Utah Geological Survey

More Kids in the Woods

Last Thursday the Utah Geological Survey participated in the More Kids in the Woods outdoor program, an education initiative designed to bring underserved, urban, and diverse children and adolescents to the forests to spark curiosity, exercise, and connect the next generation with nature.  The week-long event is chock-full of activities set up by scientists from many fields in the Earth sciences, emphasizing conservation, stewardship, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  On our trip with middle school students we traveled to Big Cottonwood Canyon and Silver Lake to explore geology, forestry, and aquatic biology.

More Kids in the Woods is a new nation-wide program spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture/U.S. Forest Service and in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, partnered with some dozen other organizations including The University of Utah, Cottonwood Canyons Foundation, and Bad Dog Art.

 

Students examine rainbow trout from Silver Lake.

Students study air photo interpretion by using photos of the Silver Lake area to identify vegetation types followed by ground truthing on a hike.

A cartographer from the U.S. Forest Service reviews with students and instructors. 

Utah Geological Survey
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The rock that burns: Is Utah about to see oil shale bonanza?

sltrib.com

The gash in the hillside recedes from a dusty road in 20-foot steps, revealing a towering bounty of hydrocarbons embedded in stone deposited 50 million years ago when algae-filled Lake Uinta covered northeastern Utah.

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Utah Geological Survey

Africa's ups and downs

esa.int

The East African Rift is an area where two tectonic plates are moving apart, making it a region of high geological activity, home to a number of volcanoes.

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Utah Geological Survey
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Earthquake Risk in the Salt Lake Valley

In Christchurch, New Zealand in February, 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck six miles from the city center. The sandy type of soil present in the area caused the ground to basically liquefy during shaking.

UGS Geologist Chris DuRoss is interviewed by KCPW: Explore Utah Science to discuss the hazard of liquefaction we face right here in the the Salt Lake Valley.

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Earthquake Risk in the Salt Lake Valley

Michael Hylland, a geologist at the Utah Geological Survey, examines disruptions in the subsurface soil at a trench dug through a section of the Wasatch Fault

 

Utah Geological Survey

U. launches new petroleum engineering graduate program

The University of Utah is launching a new graduate program this fall to meet the increasing demands for experienced engineers with knowledge of the petroleum industry.

The petroleum engineering Master of Science degree will be offered through the U.’s Department of Chemical Engineering and is designed for students with a bachelor’s degree in engineering.

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Utah Geological Survey

Full dinosaur tail excavated in northern Mexico

ksl.com

Mexican paleontologists say they have uncovered 50 vertebrae believed to be a full dinosaur tail in the northern desert of Coahuila state.

The National Institute of Anthropology and History says the tail is about 15 feet (5 meters) long and resembles that of a hadrosaur or crested duckbill dinosaur.

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Utah Geological Survey

Debris-loaded flash flood tears through southern Utah

washingtonpost.com

Once in a great while, I stumble upon extreme weather video unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Today’s example? A large, violent debris flash flood that gutted a creek basin in southern Utah Thursday afternoon (south of Bryce Canyon National Park, about eight miles north of Lake Powell).

 

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Utah Geological Survey

2013 Crawford Award

The prestigious 2013 Crawford Award was presented to UGS geologists Rich Giraud and Greg McDonald in recognition for their combined work on the outstanding geologic publication Landslide Inventory Map of the Twelvemile Canyon, Sanpete County, Utah (UGS Map 247DM). The publication includes a 1:24,000-scale landslide inventory map and geodatabase for Twelvemile Canyon, east of Mayfield, Utah.  The map covers 59 square miles on the west side of the Wasatch Plateau.  The purpose of the map and database is to show landslide deposits and their characteristics to provide information for managing landslide problems.

The Crawford Award recognizes outstanding achievement, accomplish­ments, or contributions by a current UGS scientist to the understanding of some aspect of Utah geology or Earth science. The award is named in honor of Arthur L. Crawford, first director of the UGS.

This and other UGS publications are available at DNR Map & Bookstore

Watch 2013 Crawford Award Announcement

 

Utah Geological Survey

Jones Hole Trail remains closed after large rockslide

ksl.com

It’s been a month since a massive rock slide sent boulders the size of trucks tumbling into and across Jones Hole Creek, and a thick layer of cream-colored sandstone dust still coats every surface.

 

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Huge, plant-eating dinosaur named for Utah monument paleontologist

deseretnews.com

For the third time in five years, a Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument employee was honored by having a newly discovered dinosaur named for them.

The British scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society announced Wednesday that a new species of horned dinosaur unearthed at the monument is called Nasutoceratops titusi.

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