Wasatch Range, Utah & Wasatch Counties, Utah
Photographer: Robert F. Biek
Framed by blooming gray rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) above the east shore of Deer Creek Reservoir, Mt. Timpanogos is formed of Pennsylvanian-age, shallow- marine limestone and sandstone of the Oquirrh Formation. The small patch of snow is in Cascade Cirque, one of several glacier-carved basins on the east side of the 11,749-foot-tall mountain.
Capitol Reef National Park, Garfield County, Utah
Photographer: Paul Kuehne
The Waterpocket Fold affords a wonderful view of the geology of Grand Gulch. The Entrada Sandstone (reddish-orange rock on the right) and Navajo Sandstone (pale-orange rock on the left and middle distance) were formed in a desert environment beginning about 185 million years ago in the Jurassic Period.
Dollar Lake, High Uintas Wilderness, Duchesne County, Utah
Photographer: Mike Hylland
To the south of Dollar Lake in the Uinta Mountains, cliffs of Precambrian-age sedimentary strata rise abruptly at the head of the Henrys Fork basin. The leftmost peak lit by the morning sun is Utah’s highest mountain, Kings Peak (13,528 feet), which was named for Clarence King, first director of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Southeast of Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah
Photographer: Michael Vanden Berg
The White Pine rock slide covers the floor of Little Cottonwood Canyon with boulders of granitic rock of the Tertiary-age Little Cottonwood stock. These rocks broke loose from the north side of the glacially-carved canyon several thousand years ago.
Fishlake National Forest, Piute County, Utah
Photographer: Tyler Knudsen
Storm clouds gather over Mount Belknap (12,137 feet) in the Tushar Mountains, Utah’s third-highest range. The smooth, rounded slopes of this summit ridge are composed of easily eroded volcanic ash and lava flows. The mountains are part of the eruptive center of the Marysvale volcanic field, an area of intense volcanic activity between 32 and 22 million years ago.