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Bixby State Preserve
Bixby State Preserve is a nature reserve located in southwestern Clayton County, Iowa, in the midwestern United States. It is located north of Edgewood. It is operated by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources as one of the Iowa state preserves. Bixby State Preserve is one of the few places in the world to contain algific talus slopes and consequently has an ecosystem encountered in only a few other sites, all in the Driftless Area. They are mainly elsewhere in Iowa, but also in southeastern Minnesota, southwestern Wisconsin and northwestern Illinois. In winter and early spring comparatively warm air rises from the elaborate system of sinkholes, causing cold moist air to be drawn into the north-facing talus slopes and sent through fissures into ice cave An ice cave is any type of natural cave (most commonly lava tubes or limestone caves) that contains significant amounts of perennial (year-round) ice. At least a portion of the cave must have a temperature below 0  ...
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Clayton County, Iowa
Clayton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,043. Its county seat is Elkader. The county was established in 1837 and was named in honor of John M. Clayton, United States Senator from Delaware and later Secretary of State under President Zachary Taylor. Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.8%) is water. It is the fifth-largest county in Iowa by area. Adjacent counties *Allamakee County (north) *Crawford County, Wisconsin (northeast) *Grant County, Wisconsin (east) * Dubuque County (southeast) * Delaware County (south) * Buchanan County (southwest) * Fayette County (west) * Winneshiek County (northwest) Major highways * U.S. Highway 18 * U.S. Highway 52 * Iowa Highway 3 * Iowa Highway 13 * Iowa Highway 56 * Iowa Highway 76 * Iowa Highway 128 National protected areas * Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge (part) * Effigy Mounds Nation ...
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Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. The bulk of Wisconsin's population live in areas situated along the shores of Lake Michigan. The largest city, Milwaukee, anchors its largest metropolitan area, followed by Green Bay and Kenosha, the third- and fourth-most-populated Wisconsin cities respectively. The state capital, Madison, is currently the second-most-populated and fastest-growing city in the state. Wisconsin is divided into 72 counties and as of the 2020 census had a population of nearly 5.9 million. Wisconsin's geography is diverse, having been greatly impacted by glaciers during the Ice Age with the exception of the Driftless Area. The Northern Highland and Western Upland along wi ...
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Ice Caves
An ice cave is any type of natural cave (most commonly lava tubes or limestone caves) that contains significant amounts of perennial (year-round) ice. At least a portion of the cave must have a temperature below 0 °C (32 °F) all year round, and water must have traveled into the cave’s cold zone. Terminology This type of cave was first formally described by Englishman Edwin Swift Balch in 1900, who suggested the French term ''glacieres'' should be used for them, even though the term ''ice cave'' was then, as now, commonly used to refer to caves simply containing year-round ice. Among speleologists, ''ice cave'' is the proper English term. A cavity formed ''within'' ice (as in a glacier) is properly called a glacier cave. Types Ice caves occur as static ice caves, such as Durmitor Ice Cave, and dynamic or cyclical ice caves, such as Eisriesenwelt. Temperature mechanisms In most of the world, bedrock caves are thermally insulated from the surface and so common ...
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Caves Of Iowa
A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea caves, rock shelters, and grottos, that extend a relatively short distance into the rock and they are called ''exogene'' caves. Caves which extend further underground than the opening is wide are called ''endogene'' caves. Speleology is the science of exploration and study of all aspects of caves and the cave environment. Visiting or exploring caves for recreation may be called ''caving'', ''potholing'', or ''spelunking''. Formation types The formation and development of caves is known as ''speleogenesis''; it can occur over the course of millions of years. Caves can range widely in size, and are formed by various geological processes. These may involve a combination of chemical processes, erosion by water, tectonic forces, microorganisms ...
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Algific Talus Slopes
Algific talus slopes comprise a very rare, fragile ecosystem and habitat initially stated to exist only in the Driftless Area of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and especially, Iowa.+Algific Taiga and boreal forests in the United States Ecoregions of the United States Rock formations of Minnesota Rock formations of Wisconsin Landforms of Iowa Landforms of Illinois Rock formations of West Virginia ...
