2021 Year in Review

Director’s Message

The Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey (WGNHS) had another successful year in 2021. We began the year working remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but restrictions started to ease during the spring as vaccinations became available and Covid infections declined. By July we were transitioning back to working in the office, and for a few short weeks, life seemed almost normal, with in-person meetings, group lunches, and visiting in the hallways. Then, however, new Covid variants emerged and infections rose once more. Following UW–Madison and Dane County policies, we continued wearing masks indoors, returned to near-100% virtual meetings, and allowed more remote work, and this situation continued through the end of 2021. Nevertheless, our hard-working staff continued field work, research, report and map preparation, and outreach, and we accomplished a great deal.

So far, the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on Wisconsin’s economy have not been as bad as originally feared, and the Survey’s base funding has remained intact, although staff members had to take several furlough days early in 2021. As in 2020, WGNHS again increased its outside grant and contract funding versus prior years. Grants awarded from the US Geological Survey (USGS) STATEMAP and Data Preservation programs increased, and the Survey received continued funding from the US Forest Service Good Neighbor Program, the National Groundwater Monitoring Program, and the Wisconsin Groundwater Joint Solicitation, among others.

The Survey’s new interactive Projects map gives easy-to-find highlights of current and recent WGNHS projects. A glance at the interactive map shows that our projects spanned the state from Kenosha to Bayfield and from Grant County to Door County.

I have been particularly proud of the way our staff has worked together and with our stakeholders to address pressing problems that cross disciplines. A great example of this is Depth-to-Bedrock Mapping in Wisconsin, a staff-generated project released last year as a report. This project involved WGNHS hydrogeologists, geologists, and GIS experts together with stakeholders from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP), the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and UW–Green Bay to develop “best methods” for determining the thickness of unlithified materials above bedrock. Depth to bedrock has proven to be a key control on groundwater susceptibility to contamination in eastern Wisconsin and recent DATCP depth to bedrock standards specify depth to bedrock as one of several manure management criteria, making reliable maps of bedrock depth essential to management decisions.

WGNHS staff regularly share their work widely through internal and external publications. See the listing at the end of this document for our 2021 publications.

Thank you for your continued support of WGNHS’s work. Please take a few minutes to review the highlights of our work in 2021 below, and explore our website and interactive Projects map for more information. Also, please consider supporting WGNHS by donating here.

Ken Bradbury, Director and State Geologist

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2021 Highlights

Groundwater Studies

Wisconsin Groundwater–Level Monitoring Network. WGNHS made significant progress in improving the Wisconsin Groundwater-Level Monitoring Network thanks to continued support from the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Groundwater Monitoring Network program. Working in close coordination with our Network partners at the USGS Upper Midwest Water Science Center and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, WGNHS staff (Mike Parsen, Sarah Bremmer, Pete Chase, and others) evaluated and repaired old wells. They also worked with well drillers to replace failing wells and drill new monitoring wells across the state. Wells drilled in Dane, Milwaukee, Outagamie, Rock, Vernon, and Waushara counties targeted specific aquifers of interest and are an important upgrade to the Network. WGNHS also revamped our webpage dedicated to the Network and released a short video produced by Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Arsenic in Groundwater. WGNHS geologist Eric Stewart and colleagues published research showing a relationship between arsenic detection in groundwater and proximity to bedrock folds in the Beaver Dam area of Dodge County. The statistical approach they used is encouraging because it can not only be used to assess variables impacting arsenic detection, but can also be used to model the impact of well construction strategies that could reduce arsenic risk. This research was also featured in a news story on UW–Madison’s website.

Southwest Wisconsin hydrogeology. In partnership with the USDA, USGS, and county staff, WGNHS continued to participate in the Southwest Wisconsin Groundwater and Geology (SWIGG) study, which is sampling private wells in three southwestern counties (Iowa, Lafayette, and Grant) for agricultural contaminants and pathogens in groundwater. This study has fostered additional new research by WGNHS scientists Maureen Muldoon and Eric Carson to understand local hydrostratigraphy and better define and map the Rountree Formation, a shallow unlithified unit that covers parts of the region.

Bayfield County Groundwater. The thick sands in the central Bayfield uplands comprise an important groundwater recharge area, but the remote location and a water table more than 200 ft below land surface pose challenges to studying the local hydrogeology. In 2021, we continued to monitor two groundwater wells installed in the Bayfield County uplands in order to better understand regional groundwater flow there.

