Dark Canyon Primitive Area, San Juan County, Utah
Photographer: Diane Menuz; © 2015
The stream in the lower section of Dark Canyon runs reddish brown following heavy morning rain. Sandstone of the Permian-age Cutler Group forms the canyon walls and limestone of the Pennsylvanian-age Honaker Trail Formation is exposed along the stream bed.
We just love Earth Science Week, as do the students that come participate in our UGS activities. Here is a wonderful write up on Kearns-Saint Ann School Earth Science Week outing at the UGS a few weeks ago.
icatholic.org
The 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-graders from Kearns-Saint Ann School recently took a field trip to the Utah Geological Survey Core Research Center to celebrate Earth Science Week.
Check out the Natural History Museum of Utah’s behind the scenes weekend in pictures. This gallery features an adventure to Great Salt Lake where researchers—including one of our geologists, Tom Chidsey and Michael Vanden Berg—pulled up microbialites for display at the museum.
Utah dinosaurs may be going international with the possibility of a “Dinosaurs of Utah Museum” in Japan.
ksl.com
It’s enough to make Godzilla proud.
White Rim, Canyonlands National Park, San Juan County, Utah
Photographer: Tyler Knudsen; © 2015
Don’t miss out this weekend! This Saturday and Sunday, November 14–15, the Natural History Museum of Utah will be opening their doors to show what happens behind the scenes. See artifacts, and learn about the museum’s current research, and discover how they care for their collections!
nhmu.utah.edu
smithsonianmag.com
Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah
Photographer: Adam McKean; © 2015
The setting sun illuminates the Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone cliffs of Cougar Mountain (right) and South Guardian Angel (left) as viewed from Kolob Reservoir Road. Here, the road travels on top of the 220,000- to 310,000-year-old Grapevine Wash lava flow (dark rocks in middle ground).
By: Douglas A. Sprinkel
The interim geologic map of the east part of the Duchesne 30’x60′ quadrangle (year 3) consists of eighteen 7.5 minute quadrangles and is the third year of a multi-year project to map and compile the geology of this quadrangle. The quadrangle is located mostly in the western Uinta basin, with the northwest corner located along the southwest flank of the Uinta Mountains but the area mapped is centered on Roosevelt, Utah. The map area includes a variety of surficial deposits that range from historic to lower Pleistocene piedmont alluvium, stream alluvium, and glacial deposits. Bedrock map units include members of the Duchesne River formation, the upper two members of the Uinta Formation, and upper two members of the Green River Formation. Members of the Duchesne River Formation are (in descending order) Starr Flat, Lapoint, Dry Gulch Creek, and Brennan Basin. Members of the Uinta Formation are (in descending order) member C and member B. The sandstone and limestone facies and the saline facies are of the Green River Formation are exposed south of U.S. Highway 40 and south-southwest of Duchesne, Utah. Structural features include the axis of the Uinta Basin syncline (and associated folds), the Uinta Basin-Mountain boundary fault zone located in the northern part of the map area with evidence of movement in the Quaternary, and the Duchesne fault zone located in the southern part of the map area. The Duchesne 30’x60′ quadrangle also contains an array of geologic resources including minerals, phosphate, sand and gravel, and gilsonite, but energy resources are the most significant with the giant Altamont-Bluebell and Monument Butte fields included in the quadrangle.
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.