WKU Geologists Lead Field
Conference At Middlesboro
September 26, 2003
Bowling Green, Ky. - The Kentucky Society of Professional Geologists designated Middlesboro as a distinguished geological site at the group's annual Field Conference.
The conference focused on evidence that the three-mile wide, bowl-shaped basin that holds Middlesboro was formed by an ancient meteorite impact. Dr. Ken Kuehn, University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geography and Geology, and Keith Milam, a 1997 WKU geology alumnus, led the Sept. 18-20 conference.
"This is a very significant area for geologists," Dr. Kuehn said, "and with this recognition by the Society, the public will begin to appreciate it, too."
Middlesboro is the third Kentucky site to be awarded the distinguished geological designation since KSPG began the program in 1998. The others are Pound Gap and Camp Nelson.
Milam, a doctoral candidate in geology at University of Tennessee-Knoxville, noted several other facts about Middlesboro. "Although the impact structure itself is primary, we also should consider its relation to the famous Cumberland Gap, and the history of coal and iron mining in the region. The city founders intended Middlesboro to literally become a 'Pittsburgh of the South,'" he said.
"This is definitely a place where geology has had a profound influence on the path of human history and regional economic development. If it wasn't for the geologic fault that helped form Cumberland Gap, Daniel Boone would have just kept on heading south," Dr. Kuehn said.
Milam noted that he first heard about the Middlesboro impact structure several years ago while a student in Dr. Kuehn's structural geology class. "He intrigued me with it back then, and we've just continued to work collaboratively on it ever since I left Western to attend graduate school."
Middlesboro Mayor Ben Hickman accepted a plaque on the city's behalf during the formal dedication ceremony Sept. 19. Other state and local officials and more than 60 geologists representing every region of Kentucky attended the ceremony.
For more information, contact Dr. Ken Kuehn at (270) 745-3082 or Kenneth.kuehn@wku.edu. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
