Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah
Photographer: Kent D. Brown

The Towers of the Virgin include the Altar of Sacrifice (right) and The Sundial (left-center). These prominent cliffs of Early Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone, which locally exceed 2000 feet, formed as the North Fork of the Virgin River carved Zion Canyon in the relatively short time span of the past 2 million years.

Snow Canyon State Park, Washington County, Utah
Photographer: Michael Vanden Berg

Cross-bedded Navajo Sandstone in evening light, Snow Canyon State Park, Washington County, Utah

Three Canyon, Emery County, Utah
Photographer: Sonja Heuscher

Flood-sculpted Navajo Sandstone in Three Canyon, Emery County, Utah

deseretnews.com

At any given moment in the foothills of Salt Lake City, DNA sequencing of a tiny kernel of corn could unlock new information about ancient agriculture in Utah.

READ MORE

By: Kurt Katzenstein, Ph.D

This 43-page report presents new Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) analysis of ground water subsidence in Cedar Valley in Iron County, Utah. This analysis is based on InSAR data from the ERS-1/2 satellites from 1992 to 2000, and the Envisat satellite from 2004 to 2010. A stack of five consecutive interferograms from the 1992-2000 time period and a stack of four consecutive interferograms from the 2004-2010 time period are included in this report; however, decorrelation in the vicinity of the Enoch graben makes an estimate of total deformation impossible using the stacks. In total, surface deformation has impacted approximately 256 km² (100 mi²) in Cedar Valley. Subsidence rates in the vicinity of the Enoch graben increased from approximately 0.5-1.0 cm/yr to roughly 1-2 cm/yr after 1999. Similarly, rates in central Cedar Valley show a general increasing trend after 1999, but rates appear to be more erratic than the other two sites. The spatial distribution of deformation in Cedar Valley correlates well with both the location of observed fissuring as well as the location of both municipal and private groundwater production wells. The fissuring observed near Quichapa Lake, as well as within the Enoch graben, is likely a direct result of groundwater pumping in these areas.

GET IT HERE

Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah
Photographer: Matt Affolter

Iron oxide staining highlights cross-bedding in the Navajo Sandstone, Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah

Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Kane County, Utah
Photographer: Tyler Knudsen

Powerful and turbulent flash floods carved this convoluted slot canyon into the Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone along Willis Creek. Differential weathering of alternating weak and more resistant sandstone layers formed the horizontal grooves etched into the canyon’s walls.

Dead Horse Lake, Uinta Mountains, Summit County, Utah
Photographer: Corey Unger

Dead Horse Lake and West Fork of the Blacks Fork drainage, Uinta Mountains, Summit County, Utah

Spinners Reservoir, Wasatch Plateau, Sanpete County, Utah
Photographer: Greg McDonald

Spinners Reservoir in the Muddy Creek drainage basin, Wasatch Plateau, Sanpete County, Utah

By: V. E. Langenheim, N.D. Athens, B.A. Churchel, H. Willis, N.E. Knepprath, J. Rosario, J. Roza, S.M. Kraushaar, and C.L. Hardwick

A new isostatic residual gravity map of the Newfoundland Mountains and east of the Wells 30×60 quadrangles of Utah is based on compilation of preexisting data and new data collected by the Utah and U.S. Geological Surveys. Pronounced gravity lows occur over Grouse Creek Valley and locally beneath the Great Salt Lake Desert, indicating significant thickness of low-density Tertiary sedimentary rocks and deposits. Gravity highs coincide with exposures of dense pre-Cenozoic rocks in the Newfoundland, Silver Island, and Little Pigeon Mountains. Gravity values measured on pre-Tertiary basement to the north in the Bovine and Hogup Mountains are as much as 10mGal lower. Steep, linear gravity gradients may define basin-bounding faults concealed along the margins of the Newfoundland, Silver Island, and Little Pigeon Mountains, Lemay Island and the Pilot Range.

GET IT HERE