Lance WeaverNavajo Sandstone, Zion National Park, Washington County. Photo by Lance Weaver.
Trevor SchlossnagleSnow-capped hoodoos of the Eocene-age Pink Member of the Claron Formation glow in the evening sun. These hoodoos were sculpted by the effects of weathering and erosion from ice and rain. Learn more about how hoodoos are formed.
Bryce Canyon National Park, Garfield County. Photo by Trevor Schlossnagle.
The evening sun casts a long shadow of a basaltic knob at Pot Mountain. These early Pleistocene-age rocks are likely eroded volcanic necks that may have erupted into water. The vents are now eroded and partially concealed by shoreline gravel of the late Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, giving the mountain a teapot-like shape when viewed from a distance.
Sevier Desert, Millard County. Photo by Adam McKean.
Silver Island Mountains, Tooele County, Utah. Photo by Adam Hiscock.
Gypsum crystals from drying mudflats are blown into dunes patterned with sinuous ripples along the eastern margin of the Great Salt Lake Desert. Gypsum—an evaporite mineral that is soluble in water—is an uncommon constituent of sand.
Knolls Dunes, Tooele County, Utah. Photo by Andy Cvar.
Mt. Ellen, Henry Mountains, Garfield County, Utah. Photo by Ken Krahulec.
Fall colors and snow compliment brightly colored lichen on Miocene-age volcanic boulders on the shore of Johnson Valley Reservoir. Cloud shadows dapple the Fish Lake Hightop, one of several high plateaus in central Utah dominated by Tertiary-age volcanic rocks.
Fishlake National Forest, Sevier County, Utah. Photo by J. Lucy Jordan.
Yant Flat near Silver Reef, Washington County, Utah. Photo by Paul Inkenbrandt.
Near the base of Notch Peak, pink Jurassic-age granite intrudes much older thinly bedded gray argillite and white marble of the Cambrian-age Marjum Formation. Deep in the Earth’s crust 170 million years ago, high heat and fluids from the granite metamorphosed the surrounding rock, turning limestone into marble and shale into argillite.
House Range, Millard County, Utah. Photo by Mark Milligan.
Carmel Canyon Trail, Goblin Valley State Park, Emery County. Photo by Adam McKean.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE UTAH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
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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CONTACT INFORMATION
1594 West North Temple, Suite 3110
Salt Lake City, Utah 84116
801-537-3300 (phone)
801-537-3400 (fax)
Mailing Address:
PO BOX 146100
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114
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