Soils and Geology of Wisconsin Field Trip, May 2011
Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
May 15, 2011
Berlin Quarry
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The best views of structure in the rhyolite are on weathered surfaces. |
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There are three quarries adjacent to the cemetery in Berlin. The middle one is most easily accassible. |
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The coarse rubbly material on the far wall is Cambrian basal conglomerate. |
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We read the rocks. Signs, not so much. |
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Oh we're goin' to the chapel ¯
an' we're ¯
gonna get buried... ¯ |
Redgranite Quarry
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The flooded quarry in Redgranite is a favorite with geologists and divers alike. The dark wall in the middle of the quarry is a mafic dike. |
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These dark veins may be pseudotachylite, frictional melt along an ancient fault. |
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This case left no doubt. Here we have a slickensided surface with steps. The near side went up, the preserved side went down. |
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And it merges into one of the dark zones with two drill holes in it. The slickenside surface is at the top of the picture |
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Offset quartz veins. |
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The dike extends clear across the quarry. |
Ship Rock
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Ship Rock is a prominent landmark on highway 21. A prominent joint runs the length of the rock, possibly a conduit for fluids that cemented the sandstone and made it more resistant to erosion. |
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The violets were out this weekend. |
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Lunch and a Soil Stop
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Hardly any horizon development marks this as an entisol. or maybe an ain't-a-soil. |
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Yuck, but significant. Cyanobacterial mats like this are abundant in the fossil record. Still, yuck. |
Witches' Gulch
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Witches' Gulch is a spectacular slot canyon. My hypothesis is that it was cut, or at least entrenched enough to establish its course, during the rapid drainage of Glacial Lake Wisconsin |
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Liverworts. The leaves are only about 2 mm in diameter. the walls of the gulch are a variety of bryophytes and ferns. |
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Giant cross bedding, probably aeolian |
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Spore bodies on fern leaves. |
Devil's Lake State Park
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Our campsite was close to a blue heron rookery, and they never shut up. |
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Below: the sign says "Organized Groups Only" but they let us stay anyway. |
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Looking north at the northern moraine dam |
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Looking east to the southern moraine dam |
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Messenger Creek, the only inlet to Devil's Lake. |
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Sunset view of Devil's Lake. |
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Above: Winding down the day's activities. |
Below: Instead of scary ghost stories we told tales of some of the midterms we'd given. Nobody slept a wink. |
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May 16, 2011
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Breakfast |
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And a briefing on the day's plans. |
Baxter Hollow
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The road into Baxter Hollow was damaged. The bridge was fine but flooding undermined the pavement. |
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Some of the granite that underlies the quartzite. |
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Natural Bridge State Park
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Across the highway from the park, a soils stop. And ... the envelope please ... it's a mollisol. Whoever had mollisol in the pool, collect your winnings. |
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Oh deer! |
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We had a phenomenal flock of scarlet tanagers putting on a show. |
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Skillet Creek
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Headed north on US 12 toward the South Range |
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The outcrop at Skillet Creek is famous for its wonderful sedimentary structures. |
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Cross-bedding |
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Ripple marks |
Abelman's Gorge
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Shagbark hickory bud |
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A former quarry, once of dubiously legal accessibility, now a state natural area. |
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Spectacular vertical face with ripple marks. |
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Breccia |
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Artesian spring. |
Van Hise Rock
Tyler's Fold
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Tyler Hischke proudly points to his fold. Actually this is a famous structure but I had not been here in a long time and it took some exploring to relocate it. |
East Bluff Trail
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Entrance to the Sasquatch Cave, a fissure in quartzite with Cambrian conglomerate overhead. The fissure was likely originally filled with sandstone that washed out. |
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Overhanging ledge of Cambrian quartzite. |
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Devil's Lake |
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Lichens devouring the rock. OmNomNomNom.. |
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The northern moraine dam. |
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South end of Devil's Lake. |
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The high point on the rail is a traditional group photo location. |
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See what you did. You broke it. |
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Professor Luczaj sleeping off a Gatorade bender. Either that, or setting up his camera for our group photo. |
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Lightning stripped bark of this tree and seems to have blasted out a trench in the ground below it. |
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Shagbark hickory bud. |
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Looking east over the end of the southern moraine dam. |
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Devil's Doorway. |
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The Potholes Trail is fascinating but a brutal descent on the knees. |
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May apple leaves. |
Panorama of Devil's Lake, showing the north moraine dam at left and the south moraine dam at far right. 
May 17, 2011
South Moraine Dam
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The moraine dam fills the lower half of the gorge. The land here is 100 feet below the level of Devil's Lake. |
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Man Mound Road Quarry
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View of the north end of the Devils Lake gorge |
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Panorama of the quarry looking west.

Lower Narrows
Below: Panorama of the Lower Narrows, looking south.

Roche a Cri
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Petroglyphs at the south end of the rock. |
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Some of the graffiti is old enough to be historic. One is dated 1846. |
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Cross-bedding |
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A staircase ascends the north end. Previous trips have climbed it but we were spared the 300 plus steps because it's closed for repairs. |
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A mile or so to the south is the only clear view. It offers a good view of the fissure that gives the rock its name. |
Rib Mountain
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The view from the top was about as clear as it could be. |
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Spheroidal weathering. |
Below: 360-degree Panorama from Rib Mountain.

Eau Claire Dells
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It took numerous visits for me to relocate these potholes, which I photographed in the late '70's. The amount of change in 35 years has been negligible. |
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Pretty church on highway 29 near Bowler. |
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Created 22 May 2009 , Last Update 15 January 2020