Southwest Wisconsin has fractured bedrock beneath generally thin soils, putting groundwater at risk for contamination. The purpose of this study was to improve our understanding of groundwater quality in southwest Wisconsin and to better understand how local hydrogeology …
WGNHS research
2022 Year in Review
Director’s Message The Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey (WGNHS) had an exceedingly busy and successful year in 2022. We progressed to a fully hybrid work model as the University of Wisconsin continues to emerge …
Central Sands Nitrate and Neonicotinoid Study
In 2021-2022, the Central Sands Nitrate and Neonicotinoid Study performed a data-gap analysis and compiled an exhaustive database of over 100,000 historical groundwater nitrate and neonicotinoid concentrations for wells across Adams, Juneau, Marquette, Portage, Waushara, …
WGNHS publication receives John C. Frye Memorial Award
WGNHS alumnus Anna Fehling (now a hydrogeologist at the Wisconsin DNR) and WGNHS hydrogeologist David Hart received the 2022 John C. Frye Memorial Award in Environmental Geology for their report Potential Effects of Climate Change on Stream Temperature …
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 …
2020 Year in Review
Director’s Message 2020 was one of the most unusual years in the long history of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. January began normally, with WGNHS staff involved primarily in office projects and participating …
Streams of Data from Streams of Wisconsin
In this August 2019 talk for Wednesday Nite @ The Lab (WN@TL), WGNHS hydrogeologist Dave Hart explained how he and his team used canoes outfitted with an array of sensors to record vast amounts of …
The Precambrian Geology of the Baraboo Hills
In this March 2019 talk for Wednesday Nite @ The Lab (WN@TL), WGNHS geologist Esther Stewart shares her insights into some of Wisconsin’s oldest rocks. It’s a story of reading the deep-time sedimentary record and …
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 …