Date: 2011

AVAILABLE FORMAT(S):
Publication: $1.50 (4 p.), ES36

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The ebb and flow of continental ice sheets had a profound effect upon the landscape that we see today in Wisconsin. Glaciers are responsible for the shape of the land, even in areas that were not touched by the ice itself.

Ice sheets probably first began to creep over our state more than 2 million years ago, but it is the impact of the most recent, called the Wisconsin Glaciation, that is highly visible today. Beginning about 30,000 years ago, fingers of ice, called lobes scoured part of the state and left behind characteristic debris.

It is this most recent ice advance on which Glaciation of Wisconsin focuses. This 4-page brochure tells its story primarily through illustrations. Maps of the state show the glacial lobes, directions of ice flow, extent of various glacial events, and distribution of glacial deposits. A chart associates these events with the type of lithostratigraphic units that were deposited by the various lobes.