[CPEO-MEF] "Geophysicists take on ordnance plant cleanup"

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Geophysicists take on ordnance plant cleanup 
By PAUL BRINKMANN 
http://www.herald-review.com/0/clean0126-1.html

Herald & Review Staff Writer 

ILLIOPOLIS, Ill. (January 26) -- Geophysicists Ji Ma and James Cox are walking
about 246 miles this winter, up and down remote cornfields in search of World
War II remnants. 

Using oddly shaped metal detectors, the two men have been hired by the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers in the ongoing effort to locate and remove debris pits
at the old Sangamon Ordnance Plant, a former ammunition facto ry east of
Illiopolis. 

"Yes, it's been very cold, but the frozen ground is easier to walk on than
muddy ground," said Ma, an employee of IT Corp. of Knoxville, Tenn. 

Cox's metal detector consists of a bright orange metal cage he wears around his
body. A backpack unit projects electromagnetic waves into the soil; the metal
cage picks up and records the rebounding waves. 

On Thursday, the two men combed an area just southwest of the Illiopolis exit
off Interstate 72, where ammunition parts were burned more than 50 years ago. 

continued...
http://www.herald-review.com/0/clean0126-1.html

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