Hydrogeology of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF). WGNHS continued several groundwater studies in the CNNF. These include studying groundwater recharge in the sandy uplands portion of the Bayfield Peninsula and characterizing groundwater-surface water interactions of recently flooded seepage lakes near Drummond, WI, and, as mentioned above, studying groundwater recharge in the sandy uplands portion of the Bayfield Peninsula. We also began a project along the North Fork of the Yellow River in Taylor County to improve understanding of the local hydrogeology and to document baseline water chemistry. Over the course of the year, the project team (Anna Fehling, Grace Graham, Pete Chase, and Dave Hart) made regular visits to this area to sample water, monitor water levels, and collect other varied hydrologic and geophysical measurements. In the fall, WGNHS sampled a combination of more than 150 lakes, streams, springs, and campground wells throughout the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. This work contributes an updated reference point for establishing long-term records and for identifying trends of water quality conditions within the National Forest.

Neonicotinoids in groundwater and surface water. WGNHS scientists Mike Parsen and Billy Fitzpatrick continued to investigate the relationships between local landscape, neonicotinoid concentrations, and groundwater-surface water within the Central Sands Region of Wisconsin. The main objective of the research, supported by funding through DATCP in partnership with the UW–Madison Entomology Group, is to improve our understanding of the temporal and spatial dynamics of agricultural insecticides in groundwater and streams. In doing so, we seek to help inform decisions regarding insecticide applications and reduce the potential harm to local ecosystems. In a related study, postdoc Carla Romano is compiling nitrate and neonicotinoid data from across the Central Sands as part of a project to assist groundwater quality protection in this vulnerable region.

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Geologic Studies

Mapping depth to bedrock. As described in the Director’s Message above, WGNHS scientists worked with DNR, DATCP, NRCS, and UW–Green Bay officials to develop and release new guidance for depth–to–bedrock mapping in the state. An exciting offshoot of this project was the acquisition and interpretation of airborne electromagnetic (AEM) geophysical data over large parts of eastern Wisconsin. This work utilizes a helicopter-towed geophysical array to cover large land areas rapidly. Based on its success in eastern Wisconsin, WGNHS and partners are conducting a similar survey in southwest Wisconsin in 2022. Dave Hart is supervising the Survey’s work on this project, and geologist Lisa Haas is assisting with interpreting and providing ground truth for the data acquired.

Participation in the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP). Like many state geological surveys, WGNHS proposes projects to and receives annual funding from multiple programs within the USGS NCGMP. The most important of these programs, STATEMAP, funds much of the Survey’s basic geologic mapping, while a related program, the Great Lakes Mapping Coalition, funds investigations of Quaternary geology across the Great Lakes states. Proposals for these funding sources are annually reviewed by the Wisconsin Geological Mapping Advisory Committee (WGMAC), which consists of more than twenty senior representatives from industry, government, academia, and NGOs across Wisconsin. In 2021 the WGMAC approved and the Survey proposed ten projects ranging from basic bedrock mapping in Lafayette County to digital conversion of recent bedrock and Quaternary maps. A third USGS NCGMP program is the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative, which has a goal to identify areas that may contain undiscovered critical minerals that would decrease reliance on foreign sources. WGNHS proposed a project that includes mapping in Grant and Iowa counties, a region where lead and zinc mining happened until the 1970s. Federal funding awarded to the WGNHS through the NCGMP was about $600K in 2021 and required a 1:1 match with funding from the WGNHS budget.

Participation in the National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program (NGGDPP). The WGNHS participates annually in the NGGDPP, which provides funding to retrieve, preserve, protect, and catalog geologic collections, including physical samples, datasets, photographs, field notes, and other records. During 2021 WGNHS personnel (Carsyn Ames, Brad Gottschalk, and student workers) preserved and cataloged more than 30 boxes of rock samples, powders, field notes, and theses from 20th-century geologists who worked in Wisconsin. These materials are stored in the Survey’s repository in Mount Horeb, WI, and are now available for reference and study by scientists, students, and the public.

Bedrock Mapping. The Survey published new 1:100,000 scale bedrock geology and depth-to bedrock mapping in Dodge County and initiated new mapping in neighboring Jefferson County, all authored by Esther Stewart and colleagues. These maps provide an updated understanding of the distribution of different rock types and a foundation for developing new studies into the relationship between buried bedrock units and groundwater contaminants like arsenic. In Dodge County, fold geometry and preferential sulfide mineralization along fold limbs are similar to that observed in the Upper Mississippi Valley Lead-Zinc District, suggesting similar controls on deformation and mineralization for southwestern and southeastern Wisconsin. Eric Stewart also continued work on new 1:100,000 scale bedrock mapping in Grant County in southwestern Wisconsin and initiated bedrock mapping in parts of neighboring Lafayette County.

