2017 Synopsis
January 18 - The Great Ledge by Dan Larson, Com-Video Productions LLC
The Great Ledge takes viewers on a trip through the Wisconsin segment of the Niagara Escarpment with
twelve interesting stories that explore the cliffs, caves, Native American pictographs, mines, plants,
fauna, wine country and more. If you’ve ever wondered about the origins of the Escarpment in
Wisconsin, and all that it involves then this is the story for you.
The Niagara Escarpment is a 430 million-year-old ridge of rock that extends like an arc from Wisconsin
up through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, across southern Ontario, Canada and back into the United
States.
The Great Ledge was produced during a four-year period and documents the Escarpment in all
its natural beauty. Experts were interviewed and filmed at locations through Wisconsin and each
segment reveals something about the Ledge. Most of the locations are places people can visit and
continue exploring on their own.
February 15 - Getting the Lead Out by Nancy Quinn, Green Bay Water Utility
This presentation will discuss the challenges with lead corrosion in drinking water systems. We will
discuss the Flint water crisis and the Drinking Water communities’ responses on a national level and
right here in NE Wisconsin
March 15 - The Lashly Mountains of Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica: Investigating a Possible
Ancient Volcano by Zachary Ashauer, UW- Green Bay
During the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana ~180 million years ago, massive volumes of
magma were generated and emplaced in the Earth as plutons, or erupted to the surface as
volcanoes. Evidence of this extraordinary event is recorded in the mountains and cliff faces exposed in
the continent of Antarctica. Because contextual clues can disappear through the processes of
weathering and erosion, it is not altogether a simple process of identifying whether an outcrop is
plutonic or volcanic. The Lashly Mountains located in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica is one such
ambiguous outcrop. It has previously been identified as plutonic--an important interpretation because it
implies knowledge of the Earth's paleosurface. Here, the evidence is thoroughly reexamined.
April 19 - The River That Flows Uphill: Geologic evolution of the lower Wisconsin River valley, stream
piracy, and the reorganization of North American mid-continent drainage systems by Eric Carson,
WGNHS
The lower Wisconsin River flows west from the Baraboo Hills through the Driftless Area of southwestern
Wisconsin to its confluence with the Mississippi River near Prairie du Chien, WI. However, new research
suggests that through the Cenozoic Era, the lower Wisconsin River valley was incised by an eastward
flowing river. This river, which we refer to as the ‘Wyalusing River’, followed the course of the upper
Mississippi River as far south as the modern confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers, and
then flowed east along the valley now occupied by the lower Wisconsin River. Subsurface data in eastcentral Wisconsin indicates that this river continued to the northeast and ultimately flowed to the Gulf of
St. Lawrence. During the cycles of Quaternary glaciations, the lower portions of the St. Lawrence were at
times blocked by ice. This likely impounded water in the valley until it spilled over the lowest drainage
divide. The resulting stream piracy event caused a reversal of flow along the lower Wisconsin valley to
its current westward flow as the drainage area upstream of the modern confluence of the Mississippi and
Wisconsin Rivers was shifted from the St. Lawrence basin to the greater Mississippi basin.
Similar stream piracy events that were recognized as early as the late 19th century pirated streams in the
Appalachian Mountains from the St. Lawrence basin and rerouted them to become the modern Ohio River (in
the Mississippi basin). Shifting the combined drainage areas of these streams and the upper
Mississippi/Wisconsin River basin from the St. Lawrence drainage to the Mississippi drainage implies
significant impacts on hydrology of the two major basins, on provenance and geochemistry of sediments
deposited in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Gulf of Mexico, and potentially on the North Atlantic oceanic
circulation patterns that drive large-scale climate variability in the northern hemisphere.
May 17 – Tour: The Weis Earth Science Museum by Dr. Joanne Kluessendorf
Take a tour of the Weis Earth Science Museum — the official mineralogical museum of Wisconsin —
with the museum director, Joanne Kluessendorf. Learn about how the museum developed from the initial
idea of a mineral gallery into the only museum to focus on Wisconsin geology and mining history. Hear
some intriguing stories about building the museum and discover how it continues to evolve. You’ll have
some hands-on opportunities to get up close and personal with some cool minerals and fossils, and you’ll
have a chance to see the temporary exhibit “The Minerals of Minecraft,” which has lots of touchable
specimens.
June 21 – Micromounting- Preserving Earth’s Beauty in Small Packages by Randy E. Phillips
Learn about the waning art of Micromounting. This program will show you how to select, trim, mount,
store, and study micro-minerals and fossils. We will also look at some micro photographs. Updated
Magnification options will be explained.
July 19 – The Crandon Mine and Origins of Sulfide Deposits by George F. Howlett
As a participant in the permitting process representing the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin, Mr. Howlett
will present a discussion on the Crandon Mine and other sulfide deposits from the point of evolutionary
history of these deposits. This will include the biological aspects of black smokers of the primitive types
where post Cambrian forms did not exist. Water quality issues involved in the permitting process and the
biological processes that factor in will be discussed.
August 16 – From Ore to Finished Product by Calumet & Hecla
A Calumet & Hecla archival film from the 1940’s showing historic copper mining in the Red Jacket shaft
at Calumet, MI. Then you see modern smelting methods and production of copper tubing in Michigan’s
Upper Peninsula. This film was done by C&H Chief of Security for 45 years until the company closed in
1969.
September 20 – Ecologic Restructuring Following Earth's Largest Mass Extinction by Dr. Margaret
Fraiser, UW - Milwaukee
The Earth experienced the largest known drop in biodiversity at the end of the Permian Period, with the
elimination of ~78% of marine invertebrate genera. The precise cause of this mass extinction remains
controversial, but evidence is accumulating for strong global climatic warming, possibly by as much as
15⁰C, and for high pCO2 and low pO2 in the atmosphere and oceans. Evidence suggests that marine
ecological devastation following the end-Permian mass extinction was protracted and may have lasted 5
million years. I will present some fossil data on the restructuring of marine life following the PermoTriassic extinction.
October 18 – Recreational Prospecting by Kurt Bublitz, Wausau Prospectors
Guide to Gold panning techniques and tools. Possible locations to investigate. What to look for in
streams, etc. for greater success. Gold panning demonstration will be set up.
November 15 - Geology of Dunes and Sandy Bay; Barriers along Lake Michigan’s
Door Peninsula: The Importance of Increased Sediment Supply Following High
Lake Level Phases by Elmo Rawling, WGNHS
This presentation focuses on the geologic formation of dunes and sandy barrier beaches in Wisconsin’s
Door Peninsula to document sedimentary responses to natural lake-level fluctuations. Dunes are not very
common along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Wisconsin, but the three bay barriers studied were buried
by wind-blown sand including dunes that have relief of up to ~60 feet. The purpose of this study was to
document when the barriers formed and when the subsequent dune activity occurred. The chronology
presented here for barrier emplacement and dune development is based on 65 optical ages that were
collected from littoral sediment in the barriers (n = 17) and the overlying wind-blown sand (n = 48). The
barriers initially formed during the Nipissing high lake phase (~6.0-4.5 thousand years ago), and were
modified during the subsequent Algoma high (~3.4-2.3 thousand years ago). The majority of the dune
ages fall into two primary groups that overlap with or are slightly younger than the ages acquired from the
barriers. Dune development occurred rapidly when the sand supply increased as lake levels receded. In
addition, some preliminary thoughts on research about Holocene sedimentary budgets in the Door
Peninsula, and understanding the climatic controls of lake-level variability with tree rings, will be
presented.