Tag Archive for: geologic

Utah Geological Survey

Great Salt Lake Connects to the Pacific Ocean in 1800?

According to an intriguing 1826 map atlas, an unnamed river flowed from Great Salt Lake (also unnamed at the time) all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The atlas, titled Morse’s New Universal Atlas of the World on an Improved Plan of Alphabetical Indexes, Designed for Academies and Higher Schools, was recently donated to the Utah Geological Survey

Thought to be the only communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, the map shows the river emptying into San Francisco Bay. These old maps are not only fascinating, but offer insight into the events taking place in the early 1800s – providing an almost 200-year-old visual history of the world.

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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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Utah Geological Survey

GeoSights—Devils Kitchen, Juab County, Utah

Geologic Information: The Devil seems to have inspired many geographic place names. According to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, 34 geographic features bear the name Devils Kitchen, and three of them are found in Utah. The Devils Kitchen that is the subject of this “GeoSights” article is a relatively small (about 700 feet across) south-facing amphitheater exposing redrock hoodoos at the head of Red Creek in the Wasatch Range, about 14 road miles northeast of the town of Nephi in Juab County.

About 60 to 70 million years ago the rock at Devils Kitchen was gravel, sand, and mud deposited by streams flowing out of a now-long-gone mountain range. Continuing deposition resulted in deep burial which, coupled with deep time, compressed and cemented the sediment, transforming it into rock.

With its red hoodoos, Devils Kitchen looks a bit like a miniature Bryce Canyon. The mineral hematite (iron oxide) creates the red color.

Beginning roughly 17 million years ago, movement of the Wasatch fault slowly uplifted the Wasatch Range, with Devils Kitchen along for the ride. The rise of the Wasatch Range empowered erosion to excavate and expose the rock we see today.

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Utah Geological Survey

APRIL SHOWERS BRING UTAH MUDSLIDES

deseretnews.com

With moisture-laden soil across the state receiving fresh bursts of precipitation this week, it’s not just floods that loom as a threat for Utahns, but mudslides as well.

“It’s not too soon to say there are potential problem areas,” said Rich Giraud, senior geologist with the Utah Geologic Survey’s geologic hazards program.

April is typically the month along the Wasatch Front for slide activity, but Giraud said there have already been some problems reported, with slides in North Salt Lake and on transportation corridors such as I-80 at Parleys Summit.

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Utah Geological Survey

CEDAR HILLS CLARIFIES REQUIREMENT FOR BUILDING ON HILLSIDES

heraldextra.com

The recent earthquakes and tsunamis in other parts of the world have made some people along the Wasatch Front wonder if they are ready for a natural disaster in their own community. Many have checked their emergency kits, food storages and even building foundations in preparation.

In Cedar Hills, there is a different worry involving a recurring landslide, with the latest occurrence in August 2005 that caused the evacuation of many homes and families.

As part of precautions, the Cedar Hills Planning Commission took action on Tuesday to recommend adding a new paragraph to the current City Code describing how to measure the required 30 percent grade for building.

The code was made to stop developments from inching up toward dangerous ground and onto areas that may be affected by the landslide.

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Utah Geological Survey

DO YOU HAVE EARTHQUAKE INSURANCE

sltrib.com

Thinking a bit about earthquakes today? A lot of people don’t realize that earthquake damage is not covered by basic homeowner’s insurance policies. If an earthquake damages or destroys your home and you don’t have earthquake coverage, you’re still obligated to pay your mortgage – even if you can no longer live in your home.

Whether or not earthquake insurance makes sense for you, however, depends a few things, such as where you live and how worried you are about earthquakes. Your financial situation is another factor, because earthquake coverage isn’t cheap. Many people pay $300 to $500 or more per year to be covered in the event of earthquakes. That’s in addition to the cost of your basic homeowner’s insurance policy. (Many major insurance companies do not actually sell earthquake insurance in Utah, but they can refer you to a specialty company that does sell the coverage.)

For more information about the risk of earthquakes in Utah, go here. The Utah Geological Survey also has a lot of good information here. The Utah Department of Insurance also has some information you may want to read here. Another good source of information is your homeowner’s insurance agent.

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Utah Geological Survey

GeoSights—Glacial Landforms in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, Salt Lake County, Utah

Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons contain some of the most dramatic glacial scenery in the Wasatch Range. This article highlights some of the numerous and varied glacial features in both canyons.