WGNHS geologists Esther Stewart and Eric Stewart published two new 1:24,000 scale maps of the surface and subsurface Precambrian geology of the western and east-central Baraboo Hills in Sauk County. This continues the work of constraining the location of several newly identified and previously recognized folds and faults, suggesting minor Paleozoic reactivation of Precambrian structures. This and previous mapping have allowed WGNHS scientists to publish work that characterizes ancient fluvial, eolian, and tide-influenced settings that existed more than a billion years ago when the rocks were being deposited along an ancient coastline. They also present age constraints on these units that confirm at least part of the Precambrian stratigraphy is less than 1 billion 630 million years old.

Under the direction of Eric Stewart and Steve Mauel, the Survey worked to compile a 1:250,000 scale geologic map database covering seven counties in southwest Wisconsin. This work integrates previous county-scale mapping with subsurface data from well construction reports and has involved extensive field outcrop checking by geologists Sarah Bremmer, Bill Batten, and Carsyn Ames.

Quaternary and Surficial Mapping. Eric Carson and colleagues completed an 8-year project mapping the surficial geology of the entire Lower Wisconsin River Valley. The resulting 1:100,000 scale maps and accompanying report, which are in preparation for publication, will provide new insight into the nature and distribution of unconsolidated sediments at the earth’s surface throughout this portion of Wisconsin’s unglaciated “Driftless Area.” In addition to producing new maps, this project is providing important insights into the history and reorganization of mid-continent rivers and the chronology of the Green Bay Lobe of the last major glaciation. Quaternary geologist Kacie Stolzman spent many days in the field in support of these projects, directing shallow Geoprobe coring of Quaternary materials and then describing the cores in the Survey’s Mount Horeb sample repository.

Under the guidance of J. Elmo Rawling III, the Survey also completed new 1:100,000 scale Quaternary mapping in Oneida and western Waushara counties and progressed on mapping in Jefferson County. In addition, Rawling continued new Quaternary mapping in Bayfield County.

A new statewide surficial materials map of Wisconsin has been greatly needed for years, and in 2021 the Survey began an exciting project of developing such a map at the 1:500,000 scale. Geologists Eric Carson and J. Elmo Rawling III are directing this project that includes a who’s-who of experienced Quaternary geologists (J. Attig, M. Johnson, D. Mickelson, W. Mode, and K. Syverson) who have contributed to past WGNHS projects. We expect to release the completed digital map during 2022.

Using grants from the Great Lakes Mapping Coalition and directed by J. Elmo Rawling III, the Survey has been able to conduct deep rotosonic coring at critical Quaternary sites across Wisconsin. Rotosonic technology can acquire soft sediment and rock cores from hundreds of feet below the surface in relatively short times. This work has produced new deep data sets from the Driftless Area, the West Baraboo Basin, and McMillan Marsh in Bayfield County.

WGNHS scientist Ian Orland is collaborating with students and faculty in the UW–Madison Department of Geoscience to reconstruct paleoclimate using speleothems (cave formations). This work centers on the collection, geochemical analysis, and interpretation of past regional climate from a suite of speleothems that grew in Cave of the Mounds, the National Natural Landmark site in Blue Mounds, WI, and has supported a PhD dissertation and professional publications.

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Other Major Accomplishments

WGNHS geotechnician Pete Chase used the Survey’s borehole geophysical tools to evaluate and document lithology and aquifer conditions in 34 wells in 2021. The information is used by WGNHS geologists in mapping projects but is also used by regulators, consultants, and well drillers to design supply wells and troubleshoot underperforming municipal wells.

In 2021, the WGNHS publications team (Ian Orland, Linda Deith, Pete Schoephoester, Caroline Rose, Nick Rompa, and Steve Mauel) prepared and released 12 new publications, including 6 geologic maps (see publications list below).

WGNHS staff (Jady Carmichael, Sushmita Lotlikar) and students produced a new interactive story map describing important Wisconsin rocks and minerals. This web application takes viewers on a virtual tour of our state’s rocks and minerals. It’s packed with beautiful photographs and short introductions to each type of included rock or mineral, as well as a variety of fun facts. This team also supported our website and social media with regular widely-viewed posts.

