Quaternary glacial and post-glacial depositional history associated with the Green Bay lobe, east-central Wisconsin

Conference · Mon Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1993 · Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:7271734

Thieme, L D; Smith, G L ^[1]

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1. Lawrence Univ., Appleton, WI (United States). Dept. of Geology

Multiple layers of peat and wood fragments indicate that Quaternary glaciation of the east-central region of Wisconsin was punctuated by at least two interglacial periods. Till, outwash, and glaciolacustrine deposits suggest that deposition took place in alternating glacial and non-glacial environments due to oscillations in the position of the Green Bay Lobe terminus. The data for this study consists of 36 auger borings, 70 geologic logs and 100 well-construction reports from water wells. Nine vibracores were taken at the northern margin of Lake Winnebago in order to document in detail the post-glacial history of Glacial Lake Oshkosh/Lake Winnebago. Local bedrock consists of limestones and dolomites of the Middle Ordovician Sinnipee Group. Bedrock elevations range from 211--237 m; bedding dips regionally to the southeast at 1--2 degrees. Bedrock is overlain by a 3--13 m-thick layer of alternating red clay and gray silty-clay (basal Kewaunee Formation ) perhaps deposited in a proglacial lake. These sediments are overlain by apeat/wood layer indicating marsh deposition. This peat/wood layer is overlain by more proglacial lake sediment, 3--10 m of gray brown clay to silty-clay. A second peat/wood layer overlies the gray/brown sediment and may correlate with the Two Creeks buried forest bed. The uppermost unit consists of 2--3 m red silty-clay till (Middle Inlet Member of the Kewaunee Formation). Along the northern margin of present-day Lake Winnebago, red silty-clay is overlain by silty-sand deposited by Glacial Lake Oshkosh. Future work includes obtaining radiocarbon dates from buried peat/wood layers to verify these tentative correlations between east-central Wisconsin and the Lake Michigan Basin.

• OSTI ID: 7271734
• Report Number(s): CONF-9303210--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States) Journal Volume: 25:3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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GEOLOGIC HISTORY
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NORTH AMERICA
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WISCONSIN