Spanish Fork Peak, Utah County, Utah
Photographer: Buck Ehler; © 2012

Spanish Fork Canyon and Spanish Fork Peak, Utah County.

Washington County, Utah
Photographer: Don DeBlieux; © 2012

Sculpted hills of iron-stained Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone form the Red Mountains north of St. George. In the distance, Paleozoic strata of Square Top Mountain and Jackson Peak have been transported up and over younger Mesozoic strata along the Square Top Mountain thrust fault.

 

What a photo for Monday, Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone!

Waterpocket Fold, Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah
Photographer: Ken Krahulec; © 2012

Bentonite Hills, east of Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah
Photographer: Tyler Knudsen; © 2012

Black volcanic boulders litter colorful but seemingly lifeless badlands formed in the Brushy Basin Member of the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation. Moisture-sensitive swelling clays, formed by the alteration of volcanic ash, allow little vegetation to take root.

A stunning Utah view.

Antelope Island & Farmington Bay, Great Salt Lake, Davis County, Utah
Photographer: Ken Krahulec; © 2012

Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah
Photographer: Paul Inkenbrandt; © 2012

Storm clouds clear over Bridger Bay and Antelope Island, the largest island in Great Salt Lake. Much of the island, including Stringham Peak (left background; elevation 6,345 feet), is made up of Precambrian-age rocks that are some of the oldest rocks in Utah (600 million to 2.5 billion years old).

Wasatch Range, Weber County, Utah
Photographer: Ken Krahulec; © 2012

Snow Basin on the east side of the Wasatch Range, Weber County.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Dixie National Forest, Iron County, Utah
Photographer: Robert F. Biek; © 2012

Hancock Peak (elevation 10,598 feet) is one of many cinder cones that dot the Markagunt Plateau east of Cedar City. Engelmann spruce trees, many of which were killed by spruce bark beetles, and colorful quaking aspen blanket the cinder cone and associated lava flow, which are estimated to be about 600,000 years old.

The Windows Section, Arches National Park, Grand County, Utah
Photographer: Adam McKean; © 2012

The Windows Section, Arches National Park, Grand County.

Happy Earth Day, everyone!

Sandstone Mountain, Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, Washington County, Utah
Photographer: Tyler Knudsen; © 2012

Shifting sands partially bury an unusually large (about 1 foot in diameter) spherical hematite concretion that has eroded from the nearby Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone. The concretion’s dark concentric bands formed when iron-oxide minerals precipitated out of groundwater that flowed through the sandstone.