23.

Geological Survey Series

Brown, S.E., Thomason, J.F., Berg, R.C., & Caron, O. (2019). Illinois State Geological Survey: three-dimensional geological mapping and modelling in Illinois, USA; Chapter 14 in 2019 Synopsis of Current Three-Dimensional Geological Mapping and Modelling in Geological Survey Organizations, K.E. MacCormack, R.C. Berg, H. Kessler, H.A.J. Russell, and L.H. Thorleifson (ed.), Alberta Energy Regulator / Alberta Geological Survey, AER/AGS Special Report 112, p. 138–158.

Arihood, L.D., Lampe, D.C., Bayless, E.R., and Brown, S.E. (2019). Comparison of groundwater-model construction methods, representations of glacial geology, model designs, and groundwater-model flow simulations within Elkhart County, Indiana: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2019–5088, 44 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20195088

Brown, S.E., Thomason, J.F., & Mwakanyamale, K.E. (2018). The future of science of the Mahomet aquifer. Champaign, Illinois State Geological Survey, Circular 594, 25 p.

Brown, S.E. (2013). Three-dimensional geologic mapping of Lake County, Illinois: No small task. In H. Thorleifson, R.C. Berg, &  H. Russell (Eds.), Three-Dimensional Geological Mapping Workshop Extended Abstracts, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Denver, Colorado – October 26, 2013, Minnesota Geological Survey Open-File Report OFR-13-2, 84 p.

Magazine Articles
Brown, S.E., Luman, D.E., and Shilts, W.W. (2012). Great Lakes States’ Lakes:  An Ice Age Legacy. LakeLine Magazine. North American Lake Management Society. Winter 2012. Vol. 32, No.4, p.17-28.
 
Journal Articles
Mwakanyamale, K.E., Brown S.E., & Theuerkauf, E.J. (In Press). Delineating spatial distribution and thickness of unconsolidated sand along the southwest Lake Michigan shoreline using TEM and ERT geophysical methods, Journal of Great Lakes Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2020.08.002
 

Curry, B.B, Hajic, E., Befus, K., Clark, J. Carrell, J., and Brown, S.E. (2014). The Kankakee Torrent and other large meltwater flooding events during the last deglaciation, Illinois, USA, Quaternary Science Reviews Vol. 90, p. 22–36.

Geologic Maps
Barnhardt, M.L., Stumpf, A.J., Thomason, J.F., and  Brown, S.E. (2012). Surficial Geology of Lake County, Illinois and adjoining areas: Illinois State Geological Survey, USGS-STATEMAP contract report, 2 sheets, 1:62,500.
 

Brown, S.E., and Thompson, T.A. (2005). Geologic map of glacial and post-glacial deposits, northern Lake County, Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Miscellaneous Map 71, 1:40,000-scale geologic map.

Brown, S.E. (2003). Glacial geology of the South Bend Area, Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Open-file Study 03-15, 1:80,000-scale geologic map.

Field Trip Guidebooks
Stone, B.D., Kincare, K.A., O'Leary, D.W., Lundstrom, S.C., Taylor, E.M., Brown, S.E. (2003). Glacial and postglacial geology of the Berrien County region of Michigan: 49th Midwest Friends of the Pleistocene Field Conference Guidebook, 70 p.
 

Koelpin, R.U., Brown, S.E., Graves, B., Johnson, P.A., Hansell, R., Barr, R.C., Wright, D.L, and Duncan, R.T. (2000). Glacial, hydrological, engineering, and other environmental perspectives in the Indianapolis area: North Central GSA 34th annual meeting, April 4-7, Indianapolis, Post-meeting field trip guidebook, 36 p., 4 plates.

Brown, S.E., Fisher, T.G., Kehew, A.E., and Taylor, L.D. (1999) Pleistocene geology of north-central Indiana and south-central Michigan, guidebook for the 45th Midwest Friends of the Pleistocene Field Conference: Indiana Geological Survey Open-file Study 99-1, 77 p.

Abstracts with Presentations
Brown, S E. (2013). Three-dimensional geologic mapping of Lake County, Illinois: no small task: in Thorleifson, Harvey, Berg, Richard C. and  Russell, Hazen, Three-Dimensional Geological Mapping Workshop Extended Abstracts, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting Denver, Colorado – October 26, 2013, Minnesota Geological Survey Open-File Report OFR-13-2, 84 p.
 

Brown, S.E. (2013). From Start To Finish: Three-Dimensional Geologic Maps And Models of Lake County, Illinois.  47th Annual Meeting of the North Central Section of the Geological Society of America, 2-3 May 2013, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Abstracts with Programs Vol. 45, No. 4, p. 18.

Brown, S.E., Thomason, J.F., and Barnhardt, M.L. (2011). Recognition of Lacustrine Sequences in Northeast Illinois and their Implications for Interpretations of Fluctuations of the Lake Michigan Lobe Margin: Have We Overlooked Allostratigraphy?; Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 43, No. 5, p.176, 2011 Annual Meeting, 9-12 October 2011, Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

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