Utah Geological Survey

Special POTD submission! August 16, 2013: Lake Powell, Alstrom Overlook.

This photo was submitted to us by  Gerard Dauphinais. From the Alstrom Overlook you can see Gunsight Butte and Padre bay of Lake Powell. Alstrom Overlook can be accessed from Big Water via Warm Creek road to Smokey Mountain road.  Lake Powell is a man-made reservoir on the Colorado Rive in Glen Canyon. Glen Canyon itself was carved out of the Colorado Plateau by differential erosion over an estimated 5 million years. The canyon exposes layers of rock from over 300 million years ago to relatively recent volcanic activity. Thanks for the fantastic photo Gerard!

Remember, you can always submit your photos to us at ugssmedia@gmail.com, on Facebook, or Twitter! 

Utah Geological Survey

Dinosaur National Monument Jones Hole Trail reopens after rock slide

deseretnews.com

The Jones Hole Trail at Dinosaur National Monument reopened last week after being closed due to a massive rock slide in June. Superintendent Mary Risser said a portion of Jones Hole Creek will remain closed from the National Park Service/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fish hatchery boundary to downstream of the rock slide zone. Anglers will be able to access the creek either on USFWS property or starting downstream of the slide area to the confluence with the Green River.

 

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Utah Geological Survey

Bioherms in the Great Salt Lake

Great Salt Lake is a modern hypersaline lake and a remnant of freshwater Pleistocene Lake Bonneville.  It serves as a modern analogue to the Uinta Basin’s lacustrine Green River Formation and lacustrine microbial formations worldwide, including several recent very large oil discoveries in the deepwater offshore Brazil (pre-salt Santos Basin and others).  Actively forming microbial stromatolites, pustular thrombolites, and tufa deposits are found within the lake and along its shores.  Beaches and nearby dunes consist of abundant associated hypersaline ooids, coated grains, peloids, and rip-up clasts.

Recently, a few geologists from the UGS traveled to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake to investigate the modern microbial carbonates (i.e., bioherms) first hand.  The most convenient place to see the bioherms is in Bridger Bay on the northwest side of the island.  The bioherms live in roughly 1 to 3 feet of water, of course this will depend on overall lake level elevation.  Now is a good time to see these unique structures as the lake level is quite low.

Geologists from around the world have traveled to Utah to see these modern bioherms and relate their depositional environment back to ancient examples that now serve as excellent oil reservoirs.

 

 


 

Utah Geological Survey

Is Petroleum Engineering A Job of the Future?

kcpw.com

The University of Utah is starting a new masters program in petroleum engineering to help fill high paying jobs that are available in the industry. But some say this is short sighted and fossil fuels are on the way out. KCPW Reporter Kim Schuske has this story.

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Utah Geological Survey

Upcoming UGS Core Workshop and Field Trip

Core Workshop: Microbial Carbonate Reservoirs from Utah

Field Trip: Modern and Ancient Microbial Carbonates in Utah—Examples from Great Salt Lake and the Uinta Basin’s Tertiary (Eocene)  Green River Formation

To register for either the short course, field trip, or both, go online at: RMSAAPG2013.COM and look for short course #4 and field trip #5.

Details are listed below:

Short Course #4: Microbial Carbonate Reservoirs from Utah – Core Workshop

Date: Wednesday, September 25, 8:00 A.M. – 4:30 P.M. at the Utah Geological Survey’s Core Research Center, Salt Lake City, Utah

Instructors: David E. Eby, Eby Petrography & Consulting, Inc.; Thomas C. Chidsey, Jr., Utah Geological Survey; Michael D. Vanden Berg, Utah Geological Survey

Fee: $200 for professionals, $100 for students (includes lunch, refreshments, and course notes)

Limit: 30 professionals, 5 students
Post-Convention Field Trip #5: Modern and Ancient Microbial Carbonates in Utah: Examples from Great Salt Lake and the Uinta Basin’s Tertiary (Eocene) Green River Formation

Date: Thursday, September 26 – Saturday, September 28

Leaders: David E. Eby (Eby Petrography & Consulting, Inc.), Thomas C. Chidsey, Jr. (Utah Geological Survey), Michael D. Vanden Berg, Utah Geological Survey

Itinerary: Departs from the Hilton in Salt Lake City, Utah, at 8:00 A.M. on Thursday, September 26, and returns to the same venue or the Salt Lake International Airport by approximately 11:00 A.M., Saturday, September 28

Fee: $700 per person.  Includes transportation, lunches, refreshments, two nights lodging (double occupancy), and field guide.

Limit: 24 persons

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Utah Geological Survey

Utah’s Outstanding Dinosaur Heritage

Dr. Jim Kirkland, State Paleontologist with the Utah Geological Survey, will be speaking at Anasazi State Park (http://www.stateparks.utah.gov/park/anasazi-state-park-museum) this Friday, July 12, at 1:00 pm as part of the Boulder Heritage Festival. Jim’s talk is titled “Utah’s Outstanding Dinosaur Heritage.” This event is free to the public. For more information, go to http://www.boulderutah.com/heritage/.

Utah Geological Survey

UGS Petroleum Geologists in London

The oldest and most prestigious geological society in the world, The Geological Society (of London), invited Tom Chidsey and Michael Vanden Berg to present papers at a global symposium on a newly discovered major oil potential that occurs all around the world.  Microbial carbonates are a distinctive type of reservoir rock that until recently was unrecognized in terms of oil potential.  Several new oil fields have been discovered in various areas of the world and some are already producing. Chidsey and Vanden Berg researched both modern (where microbial carbonates are forming today in Great Salt Lake) and ancient (the roughly 54 million-year-old Green River Formation) analogs.  They found microbial rocks in Utah (the Green River Formation), particularly in the Uinta Basin.  Their presentations will make oil companies aware of the vast new oil potential in Utah.

Tom Chidsey and Mike Vanden Berg in front of the “map that changed the world”, William Smith’s geologic map of Great Britain, published in 1815. Displayed at the Geological Society of London, this was the first geologic map ever created.

Utah Geological Survey

Geologists take flight

On April 18, 2013, four geologists from the Hazards Program of the Utah Geological  Survey flew along the Wasatch Front in a Utah Air National Guard Blackhawk helicopter. The flight was part of the Great Utah ShakeOut 2013 earthquake drill, as well as an opportunity to take high-resolution photos  of the fault scarps along the Front from the air. The four geologists were Adam Hiscock, Gregg Buekelman, Mike Hylland, and Adam McKean. It was a freezing cold day in April! Over 1200 photos were taken from the air.


Adam McKean, Mike Hylland, Gregg Buekelman, and Adam Hiscock


Mt Timpanogos

Utah Geological Survey

Utah Master Naturalist students hike Wilson Peak

A glacial end (terminal) moraine in Pine Creek Valley, Wasatch Mountain State Park.

This Saturday Utah Geological Survey geologist Jim Davis and Utah State Parks naturalist Kathy Donnell led a leisurely hike up to Wilson Peak in Wasatch Mountain State Park for Utah State University students enrolled in the course “Utah Master Naturalist.”  The Utah Master Naturalist Program is a three credit certification course open to anyone who is interested in learning more about Utah’s natural world.  The topics for the Wilson Peak hike, part of the “mountains” section of the course, included the Wasatch Mountain’s geologic history, alpine glaciation and glacial landforms, the ice ages, and identification of rocks such as the Tertiary Pine Creek and Valeo volcanic stocks that are granodiorites, the Cambrian Tintic Quartzite, and the Precambrian Mineral Fork Tillite.

Utah Master Naturalist Program, Utah State University