We released an improved web-based interactive Projects map, allowing rapid access to all current and recent past WGNHS projects and filterable by researcher, location, or year. GIS specialist Nick Rompa and administrator Jill Pongetti led the effort to implement the map’s structure and assemble its contents, which were created by the rest of the WGNHS staff.

The Survey continually works to maintain and disseminate information, including publications, digital data sets, well construction reports, geologic and geophysical logs, and a variety of other data. Irene Lippelt made continual improvements to our subsurface databases; Amber Boudreau laid out and updated geophysical logs; and Dave Sibley maintained and upgraded our publications database and server. Sibley also updated our interactive Data Viewer to include data on over 2,300 rock core sites.

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WGNHS people during 2021

Staff

During 2021, WGNHS employed 37 professional staff. Long-time Editor Linda Deith retired after over a decade of service to the Survey. Linda masterfully steered dozens of our reports, maps, fact sheets, lesson plans, and other content from their drafts to the polished final versions you see in our publications catalog and on our website. Hydrogeologist Anna Fehling left the Survey for a position with the Wisconsin DNR. Several new hires during the year include Nick Rompa (GIS), Billy Fitzpatrick and Lisa Haas (Geoscientists), and Dave Sibley (Web Development).

Students

In 2021, WGNHS employed 14 student workers who assisted WGNHS staff with a wide variety of tasks.

WGMAC Members

The WGNHS Geologic Mapping Advisory Committee (WGMAC) is a group that advises WGNHS on local, regional, and statewide geological mapping needs for Wisconsin. WGMAC meets annually to review and approve mapping plans that WGNHS then proposes to grant programs within the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program.

WGNHS Staff Publications of 2021

Journal articles

• Borchardt, M. A., Stokdyk, J. P., Kieke, B. A., Muldoon, M. A., Spencer, S. K., Firnstahl, A. D., et al. (2021). Sources and Risk Factors for Nitrate and Microbial Contamination of Private Household Wells in the Fractured Dolomite Aquifer of Northeastern Wisconsin. Environmental Health Perspectives, 129(6), 067004. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7813
• Bradbury, K. R., Hauxwell, J., & Zhuikov, M. (2022). The Wisconsin Groundwater Coordinating Council: 37 Years of State Agency Cooperation. Groundwater, 60(1), 2–3. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwat.13141
• Burch, T. R., Stokdyk, J. P., Spencer, S. K., Kieke, B. A., Firnstahl, A. D., Muldoon, M. A., & Borchardt, M. A. (2021). Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment for Contaminated Private Wells in the Fractured Dolomite Aquifer of Kewaunee County, Wisconsin. Environmental Health Perspectives, 129(6), 067003. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7815
• Christenson, C., Hart, D. J., Cardiff, M., Richmond, S., & Fratta, D. (2022). Developing Data‐Rich Video of Surface Water–Groundwater Interactions for Public Engagement. Groundwater, gwat.13165. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwat.13165
• Cui, H., Kitajima, K., Orland, I. J., Xiao, S., Baele, J.-M., Kaufman, A. J., et al. (2021). Deposition or diagenesis? Probing the Ediacaran Shuram excursion in South China by SIMS. Global and Planetary Change, 206, 103591. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2021.103591
• Farfan, G. A., Zhou, C., Valley, J. W., & Orland, I. J. (2021). Coupling Mineralogy and Oxygen Isotopes to Seasonal Environmental Shifts Recorded in Modern Freshwater Pearl Nacre From Kentucky Lake. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 22(12). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GC009995
• Medaris, L. G., Singer, B. S., Jicha, B. R., Malone, D. H., Schwartz, J. J., Stewart, E. K., et al. (2021). Early Mesoproterozoic evolution of midcontinental Laurentia: Defining the geon 14 Baraboo orogeny. Geoscience Frontiers, 12(5), 101174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2021.101174
• Moss, D. K., Surge, D., Zettler, M. L., Orland, I. J., Burnette, A., & Fancher, A. (2021). Age and growth of Astarte borealis (Bivalvia) from the southwestern Baltic Sea using secondary ion mass spectrometry. Marine Biology, 168(8), 133. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-03935-7
• Roland, C. J., Zoet, L. K., Rawling, J. E., & Cardiff, M. (2021). Seasonality in cold coast bluff erosion processes. Geomorphology, 374, 107520. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107520
• Stewart, E. D., Stewart, E. K., Bradbury, K. R., & Fitzpatrick, W. (2021). Correlating Bedrock Folds to Higher Rates of Arsenic Detection in Groundwater, Southeast Wisconsin, USA. Groundwater, 59(6), 829–838. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwat.13102
• Stewart, E. K., Brengman, L. A., & Stewart, E. D. (2021). Revised Provenance, Depositional Environment, and Maximum Depositional Age for the Baraboo (<​ca. 1714 Ma) and Dake (<​ca. 1630 Ma) Quartzites, Baraboo Hills, Wisconsin. The Journal of Geology, 129(1), 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1086/713687
• Swanson, S. K., & Graham, G. E. (2022). Spring flux as an indicator of source geomorphology, substrata, and temperature conditions in springs. Hydrogeology Journal, 30(1), 221–229. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-021-02412-1
• Zoet, L. K., Rawling, J. E., Woodard, J. B., Barrette, N., & Mickelson, D. M. (2021). Factors that contribute to the elongation of drumlins beneath the Green Bay Lobe, Laurentide Ice Sheet. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 46(13), 2540–2550. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5192

