ironcountytoday.com
On Sept. 28, the Utah Department of Natural Resources celebrated the opening of its new Southwest Regional Complex in Cedar City.
Tag Archive for: Cedar City
thespectrum.com
With wells at Quichapa Lake having dropped approximately 75 feet since 1990, officials in Cedar City and Central Iron County Water Conservancy District are planning for additional water resources they can develop in the near future with the hopes of taking stress off the aquifer that geologists insist is being over-mined.
A wonderful opportunity! Check it out.
suindependent.com
The unique landscape of Southern Utah offers endless opportunities for depiction as well as discussion, and its geological formations have provided countless artists with creative inspiration. For its summer 2014 art hike, the Southern Utah Museum of Art Community Engagement Committee merges science with art for a trek entitled “Lacoliths, Sand Dunes, and Silver: Exciting Regional Geology Around Yant Flat,” led by expedition scientist Andy McCrea and photographer Steve Yates.
thespectrum.com
The unique landscape of Southern Utah offers endless opportunities for depiction as well as discussion, and its geological formations have provided countless artists with creative inspiration.
Mapped by
Tyler R. Knudsen, Robert F. Biek, and Janice M. Hayden
Utah Geological Survey
A STATEMAP project supported by the Utah Geological Survey and the U.S. Geological Survey
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
The purpose of the review is to give the public and local government officials an opportunity to learn about new geologic research in their district, and to give geologists and others an opportunity to critique the maps before they are published.
Highlights
- Geologic hazards, including landslides, collapsible soils, earth fissures, and earthquake faults
- Geology of lower Cedar Canyon
- Kanarra anticline and Hurricane Cliffs
- North Hills – sub-Claron unconformity and megaboulder deposits
- Eightmile Hills and eastern Harmony Mountains – ash-flow tuffs and gravity slides
- Granite Mountain and Three Peaks laccoliths
- Iron Springs thrust fault
- Iron mines
Information
- Assemble at the Utah Geological Survey parking lot, 88 Fiddler Canyon Road, in Cedar City at 7:15 a.m.; depart at 7:30 a.m. sharp.
- Anyone is invited – please circulate this notice among your colleagues.
- There is no charge, but for planning purposes, we ask that you RSVP to the Utah Geological Survey (email: starrsoliz@utah.gov; or call 801-537-3300).
- A few short but strenuous hikes are planned.
- A high-clearance vehicle is required; we may have some spaces in UGS vehicles within the field area (not to or from Salt Lake City) – please contact us if you would like a ride.
- Please bring a sack lunch, water, boots, hat, and field clothes.
- If severe weather threatens, please call the UGS office on day before to see if canceled.
Questions? Contact Tyler Knudsen (435-865-9036, tylerknudsen@utah.gov) or Bob Biek (801-537-3356, bobbiek@utah.gov).
Salt Lake Tribune
Since 1939, the Cedar Valley spreading west and north of Cedar City has dropped 100 feet and the only way to stop or slow the process is replenish the underlying aquifer with at least as much water as is being discharged through pumping.
That was one of the statistics the Utah Geological Survey delivered to the Central Iron County Water Conservancy District at its board meeting Thursday night in Cedar City.
William Lund, senior scientist with the agency’s southern Utah office, said the practice of overpumping causes noticeable fissures in the ground that sink all the way to the water table and allow pollutants to seep into the water. Most of the water is now used for agriculture, but officials are concerned about polluting the water source should it be needed for other uses.
“They start as a hairline crack and fast erode into gullies,” said Lund of the fissures.
He noted a fissure first noticed in 1960 northeast of Enoch has grown 2.25 miles long and has snaked its way into a subdivision where home construction was set to begin.
Although only one structure was built and affected by the fissure, it has disrupted the infrastructure that had already been completed, including cracking curbs and gutters, streets and the sewer system, which now runs backward.
Lund said it is the only location in Utah he is aware of that has been damaged by a fissure.
Lund’s updateis part of an $85,700 study the Geological Survey is conducting in conjunction with the conservancy district. The agency is nearing completion of its final report after nearly two years of study.
CORRECTION
Cedar Valley has not dropped 100 feet! (it has subsided 4 feet at the most). Erroneous information was reported by most of the media. Please note the Utah Geological Survey’s following corrections to
- The water table beneath Cedar Valley has lowered as much as 100 feet in some areas because ground-water pumping has exceeded the natural aquifer recharge since 1939.
- Due to the lowered water table, Cedar Valley’s ground surface has subsided 4 feet at the most in some areas since 1950.
- One of the effects of land subsidence is the development of earth fissures (cracks in the ground surface). Several fissures have formed in the western and northeastern parts of Cedar Valley. One fissure has damaged the partially developed Parkview subdivision in Enoch.
IN THE MEDIA
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE UTAH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
The Utah Geological Survey (UGS) is a division of the Utah Department of Natural Resources. Several specialized programs comprise the UGS: Data Management, Energy & Minerals, Geologic Hazards, Geologic Information & Outreach, Geologic Mapping, Groundwater & Wetlands, and Paleontology.