Geologic Information: The Cottonwood Canyons and many of their tributaries and high-elevation basins were filled with hundreds of feet of glacial ice between 30,000 and 10,000 years ago.

The Little Cottonwood Canyon glacier reached beyond the mouth of the canyon and extended into Lake Bonneville, calving ice bergs into the Ice Age lake. The Big Cottonwood Canyon glacier, however, advanced only about 5 miles down its canyon. Presumably this was due to less snow accumulation in Big Cottonwood’s catchment area.

Valley (alpine) glaciers originate at the head of valleys in high mountain ranges and then flow down preexisting stream valleys. They erode and transport considerable amounts of rock debris, enabling them to significantly modify the landscape. Many distinctive erosional and depositional landforms result; however, this article addresses only the more prominent local features. Beautiful granitic rock that has been sculpted by glacial ice in both canyons enhances the spectacular rugged, mountainous scenery.

Erosional Landforms and Features: Glaciers pluck and abrade a staggering amount of rock from the canyon walls and floors, which is then carried along with the moving ice. Thus, the hefty mass of rock material and ice perform some serious erosion. The valley bottom and walls are scoured vigorously, creating a deeper and much wider U-shaped canyon—one of the most distinctive valley glacial features.

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Utah Geological Survey

NEW STUDY RELEASED ON 'THUNDER THIGHS' DINO IN UT

deseretnews.com

Fossil remains of an athletic sauropod with a potentially mighty kick found in eastern Utah offer a rare bounty of clues into how four-legged herbivores thrived, according to a new study of the discovery.

The results, published this week in the British journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, show that an unusually large hip bone compared to other sauropods could mean that the Brontomerus Mcintoshi had powerful hind legs to kick away predators, such as raptors.

“This is a very exciting discovery, because a majority of sauropods were known to have lived during the Jurassic period, but these fossils show us that they lived well into the early Cretacious period,” said Mathew Wedel, an assistant professor of anatomy at the Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif.

The fossils were excavated by American scientists in the mid-1990s.

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*correction: Jim Kirkland is the state paleontologist for the Utah Geological Survey.

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Utah Geological Survey

CREWS PREPARE TO DEMOLISH LANDSLIDE-DAMAGED NORTH SALT LAKE HOME

ksl.com

Demolition crews today are preparing to knock down a house damaged by a slow-moving landslide in the Springhill area.

City manager Barry Edwards said a recent report from the Utah Geological Survey indicated there had been “significant movement of the ground” in the past 30 days, creating additional damage to homes in the North Salt Lake neighborhood.

“There’s movement underneath the house,” Edwards said. “It’s pushing the house down the hill.”

Front pillars recently have fallen from the bank-owned home near 150 South and 400 East. In addition, the floor has buckled, and windows have broken.

“It’s getting in a position where the house itself poses somewhat of a safety hazard,” he said.

The bank obtained a demolition permit from the city, and crews were waiting for the gas to be shut off to the home before beginning demolition work.

Edwards said there are other houses in the area that are in similar condition and also should be torn down. However, owners of those homes haven’t yet said that’s what they want to do.

“We haven’t pressed (the issue) because the people who lived in those houses have already been financially stressed,” he said. “We don’t want to add any financial burden on them right now.”

According to the Utah Geological Survey’s website, the state agency has been monitoring conditions in the Springhill neighborhood since 1998. Residents first began noticing cracks related to minor movement in their homes about a year earlier.

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Utah Geological Survey

Summary of Springhill Landslide Movement and Conditions in 2010

This section summarizes landslide conditions from January 20 through December 7, 2010. Precipitation for the water year is also discussed.

Landslide Movement

The landslide was active in 2010 and had been continuously moving at a very slow rate since at least January 2008. Measurements indicate that different parts of the landslide were moving at slightly different rates. In general, the landslide moved to the northwest, toward Valley View Drive. Ground deformation measurements were collected from survey markers using a steel measuring tape and a survey-grade GPS instrument, depending on location.

The UGS monitored ground deformation at several locations on the landslide with wooden stakes to estimate approximate movement. At the head or main scarp of the landslide (uppermost part), stretching (points on the ground get farther apart) occurred due to landslide movement. At the toe of the landslide (lowermost part), shortening (points on the ground get closer together) occurred.

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