Quaternary geology of sawyer county, wisconsinproject period: 9 15 2025 through 9 14 2027AWARD purpose: a long-term goal of the wisconsin geological and natural history survey (wgnhs) is to map the…

The University of Wisconsin System received a $161,708 cooperative agreement from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Research and Data Collection program (CFDA 15.808) effective September 15, 2025 through September 14, 2027. The award supports the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey (WGNHS) in mapping the Quaternary geology of Sawyer County in north-central Wisconsin. The primary deliverable is a 1:100,000-scale preliminary Quaternary geology map database covering 23 topographic quadrangles within Sawyer County, developed through compilation and analysis of existing water well construction reports, geologic logs, soil maps, digital elevation models, and satellite imagery integrated into a geographic information system. The mapping effort incorporates field observations, new core collection, sediment grain size analysis, and numeric age estimates to define geologic map units and produce map contacts.

This project leverages prior U.S. Forest Service funding for mapping portions of Sawyer County within the Chequamegon Forest and contributes to an ongoing WGNHS initiative evaluating groundwater resources of the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation. The geologic mapping and coring activities are intended to advance regional understanding of aquifer characteristics and groundwater resources in Sawyer County, a resource management priority for the USGS and its cooperative partners in the Great Lakes region.

Activities

Activities for this project include compiling existing water well construction reports, geologic logs, adjacent geologic maps, soil maps, digital elevation models, and publicly available satellite imagery into a geographic information system. These are combined with field observations and core collection to define geologic map units and produce map contacts. Other analyses include grain size of sediment and numeric age estimates.deliverables and expected outcomes: the deliverable product for this project will consist of a map database showing the 1:100,000 scale preliminary interpretation of the quaternary geology for the portions of the chittamo NE, stanberry east, hayward, seeley, bean lake, reserve, chief lake, stone lake, hauer, couderay, radisson, winter, lake winter, babbs island, oxbo, birchwood, edgewater, weirgor, exeland, hogsback creek, ingram NW, ingram NE and kennan NW topographic quadrangles (scale 1:24,000) within sawyer county, wisconsin.

Intended beneficiaries

The mapping and coring in sawyer county will aid in understanding regional aquifers. Sawyer county is in the ceded territory where ojibwe tribes maintain reserved rights to fish, hunt, and gather. The LAC courte oreilles reservation is located within sawyer county. The county includes important habitat for manoomin (wild rice), ginoozhe (northern pike), maazhkinoozhe (muskellunge), ogaa (walleye), and omashkooz (ELK). All of these are impacted by surface groundwater interactions in unconsolidated aquifers.

Subrecipient activities

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