Dr. David Mickelson, Professor Emeritus and Senior Scientist, Department of Geoscience, will describe how Wisconsin’s landscape came to be what it is today, with an emphasis on southern Wisconsin at a program hosted by the Lakeland Audubon Society on Nov. 28.
At times in the past, glaciers have covered more than two thirds of Wisconsin, and the area covered by the last glaciation exhibits excellent examples of glacial topography. Wisconsin was chosen as the location of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail and the Ice National Age Scientific Reserve mostly for that reason. The most recent glaciation was the Wisconsin glaciation, and it was responsible for many of the glacial landforms seen today. Only southwestern Wisconsin, the Driftless Area, was never glaciated and its deep valleys and narrow ridges result from millions of years of stream erosion.
Much of Mickelson’s research has centered on glacial geology. He has done research on modern glaciers and glacial deposits in Sweden and Norway, Argentina, China, Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, New England, and the Midwest. His continuing research interest has been the glacial deposits and the glacial history of Wisconsin.
Mickelson has served on the Board of Directors of the Ice Age Trail Alliance since 2010. He is the first author of the book Geology of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail published by the University of Wisconsin Press in late 2011.
The program will be at 7 p.m., Nov. 28 at the Lion’s Field House in Williams Bay. It’s free, open to the public and refreshments will be served.