Maps

• Hooyer, T. S., Mode, W. N., & Clayton, L. (2021). Quaternary Geology of Columbia, Green Lake, and Marquette Counties, Wisconsin (Bulletin No. B114) (pp. 1–38). Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. Includes map at 1:100,000 scale. https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/catalog/publication/000980/resource/b114
• Mode, W. N., Hooyer, T. S., & Rawling III, J. E. (2021). Quaternary Geology of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin (Bulletin No. B114) (pp. 1–19). Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. Includes map at 1:100,000 scale. https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/catalog/publication/000984
• Stewart, E. D., Stewart, E. K., & Piotrewski, N. (2021). Geologic Map of the Rock Springs 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Sauk County, Wisconsin. Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. Includes map at 1:24,000 scale. https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/catalog/publication/000977
• Stewart, E. K. (2021). Bedrock Geology of Dodge County, Wisconsin. Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. Includes map at 1:100,000 scale plus data. https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/catalog/publication/000975
• Stewart, E. K. (2021). Depth-to-Bedrock Map of Dodge County, Wisconsin (Open-File Report No. WOFR2021-03) (pp. 1–13). Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. Includes map at 1:100,000 scale. https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/catalog/publication/000981
• Stewart, E. K., & Stewart, E. D. (2021). Geologic Map of the Baraboo 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Sauk County, Wisconsin. Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. Includes map at 1:24,000 scale. https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/catalog/publication/000978

Reports

• Brown, B. A. (2021). Florence Iron Mine: Historical Maps Showing Location of Surface Development, Regional Setting, and Underground Workings (Open-File Report No. WOFR2018-03) (pp. 1–5). Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. Includes 21 plates. https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/catalog/publication/000979
• Fehling, A. C., & Hart, D. J. (2021). Potential Effects of Climate Change on Stream Temperature in the Marengo River Headwaters (Bulletin No. B115) (pp. 1–74). Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. Includes 3 plates and 3 datasets. https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/catalog/publication/000976
• Gotkowitz, M. B. (2021). Applications of the Columbia County, Wisconsin, Groundwater-Flow Model(Open-File Report No. WOFR2021-06) (pp. 1–14). Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/catalog/publication/000986
• Gotkowitz, M. B., Leaf, A. T., & Sellwood, S. M. (2021). Hydrogeology and Simulation of Groundwater Flow in Columbia County, Wisconsin (Bulletin No. B117) (pp. 1–51). Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. Includes 2 datasets. https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/catalog/publication/000985
• Hart, D. J., Mauel, S. W., Luczaj, J. A., & Stewart, E. K. (2021). Depth-to-Bedrock Mapping in Wisconsin (Final report to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources) (Open-File Report No. WOFR2021- 04) (pp. 1–41). Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/catalog/publication/000982
• Minsley, B. J., Bloss, B. B., Hart, D. J., Fitzpatrick, W., Muldoon, M. A., Stewart, E. K., et al. (2022). Airborne electromagnetic and magnetic survey data, northeast Wisconsin. U.S. Geological Survey. https://doi.org/10.5066/P93SY9LI
• Muldoon, M. A., Graham, G. E., Stewart, E. D., & Mauel, S. W. (2021). Supplemental Funding for the Southwest Wisconsin Geology and Groundwater Project (Final Administrative Report to the WI Department of Natural Resources) (pp. 1–38).
• Stewart, E. K. (2021c). Mineral Assessments for Conservation Easements in Wisconsin (Open-File Report No. WOFR2021-05) (pp. 1–16). Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. https://wgnhs.wisc.edu/catalog/publication/000983

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