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Iowa State Preserves
Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the east and southeast, Missouri to the south, Nebraska to the west, South Dakota to the northwest, and Minnesota to the north. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, Iowa was a part of Louisiana (New France), French Louisiana and Louisiana (New Spain), Spanish Louisiana; its Flag of Iowa, state flag is patterned after the flag of France. After the Louisiana Purchase, people laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy transitioned to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services, information technology, biotechnology, and Sustainable energy, green energy productio ...
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Ice Cave
An ice cave is any type of natural cave (most commonly lava tubes or limestone caves) that contains significant amounts of perennial (year-round) ice. At least a portion of the cave must have a temperature below 0 °C (32 °F) all year round, and water must have traveled into the cave’s cold zone. Terminology This type of cave was first formally described by Englishman Edwin Swift Balch in 1900, who suggested the French term ''glacieres'' should be used for them, even though the term ''ice cave'' was then, as now, commonly used to refer to caves simply containing year-round ice. Among speleologists, ''ice cave'' is the proper English term. A cavity formed ''within'' ice (as in a glacier) is properly called a glacier cave. Types Ice caves occur as static ice caves, such as Durmitor Ice Cave, and dynamic or cyclical ice caves, such as Eisriesenwelt. Temperature mechanisms In most of the world, bedrock caves are thermally insulated from the surface and so common ...
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Sinkhole
A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openings where surface water enters into underground passages known as ''ponor'', swallow hole or swallet. A ''cenote'' is a type of sinkhole that exposes groundwater underneath. A ''sink'' or ''stream sink'' are more general terms for sites that drain surface water, possibly by infiltration into sediment or crumbled rock. Most sinkholes are caused by karst processes – the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks, collapse or suffosion processes. Sinkholes are usually circular and vary in size from tens to hundreds of meters both in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms. Sinkholes may form gradually or suddenly, and are found worldwide. Formation Natural processes Sinkholes may capture surf ...
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Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria metropolitan area, Illinois, Peoria and Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois, Rockford, as well Springfield, Illinois, Springfield, its capital. Of the fifty U.S. states, Illinois has the List of U.S. states and territories by GDP, fifth-largest gross domestic product (GDP), the List of U.S. states and territories by population, sixth-largest population, and the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 25th-largest land area. Illinois has a highly diverse Economy of Illinois, economy, with the global city of Chicago in the northeast, major industrial and agricultural productivity, agricultural hubs in the north and center, and natural resources such as coal, timber, and petroleum in the south. Owing to its centr ...
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Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to intensive agriculture; deciduous forests in the southeast, now partially cleared, farmed, and settled; and the less populated North Woods, used for mining, forestry, and recreation. Roughly a third of the state is covered in forests, and it is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" for having over 14,000 bodies of fresh water of at least ten acres. More than 60% of Minnesotans live in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, known as the "Twin Cities", the state's main political, economic, and cultural hub. With a population of about 3.7 million, the Twin Cities is the 16th largest metropolitan area in the U.S. Other minor metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas in the state include Duluth, Mankato, Moorhead, Rochester, and ...
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Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the east and southeast, Missouri to the south, Nebraska to the west, South Dakota to the northwest, and Minnesota to the north. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, Iowa was a part of French Louisiana and Spanish Louisiana; its state flag is patterned after the flag of France. After the Louisiana Purchase, people laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy transitioned to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services, information technology, biotechnology, and green energy production. Iowa is the 26th most extensive in total area and the 31st most populous of the 50 U.S. states, with a populat ...
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Driftless Area
The Driftless Area, a topographical and cultural region in the American Midwest, comprises southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and the extreme northwestern corner of Illinois. Never covered by ice during the last ice age, the area lacks the characteristic glacial deposits known as drift. Its landscape is characterized by steep hills, forested ridges, deeply carved river valleys, and karst geology with spring-fed waterfalls and cold-water trout streams. Ecologically, the Driftless Area's flora and fauna are more closely related to those of the Great Lakes region and New England than those of the broader Midwest and central Plains regions. The steep riverine landscape of both the Driftless Area proper and the surrounding Driftless-like region are the result of early glacial advances that forced preglacial rivers that flowed into the Great Lakes southward, causing them to carve a gorge across bedrock cuestas, thereby forming the modern incised upper Mi ...
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