Bradford Beach

At other beaches it is easy to find the bluff, whereas at Bradford Beach you have to look hard to find it. It's on the other side of Lincoln Memorial Drive.

The actual beach is mostly sand (no gravel or cobbles), and it continues well off shore.

The beach photos also show lots of algae near the shore. This is common where the water is shallow and warm.

Some of these pictures show large accumulation of Zebra mussel shells.

They are most prominent in the spring-time, but can be found throughout the year. They are quite fragile, so they break up easily and eventually dissolve in the water.

If you visit this beach in person place a few drops of weak acid on some of the shells and see what happens.

This beach is actually built on landfill. The original shoreline is on the other side of Lincoln Memorial drive. Where there is no beach, the shoreline is protected by rocks (again mostly dolostone).

Look at how steep, or better yet how flat the beach is here.
What keeps the shoreline from eroding?
This beach was built on landfill back in the 1930's. Each beach also shows evidence of the current low lake level.

Return to Beginning of Virtual Field Trip

This site is a collabrative project between UWM and MPS.
Pictures for the site were taken on May 31, 2000 by UWM Professors Craig Berg, Bill Kean.
Captions by Craig Berg, Bill Kean. Page layouts by MPS TeachersAndi Winkle, Tim Melk and UWM Professor Craig Berg. Page coding by Tim Melk and Andi Winkle.

	At other beaches it is easy to find the bluff, whereas at Bradford Beach you have to look hard to find it. It's on the other side of Lincoln Memorial Drive.
	The actual beach is mostly sand (no gravel or cobbles), and it continues well off shore. The beach photos also show lots of algae near the shore. This is common where the water is shallow and warm.
	Some of these pictures show large accumulation of Zebra mussel shells.
	They are most prominent in the spring-time, but can be found throughout the year. They are quite fragile, so they break up easily and eventually dissolve in the water.

	This beach is actually built on landfill. The original shoreline is on the other side of Lincoln Memorial drive. Where there is no beach, the shoreline is protected by rocks (again mostly dolostone).
	Look at how steep, or better yet how flat the beach is here. What keeps the shoreline from eroding? This beach was built on landfill back in the 1930's. Each beach also shows evidence of the current low lake level.