Investigating Glacial Lake Yahara

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.