Most Wisconsin citizens share a deep appreciation of the shape and texture of their familiar landscapes-the abundance of fresh water, the fertile soils, the northern forests, the varied landforms. All these features are directly related to a special set of geologic processes and materials that collectively define the land on which we all live, work, and play. But how did it come to be this way? How did it look in the past? What kinds of creatures lived here before us? In Wisconsin's case, the geologic story is long, complex, and incomplete, beginning over three billion years ago and still in progress. Wisconsin's Foundations is just the book for a broad audience of interested citizens who simply want to know more about the origins, evolution, and geological underpinnings of the Wisconsin landscape.

The immensely varied topography of Wisconsin provides examples of nearly every important physiographic process and topographic form. In the Driftless Area to the southwest, wind and water have weathered and carved away the countryside; along the Mississippi and other rivers are found most of the essential features of stream erosion and deposition; in the north and east glaciers have ground away the hills and left their mark on the plains and swamps. The Physical Geography of Wisconsin, reprinted from the second edition, 1932, of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Bulletin No. XXXVI (1916), offers a clear explanation of these and many other physiographical processes to the student and amateur geographer alike. The topography of the state is discussed in detail and, where necessary, related to its human geography; and the author has carefully explained and indexed all unfamiliar terms. The book is well supplied with maps, charts, and illustrations, and will be an excellent supplementary reader or guide in field trips for geography courses at all levels.