Geoscience Mapping Intern: Summer 2023
WGNHS is interviewing for one full-time summer 2023 undergraduate Geoscience Mapping Intern.
The purpose of the information on this page is to provide further details for interested applicants, including more information about the three mapping project options. The advertisement and application instructions can be found on the UW–Madison Student Jobs website. The deadline to apply is February 28, 2023.
The selected student mapping intern will spend their time working closely with WGNHS staff to complete one geologic mapping project in a Wisconsin State Park, Natural Area, or other publicly accessible area. Applicants will need to pick one option for their application, but that choice is not binding. Before the summer mapping experience begins, the intern will work collaboratively with WGNHS staff to solidify an appropriate project.
Internship timeline
May 22 – Aug 25, 2023, approx. 14 weeks. Start/end dates and total # weeks (minimum of 12 weeks required) are flexible.
Onboarding & orientation: May 22–26 — Introductory week where the student will meet WGNHS staff, learn about the mission of the Survey, and begin a literature review and field work planning of the chosen field area.
Field work: May 30–June 30 — Total field days for each project are expected to be in the range of 5 to 10 days but may be variable depending on the project and student interests.
Cartography: June 3–July 28 — Digitization of field data and map cartography using ArcGIS.
Writing: July 31–August 25 — Writing and assemblage of project report and outreach component.
Deliver final products: August 25 — Deliverables due.
Mapping project options
Pick ONE of the following options for your application.
Option 1: Yellowstone Lake State Park (4 square miles, Google map link)
- Day trip (</=2 hr.) possible from UW–Madison, UW–Platteville campuses, and surrounding areas.
- Yellowstone Lake State Park is located in Lafayette County in the Driftless region of the state where Paleozoic rocks are exposed. The park contains exposure of the Ordovician siliciclastic Ancell and carbonate Sinnipee Groups. Preliminary mapping indicates some structures in the park and a distinctive character of the Sinnipee sequence, possibly unique to this area. The student will map the park at 1:24k or 1:12k and focus on the members of the exposed groups.
- The written summary will include a detailed description of the rock units and structures in the park as well as the contact between the Ancell and Sinnipee Groups. This project will directly benefit ongoing mapping in Lafayette County at 1:100k-scale.
Option 2: Mill Bluff State Park (4 square miles, Google map link)
- Day trip (</=2 hr.) possible from UW–La Crosse, UW–Stevens Point, UW–Stout, UW–Eau Claire campuses, and surrounding areas.
- Mill Bluff State Park is located along the boundary between Juneau and Monroe counties in south-central Wisconsin. The park lies near the margin of glacial Lake Wisconsin and contains spectacular bluffs and pillars of Cambrian sandstone. Many of the bluffs are elongated towards the NW-SE. In addition to mapping the geology of the park, the student will test whether a preferred fracture orientation in the Cambrian sandstones is driving the elongation direction of the bluffs.
Option 3: Rib Mountain State Park (2.4 square miles, Google map link)
- Day trip (</=2 hr.) possible from UW–Green Bay, Lawrence University, UW–Stevens Point, UW–Eau Claire, UW–Oshkosh campuses, and surrounding areas.
- The Rib Mountain Quartzite is part of the Baraboo Interval, a period of sedimentary deposition in the Proterozoic that occurred between mountain building events. Recent mapping work at WGNHS in Proterozoic quartzites in southern Wisconsin has suggested there were at least two depositional intervals during the Baraboo Interval. In this project, the student will focus on grain size changes in the quartzite to try dividing the Rib Mountain quartzite into separate members and compare the Rib Mountain quartzite to nearby quartzite exposures to test whether multiple pulses of deposition are also recorded in the rocks in northern Wisconsin. The student will also use a Brunton compass to measure fractures, bedding, foliation, and paleocurrent indicators.
- Written summary will include a discussion about the Precambrian quartzite and intrusive rocks in the area, and how Rib Mountain’s slow weathering rate has left it as a monadnock (isolated high point due to erosional resistance). Geologic map scale TBD.
Deadline and to apply
The application deadline for this internship is February 28, 2023. Visit the UW–Madison Student Jobs website for the full description and qualifications for this position and for application instructions.
