March 24th, 2025 Mel Reusche, WGNHS Communications and outreach specialist Ridges and valleys, lakes and marshlands, rolling hills and lakeshore cliffs – the landscapes we recognize across Wisconsin are the result of fascinating and complex …
Staff stories
Take note: making observations in the field
Survey geologist Sarah Bremmer stands on the side of the road with a blaze-orange vest and a notebook. She is conducting fieldwork for a new geologic map and is in the process of thoroughly describing …
Community-led PFAS monitoring with Peshtigo, WI
WGNHS Samples Coordinator Carsyn Ames has participated in the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) Thriving Earth Exchange Program as both a Community Science Fellow and a Project Scientist. The role of a Community Science Fellow is to manage projects and facilitate communication between all collaborators. Ames worked with the Town of Peshtigo to sample additional wells in the township for PFAs contamination.
New Director and State Geologist
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Sue Swanson as the next Director and State Geologist at the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. She begins her new role on September 1. She replaces Dr. Ken …
Interim Director and State Geologist announced
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Eric Carson has been appointed Interim Director and State Geologist at WGNHS following the retirement of Dr. Ken Bradbury in July 2022. Eric begins his role as our …
Making samples and data readily accessible
Carsyn Ames is the Samples Coordinator for the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. She joined the Survey in June 2018 after completing her Masters in Geoscience at the University of Iowa. Before that, she …
Pulling together the pieces of the Bayfield County Groundwater Atlas
WGNHS geologist Grace Graham is producing a map of the depth to bedrock in Bayfield County using a passive-seismic geophysical survey to supplement data from well construction reports. The combination of new methods (passive seismic) …
Big Data from Small Streams (and Small Lakes—the 2018 Update)
Dave Hart, a WGNHS hydrogeologist, is designing and implementing a project that is challenging ideas about how much data is enough data. Dave collects data and uses models to understand Wisconsin’s water quantity and quality …
Investigating bluff collapse along Lake Michigan
J. Elmo Rawling III, a WGNHS Quaternary geologist, is working with Dr. Lucas Zoet in UW–Madison’s Department of Geoscience to monitor bluff stability to identify what conditions are likely to lead to slope failure in …
Mapping the Ice Age Deposits of Jefferson County
Libby Ives is a research assistant and a PhD student at UW–Milwaukee and a field assistant at the Survey. With the Survey’s Elmo Rawling, Libby is mapping the Pleistocene (Ice Age) geology in Jefferson County. …