Utah Geological Survey

Scientists help builders, planners prepare for Utah’s big quake

Here are a few more great articles highlighting the work some of our geologists have done towards recent earthquake research in the Salt Lake Valley:

kutv.com

Scientists help builders, planners prepare for Utah’s big quake

Utah’s seismic scientists are sounding a warning about impending earthquakes in Utah. They say Utah is not prepared for a major earthquake even though science tells us it is when, not if, one will hit the Wasatch front.

READ MORE

 

fox13now.com

Experts suggest Utah unprepared for possibility of powerful earthquake

Experts say the state of Utah is not prepared for a big earthquake, and seismologists at the Earthquake Research Institute predict if a 7.0-magnitude quake hit the Wasatch Fault Line it would cost the state about $33 billion in economic losses.

READ MORE

 

good4utah.com

Utah not ready for a major earthquake

A new study says Utah is not ready for a major earthquake.

READ MORE

Utah Geological Survey

2015 Annual UGA Field Trip announced!!

Survey Notes 46-3

The annual UGA Field Trip registration is open, and we would love to have you join us! This year Michael Vanden Berg and Doug Sprinkel will guide us through the spectacular geology of the Uinta Basin and the Eastern Uinta Mountains. See the itinerary pictured below. Interested but have some questions? Send them our way!

Utah Geological Association Field Trip
Uinta Basin and Eastern Uinta Mountains
September 17‐19, 2015

Field trip leaders: Michael Vanden Berg and Doug Sprinkel, Utah Geological Survey
Field trip organizer: Robert Ressetar

Cost: $290

Register HERE

UGA itinerary 1 UGA itinerary 2

Utah Geological Survey

Team of Univ. of Utah scientists and students hired to study the Bonneville Salt Flats

Earlier we posted how the unsafe conditions at the Bonneville Salt Flats cancelled Speed Week. Now a team of scientists and students from the University of Utah have been hired in an effort to research the reasoning for these changes at the Salt Flats.

good4utah.com

A team of scientists and students from the University of Utah are looking have begun their research into changes at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

READ MORE

John Good

Owl pellets from West Desert cave yield more insight into impact of human settlement

sltrib.com

Researchers sifting through deposits of owl pellets in Utah’s Homestead Cave have discovered that small-mammal communities scurrying around the West Desert remained stable through millennia of climate change.

READ MORE

John Good

2015 Crawford Award

The prestigious 2015 Crawford Award was presented to UGS geologists Hugh Hurlow, Stefan Kirby, Lucy Jordan, Paul Inkenbrandt, Janae Wallace, and Mike Lowe in recognition of their combined work on the outstanding geologic publication Hydrogeologic Studies and Groundwater Monitoring in Snake Valley and Adjacent Hydrographic Areas, West-Central Utah and East-Central Nevada (UGS Bulletin 135).

This 294-page book presents hydrogeologic, groundwater-monitoring, and hydrochemical studies in Snake Valley, Tule Valley, and Fish Springs Flat in Millard and Juab Counties, west-central Utah. Collectively, this work delineates groundwater levels, flow, and chemistry in Snake Valley and adjacent basins to a much greater degree than previously possible, and emphasizes the sensitivity of the groundwater system to possible increases in groundwater pumping.

The Crawford Award recognizes outstanding achievement, accomplish­ments, or contributions by a current UGS scientist to the understanding of some aspect of Utah geology or Earth science. The award is named in honor of Arthur L. Crawford, first director of the UGS.

IMG_1426a

2015 Crawford Award recipients Stefan Kirby, Paul Inkenbrandt, Lucy Jordan, Hugh Hurlow, Janae Wallace, and Mike Lowe.

 

Utah Geological Survey
,

POTD July 31, 2015: Travertine deposit at Mystic Hot Springs, Sevier County, Utah

Travertine deposit at Mystic Hot Springs, Sevier County, Utah Photographer: Paul Kuehne; © 2014

Happy Friday, friends! Who’s getting out in the big Utah wild this weekend? Mystic Hot Springs is a great destination!

Mystic Hot Springs POTD 7-28-15

Travertine deposit at Mystic Hot Springs, Sevier County, Utah
Photographer: Paul Kuehne; © 2014

Utah Geological Survey

POTD April 28, 2015: Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah

The Watchman (6,545 feet), composed of Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone, stands guard over the southern entrance to Zion Canyon. The canyon has been carved by the North Fork Virgin River, which has eroded downward thousands of feet through the Navajo and underlying Kayenta and Moenave Formations. Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah Photographer: Gregg Beukelman; © 2014

POTD 4-28-15 Zion Watchman

Zion National Park, Washington County, Utah
Photographer: Gregg Beukelman; © 2014

The Watchman (6,545 feet), composed of Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone, stands guard over the southern entrance to Zion Canyon. The canyon has been carved by the North Fork Virgin River, which has eroded downward thousands of feet through the Navajo and underlying Kayenta and Moenave Formations.

Utah Geological Survey

Stikes Utahraptor fossil block moves to Thanksgiving Point

A BIG BIG “Thanks” to Cross Marine Projects of American Fork for helping us move our nearly 9-ton Utahraptor fossil block from our UGS headquarters in Salt Lake City down to Thanksgiving Point’s Museum of Ancient Life in Lehi today.

Stikes Block SLC to Thanksgiving Point 1 Stikes Block SLC to Thanksgiving Point 2 Stikes Block SLC to Thanksgiving Point 3 Stikes Block SLC to Thanksgiving Point 4 Stikes Block SLC to Thanksgiving Point 5

Utah Geological Survey

Looking for somewhere fun to go in Utah this weekend?

Looking for somewhere fun to go in Utah this weekend? You don’t even have to leave home! Check out our GeoSights virtual tour page to find some of Utah’s coolest places!

VIEW HERE

Utah Geological Survey

Teens in the Woods: Mapping our Future

Last Thursday the Utah Geological Survey participated in Teens in the Woods: Mapping our Future outdoor program, an education initiative designed to bring underserved, urban, and diverse children and adolescents to the forests to spark curiosity, exercise, and connect the next generation with nature. The week-long event is chock-full of activities set up by scientists from many fields in the Earth sciences, emphasizing conservation, stewardship, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. On our trip with high school and middle school students we traveled to Big Cottonwood Canyon and Silver Lake to explore geology, forestry, air photo interpretation, and aquatic biology.

Teens in the Woods is a new nation-wide program spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture/U.S. Forest Service and in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, partnered with some dozen other organizations including the Cottonwood Canyons Foundation and Bad Dog Art.

Ms. Amy discusses water chemistry and lake health with students in the rain.

A student examines a leech and other aquatic invertebrates that inhabit Silver Lake.

A young bull moose examines the students at Silver Lake.