The Cockscomb, Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Kane County, Utah
Photographer: Stevie Emerson; © 2012
The Cockscomb formed along the steeply tilted sedimentary layers of a geologic feature known as the East Kaibab monocline. Faulting and erosion have shaped the tilted Jurassic and Cretaceous-age rocks into the spectacular “rooster’s comb” features seen today along Cottonwood Canyon Road.
huffingtonpost.com
Earth’s tectonic plates may have taken as long as 1 billion years to form, researchers report today in Nature.
Who’s ready to get back out into that beautiful Utah Spring scenery?
Scudder Lake, Uinta Mountains, Duchesne County, Utah
Photographer: Ken Krahulec; © 2012
Scudder Lake in the glaciated Uinta Mountains, Duchesne County.
Good Monday morning to all of our geo friends! We hope you had a fun and safe weekend. Here’s a read for this morning. Some of you may have questions about what caused Chile’s recent and devastating earthquake. This article tries to answer some of those questions.
news.nationalgeographic.com
Even planet Earth has its faults. Movement along those fault lines causes earthquakes, big and small, to rattle the globe every day, most recently making news this week with a powerful quake, and tsunami, striking Chile.
Have a fun weekend, everyone!
Skyline Drive, Wasatch Plateau, Sanpete County, Utah
Photographer: Rich Emerson; © 2012
At 10,133 feet, winter clings to outcrops of the Tertiary-age Flagstaff Limestone near the crest of the Wasatch Plateau at Snow Lake. The steep, forested slope to the left (east) of the lake is a scarp associated with one of several faults forming a down-dropped crustal block called the Snow Lake graben.
Here are several more articles about the UGS rockfall investigation, including our own news release with links to the published report.
Hello, geo friends! We’re going to try something a little different for “Spot the Rock!” today. Thanks to Google Earth, we’ve got an aerial image for you to ponder. Can anyone guess where this is?
UPDATE: Location Revealed
Last week’s “Spot the Rock” featured a Google Earth image of the evaporation ponds at the Intrepid Potash, Inc. ‘solution’ mine in Grand County. These ponds are found roughly 3 miles east and nearly 1,700 feet below Dead Horse Point State Park in San Juan.
‘Potash’ refers to a group of potassium-bearing minerals, the most common of which is sylvite (potassium chloride). Potash is important for its use in fertilizer. Along with other salts, Potash minerals form through the evaporation of saline lakes or oceans. Intrepid produces potash from deeply-buried evaporites formed during the Pennsylvanian Period (~300 million years ago) in a restricted marine basin where seawater was concentrated, precipitated salt, and was subsequently diluted multiple times.
Here is how Intrepid describes their solution mining process:
Water is saturated with salt and the resulting brine is pumped through injection wells into the underground mine workings. The injected brine preferentially dissolves the potash from layers buried between 2,400 and 4,000 feet below the surface. As the brine preferentially dissolves the potassium, the double saturated potassium and salt brine becomes heavier than the salt saturated brine causing it to sink to low points in the mining caverns. Extraction wells are installed at the low points to pump the potash rich brine to the surface, where it is placed into 400 acres of shallow evaporation ponds just southwest of the mine. Blue dye, similar to food coloring, is added to the evaporation pond brines, to aid in absorption of sunlight. There, the water, aided by approximately 300 days of sunshine and an average of just five percent relative humidity evaporates, leaving potash and salt crystals in the pond.https://www.intrepidpotash.com/AboutUs/LocationsOperations/MoabUT.aspx
kcsg.com
Residents living within high rock-fall-hazard zones in Rockville, Utah, face the possible consequences of a large rock fall similar to the fatal event that occurred last December. That is the principle finding of a geologic investigation into the rock fall that killed two people on December 12, 2013. That afternoon, a huge, joint-controlled rock mass, with an estimated volume of almost 1,400 cubic yards and weighing about 2,700 tons, detached from the cliff face at the top of the Rockville Bench, near Zion National Park. The rock mass fell onto the steep slope below the cliff, and shattered into numerous fragments. The rock fall debris then moved rapidly downslope before striking and destroying a house, detached garage, and a car. The largest boulder to strike the house weighed an estimated 520 tons.
Check out this YouTube video from Yellowstone National Park that addresses some rumors and concerns that have come up as a result of their recent 4.8 earthquake. It clears up a lot of questions! Find other videos that they’ve made HERE.
Here’s another article that answers questions about the risk of an eruption from Yellowstone’s supervolcano.
Quake expert predicts no big band in Y’stone
jhnewsandguide.com
The 4.8 magnitude earthquake that shook Yellowstone National Park this weekend was unremarkable besides the fact it happens around every decade or so, a University of Utah professor says.
Hands down, Utah’s geologic beauties rock!
White Rim Trail, San Juan County, Utah
Photographer: Don DeBlieux; © 2012
Sandstone buttes and mesas along the White Rim Trail, San Juan County.
The Utah Geological Survey (UGS) is a division of the Utah Department of Natural Resources. Several specialized programs comprise the UGS: Data Management, Energy & Minerals, Geologic Hazards, Geologic Information & Outreach, Geologic Mapping, Groundwater & Wetlands, and Paleontology.
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