Utah Geological Survey

LANDSLIDE RISK 'REAL CONCERN'

parkrecord.com

Floods are not the only hazard homeowners have to be concerned about as the melting begins; the risk landslides pose to Summit County homes is steadily increasing as the soil becomes more saturated, according to Richard Giraud, a Senior Geologist with the Utah Geological Survey.

Unlike floods, which can be predicted, monitored and prepared for ahead of time, landslides pose a sudden and random risk with little that can be done to prevent or foresee them. As developments continue to expand into hillsides and weaken soil, more roads and structures are poised to be affected by a landslide.

“We have significant potential to see landslides this spring, there have already been some minor ones near Pinebrook and Chalk Creek Road,” said Kevin Callahan, the Public Service Works Director for Summit County.

One of these recent landslides, which occurred in the Aspen Acres neighborhood near Oakley, pushed a summer cabin off its foundation and knocked out utilities to neighboring homes. The county is anticipating seeing more of such incidents.

“We are very aware of the conditions and observing any changes. If there is lots of water coming out of a hill, that is reason for concern that a landslide could happen there,” said Callahan. “Little else can be done to prevent a landslide, even when an at-risk area is identified.”

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Utah Geological Survey

WEATHER CAUSES FARMINGTON CANYON TO CLOSE INDEFINITELY

clippertoday.com

There’s good news and bad news with regard to flooding.

The good news is that as of Tuesday morning Rudd Canyon in Farmington seems to have stabilized, and no new mudslides are reported there.

The bad news is that a rock slide has indefinitely closed Farmington Canyon and the mountain is still moving.

Kirk Schmalz, Davis County’s director of public works, said there have been no new reports of slides in Rudd Canyon. He said the Utah Geological Survey inspected the canyon Monday and reported the slides which occurred last week have settled.

However, on Sunday the U.S. Forest Service closed Farmington Canyon after a mudslide hit about a mile past the pavement, just past the first switchback. Large boulders and debris have covered the road.

Forest Service spokesperson Kathy Jo Pollock said at that time, the agency put a 48-hour emergency measure in place, to allow Forest Service engineers to evaluate the stability of the area. But even before the day’s end forest service managers received the go-ahead to close it indefinitely.

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Utah Geological Survey

DIGGING FOR GEODES IN THE UTAH DESERT IS GREAT FAMILY FUN

deseretnews.com

Exploring, hill climbing and digging are all popular activities to keep childeren entertained.

Throw in some pretty rocks, reptiles and animals, and you have a can’t-miss adventure.

That combination is exactly what one can find at the Dugway geode beds in Utah’s West Desert.

Geodes are essentially volcanic rock bubbles. Over time, the hollow space inside the bubble fills with water-carrying dissolved minerals that eventually form crystals. Dugway is among the best places in the country to find these unusual rock specimens.

But in spite of the unique nature of the Dugway geode beds, the site doesn’t attract many visitors. About 100 miles west of Lehi, the area is remote and not widely known. There are no gas stations or convenience stores along the route, so visitors should take plenty of water, fuel, food and anything else they might need.

Locating the geodes is simple. Take shovels and look for places where there is evidence of previous digging. The biggest excavations cover hundreds of square feet, and there will be small geodes and broken pieces of larger geodes lying on the surface. Digging can produce unbroken specimens. Most of the geodes will be fist-size or smaller, but it is possible to find some that are much bigger.

Anyone who wants to break open geodes at the site should take a hefty hammer and some safety goggles for eye protection.

Geodes have no real value except as unique and pretty rocks. The crystals inside are usually white or clear but can be found in other colors, such as pink or purple. When cut and polished, they can be quite beautiful. Samples of other unique rocks are also common in the area.

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Utah Geological Survey

RAIN SATURATES HILLSIDE SLOPES; GRAVITY SENDS MUD, ROCKS SAILING

ksl.com

The recent rains have caused more than a fear of flooding, as canyon hillsides are threatening to collapse and roads are being covered with mud.

“We’ve had this continuous rainfall that really started back in October,” said Jeff Niermeyer, Salt Lake City Public Utilities director. “It has just rained and rained and there’s no place for the water to go.”

The hillside at the mouth of City Creek Canyon, he said, has been sliding under increased water pressure since 1937, but has already moved 8 feet this spring with all the recent moisture.

“It starts to saturate the upper surface of the groundwater and what that does is basically relieve the inner pressure between the soil particles and creates the potential for landslides,” Niermeyer said.

Excess water sent an estimated 200,000 tons of rocks and mud onto state Route 39 Thursday evening, damaging at least two cars and closing the road on the southern shores of Pineview Reservoir for most of the day. Utah Department of Transportation engineer Brent DeYoung said the hillside had been stabilized, but more rain could change that.

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Utah Geological Survey

ROCKSLIDE SHUTS DOWN SANTAQUIN CANYON

Santaquin Canyon was closed Saturday after a rockslide filled the roadway, blocking 17 motorists for a time.

The canyon will remain closed until the current storm system blows over, allowing crews to clean up the slide, said Sgt. Eldon Packer of the Utah County Sheriff Office. They are expecting to start the cleanup on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The slide occurred just below the Tinney Flat Campground around 2 p.m., Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon said. No one was injured and only one vehicle sustained some minor damage.

“It did cover the whole road,” he said. “It was about 100 yards wide and three feet deep in places. There were a lot of trees and rocks, mud and water with it.”

Cannon said the debris was solid enough that officials were able to get all of the vehicles past the obstruction before clearing the roadway.

