Entries by Utah Geological Survey

POTD December 23, 2014: Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah

Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah Photographer: Tyler Knudsen; © 2014 One of numerous slot canyons carved into Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone in Zion National Park, Bear Trap Canyon is particularly dark and narrow. With little sunlight penetrating to the canyon floor, snow and ice often linger well into spring.

America’s ‘ringing’ rock arches recorded

What are Utah’s Arches trying to tell us? Read more in this article about an arch’s “song” that scientists are looking at. bbc.com These geological wonders adorn the Colorado Plateau in the southwestern US – not to mention the desktop wallpapers of countless computers worldwide. READ MORE

“Popular Geology” December 18, 2014

While the weather has been warm, and there’s not a lot of snow or ice around, it’s a great time of year to look at the Ice Age animals of Utah. Did you know that Great Salt Lake is the remnant of Ice Age lake, Lake Bonneville? Read more about this different age in Utah […]

Past global warming similar to today’s

sciencecodex.com The rate at which carbon emissions warmed Earth’s climate almost 56 million years ago resembles modern, human-caused global warming much more than previously believed, but involved two pulses of carbon to the atmosphere, University of Utah researchers and their colleagues found. READ MORE

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Paleontologists identify oldest horned dinosaur in North America

Check out the latest dino news! One of our paleontologists, Scott Madsen, discovered this little guy in 1997 in what is called the Cloverly Formation in southern Montana. Utah State Paleontologist, James Kirkland, talks more about the fossil’s significance in this article. cbsnews.com Paleontologists have identified the fossil of a horned dinosaur the size of […]

Feathered Fossils Give Scaly Dinosaurs a Makeover

news.nationalgeographic.com Which came first, the feathers or the birds? Feathers first, scientists now say definitively.  Yet this feathery revelation doesn’t arise from discoveries of ancient birds, but of birds’ ancestors—dinosaurs. READ MORE