Silver Island Mountains, Tooele County, Utah
Photographer: Ken Krahulec

Limestone has been enriched with silver and lead from  mineral-rich fluids driven by underlying plutons in the Silver Island Mountains, Tooele County.

A pluton is a body of magma that cools and crystallizes deep  within Earth’s crust, and is typically granitic in composition. Utah’s wealth of rich ore deposits is in large part due to the plutonic process. During pluton emplacement, minerals form in surrounding rock. Limestone and dolomite in particular are prime host rocks for mineralization and concentrations of ore.

Granite Peak, Beaver County, Utah
Photographer: Tyler Knudsen

Spectacular granite crags loom high above Ranch Canyon in the Mineral Mountains. An immense aggregation of smaller intrusions, the 18 million year- old  (Miocene-aged) Mineral Mountains batholith (large body of intrusive igneous rock) is the largest exposed batholith in Utah.

Zion National Park, Washington
County, Utah
Photographer: Tyler Knudsen

Utah showcases a multitude of canyons as varied as its high mountains and dry deserts. Ranging from V- and U-shaped valleys at the edge of mountains to deep and narrow slot canyons in the south, the shapes result from types of erosion and factors such as precipitation amount and rock type. Erosion can be from powerful rivers and glaciers, forceful flash floods, or winds adding a sculpting touch.

A unique tunnel-like passage sculpted by stream water is called the Subway section in this slot canyon in Zion National Park, Washington
County.

Orderville, Kane County, Utah
Photographer: Lance Weaver

Utah showcases a multitude of canyons as varied as its high mountains and dry deserts. Ranging from V- and U-shaped valleys at the edge of mountains to deep and narrow slot canyons in the south, the shapes result from types of erosion and factors such as precipitation amount and rock type. Erosion can be from powerful rivers and glaciers, forceful flash floods, or winds adding a sculpting touch.

Southern Utah has a lot of bare rock with little vegetation, so rainwater runoff typically ends up flowing into narrow canyons and producing flash floods with great erosive power. The resulting slot canyons are dry most of the time, such as this one near Orderville, Kane County.

Little Cottonwood Canyon, Wasatch Range, Salt Lake County, Utah
Photographer: Mike Hylland

Ice Age (late Pleistocene) glaciers carved a classic U-shaped valley into granitic rock of the Oligocene-aged Little Cottonwood stock at Little Cottonwood Canyon. Across Salt Lake Valley, the Oquirrh Mountains are home to the Bingham Canyon mine, the largest open-pit copper mine in North America.

Spiral Jetty in Great Salt Lake near Promontory Point, Box Elder County, Utah
Photographer: Don Clark

Great Salt Lake is likely best known for its high salinity and large size. Yet this unique lake also supports mineral and brine-shrimp industries,  provides a resting place for millions of migratory birds, and reveals varied spectacular sights. Sunsets over distant islands, white beaches, and water colors ranging from blue to pink offer inspiration for artists.

Boulders of basalt, now salt-encrusted, were moved from shore by artist Robert Smithson to create Spiral Jetty in Great Salt Lake near Promontory Point, Box Elder County.

Great Salt Lake, Utah
Photographer: Carole McCalla

Great Salt Lake is likely best known for its high salinity and large size. Yet this unique lake also supports mineral and brine-shrimp industries, provides a resting place for millions of migratory birds, and reveals varied spectacular sights. Sunsets over distant islands, white beaches, and water colors ranging from blue to pink offer inspiration for artists.

White foam, caused by wave action from windstorms, occasionally piles up along the shores of Great Salt Lake.

Great Salt Lake, Davis County, Utah
Photographer: Carole McCalla

Antelope Island, approximately ten miles long and four miles wide, is the largest island in Great Salt Lake. The island, which becomes a peninsula when lake levels are low, has easily accessible outcrops of some of the oldest (Precambrian-aged) rocks in Utah. It is also home to a variety of wildlife including pronghorn, bison, bighorn sheep, and millions of waterfowl.

Crystal Peak, Millard County, Utah
Photographer: Matt Affolter

Certain rock types weather into curious shapes and patterns by combinations of internal factors such as fractures and sediment grain size and external factors such as frost action and salt crystallization. Sandstone, granite, volcanic rocks, and limestone are all excellent mediums for creating bizarre rockscapes that can include smooth, rounded, and undulating forms (hoodoos or “goblins”), pinnacles, tafoni (holes and small alcoves), and honeycomb structures.

The Tunnel Spring Tuff exhibits remarkable tafoni (alcoves and pitting) covering the steep slope of Crystal Peak.

Goblin Valley State Park, Emery County, Utah
Photographer: Keith Beisner

Certain rock types weather into curious shapes and patterns by combinations of internal factors such as fractures and sediment grain size and external factors such as frost action and salt crystallization. Sandstone, granite, volcanic rocks, and limestone are all excellent mediums for creating bizarre rockscapes that can include smooth, rounded, and undulating forms (hoodoos or “goblins”), pinnacles, tafoni (holes and small alcoves), and honeycomb structures.

Where horizontal bedding, alternating hard and soft rock layers, and vertical fractures combine, the Entrada Sandstone weathers into rounded, columnar “goblins”.