“The problem is, it fills back into place,” he said. “We’re figuring out how much material is going to come down and how long it will take to get it out of the way.”

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Utah Geological Survey

MUDSLIDES PLAGUE MANY UTAH CITIES

ksl.com

Weekend slides forced the closure of at least three canyon roads over the weekend and emergency officials are bracing for more moving debris because of steady rain predicted Monday.

Rocks tumbled down the hillside Sunday in Davis County’s Farmington Canyon, forcing the area to be shut down for at least 48 hours. This latest slide followed one up Santaquin Canyon and in Beaver Canyon, both closing roads until further notice.

In Beaver Canyon, two brothers on their way to a favorite fishing spot at 12:30 p.m. Sunday became unwitting witnesses to the aftermath of a tremendous amount of mud and debris that fell onto state Route 153.

The brothers, Shilo Joseph and James Joseph, captured the event on videotape using their cell phones.

“Approximately eight miles up the canyon, we were captivated to see the road covered in rocks, roots, branches, and mud. The destructive nature of the mud slide bathed the road in a natural mass of muck,” Shilo Joseph said. “A boulder approximately the size of a wreaking ball was set directly in the center of the river along with a newly formed dam from the debris.”

In Davis County, the sheriff’s office reported the Farmington Canyon road closed for 48 hours due the instability of the hillsides. Rocks covered the road at the first switchback, but no injuries were reported in the 4:10 p.m. slide., despite an emergency services manager and a deputy being on scene when the rocks came down.

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Utah Geological Survey

NOT SO PREPOSTEROUS THIS HIGH ANCESTRAL RHINOCEROS

news.discovery.com

A fossil from an extinct relative of the rhinoceros, Telataceras, set the record for highest vertebrate fossil found in Utah.

A jawbone with three molars was found 10,000 feet up Thousand Lake Mountain in Wayne County, Utah. Geologists from the Utah Geological Survey found the fossil while mapping rock layers in the mountain in 2005.

On another expedition in 2006, the geologists found a portion of the skull of another extinct mammal, a brontothere known as Duchesneodus uintensis. The fossils were embedded in sand and gravel that were likely laid down by a river.

Finding the two fossils in the same sediment layer suggested to the scientists that they are around 42 to 37 million years old, from a period known as the Duchesnean Land Mammal Age, during the Eocene Age.

The researchers, led by Donald Deblieux of the Utah Geological Survey, believe that certain features of the brontothere fossil may mean it is a new species.

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Utah Geological Survey

MUDSLIDES A WILD CARD IN COMING FLOOD SEASON

sltrib.com

Water and weather experts are fairly certain that five to seven consecutive days of high temperatures will bring widespread flooding. Less predictable, however, are mudslides and debris flows that can swallow roadways and structures with little warning.

The spate of landslides reported since Saturday after heavy rains in northern Utah is an unsettling reminder that flood season in the mountains is precarious in more ways than one. And with each passing day, the time frame for melting record amounts of snow at high elevations becomes more compressed.

If temperatures suddenly rose to normal — or above normal — creeks and rivers in much of Utah would jump their banks, according to Brian McInerney, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service.

That most likely would lead to more mudslides, too, said Rich Giraud, senior geologist with the Utah Geological Survey.

The average high temperature for valley locations in northern Utah during the first week of June is 82 degrees. But the forecast for the next five to seven days calls for relatively cool temperatures, according to the weather service, with highs ranging from 60 degrees to the mid-70s. Rain showers Tuesday should give way to partly cloudy skies for the remainder of the week.

A string of days with average to high temperatures could result in a quick melt that would continue to soak and destabilize already saturated soils, particularly on steep slopes, Giraud said.

“You really can’t forecast landslides. In terms of timing, we can’t do that,” he said. “But when we have above-normal precipitation and a lot of snowmelt, the potential increases. If it warms up, we may start to see a lot of landslides.”

Davis County, with its steep canyons, has had a history of mudslides and debris flows, including a number in 1983, a year remembered for widespread flooding, Giraud said.

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Utah Geological Survey

ECOLOGICAL OVERSHOOT

For most of human history we’ve been consuming resources at a rate lower than what the planet was able to regenerate.

Unfortunately we have crossed a critical threshold. The demand we are now placing on our planets resources appears to have begun to outpace the rate at which nature can replenish them.

The gap between human demand and supply is known as ecological overshoot. To better understand the concept think of your bank account – in it you have $5000.00 paying monthly interest. Month after month you take the interest plus $100. That $100 is your financial, or for our purposes, your ecological overshoot and its withdrawal is obviously unsustainable.

“One lesson from the five great global extinctions is that species and ecosystems come and go, but the evolutionary process continues. In short, life forms have a future on Earth, but humankind’s future depends on its stewardship of ecosystems that favor Homo Sapiens.” John Cairns, Jr., Future of Life on Earth

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Utah Geological Survey

SATURATED SOIL POSES INCREASED POTENTIAL FOR LANDSLIDES

ksl.com

Bob Odom is used to seeing a little bit more damage each year as a landslide carries his neighborhood a little bit further downhill. But this year the pace has slightly increased.

“It’s little bit more than normal,” Odom said, standing in a street that once was straight but is now bent and broken by a seemingly unstoppable force tearing his neighborhood apart.

The landslide typically moves at a pace of a few inches a year. This winter, geologic measurements show that it sped up a bit. Though it’s not a huge increase, it’s enough to serve as a warning of other potentially troublesome landslide activity around the state.

Geologists believe the slight speed-up is due to an unusual amount of water that entered the soil during wet weather in November and December.

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