Entries by Utah Geological Survey

POTD August 02, 2017: Blue Hills Overlook, Wayne County

Blue Hills Overlook, Wayne County Photographer: Gregg Beukelman © 2017 Early morning light spotlights a mesa in a typical badland landscape composed of easily eroded shaly siltstone and mudstone of the Tununk Shale Member of the Cretaceous-age Mancos Shale. The Ferron Sandstone, also a member of the Mancos Shale, is in the foreground.

Geoscience and Utah

How does geoscience affect Utah? The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) is currently releasing State Geoscience Information factsheets that show the role geoscience plays in powering our state’s economy. The Geoscience and Utah Factsheet highlights information from many Utah geoscience areas including, employment, water, minerals, energy and hazards. Below is page 1 of the Utah factsheet […]

POTD June 27, 2017: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Photographer: Grant Willis © 2017 Padres Butte towers over Lake Powell’s Padre Bay, both named for the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition, which crossed the Colorado River near this site in 1776. Padres and the other buttes in this area are composed of Entrada Sandstone, one of several geologic formations that form the […]

2017 Crawford Award

The prestigious 2017 Crawford Award was presented to State Paleontologist James Kirkland in recognition of his work in “The Lower Cretaceous in East-Central Utah—The Cedar Mountain Formation and its Bounding Strata”, from Geology of the Intermountain West, Volume 3, Utah Geological Association. Most think of Utah as the “real Jurassic Park” because of the important dinosaur collections […]

POTD June 20, 2017: Fremont petroglyphs.

Fremont petroglyphs Photographer: Charles Bishop © 2017 At the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon, Fremont petroglyphs in the Northern San Rafael Style depict a hunting scene. The figures are etched into sandstone of the Green River Formation, and derive their contrast from the dark, weathered patina developed on the light-colored rock.