deseretnews.com
Drop, cover and hold on. More than 700,000 Utahns will be participating in a statewide earthquake drill Thursday for the annual Great Utah ShakeOut, an initiative to help people and organizations practice how to protect themselves in the event of a major earthquake.
deseretnews.com
It’s 2 a.m. on an April Thursday. Along the Wasatch Front, most of the more than 2 million Utahns who live here are sleeping, at home in suburban homes or aging apartments, even as thousands of others are working graveyard shifts in hospitals or other businesses.
Happy Friday! Take a minute to enjoy Discovery Canada’s short on our Paleontologists here at the Utah Geological Survey and their work on the nearly 9-ton fossil block containing a family of Utahraptor. See James Kirkland, Scott Madsen, Don DeBlieux, and help from others as they unravel their Utahraptor puzzle.
discovery.ca
Entrada Sandstone in Cathedral Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah
Photographer: Tyler Knudsen; © 2014
ksl.com
The original Utahns weren’t nearly as willing to bring you a casserole, but who wants to look at fossilized Relief Society presidents?
By: Grant C. Willis and Janice M. Hayden
The Santa Clara 7.5′ quadrangle is in the northwestern part of the St. George basin in southwestern Utah, and includes Santa Clara and Ivins Cities, and colorful Red Mountain and Snow Canyon State Park. Movement on an underlying thrust fault created a variety of faults, joints, deformation shear bands, and brecciated rock in Triassic and Jurassic strata in many areas. Remnants of six Quaternary basalt flows cap ridges and benches, forming classic inverted valleys, and form lava cascades in Snow Canyon State Park. The young Santa Clara flow cascaded through Snow Canyon and flooded across broad benches, forming scenic black terrain that contrasts sharply with red-brown to near-white sandstone cliffs. Landslides, rock falls, swelling clays, and other geology and related flooding and debris flow hazards have caused extensive damage in recent years and present increasing challenges as growth and development continue. “Blue Clay” of the Chinle Formation has been at the root of significant damage to roads, buildings, and infrastructure.
landslides.usgs.gov
Landslides often occur in response to heavy or prolonged rainfall. On hillsides, gravity is constantly working to pull the soil and rock downslope, and rainfall infiltrating into the ground changes the forces or stresses acting on those hillside materials. If the changes in stress are large enough to overcome the strength of the hillside materials, a landslide occurs. “Debris flows” are a type of landslide initiated by heavy rainfall or rapid snowmelt; the name “debris flow” is derived from the mixture of coarse sediment that geologists call “debris” and water picked up and carried when they flow downslope or down a stream channel. When they happen, debris flows can move rapidly and travel long distances with tremendous momentum. If they occur where people and things are located they cause damage to buildings, block transportation routes, and sometimes kill or injure people. The USGS landslide scientists are trying to find better ways to determine when rainfall might cause debris flows in order to reduce their danger.
upr.org
Humans have had such a huge impact on the Earth that some geologists think the human era should be enshrined in the official timeline of our planet.
For those of our friends that can’t get out into the outdoor wonder-world this weekend, here are some stunning photos to keep you company.
travel.nationalgeographic.com
smithsonianmag.com
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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