Utah Geological Survey

GEOLOGISTS EXAMINE SALT LAKE CITY PORTION OF WASATCH FAULT

KSL.com

Scientists are getting the first good look they’ve ever had at the Salt Lake City portion of the Wasatch Fault. What they’ve seen so far confirms a major earthquake is a constant threat.

In fact, geologists dug two big trenches in a vacant lot right next door to the University of Utah’s president’s mansion.

For the last two and a half weeks, they’ve had an unprecedented opportunity to look at the guts of the Wasatch Fault in this area. They’ve dug similar trenches elsewhere, but until now, the closest was in the Sandy-Draper area.

As expected, there’s evidence of at least six major earthquakes averaging about once every 1,300 years. The last one hit roughly 1,300 years ago.

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IN THE MEDIA

deseretnews.com

View the Wasatch Fault Video

Utah Geological Survey

Glad You Asked—What are those lines on the mountain? From bread lines to erosion-control lines

by Mark Milligan

Recent photo of erosion-control terraces constructed by the CCC in the 1930s, above the Bonneville shoreline in North Salt Lake, Davis County.

Sometimes I get a public inquiry that leads to a “Glad You Asked” article, and sometimes I see something interesting in the field and wish I would get a question about it. This time it was a case of the latter.

A gentleman called and asked, “What are the lines up on the side of the mountain?” Along the Wasatch Front we have fault lines, shorelines, lines from rock layers (bedding planes), lines formed by volcanic dikes, and lines formed by other natural phenomena.

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Utah Geological Survey

District to look at study results

thespectrum.com

Reports from the Utah Geological Survey top the agenda for Thursday’s Central Iron County Water Conservancy District meeting. Geologist Bill Lund is presenting information about water subsidence in and fissures found in Enoch, which is part of the study.

Lund said the study is almost complete and so far concludes that the water table in the area of Enoch near Midvalley Road is permanently lowered because of overdrawing water from the aquifer resulting in the fissures.

“Basically, we are going to summarize what we’ve found to date,” he said. “We’ve found more fissures and land subsidence.”

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Utah Geological Survey

Renewable Energy Conference set March 27 at SLCC

Deseret News

The 2010 Utah Renewable Energy Conference will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 27, at the Salt Lake Community College Miller Campus.

Hosted by the Utah Solar Energy Association, the event will feature details about a new Utah State Energy Program rebate for home and business owners; local clean energy companies; and experts in solar, wind and energy-efficiency technologies.

The cost is $5 for individuals and $10 for families or groups of two to five people. Attendees will receive $100 off a solar energy system from installers participating in the conference.

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RELATED LINKS

Details and registration

Utah Geological Survey

ROCKVILLE ROCK FALL TECHNICAL REPORT

The rock, estimated to be about 21 x 17 x 17 feet and weighing about 450 tons, slid and fell from the upper slope of Rockville Bench, began to roll downslope, collided with a large stationary boulder at the base of the slope, and shattered into numerous smaller fragments that damaged several outbuildings, two cars, and a house. Although people were home at the time, no one was injured.

The rock fall occurred shortly after a protracted storm event on February 5-9, 2010 that produced 1.38 inches of rain at the Zion Canyon RAWS station, 4.5 miles northeast of Rockville.

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Related Links

Technical Report (pdf)
Landslides: Events & Information
Rock-Fall Hazards (pdf)

Utah Geological Survey

Study of Co-Benefits of Efficiency and Renewables in Utah: Air Quality, Health, and Water Benefits

Synapse Energy Economics, Inc. (Synapse) was contracted by several Utah State agencies, including the Utah State Energy Program, the Division of Public Utilities, the Division of Air Quality, the Committee of Consumer Services, and the Governor’s Energy Advisor, to develop and apply methods of calculating water and health co-benefits of displacing electricity generation technologies in Utah with new energy efficiency or renewable energy.

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View entire report

Utah Geological Survey

Leveraging $6 Million into $50 Million Worth of Energy Projects

Six-million dollars will soon be turned into roughly $50 million worth of energy efficiency projects in Utah. The Utah State Energy Program (USEP) is partnering with the Division of Facilities Construction and Management (DFCM) to invest more than $50 million in energy efficiency measures in state-owned buildings.

“This partnership allows DFCM to add $44 million for numerous energy efficiency upgrades,” said Meghan Golden, USEP Clean Energy Program Specialist. “Also, the projects will be completed in a relatively short time frame.” Energy efficiency projects may involve activities such as replacing lighting with more efficient systems or upgrading heating ventilation and air conditioning equipment.

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Related Links

Utah State Energy Program
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Utah Geological Survey

GeoSights— Utah's belly button, Upheaval Dome

Upheaval Dome in Canyonlands National Park, Utah, is a colorful circular “belly button,” unique among the broad mesas and deep canyons of the Colorado Plateau.

The rim of Upheaval Dome is 3 miles across and over 1000 feet above the core floor. The central peak in the core is 3000 feet in diameter and rises 750 feet from the floor.

Since the late 1990s, the origin of the Upheaval Dome structure has been considered to be either a pinched-off salt dome or a complex meteorite impact crater; in other words the “belly button” is either an “outie” (dome) or “innie” (crater).

Both origin hypotheses account for the overall structure of Upheaval Dome, assuming approximately a mile of overlying rock has been eroded. The main differences between the two hypotheses are the amount of time and the pressures needed to produce the structure.

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VIEW SURVEY NOTES

Utah Geological Survey

MODEL WIND ORDINANCE

Senate Joint Resolution 1 of the 2009 Utah Legislative Session tasked the Utah State Energy Program with developing a model wind ordinance. This was accomplished by way of the Utah Wind Working Group and input from stakeholders. The Model Wind Ordinance document incorporates comments from:

private citizens,
PacifiCorp,
City of Monticello,
Utah Clean Energy,
Iron County,
Utah League of Cities and Towns,
the Utah Wind Working Group
Salt Lake City Corporation, and
the Utah Division of Wildlife.

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RELATED LINKS

Model Wind Ordinance

Utah Geological Survey

COMMUNITY VELOCITY MODEL (CVM) AND OTHER GEOPHYSICAL DATA

The Utah Geological Survey (UGS) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have a cooperative agreement to study earthquake-hazards in Utah with an ultimate goal of producing detailed earthquake-hazards maps, including large-scale ground-shaking maps along the densely populated Wasatch Front urban corridor.

An important component of the ground-shaking maps is developing a three-dimensional model of the subsurface, a Wasatch Front Community Velocity Model (CVM), that incorporates shallow shear-wave velocity (Vs), deep-basin structure, and other effects. To aid in producing these maps, the UGS has compiled databases of Vs and deep-basin geophysical and well logs.

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RELATED LINKS

Community Velocity Model (CVM)
Shallow Shear-Wave-Velocity Data
Deep-Basin-Structure Data