Arches National Park, Grand County Photographer: William Lund Delicate Arch is formed of Jurassic-age sandstone—the Slick Rock Member of the Entrada Sandstone (base and pedestals) and Moab Member of the Curtis Formation (bridge). With a horizontal span of 32 feet and a vertical span of 46 feet, Delicate Arch is small compared to many other […]
Big Cottonwood Canyon, Wasatch Range, Salt Lake County Photographer: Liz Paton On the east slope of Mt. Millicent (10,452 feet), Lake Mary occupies part of a basin carved by Ice Age glaciers. The surrounding peaks are composed of granitic rock of the Tertiary-age Alta stock.
Bakken Breakout From the highway, Utah’s Uinta Basin has some striking similarities to oil producing areas in North Dakota – namely, there’s an abundance of new oil wells. The evening view from a hill called Blue Bench is evidence. Lights from oil rigs and wells are scattered across an uneven topography. Once, that land seemed […]
A glacial end (terminal) moraine in Pine Creek Valley, Wasatch Mountain State Park. This Saturday Utah Geological Survey geologist Jim Davis and Utah State Parks naturalist Kathy Donnell led a leisurely hike up to Wilson Peak in Wasatch Mountain State Park for Utah State University students enrolled in the course “Utah Master Naturalist.” The Utah […]
Head of Sinbad, San Rafael Swell, Emery County Photographer: J. Buck Ehler Dutchman Arch guards the path to Devil’s Racetrack, a popular recreation trail in the San Rafael Swell. Named after a local Dutch cattleman, the arch is composed of the Jurassic-age Wingate Sandstone deposited in ancient sand dunes.
Little Cottonwood Canyon, Wasatch Range, Salt Lake County Photographer: Valerie V. Davis Viewed across Albion Basin from the Secret Lake trail, the southfacing slopes of the Flagstaff Mountain area reveal tilted Cambrian- to Pennsylvanian- age strata. The deformation of these rocks attests to the severe folding, faulting, and tilting undergone by this mountain range.
nationalgeographic.com I’ve never been to Mars, but I’ve been close. From my Salt Lake City home, the journey takes a relatively scant four and a half hours – through the smoggy sprawl of the valley and over lonely highways pocked here and there by small Utah farming towns before reaching the tourist-dependent outpost of Hanksville. […]
deseretnews.com A herd of dinosaurs are trapped in rock outside Arches National Park, and state paleontologists need a helicopter to bring it back to the lab to see what’s really inside. State paleontologists hope to line up a helicopter in the next few weeks to bring back the extraordinary discovery near Moab. READ MORE […]
ksl.com Two Thursday night fires in Utah County served as a reminder that fire season is upon the state. Wildfires may not be entirely preventable, but steps can be taken to help prevent fires and to prepare your home and family in case of evacuation. READ MORE MORE INFO
Garfield County Photographer: Michael Vanden Berg Windows form within the Tertiary-age Claron Formation as wind and water erode the brightly colored sandstone and siltstone into fins and hoodoos at Bryce Canyon National Park. Thor’s Hammer, the official icon of the Utah Geological Survey, is visible in the lower-right corner.
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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