The Story and Science of Devil's Lake

I. Location In the Baraboo Hills (a bent ring of hills about 30-miles long X 10-miles wide surrounding the area.) Relief Map Aerial View

II. Composition of the Baraboo Hills Made of metamorphic quartzite – A very strong rock

Ancient rivers flowed through and carved these two valleys III. Theory of How Devil’s Lake Formed 1 The glacial til blocked off both ends of the valley & forming Devil’s Lake Ancient rivers flowed through and carved these two valleys 3 2 During the last ice age, glaciers pushed glacial til to these two locations and stopped (terminal moraines)

Terminal Moraine

IV. Theory of Why the Quartzite is Red Terminal Moraine Geologists believe Wisconsin was once an ocean front covered in sand. (There is still rock with ripples left from the ocean) B. The sand was exposed to extreme heat & pressure C. The sand was also covered with iron eating bacteria which stained the sand red. The metamorphism of the sand into stone preserved the red we see today.

V. Why do the Rocks look slanted? Collision of tectonic plates folded the Baraboo Valley layers of Quartzite and Sandstone.

Wildlife (fauna) of Devil’s Lake You’d be lucky to see, but can be found in the park: Black Bear American badger Least weasel Long-tailed weasel River otter Bobcat Mountain lion Gray wolf Groundhog Prairie vole White-footed mouse Meadow jumping mouse Common shrew Eastern mole Most likely to see: White-tailed Deer Raccoon Red fox Coyote American beaver Gray squirrel Fox squirrel Red squirrel Southern flying squirrel Eastern chipmunk Little brown bat Might see: Striped skunk Mink Gray fox 13-lined ground squirrel Meadow vole Muskrat Virginia opossum Cottontail rabbit Big brown bat Red bat Hoary Bat Eastern Pipistrelle Bat Northern Long-eared Bat