Speaker: Eric Carson, WI Geological Survey
Description: Following the retreat of the last glaciers from Wisconsin a glacial lake formed along the retreating ice margin in the Madison area. Known as glacial Lake Yahara, this lake covered the footprint of the modern Four Lakes (Teejop) of Madison at a slightly higher lake level and persisted for several thousand years following local deglaciation. In conjunction with research into a nearby, contemporaneous glacial lake immediately to the east in Dodge and Jefferson Counties, we collected a series of sediment cores from low-lying marshes in the Madison area. These targeted locations would have been inundated by glacial Lake Yahara but exposed sub-aerially as lake level eventually fell. The cores provide chronologic and environmental data on the existence and demise of this lake.
Bio: Eric Carson is a research geologist with the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey (WGNHS) and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his B.S. (Geology) from West Virginia University, and both his M.S. (Geology) and Ph.D. (double major, Geology and Geography) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has 20 years’ experience in academia and research. His research projects at the WGNHS investigate refining the chronology of the last glaciation in Wisconsin, processes associated with rivers and flooding, and how landscapes evolve over timescales ranging from tens of thousands of years to tens of millions of years.